We're having a 4th kid and will need to start doing 2 bedrooms. Thinking of buying a large Hilton / Vero contract...

[Dan Deesnee]

As the title suggests, we are going to have a 4th kid next year (oldest is 9) and we currently have 160 points at Bay Lake. We are thinking of buying a 300-350 point contract to Vero or Hilton head because they are so much cheaper per point. I know the dues are higher but we likely would sell both contracts within the next 8-10 years.

For anyone that has a contract at a resort they rarely, if ever stay at, how is your luck usually getting 2 bedrooms at the 7 month mark at the resort you want to stay at?

We (almost) always go between October and November and usually for 8-12 days. We also typically do split stays, sometimes switching resorts 3 times. It doesn't bother us and we like the variety!

 

[Seanual757]

So far never had an issue getting a 2 BR but honestly if you plan to sell in the next 8-10 years I would not even bother buying. I own 3 resorts we purchased them direct when they were new so we can take advantage of having a full 50 years. We have done 5 stays this year so far in 2 BR (AKL in March, OKW in July, SSR in late July, Riviera Labor Day Weekend, SSR last weekend, and VGF over Thanksgiving. Our homes are VGF, Poly, and RIviera. But in 5 years as DVC owners no issues getting a 2BR. I do think next year might be tough.

 

[richg35]

I agree with the above poster that buying now doesn't make a ton of sense if you are selling in 8-10 years. You may also get stuck with Vero and HH contracts that are less attractive on the resale market. Who knows what resale will look like then.

And all it takes is one hurricane for HH and Vero dues to balloon again due to special assessments.

2BR availability also highly depends on how many of them are dedicated 2BRs vs lockoff 2BRs at each resort. Since studios are generally the most popular room type, that quickly depletes the stock of lockoff 2BRs

 

[DisDadWoz]

Agree that if you plan on selling in next 8-10 years then buying HHI/Vero probably not what you want to go with.
Oct-Nov for 2 bedrooms can be done at the exact 7 month mark. However, don't expect much at Beach/Boardwalk due to food and wine at EPCOT.

 

[Dan Deesnee]

I'm not sure why you're both saying not to buy if you plan to sell in 8-10 years? Do you mean specifically if we were to buy Hilton / Vero?

 

[nickys]

If you want to stay at WDW then buy there. At least that way you can book with home resort advantage and switch.

 

[Mike730]

1BR are always the easiest to book. 2BR can be book 7 months out most of the time, but are often booked up on that day of 7 month availability. If you go this route and you have resort preferences, expect to need to know your vacation dates 7 months out. October and November is peak DVC time, as I’m sure you know. It may be more difficult during this time than the rest of the year.

The following are very common recommendations when buying DVC and assessing financial risk:
Buy with the expectation that you will never sell.
Buy at the resort you want to stay at.
If your intention is to use DVC primarily for WDW, at least buy on WDW property

Based on your outline, I wouldn’t consider an off-property contract. If you can’t afford to buy where you like to stay most, SSR and OKW are decent fallbacks.

 

[correcaminos]

I would not buy either to stay at WDW. The dues alone make them not worth it. I fear in the next few years it will be tight at WDW. Buy SSR over those two.

We do 2 bedrooms at 7 months and don't have many issues personally but we can at least book where we want at 11 months. Oct and Nov are harder to book than when we usually go though.

Also why do you plan to sell within 8 years?

 

[Dan Deesnee]

Thanks for the replies so far.

We plan to sell in 8-10 years because our 2 older kids will be late high school / starting college by then so our trips I imagine will slow down significantly for a while and when we do go it would likely be with just the 2 younger kids.

Also, I personally feel that in 8-10 years certain DVC resorts with 2042 expiration dates are going to start to see their resale values slide. By 2030 that only gives someone 12 years of usage. I know Old Key West was offered an extension but it still cost $15-25 per point to do that (about 20% of owners did it).

The dues at HH / Vero are definitely higher. We could afford a big contract at Saratoga / Old Key West so we might look into that.

 

[correcaminos]

Thanks for the replies so far.

We plan to sell in 8-10 years because our 2 older kids will be late high school / starting college by then so our trips I imagine will slow down significantly for a while and when we do go it would likely be with just the 2 younger kids.

Also, I personally feel that in 8-10 years certain DVC resorts with 2042 expiration dates are going to start to see their resale values slide. By 2030 that only gives someone 12 years of usage. I know Old Key West was offered an extension but it still cost $15-25 per point to do that (about 20% of owners did it).

The dues at HH / Vero are definitely higher. We could afford a big contract at Saratoga / Old Key West so we might look into that.

Until you have grandkids to take

OKW was extended and you had the joy of paying for it or having a quitclaim signed. I wonder when they will eventually come to us and either have us sign or pay. They lost our paperwork the 12-13 years ago that they did this.

 

[aliceismad]

When I ran numbers earlier this year, it was going to take that long or nearly that long just to break even, depending on resort, but of course YMMV. I was not considering in Vero/HH or 2 bedrooms, so the numbers may look very different for you.

 

[Dan Deesnee]

Appreciate the replies so far. We got really lucky when we bought 5 years ago. Someone listed they're 160 BLT cover for $81 dollars a point. So we didn't even consider break even points, etc.

We've used it for about 9 to 10 trips so far. We're now debating selling it for a very large profit and taking that money and rolling it into a larger contact somewhere cheaper. Problem is we'd lose our benefits like the discount and annual pass options.

 

[correcaminos]

Appreciate the replies so far. We got really lucky when we bought 5 years ago. Someone listed they're 160 BLT cover for $81 dollars a point. So we didn't even consider break even points, etc.

We've used it for about 9 to 10 trips so far. We're now debating selling it for a very large profit and taking that money and rolling it into a larger contact somewhere cheaper. Problem is we'd lose our benefits like the discount and annual pass options.

Larger contracts are much harder to sell. I wouldn't do one large contract personally. I wouldn't lose status for that too.