Is a Membership In DVC worth all the money?

[patelaine1953]

Dues (approximately $500 - $600 per year) cover maintenance, taxes, etc. The portion that covers taxes can be deducted on federal income taxes. Also, if you finance, you can deduct mortgage payments on income taxes because this is considered a second home. There is no penalty for early payoff. The DVC would cost you less than a new car. We purchased at Boardwalk and only got 40 years. Saratoga Springs is for 50 years. It can be sold, the points rented to someone else for the year, or left to family in your will should anything happen to you before the years are up. My husband and I will be in our 90's when our 40 years are up but we purchased anyway because we can leave it to our kids. Let them fight over who uses points when.

 

[PhilharMagician]

I'm so glad someone posted this. I have been wondering the same thing for about two years. The whole concept seems a bit confusing to me. Perhaps you all can help me understand a few things!

1) What are the "maintenance" fees? Some have said they spend about $500 per year / trip in maintenance fees, what does this include?

2) Are your park tickets included in being a DVC member, or do you have to pay for park tickets each time you visit?

3) If I were to get into DVC today, I assume I would have to go with Saratago Springs. If Saratago Springs is my "home resort", does that mean I have to stay there? What if I want to just stay in a normal room at the Polynesian or Coronado Springs, for example. Can I do this?

I'm sure I'll have some more questions, hope someone can shed some light for me!

Thanks!

1)your maintenance fees are dependant on how many points you own.

2) No, your tickets are totally separate. You do however get discounts on you passes. You also get 10% - 20% off of merchandise and food at specific locations along with many other perks.

3) Yes, you can stay at any Disney resort. It is however less points to stay at a DVC resort than a Non-DVC Disney resort. So use wisely.

The best thing to do is call DVC and have them send you a video and information on it.

Good luck.

 

[drknow77]

I guess I just don't see the savings involved for the DVC. You start out with a $10-$18K payment. Then, you make about $500-$600 maintenance payments per year. You still have to pay for airline, park tickets and food accommodations for each visit.

For a family of two (me and my wife), it seems better to just buy an AP and get large discounts on DW hotels. Am I missing something?

 

[phlydude]

YES YES YES.......im leaving it at that

No offense but...
Dude, your 16 years old. When you get about 10 more years under your belt, we'll see if your view has changed. I understand your parents might be members but I couldn't understand the intricacies of this at your age and I doubt you understand what is fully involved with the purchase of one of these.

Thanks for your input though.

 

[phlydude]

I guess I just don't see the savings involved for the DVC. You start out with a $10-$18K payment. Then, you make about $500-$600 maintenance payments per year. You still have to pay for airline, park tickets and food accommodations for each visit.

For a family of two (me and my wife), it seems better to just buy an AP and get large discounts on DW hotels. Am I missing something?

That's what I was thinking but I was also pondering that in 30 years from now, a week at WDW resort might cost you 15-20k. So you will be making out in the long run if inflation stays it's course

 

[phlydude]

1)your maintenance fees are dependant on how many points you own.

2) No, your tickets are totally separate. You do however get discounts on you passes. You also get 10% - 20% off of merchandise and food at specific locations along with many other perks.

3) Yes, you can stay at any Disney resort. It is however less points to stay at a DVC resort than a Non-DVC Disney resort. So use wisely.

The best thing to do is call DVC and have them send you a video and information on it.

Good luck.

I got the video, it didn't help!!

I am leary about meeting with the sales rep because this is a vacation and I don't want to get stuck for hours try to say no while this guy/gal pulls a hundred rebuttals from everywhere.

Has anyone bought their DVC from someone private (non-Disney)>?

 

[WDWScottieBoy]

As many people have posted, you don't have to stay at WDW every year. just because it is DVC, that doesn't mean it's strictly Disney. You can stay at hunderds of resorts around the world. Don't feel like taking a vacation one year, bank your points and save them for next year and you can have twice the vacation. As far as how long you get it, if you buy into SSR, you get the 50 year membership. Don't think you'll be around that long, just put your children's name on the membership with you or in your will and they can get it too. I deffinitely think it is worth it. Now, if only I can get my parents to see my point of view and let them know it is well worth it. If they don't do it soon, I'm going to. Although I'm only 18, how old do you have to be to do this, because I'm really serious about doing it if they don't.

 

[cloudboy]

Are the points cost per room guaranteed for the time youw own the share, or can they change that? Can they also change the maintenance costs? My big fear is that that is where they are going to hit you - those fees can climb dramatically.

What about getting reservations? If you aren't the type who can plan a vacation ahead more than 3 weeks out, are you stuck in that you will never be able to find a room?

And I know this is a negative way of puttin git, but what if Disney were to be bought out by someone - what happens to it then? This happened to my parents with a campground vacation share. And they lost everythign and not a thing they could do about it.

 

[Woody13]

Before you sign, make sure that you know what you're buying. Most domestic timeshares nowadays give you a deed to the property. That means you own it and can bequeath it to your heirs. But anywhere outside the U.S., you may simply get a right-to-use certificate, because foreigners are generally not allowed to hold deeded ownership. In Aruba, for instance, Marriott timeshare owners have 60 years in which to ''use'' their purchased vacation before the agreement expires. Similarly, Disney gives all timeshare buyers a deeded real estate interest that expires in 2042.

Make the assumption that you’re going to lose 50% of the value over 10 years. Add that to the time value of money. Then add the annual fees—maintenance and refurbishment," says J. Michael Martin, an attorney and CFP licensee who is president of Financial Advantage in Columbia, Md. "Then ask, how does that compare to two weeks at a comparable hotel? If the numbers are close, I wouldn’t do it. I’d only do it if it’s cheaper."

I think that we all agree that the DVC timeshare program ends in the year 2042 (with the exception of the new Saratoga Springs DVC). Does anyone disagree with that statement? Next, the DVC is not a fee simple purchase of property. In other words, you don't really own any property. While the DVC gives you a "deeded" real estate interest, in fact this is just really a right to use certificate. In effect you have a long term lease.

For the sake of this discussion let's assume that you purchased a DVC membership in 2002. You paid $84.00 per point and bought 150 points. In order to come to the point, I won't complicate the deal with finance charges or maintenance fees. I'll just stick with the initial $12,600 cost. What happens to that cost after the first year? Does it increase in value, stay the same or diminish in valve? Well, I think it would be fair to say that since 1 year of the lease is gone (39 years left) that the value of that DVC membership has decreased by 2.5% (1/40th) or $12.00. Following the law of diminishing returns it is obvious that the value decreases by 25% per decade. Obviously, the lease is only valid for 40 years, so in the year 2042 the lease has no value. However, in the real world, fiscal policy is not so bright.

In reality, the value of any and all DVC memberships purchased during 2002 will fall by 50% during the first ten years (average 5% per year) . During the next ten years they will fall by another 25% (i.e. 2.5% per year) and during the next 20 years they will decline at the rate of 1.25% per year. The money in timeshares is made in sales and resale's, not in maintenance contracts. The DVC wants to turn these properties over (resell) in a 10 to 15 or 20 year timeframe. That's where they make their money. For those of you that have a house mortgage or an auto loan, pull out the paperwork one day and look at the principle and interest figures. During the first years of the loan, the only significant sum you are paying is interest. The principle is the last to be repaid. The DVC knows that less than 22% of all buyers will ever hold their memberships for longer than 20 years. The attrition rate for DVC memberships since 1991 is currently 38%. That creates a healthy resale business and great refinancing profits!

Why is the attrition rate 38%? Because (as was pointed out by Yellow Shoes) life situations change.

I still haven't answered the question concerning the "extra" ten years. Why would the DVC lease the property (Saratoga Springs) for 60 years yet only lease it to the public (buyers) for 50 years? Now put your thinking caps on! I know you can figure this one out for yourselves.

So, what's the bottom line? In all cases, the DVC is not an investment, but rather a very expensive timeshare. You can do much better by renting DVC points from current members or (as was suggested by several people) buy a house near WDW.

Good luck!

 

[phlydude]

Wow Woody! Thanks for the info!!

 

[DisneyPhD]

I find that most of the time the negitive comments on DVC come from people who are not DVC members and don't have all the facts right (a point proven on this thread so far.)

For us (a couple in their 30's with almost 2 kids and who like to go to WDW at least once a year) DVC is right. I wish we would of bought when we 1st started going to WDW (1996 as a young married couple still in school.) However we couldn't then, we didn't have a house yet and other expenses needed to be paid 1st. We currenlty own 170 points at VWL bought in 2002. We have been to 4 DVC trips since then. (Paid on Visa to get points, no loan.) We wish we had more points, at BCV instead, but we make due with what we got. In fact right as we were about to do an add on I was laid off work and learned I was pregnant. This stopped us from gettting an add on, but not from taking our vacations. But already owning DVC locked in our vacations, making me not working such a bad thing.

As stated DVC rooms are better then normal Deluxe rooms (even the studio, the least points, we tend to stay there to strech our points.) Yes,you need other expenses (air fair, tickets, spending money etc..) but you are going to need that no mater what. You can bank, borrow and rent your points, you don't have to every year. You can go to other places, inculding 2 great beach resorts that are DVC, Hiton Head Island and Vero Beach. (you don't need tickets for that.) The rooms save you money on food having a kicthen (ton's of money just on drinks and snacks, you don't need to cook in them.) You can use your points for the cruise ships.

If you have questions call DVC and talk to a guide, get all the facts. If you don't want SSR buy resale, you still can do that (if we do an add on we will.) Go to www.disboards.com and look at the DVC forem. It has well over a 1,000 very active DVC members who know it all and are really helpful. It also has a link to the timeshare store for resales.

DVC is a great thing, the real question is "Is it for you?". It was for us. Do you love WDW, want to go at least every other year? Do you want to stay at nice deluxe accomadations with a kicthen and washer and dryer on property? Can you afford the buy in (the hardest part, all the rest is easy.) Do you want felxible vacations when you are not locked into a certian time or place, or can give them away to others if you want one year? If the answer is yes, look into it carefully. If not just go year from year. We are really happy we joined.

BTW, you can't do better renting points. We pay about 5$ per point, add it all up and divide over 40 years. It cost 10$ per point on average to rent. You may do better with codes, but there is no promises on that and codes are often not released until a few months before you go. Making planning ahead difficult.

 

[PhilharMagician]

Make the assumption that you’re going to lose 50% of the value over 10 years. Add that to the time value of money. Then add the annual fees—maintenance and refurbishment," says J. Michael Martin, an attorney and CFP licensee who is president of Financial Advantage in Columbia, Md. "Then ask, how does that compare to two weeks at a comparable hotel? If the numbers are close, I wouldn’t do it. I’d only do it if it’s cheaper."

Woody,
Why do resales for OKW sell for the same value as the Boardwalk or Beach Club which are new resorts? The resales are averaging from $70.00 - $76.00 per point for these resorts . I paid $79.00 per point for SSR last October and now current new sales are @ $95.00 per point. Unless the bottom falls out of time shares I will be standing in a good position in 10 years.

I just don't know how you can loose 50%. :brick:

 

[HMGhost13]

I've recently bought into the time share.

i was 19 years old when i did it.

have i taken a trip since then? no...no i haven't. why? well, one time restraints couldn't until february (due to the deal) also, a planned trip in september to go to the animal kingdom lodge, using both, my parents points and my points.

do i regret this? no. i don't. because i know, once i get the chance i can go whenever i want to go. heck, even my dad and i were planning on a trip in january of next year.

will i ever get married? heck if i know. will i have kids? don't know either. but does it matter to me? no.

when the last kid moves out of our house, my parents will STILL own in the DVC. my parents will STILL goto WDW without the kids. why? because they enjoy it. THAT'S why they go. they go to do the one thing most people don't do in WDW: relax. my dad's very comfortable doing about 10-15 rides all week and relax in Boardwalk reading a book.

but, eh...what do i know? i'm only 20....

 

[celticdog]

I got the video, it didn't help!!

I am leary about meeting with the sales rep because this is a vacation and I don't want to get stuck for hours try to say no while this guy/gal pulls a hundred rebuttals from everywhere.

We actually sat through the DVC presentation at the Hilton Head resort. The sales agent was very nice, non-confrontational, and she did not give us the "full court press". The meeting was very informational and it was relatively easy to walk away. We found that for just the two of us it was not a good deal. The biggest negative about the program was the ability of the maintenance fee to go up. This was a variable hidden cost that I did not want take on.

The DVC program was explained to me in an unusual manner. I was told to think of the DVC timshare as a "vacation program". This is a service which you are purchasing for 30/40/50 years. In 30/40/50 years, the program just ends.

 

[WDWScottieBoy]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Woody13

Make the assumption that you’re going to lose 50% of the value over 10 years. Add that to the time value of money. Then add the annual fees—maintenance and refurbishment," says J. Michael Martin, an attorney and CFP licensee who is president of Financial Advantage in Columbia, Md. "Then ask, how does that compare to two weeks at a comparable hotel? If the numbers are close, I wouldn’t do it. I’d only do it if it’s cheaper."


Woody, from everything I've read, most of the places go up in price and that it's not a depreciation thing but rather an appreciation in value. I don't see DVC losing 50% the whole time you're in it. Making money 50%, now that I can see. As for saying you'd only do it if it were cheaper, can you go to WDW every year for only $500-$700 for 14 days a year for the next 50 years? I don't think it gets any cheaper than that, but that's IMHO. I'm all for the DVC and don't agree with anyone that's against it because I feel it's the greatest timeshare anyone has to offer and the value can't be beat. Again, that's just me. Please don't jump me for going against anyone, I'm just voicing my opinion on here.

 

[PhilharMagician]

I got the video, it didn't help!!

I am leary about meeting with the sales rep because this is a vacation and I don't want to get stuck for hours try to say no while this guy/gal pulls a hundred rebuttals from everywhere.

Has anyone bought their DVC from someone private (non-Disney)>?

I said the same thing about meeting with a sales rep. I was on vacation and did not want to get bothered. Let me tell you what my experience was like.
We were picked up at our resort in a DVC van and driven to the Boardwalk to the DVC office. We walked in the door and the person was great with my daughter. They offered us snacks and juice or coffee while we waited a minute for the sales rep to come out. The sales rep joined us in the waiting room where we talked for a few minutes. At this point we went to go into the back into one of there conferance rooms. On the way we dropped our daughter off at a daycare center set-up for the kids. There was 3 adults running it and about 6 kids in the room doing puzzles, reading books, playing video game coloring. It was amazing! So we left my daughter and went to the conferance room to talk. He explained how DVC works and we went to look at the demo rooms to see the layouts and feel of a DVC room (it is differant). Now back to the conferance room and we were given information on DVC to take with us and he answered all of our questions. We picked up our daughter which had an awsome time at the daycare. We went to leave and we were given passes for a free lunch almost anywhere on the property for the 3 of us and my daughter was given a bag of cotton candy. They called for a van and it picks you up and will take you where ever you want to or back to your resort. All together it took about 1:15.
Not at anytime were we pressured. After the presentation I said I would not make any decisions for at least a week so I can read through all the info and make the best decision for me. IMHO it is a great vaction program. Do not hesitate!! Set up a meeting and get the info yourself and make the best decision for you and your family.

 

[Mickifan17]

I'll try to keep it short and simple since some of these posts are getting quite lengthy...blah, blah, blah, blah.

I bought mine as a single guy about 10 years ago with my brother. I have since added more points, bought out his share, gotten married and have 2 kids. IT IS THE BEST THING I EVER DID!!!

My dues are deducted automatically from my checking account each month so it's not one lump sum at the end of the year. They started out at about $70/month and they are now about $90/month, but I have 300 points! That is higher than most time shares, but considering how often I get to go to WDW, it's a bargain. I was able to finance the cost which has been paid off for many years now. I'm taking my third trip within 10 months in October. HOW CAN YOU BEAT THAT?

Like someone else said, you still have to pay for airfare, park passes and food, so what's the big deal? My children will be able to bring their children so the Magic will be in my family for many years to come.

Only 101 more days 'til I'm home :sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy:

 

[Youvegotafriend]

Look into DVC before buying

I just recently came back from Disney in April and after going to Disney almost every other year, thought it was time to look into DVC. I think the concept is
great, however, it just doesn't work for our family. One thing we have done to
make our Disney vacation more memorable, is to stay at a different resort every time, so the thought of having a "home" resort isn't appealing. I know you have the opportunity to swap into other resorts, but given the amount of DVC'ers I
would be curious how easy that actually is. Something we tried this year was
the Silver Dream Maker plan. This was wonderful, as we had most meals covered
with the package. Granted, if you compared costs, the DVC probably is less expensive, but what a wonderful vacation with the Silver Dream Maker is!

So, I would suggest to read thoroughly everything you can about the DVC,
especially these pages, as there is a lot of important information. As for me,
I will be taking my family in 2006, on a Silver Plan, possibly staying at the Beach
Club!

 

[Mickifan17]

Oh, I almost forgot. The DVC reps are unbelievably nice and not pushy at all. Next time you are in WDW, ask to set up a metting to discuss it.

And bring your checkbook. You'll need it and should do it.

 

[PhilharMagician]

I just recently came back from Disney in April and after going to Disney almost every other year, thought it was time to look into DVC. I think the concept is
great, however, it just doesn't work for our family. One thing we have done to
make our Disney vacation more memorable, is to stay at a different resort every time, so the thought of having a "home" resort isn't appealing. I know you have the opportunity to swap into other resorts, but given the amount of DVC'ers I
would be curious how easy that actually is. Something we tried this year was
the Silver Dream Maker plan. This was wonderful, as we had most meals covered
with the package. Granted, if you compared costs, the DVC probably is less expensive, but what a wonderful vacation with the Silver Dream Maker is!

So, I would suggest to read thoroughly everything you can about the DVC,
especially these pages, as there is a lot of important information. As for me,
I will be taking my family in 2006, on a Silver Plan, possibly staying at the Beach
Club!

You are right about the home resort. The only thing a home resort gives you is that you can make reservations 11 months out, giving you first dibs on rooms before anyone else. Now you can make reservatinos at any other DVC resort 7 months out just by calling DVC. It is that easy. I believe you can make reservations for the non-DVC Disney resorts much farther out, but I do not know the exact time frame. :wave: