Is DVC ownership actually worth it in the long run?

[Maddysdaddy]

For fun - I'm cutting and pasting a recent post of mine from the Mousecellaneous forum.
--------------------------------------

Just booked 9 nights at Aulani just before Easter 2018 - 5 nights in an ocean view studio and 4 nights in a 1 bedroom ocean view. Used all but one of my 2017 and 2018 points (399).

For fun, I priced the trip out on the Aulani website, and 5 nights in a hotel room and 4 nights in a one bedroom over those same nights currently costs $10,731. Yikes!!! Hard to believe that for about $2500 in member dues, I can have accommodation savings of eight grand (about 40% of the total cost of my buy-in back in 2011). Apparently if you want to really justify having DVC, Aulani is the place to do it.

 

[crisi]

For fun - I'm cutting and pasting a recent post of mine from the Mousecellaneous forum.
--------------------------------------

Just booked 9 nights at Aulani just before Easter 2018 - 5 nights in an ocean view studio and 4 nights in a 1 bedroom ocean view. Used all but one of my 2017 and 2018 points (399).

For fun, I priced the trip out on the Aulani website, and 5 nights in a hotel room and 4 nights in a one bedroom over those same nights currently costs $10,731. Yikes!!! Hard to believe that for about $2500 in member dues, I can have accommodation savings of eight grand (about 40% of the total cost of my buy-in back in 2011). Apparently if you want to really justify having DVC, Aulani is the place to do it.

On the other hand, there are plenty of timeshares to rent in Hawaii for far less than $2500. We paid about half that for our seven night trip a few years ago - and on way better islands with better beaches than where Aulani is.

OP - DVC is a horrible trading timeshare. You buy it to stay at Disney resorts. Depending on when you travel, you may end up at your home resort or one of the larger farther from the parks resorts more often than not. You will not be eligible for "free dining" or any other package type discounts that can change the equation based of your spending habits. DVC isn't terribly flexible (timeshares usually aren't) - you need to plan ahead and points are use em or lose em - and cancellation policies are different - with availability issues, cancelling can be a real problem. I personally find DVC rooms less well maintained than cash rooms, they are fine, but maintenance and refresh happens less frequently. Often, you can switch resorts, but only by choosing a one bedroom - which negates savings. If you understand the whole picture, and are willing to accept the downsides as well as the upsides.

 

[mickeyfan0805]

Like others - it made sense for us, both in preference and finance, but for specific reasons...

1. We take regular trips, but they vary in style and duration (sometimes all 5, sometimes just mom and dad, different duration, etc...).
2. We much prefer to stay on site.
3. We like to, are able to, and NEED to plan our vacations well in advance (often 12-18 months ahead).
4. We are a family of 5 so many cash resorts don't accommodate us (there are more now than there were when we joined in 2008), and those that do are tight for a family of 5.
5. We like having the kitchen facilities, have breakfast in the room, etc...
6. We don't mind re-using towels, getting into beds that aren't made, etc...

This is year ten for us in ownership. Between the aggregated point cost and the MF's, we pay $950 per year for our 120 points. In that time, we have taken 11 trips on DVC for a total of 18 nights in a 2br, 25 nights in a 1br and 20 nights in a studio. Even at $150 per night for a value or a heavily discounted moderate, we would have spent $9,450 in that time. Instead, we spent $9,500 and have stayed at SSR, OKW, AKL, BCV, WLV, AKV, BWV and BLT, with more than 2/3 of our nights being in a 1br or 2br. I'll take that trade any day!

 

[longboard55]

The comparison comes closer if you compare to the economys, but as far as deluxe, we just booked AKL over spring break for 25 points, checking prices for a savannah view WITH taxes, it was $800 a night. Boooom

 

[Matty B13]

I'm not sure what the availability of 1 bedroom or 2 bedroom villas at are Disney Resorts, but if you compared the price per night of just 1 bedrooms to the price per point through DVC you come out way ahead.

 

[scottmel]

We have thought about it but honestly I struggle b/c the dues alone are nearly the cost of renting a point from a friend. So I ended up turning it down....We have gone to three seminars thru the years but the dues equate to a weekly rental so I can't seem to get ahead on it.

 

[mickeyfan0805]

We have thought about it but honestly I struggle b/c the dues alone are nearly the cost of renting a point from a friend. So I ended up turning it down....We have gone to three seminars thru the years but the dues equate to a weekly rental so I can't seem to get ahead on it.

If that's true - you need to go buy that friend a drink! Rental rates go for $12-15 per point EASILY. Even if all you do is hand your point over to a broker you can get $12-13 per point. If you are renting for something that is close to the $5.50-$6.60 MF range for the WDW properties, you are getting an incredible deal!

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

For me it's been worth it. But I prefer to stay at a deluxe resort now and having my DVC means I can do that twice a year for 5 nights which is what I usually can go for.
Sometimes I do a 3 night stay or a 2 night stay another time rather than 2 five night stays. Either works for me.

We'll get our use out of it for sure. My only frustration is when I can go for a quick weekend with only a month notice and there isn't anything available. But I can always book a regular moderate room if that happens so I'm good.

 

[scottmel]

If that's true - you need to go buy that friend a drink! Rental rates go for $12-15 per point EASILY. Even if all you do is hand your point over to a broker you can get $12-13 per point. If you are renting for something that is close to the $5.50-$6.60 MF range for the WDW properties, you are getting an incredible deal!

Yes I am very very lucky at 10 pp

 

[RichVIII]

We did the off-site gig for many years. We decided to take my mother-in-law and b/c of health we stayed at BLT for the first time. We paid nearly $8k for the room. My wife and I kick ourselves thinking about how we could have either rented points or put that to buy a resale contract. We were hooked, did our research, and have bought three contracts since ranging in size. We love the Disney bubble and hopefully if life stays the course, we see many years in our future.

 

[Margarita mouse]

To start with NO EXPERIENCE with DVC but have had a bad experience with a time share.

My bad experience was in Las Vegas and eventually came to the conclusion (atleast in the Vegas scenario) it was a scam and wound up staying cheaper just booking at Vegas hotels.

Couple questions I'd figured Id ask here from experienced DVC owners rather than be sold a song and dance act taking a tour.

1) DVC is just another word for timeshare? Or if no what is the difference?

2) When you factor in the cost per month and maintenance fees versus booking directly with Disney using a room only discount which scenario comes out cheaper?

3) Does owning at a particular resort mean anything in the long run? Or are you basically just buying points that you can use to stay anywhere?

Call me skeptical but if would save me money on 1 trip per year at approx 7 days per stay I would consider.

Bought 320 real points aulani. Amount of points did fine till now when we were running into booking resort in disney world during a week we really enjoy. So bought 275 real copper creek points. The cost of aulani points was break even after first three years of vacationing disney. Now just the cost of dues. The same will happen with copper creek.
Now here is the fun stuff so pay attention. Our annual dues will be shy of 4k$ per year. But remember, we have 595 points. That is a lot of disney and we love disney. Check your points chart and see how many nights my wife and i can stay per year in delux studios. When you have higher point amounts, you are able to really flex your options of adventures by disney and even off season cruises(but be careful).

Finally, goto resale and work the math depending on number of points you will actually use every year. Then look at resales of high point low cost deeds. These points you will never use at the parks. You are simply buying them to rent points out at 14$ a point. Find out how many points you need to sell to cover all of your annual dues cost. This will take around 5 years to breakeven. But then you will be living the dvc life without paying out of pocket for dues every year.

 

[CraigInPA]

Without breaking the bank and rolling down payment into monthly payment any idea on what that might come out to a month? Unclear on points and why some are more than others. But I would probably be happy with one of the older villas BWV or BCV since they are in the EPCOT resort area. My favorite hotel in Disney is Contemporary but Im afraid BLT and Poly will be too much.

BLT and BCV are selling for similar amounts per point in the resale market. Poly is selling for $10-20 per point more on the resale market. BWV is selling for $10 per point less on the resale market. On a percentage basis, $10 per point is about 8%.

The often stated advice is "buy where you like to stay". The reason for this is the 11 month to 7 month booking window afforded to your home resort. If this window didn't exist, every DVC point would be worth exactly the same and everyone would be attempting to book the monorail resorts.

I don't know what the current interest rate for a timeshare is, but if it's 10% and you're putting down 10% on a purchase price of $28k (160 points at Poly, purchased retail), it's $332 a month for 10 years. You could get it under $300 per month if you bought resale Poly, and more like $275 per month for resale BLT. You'd also have to budget another $80 per month for maintenance fees. Generally, borrowing to buy a timeshare is NOT a good idea.

 

[Dean]

Bought 320 real points aulani. Amount of points did fine till now when we were running into booking resort in disney world during a week we really enjoy. So bought 275 real copper creek points. The cost of aulani points was break even after first three years of vacationing disney. Now just the cost of dues. The same will happen with copper creek.
Now here is the fun stuff so pay attention. Our annual dues will be shy of 4k$ per year. But remember, we have 595 points. That is a lot of disney and we love disney. Check your points chart and see how many nights my wife and i can stay per year in delux studios. When you have higher point amounts, you are able to really flex your options of adventures by disney and even off season cruises(but be careful).

Finally, goto resale and work the math depending on number of points you will actually use every year. Then look at resales of high point low cost deeds. These points you will never use at the parks. You are simply buying them to rent points out at 14$ a point. Find out how many points you need to sell to cover all of your annual dues cost. This will take around 5 years to breakeven. But then you will be living the dvc life without paying out of pocket for dues every year.

Pointing out that the real cost is WAY above just the yearly dues, in this case the dues are likely the smaller component of the 2 main portions of determine long terms costs.

 

[bwvBound]

The often stated advice is "buy where you like to stay". The reason for this is the 11 month to 7 month booking window afforded to your home resort. If this window didn't exist, every DVC point would be worth exactly the same and everyone would be attempting to book the monorail resorts.

I get what you are going for ... but don't forget that the resorts carry differing expiration dates and dues. Thus, there might still be a spread on purchase price even if the 'home resort booking window' were removed.

I'll simply disagree with your other assumption (re: everyone would be attempting to book the monorail resorts). Consider the massive popularity of BWV and BCV ... neither of which are monorail resorts? Or Aulani? Or the Grand Cal?

 

[holden]

We are happy with our purchase - two 200pt contracts $100/point at BLT. We have stayed in GV, 2Br, 1BR and studios at many DVC resorts, most recently a 2BR for 8 nights at VGF.

We go twice a year (long trip in the summer and a long weekend for FWF in Nov.). Paid cash. I haven't crunched the numbers, but I feel like we've gotten our $ worth out of it (especially with the week stay in a BLT GV). I like the fact that our kids will be able to take their kids someday and use our DVC.

 

[Shellyred8]

The resale prices can vary for a variety of reasons. For example, resale prices are higher right now for most resorts because of the limited supply. Come November or December, there could be an influx of resale contracts available, and you could get a better price than you would be able to get right now.

The prices tend to correlate with years remaining on the contract. For example, BLT tends to be higher than BWV because there is more life left in the BLT contract. However, there are lots of other factors that can drive price differences when you are looking at resale contracts. Is it a loaded contract? Is it a small-points contract? Is the seller in a hurry to get rid of the contract?

We own at BWV and BLT and are happy with both. Our first purchase was BWV, back towards the end of the recession so we got a great deal on them. We bought not really knowing much about DVC, just that we loved going to WDW and we loved the Boardwalk area. It turns out it was a really good thing we bought there, because we tend to travel during the DVC peak times, and it's becoming more and more challenging to book there under the 7 month window.

Good luck with your decision!!

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

yes it is worth it. When we bought ours every time i booked a vacation I also priced the vacation with Disney paying cash. I kept a log and in 5 years we reached our return on investment. Now we have a small contract that I also rent out and on occasion have rented out the bigger contract. By renting out the smaller contract it pays for our annual dues on both contracts. To dated we have put $9500 back on our pocket by renting out our points over the past several years. So we stay free at Disney. We just paid $20 each way on Frontier this weekend for a quick get away and spent less than $250 for the trip (flying staying and car rental costs). Is it worth it yes.

 

[E2ME2]

To address point-by-point from my perspective:

1) DVC is a Timeshare, but it is uniquely different from other timeshares we have been introduced to
a) There was no pressure at the DVC Tour
b) The point system is different than buying a fixed week
2) For us, the way we prefer to stay, it works out cheaper in the long-run. We use our points in January, and prefer 1BR units. We bought in 2010, and I will break even with my investment in 2018. From that point forward, I'm paying $1200/year for 7-10 Nights in a 1BR Villa. That's a great value!
3) Where you buy has an impact on Price, & Booking Window. If you like a particular resort and you want to stay in peak season, then you should buy at that resort. We are content to stay just about anywhere in Florida in January, as we also are escaping winter in the mid-Atlantic, so we bought where Price & Maintenance Fees are cheapest. I have had zero problems transferring to other resorts at the 7-month mark. we even booked Aulani for a week in January in a 1BR, at 7-months out.
AND - Resale price on the DVC resale sites are approaching what we paid direct back in 2010, so I could recoup most of my initial investment if I were to sell right now. That's R.O.I.!

Happy DVC member

 

[crisi]

So here is the thing about DVC and saving money.

Timeshares - as you probably know - carry some risk. Cancellation policies are not as flexible as cash, points are use em or loose em. So, if you can't plan, or are going to cancel last minute, that can eat into any savings you may have.

Its hard to do an apples to apples comparison of DVC to a regular Disney hotel room. DVC doesn't get daily housekeeping - and that isn't important to a lot of members, so its a win for them. The only way to get two real beds in a DVC unit at WDW is to book a two bedroom or larger - or book a studio at OKW. If you don't mind a hide a bed, its great, but if you are looking for two queens in a studio at BCV, it doesn't exist.

DVC is best for people who travel regularly and predictably to Disney and can plan ahead. If you go every two years, it works. If you go last minute, or go every three to four years, its more difficult to say it will work for you - people do make it work for them under those circumstances, but its harder for a stranger to judge.

Once you are in, you are a trapped audience. That can make it really hard to skip Disney for a different or cheaper vacation in some years. During the recession we saw a lot of trips taken because "the room is paid for." That's great if you can afford it - not great if you are having a hard time with the mortgage. Add that to the risk pile. And while "you can always rent your points" - during a deep recession it may be more difficult to rent out your points for an amount that is profitable. Likewise, while we can now sell our points for more than we bought them for fifteen years ago (BWV resale) - with less time on the contract, during the recession we'd have taken a loss. Fortunately, we remained employed though the recession and didn't need the money, but when you are most likely to need the money is when DVC will be worth the least on the resale market.

The biggest deal is probably that DVC will likely change the way you travel. For most of us, its a value add, but its a value add that tends to add costs. You squeeze in a Christmas trip - and while your dues stay the same because you are using points you already own - you have airfare. You don't have a room bill, so suddenly adding extras you'd never do otherwise becomes a thing. Your room is "free" - so you invite guests to share - we wouldn't have paid for someone else's room in cash, but we bring DVC guests all the time. You add on points because of the guests and the Christmas trip, and now the dues go up. And you discover that a two bedroom fits your family of four very nicely - no one is sleeping in the living room - and need a few more points for that as well. Suddenly, a family that was fine with the occasional splurge staying at a Deluxe when they got a good deal, and happy in moderates for 80% of their trips, finds themselves in a two bedroom overlooking the ocean at Aulani. Which - once again - if you can afford it, is awesome. And if you were looking to save money, probably hasn't.

DVC ties down room costs, but Disney itself gets more and more expensive. Park ticket prices always make me cringe - my daughter drives a car worth less than a family set of park tickets for a week for four adults. Dining gets more expensive. Airfare. We've gone to Europe cheaper than we've done Disney. And because you become that captive audience, you find yourself shelling out the dollars for park tickets.

If money is your PRIMARY concern, DVC is (IMHO) not a good choice. You'll probably end up with the Mouse getting more of your paycheck if you own than if you don't own. Not with certainty, but the chances are good enough that this shouldn't be a decision all about savings. However, its a fairly nice way for the Mouse to have his hand in your pocket and most of the owners who hang out here are at the very least content with their purchase - and in many cases, delighted.

 

[4luv2cdisney]

My decision to buy (still in the process) was based on a comparison of the 2 trips we were already planning -vs- cost to buy DVC and take those trips (same dates).

Numbers rounded:

$10K - 2 trips to POR (room, tix, QSDP calculated assuming discounts previously available for same time period)
$15K - 2 trips on DVC (buy-in, DVC AP's, oop food budget)

For $5K I get a room upgrade and location upgrade, but we will be on a food budget. My DVC should still have a resale value of 5K. The room savings on every trip thereafter will eat into that $5K cost. The resale value may increase or decrease. Time will tell. But I consider myself break-even after those 2 trips. That money was money already in a savings account or being put into a savings account, not invested, waiting to be spent on vacation, I'm simply not going to worry about the time value of money or missed opportunity costs, etc. Additionally, we are buying minimal points. So, there will be no "let's just squeeze in another trip"....."a 2 bedroom would be really great"....etc. It will be our "normal" vacation plan because that is what we have the points for.