Which offer to take???

[wbc99]

Hi group -- I am new to this group, but wanted to thank all of you who have posted your thoughts on the DVC. I am 99% sure that I am going to bite the bullet and join. But, I was wondering which you all thought I should take...

There are 2 offers for people who join, either a free 150 points to be used by September 2005 or $1,500 off the total enrollment cost. Which should I take??? I can't decide.

The 150 free points can be used as a bonus vacation or can be used with the points I purchase to take a really nice first year vacation.

Any thoughts?

 

[kitkatsnindylou]

When I joined they were offering the same type of deal. For me I had them use the 150 points towards the payment Enjoy whichever you decide to do.

 

[TwingleMum]

Well, there are many factors to consider that only you can answer. The major two as I see it are:

1. Did you plan to take a trip before Sept 2005??
2. How straped you are financially. Would $1500 off make a big difference in whether you purchase or how much you purchase.

Good Luck with your decision. I'm sorry I wasn't much help.

 

[todsue99]

Most people will tell you that your points are worth about $10 each. They are giving you 150 or $1500 which is what they are worth so money wise it is wash. If you have plans to go to Disney and can use the points I would take the points. If you need to use the money as a down payment or have no plans I would take the money.

 

[gjw007]

Hi;

I looked at both offers as well. In the end, I decided that taking $10 per point made more sense to me. As I understood the additional points, it is for their new additions which starts next year with 49 years left on the contract. The developer points are given this use year but must be used by this use year. They cannot be banked. I decided that I hadn't been planning on going anyway this use year (my vacation plans had already been made), so I took the $10 per point off the purchase price. I have other timeshares in Orlando that I go to so this wasn't as critical a choice for me. You must weigh this on what your plans are. You might come out ahead taking the $10 per point off and renting points off this board for your vacation this year. If you use a studio that requires 97 points, at $10 per point, your cost would be $970 so you would have saved $530. You may look at this from different angles but in the end, it is what are your plans for the year.

 

[tamu91]

Welcome to the board, neighbor. Nice to see folks from the Houston area on this board.
I believe those "free" 150 pts. can not be used at your home resort, SSR but I may be wrong. Now with that said, if you plan on visiting WDW in the next year and a half, I'd say go for the vacation.

 

[Doctor P]

Actually, I don't think it turns out to be a wash if you are willing to rent the points. You would get to keep your 150 points if you take the developers points/vacation option. That means that if you are willing to rent the points, you could rent your own 150 points that you got to keep, get the approximately $1500 for doing that, AND also get the vacation using the developers points.

 

[KristiKelly]

We just bought a 180 pt. contract last week, we chose to take the developers points. The points can be used from now until Sept. 30, 2005, they cannot be banked. We are going to split the developers points for 2005 for Hilton Head - 4 week nights in a 1 BR early June & the remaining for WDW (in Sept. 05)for a studio + using some of our points that will be avail. June 2005. We will then bank the remaining 2005 points into 2006, in 2006 we will first use all of our banked (2005) points & some of our 2006, & continue to bank in that way. We figured that going with the developers points can give us (if we bank & use correctly) the ability to have 210-220 points a year for the next 8-10 years., if we always use our banked points first. I hope this makes sense. Good luck in your decision.

 

[rwcmath]

I'm not very good at delayed gratification, I would go for the vacation now, and begin enjoying my DVC! KristiKelly's points make sense to me.

Pixie dust to you!

 

[FLYNZ4]

If you take the $10 discount, do you have to forfeit your first years of points? If so, then I do not think it would be the best deal.

When I joined in May, I had 2 options:

1) Take a $5 discount ($90), and keep my 2004 points
2) Take a $10 discount ($85), but turn in my 2004 points

In both cases, I would be responsible to pay abut 25% of the 2004 MFs. I chose option 1.

If I understand it now... you can:

1) Pay full price ($95), keep your 2004 points, plus get a bonus of points used in 2004
2) Take a $10 discount ($85), but turn in the 2004 points, and get no bonus points.

Hence, there is a 2 year difference in the number of points that you receive.

Do I have this straight? If so... I would recommend option 1), and then if you cannot use the points, rent them at $10 each.

/Jim

 

[KristiKelly]

Just to clarify a little more. If you choose the $85, you will have no DVC points or dues until 2005. If you choose the $95 per point, you are "given" points for now until Sept. 30, 2005, but you will owe no dues for this year. If I understood my guide correctly, he told me that I wouldn't have to pay dues UNTIL 6/05 & that would be prorated for the year, I would only pay 1/2 dues for 2005 & still get the developer points to use for 2004 or most of 2005. This seemed like a pretty good thing for us, gave us a chance to bank points.

 

[wbc99]

Jim:

The way it was explained to me by my guide was that I could:

1. Get $1500 knocked off the price and still get my 2004 points or
2. Get a bonus 150 non-bankable points to be added to the points I was already getting for 2004.

Either way, my deposit was due now and my monthly payments would start May 1, 2005. Now, I am new to this and this was just my first call, so I may not have fully understood the options, but the above options were my understanding.

I am calling my guide tomorrow to get started on the paperwork! (And I will get more clarification!)

Thanks everyone for your thoughts!!!

 

[gjw007]

Flyn;

This is the way it was explained to me.

Option 1: There are two parts to this. A) You pay the full price and get 50 years of points starting this year. B) You can get $10 per point off but you give up your first years points. It helps to make the downpayment. For me this meant instead of points starting August 2004, the first points would be in August 2005. You have a 50 year contract but you gave back 1 year so you end up with a 49 year contract at $85 per point.

Option 2: I was told the initial units have been sold and that they are pre-ordering for the additional units coming online. These become online in 2005 for a 49 year contract with the points becoming available in the 2005 use year. For those who wished to purchase now, they would give you a year of developer points that you use this year effectively making it 50 years. It becomes option 1 without the $10 per point discount. I didn't ask the price but it seemed it was the $95 per point price.

I pressed this point when I asked about getting points this year and also the bonus points on option 2. It seemed a better deal if you actually got an additional set of points this year so that you could use the developer points and rent the regular use points but I was told the points aren't available until the 2005 use year. I was told that I had both options since I had started the process but in the end both options were the same if you wanted a 50 year contract. Option 1 allowed the lowering of the cost but you forego the first year. Of course, if I understand correctly, if you really wanted to go to Disney, can't you borrow from the 2005 use year? I don't know if this helps or not but I pressed the issue about getting two sets of points the first year.

I don't know if this helps or not. The issue for me came down to the cost compared to how much I needed to go to Disney this year. Lowering of cost was more important for me as I had other options.

 

[Dean]

You've gotten great answers and I agree with the basic choices and info laid out. One point for those who might be in a slightly different situation. You're looking at 150 points which is the minimum first purchase through DVC. If you were looking at more, you'd have to decide how many points you need. It is my impression that some people buy extra points to use the Magical Beginnings $10 pp trade in where you lose your points. This is nuts unless you truly need the points later anyway. It's not worht buying points one won't use just to get the upfront discount.

Plus there's always the option of resale, which will actually be the cheaper option. And you could always buy a points loaded contract and rent the extra points thus accomplishing the same thing as MB.

 

[Scotch]

Originally posted by Dean
You're looking at 150 points which is the minimum first purchase through DVC.

We're looking at DVC resale as a possible addition to our timeshare portfolio. I have read about this 150 minimum in many places, but I'm not clear re whether this is the minimum initial purchase through whichever avenue, DVC or resale, or the minimum initial purchase only if you buy via DVC. I would like the option of buying a smaller amount of points so we can test the waters of DVC ownership as the m/fs for DVC is much higher than the m/fs for our other timeshares.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

Originally posted by Scotch
We're looking at DVC resale as a possible addition to our timeshare portfolio. I have read about this 150 minimum in many places, but I'm not clear re whether this is the minimum initial purchase through whichever avenue, DVC or resale, or the minimum initial purchase only if you buy via DVC. I would like the option of buying a smaller amount of points so we can test the waters of DVC ownership as the m/fs for DVC is much higher than the m/fs for our other timeshares.

150 is the minimum purchase through DVC. You can buy a resale with less than 100 points. There was a post here a while back from those who owned 100 points or less. Many bank and borrow for a once every two or three year trip.

HBC

 

[salvatorejrm]

We just closed on a 50 point Vero Beach contract about 2 months ago, this is our first DVC contract. It came with 43 banked points. We paid $65 pp this years maintenance and $375 closing costs. The total was around $3850. I was able to book a 2 bedroom at old Key West in January for 5 nights with banking and borrowing. If all goes well in the spring we will by another small contract with banked points. Even though you have to pay closing costs for each small contract it beats financing and paying interest. Good Luck with your decision....

 

[Scotch]

Thanks for the answer! Can someone point me to a link to an online page that lists the DVC m/fs for Boardwalk and other DVC fees/policies that members can expect, e.g, banking, borrowing, deadlines, etc.

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by Scotch
We're looking at DVC resale as a possible addition to our timeshare portfolio. I have read about this 150 minimum in many places, but I'm not clear re whether this is the minimum initial purchase through whichever avenue, DVC or resale, or the minimum initial purchase only if you buy via DVC. I would like the option of buying a smaller amount of points so we can test the waters of DVC ownership as the m/fs for DVC is much higher than the m/fs for our other timeshares.

As noted, you can purchase less resale. However the fees really add up on a price pp basis with closing costs and transfer fee. Plus you have limited reservations options, especially for larger units or other exchange options. Buying less might be best for some but isn't for others.