Which "Use Year" month is best for January travel?

[MrInfinity]

I believe I referenced about accessing the points with banking and borrowing.
The having all the points can be an important nuance. It's not uncommon to run across owners who thought they had to wait until a UY started to be able to book because that's when they "received their points".

Nothing wrong w clarifying that myth, but it's still confusing to say I have all my points now. I have a right to book stays with my points in the future. In fact "points" are not even part of the purchase. When you buy into DVC, you get two things... One is the real property interest, which is measured as a fraction of a piece of property. Second is the right to reserve rooms with a set # of points per year. I don't actually own "points" nor have a virtual bucket of them. A point isn't a thing. I don't have my 2030 points now. If I did, I could give them to you. What I actually have is the right to book a room in 2030 (UY2030). Or borrow them for a booking in 2029, or bank them and book nights in 2031. Those are the only possible uses of those points. There is really no sense that I have those points now.

I'm still a little confused about the banking. We wanted to start out with a small contract, enough for just a studio, as most of the time, our travel party will be 5. So, some trips we would be a party of six and some a party of five. The banking comes into play because for the trips when my older son will be with us, we would need at least a two bedroom. We might have to skip a year and bank the points for the next year. I'm not really sure exactly how much we would need to buy and where--I'd have to figure out how many points we'd need to make it work. It appears at least 100??

100 seems good for this ballpark. That could be up to 300 spent at once if you borrow and bank, which is 6 nights in a 2B. If there is any chance of wanting 2B's, I'd probably shoot for a 160 point contract, or get 100 and then top it off with 25 direct from Disney later. Just figure ballpark 50 points/night for a 2B. Or look at the charts and see how it changes by season. It could be 40 or 70. But on average, I figure around 50. Makes the math easy.

But...it's hard to know how soon they will decide they are sick of Disney?? $4,500 just for the hotel for one trip when we just spent $7K.

Your costs on renting are why people buy. By the time we could have rented a bigger room (either DVC, or a suite in the hotel) that made for a big chunk of the purchase price. And I would never rent to stay in someone else's DVC room since for us we'd have to control our reservation. Once you buy in, you just have more options for going to WDW. It's not a life commitment no matter what -- if you get tired of it, you can always sell. If you want to take vacations for the next 7-10 years and you think you'll need a 2B, buying in will be cheaper than renting.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Since Fall could be an option for you lets say you buy an Oct UY now that has current points which would be 2016 points as Oct 2016 points are valid for stays from Oct 1, 2016 to Sept 30, 2017 and it has all points going forward. You wanted to book your January stay starting January 8, 2018.

You can book at your home resort 11 months in advance so no matter what the UY you could have reserved this stay on February 8, 2017 and reserved up to 7 nights at that time. For the January 2018 stay and with an October UY you could use banked 2016 points, current 2017 points (normally valid for stays from Oct 1, 2017 to Sept 30, 2018) or you could borrow 2018 points that would normally be current for stays from Oct 1, 2018-Sept 30, 2019. Once you borrow them back into your 2017 UY they stay there and have to be used for stays just like the 2017 points - from Oct 1, 2017-Sept 30, 2018.

At any one time you can have up to 3 years of points available for a stay because of banking and borrowing and it just depends on how you use your points with those options. Some people are always banking forward and using banked points and/or current points. Some people try to just use in their current UY. And others can always be in borrow mode.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

In fact "points" are not even part of the purchase. When you buy into DVC, you get two things... One is the real property interest, which is measured as a fraction of a piece of property. .

The documents cover that you are buying a factional interest in the real estate property and will list the unit. And it also states that the fractional interest is represented by xx number of points.

 

[jerseyduke]

This is very helpful. Thank you! Yes, I would have thought you would have to wait until April. I suppose though, at that point, you would only have 2018 & 2019 points available for that trip, right? Just want to make sure I am finally getting this.

That is correct, UNLESS you "bank" your 2017 points into 2018. You can have up to 3 years worth of points to use at any given time should you plan it that way.

Expanding on my previous example, "I am not going in my 2017 UY". As my example was phrased, with an April UY, that means you have 8 months (until November 30th, 2017) to bank your points. Mind you that banking CANNOT be undone (Nor can borrowing).

So, come end of November 2017, you call or go on line, and bank your points. Assuming a 100 point contract, you will now have 200 points in your 2018 UY. The 100 points that you banked, will be the first used for any reservation in that 2018 UY. They will also EXPIRE at the end of the 2018 UY, so on March 31st, 2019, the last day of your 2018 Year, any unused points banked into 2018 from 2017 expire. (This is called breakage)

But, moving forward, your October 1st, 2018 reservation (100 point contract). You could call at the end of October, 2017, and bank your 2017 points...so you now have 200 in 2018. November 1st 2017 is the first day you can make your reservation for October 1st, 2018. On that day, you can also borrow your 2019 points (no waiting until April), so, you could make a reservation that uses up to 300 points, as your reservation is in 2018 UY, and you have 100 banked points, 100 current points, and 100 future points you could use.


The caveat here is that 200 of those points are from a different UY. Since banking and borrowing CANNOT be undone, should you cancel this trip, you have 200 points that expire March 31st, 2019. (The 100 current points can still be banked). So, using 3 years worth of points in 1 year could increase your change of losing points due to breakage (points expiring before they are used). It is not a death sentence, but it is lost money.

 

[Dean]

We are looking into buying DVC resale, but I still am confused and have questions. How does "Use Year" impact your DVC stays? Is it best to look for a "Use Year" month that is seven months prior or 11 months prior to when your most likely will travel? Or neither?

Also, in many of the sales offers, they show points from the prior year and the next year. Does that mean you would have access to all of those points immediately?

Is home resort THAT important? Won't you still be able to stay at other resorts by booking at the 7 month window?

For Jan, Dec is the best by far. Home resort matters more for some than others, you need to understand your preferences and travel habits prior to buying. You don't get extra points retail, you just get this years points even if it's late in the UY (with exceptions like a new resort). I personally feel it's important even if it's just January. It's like free insurance and I do feel the extra few months does make a difference.