Borrowing points year after year.

[LeafsFanNL]

Hi,

DW and I have been bouncing around the idea of purchasing DVC points in the resale market. We've been looking at getting 100 points at SSR. most of the staying we are considering are in the 110 point range.

I am wondering if this scenario would work.

in 2011 use my 100 points and borrow 10 from 2012.
in 2012 use my 90 remaining points and borrow 20 from 2013.
in 2013 use my 80 remaining points and borrow 30 from 2014.

I realize that a few years down the road you'd have a year with no points.

 

[becanya]

I understand the problem, we have the same one. I know though that when you buy both resale and through disney (which is what we did), usually you get a number of points the first year, then a new use year starts soon. So we bought in November, got 100 points, but our new use year started in December. So a month after we bought we got another 100 points. It just depends on what kind of deal Disney can do with you at that time. They can never go more than 12 months back, but often they can go back a full 11 months to set your use year. So basically, we got 200 points in our first year, which makes up the difference.

Also...if we love it, we'll probably just buy more points eventually.

 

[gardenia]

As a DVC owner, I would tell any potential buyer three things - be sure to buy the number of points you realistically need; buy where you want to stay; and pay cash for your DVC. Otherwise, DVC will not be a satisfying and rewarding experience. You will be setting yourself up for frustration and disappointment, and you won't get any financial advantage from DVC.

 

[216bruce]

As a DVC owner, I would tell any potential buyer three things - be sure to buy the number of points you realistically need; buy where you want to stay; and pay cash for your DVC. Otherwise, DVC will not be a satisfying and rewarding experience. You will be setting yourself up for frustration and disappointment, and you won't get any financial advantage from DVC.

Yup!! The essence of doing this right, simply and making it enjoyable is to follow those three essential "do's"!

 

[toolsnspools]

A straight answer to your question would be yes. We bought 200 points figuring we'd need about 300 per vacation for the next six or seven years. (3 Kids = big rooms) That means we have to take a year off from DVC every once in a while. As long as you know that going in, it shouldn't be a big deal. If you find you're looking for more points all the time, you can consider adding on more points later.

 

[tjkraz]

As a DVC owner, I would tell any potential buyer three things - be sure to buy the number of points you realistically need; buy where you want to stay; and pay cash for your DVC. Otherwise, DVC will not be a satisfying and rewarding experience. You will be setting yourself up for frustration and disappointment, and you won't get any financial advantage from DVC.

I would politely disagree on all accounts.

Better to buy what you can afford and add-on later. We spent about 5 years in a borrowed mode--sometimes with ALL of our points borrowed from the next year. But after lowering our frequency of trips due to kids aging (can't get away as often as we used to) and buying some Californian points, too, we are now in a banked mode.

If OP can get by for 10 years with that borrowing plan, I see no reason not to do it. Hard telling if he/she will still be making the exact same trips 10 years down the road.

As for owning at a certain resort, I think the best approach is simply to avoid any resort which you do NOT like. 7 month availability is typically much better than the naysayers would lead one to believe.

If you have your heart set on a certain resort year-after-year, then by all means buy at that one resort. But those who wish to sample all the system has to offer are (IMO) foolish to pay more for Home resort booking privileges at any single destination.

As for the financing, again it depends a lot on the situation. Suffice it to say that even with interest, a DVC buyer still stands to save a LOT of money in the long run rather than paying cash for annual trips to Walt Disney World. There are certainly people who can afford $2k per year for a cash stay while not having the bankroll for a DVC purchase. I would hate to see those folks remain cash guests for years to come just because they can't write a check for $10k+ to pay in full.

 

[MaxsDad]

I have been borrowing points since I joined 4 years ago. Currently, my March 2011 points are used (Apr 2011 trip). I am considering going again in Sept 2011, which would likely exhaust my March 2012 points. That means I could not use my membership points from the time of that trip (Sept 2011) until March 1 2012, as I could then borrow from 2013's allotment. So that's just 6 months, which is our normal trip gap anyway.

But I have considered a smaller, discounted cash stay to try and "buffer" this pattern some. I dream of a big, lots-of-people, trip, and that will take more points than I can currently ....... abstain :shrug: .......from using ahead of time.

But to your question, another possibility is this: DVC currently offers people in your situation the oppurtunity purchase "rental" points from them for $15 per point to add to an existing vacation. (I have not done this, so I admittedly don't know all the ins and outs) That would mean $150 per trip, and you don't have to borrow. However, if you did that for 7 years, you could have purchased 10 points for that amount of rent. (excluding dues) Rental points are also available on the open market.

 

[dizzney]

We initially purchased at 220 at the BWV in '99 (with Disney) and when we got tot eh point we had to borrow points, we added on twice bringing us to 275, and then we pruchase 100 at BLT in '08 and with 375 we are comfortable and dont beleive we will need to borrow now. But we have found ourselves moving from a one bedroom to two bedroom on a normal basis, (19 year old son brings girlfriend makes 7 of us etc.)

So my advise is buy as much as you can affford if you anticipate borrowing points. You can always bank if you dont use them one yar and sue more the next. We already booked BWV for a family reunion in august with a two bedroom for ten nights and a studio for 6 of those nights. And I may need to add on there, and its ok becuase I can. And its a blast having a crowd down

 

[slappy magoo]

Better to buy what you can afford and add-on later.

I agree. Especially if you're not sure if you'll be going to WDW every single year. It would not be a bad thing to buy some points on the resale market, bank and/or borrow to amass the points you need for a trip any given year, then either use the money saved for vacations elsewhere (especially if they're places ill-served by RCI or any of the other timeshare companies that trade with DVC), or save up for more points if you think that will benefit you most.