Just back from a week at WDW. Rented points and stayed in a1 bedroom villa at WL, which I fell in love with. Anyways, I've been going back and forth on DVC for about 7 years now. I took the tour again, saw the 1 bedroom at Kidani Village, spent 2 hours going over numbers and was all set to sign the paperwork in the morning. I was offered a pretty good deal. I needed to buy at least 300 points for the amount of time we stay and the season we travel. They offered me an additional back 300 points so in June, I would have 600. I was going to buy at OKW, which I don't care for, but the contract was going to be good until 2057, and the dues worked out best. In any case, here's why I didn't buy and what put a definite end to my DVC story:
The dues.
It worked out that with 300 points, my dues the first year would be close to around $2,000. I was told dues increase at an average of about 3% per year. This means, by the final year of owning, dues would be over $7,000 per year. The purchase price of $30,000, I was fine with. I figured I could pay it off in 2 years. What I wasn't fine with was with a 3% increase in dues (and now I'm reading it can be MUCH more than that), total cost of ownership now goes to over $215,000. I could buy an incredible house in Florida for that much. Now I'm reading some dues went up 8% last year!!!!
Now, I know you have to factor in room rate increases and whatnot. I was up all night running the numbers through in a notebook. It's not for us. $215,000 (at the very least) is WAY too much to spend on vacations when we don't know for certain we'll even still want to go to Disney in 20-25 years.
By renting points, I just stayed 7 nights in a 1 bedroom villa at Wilderness Lodge for $2,000.
Sorry DVC, but I'll take my chances with renting points.
The dues.
It worked out that with 300 points, my dues the first year would be close to around $2,000. I was told dues increase at an average of about 3% per year. This means, by the final year of owning, dues would be over $7,000 per year. The purchase price of $30,000, I was fine with. I figured I could pay it off in 2 years. What I wasn't fine with was with a 3% increase in dues (and now I'm reading it can be MUCH more than that), total cost of ownership now goes to over $215,000. I could buy an incredible house in Florida for that much. Now I'm reading some dues went up 8% last year!!!!
Now, I know you have to factor in room rate increases and whatnot. I was up all night running the numbers through in a notebook. It's not for us. $215,000 (at the very least) is WAY too much to spend on vacations when we don't know for certain we'll even still want to go to Disney in 20-25 years.
By renting points, I just stayed 7 nights in a 1 bedroom villa at Wilderness Lodge for $2,000.
Sorry DVC, but I'll take my chances with renting points.