Which DVC resort to choose?

[ParentsOf4]

Financing timeshares I think end up in like 10-20% rates. Most financing providers know that most timeshares have no real value on the secondary market when compared to their original costs, so they don't want to be left holding the bag.

At times DVD has offered dirt cheap financing, not sure if they are now.

DVCNews.com published the following Disney financing rates on March 21:

Premium, 10% down: 11.5%
Premium, 20% down: 9.0%

Preferred, 10% down: 14.5%
Preferred, 20% down: 10.5%

Standard, 10% down: 17.5%
Standard, 20% down: 12.5%

 

[GoofGoof]

DVCNews.com published the following Disney financing rates on March 21:

Premium, 10% down: 11.5%
Premium, 20% down: 9.0%

Preferred, 10% down: 14.5%
Preferred, 20% down: 10.5%

Standard, 10% down: 17.5%
Standard, 20% down: 12.5%

Ouch!!!

That's pretty high. Can you buy DVC points with a credit card? The rates may be lower, especially if you just keep rolling the balance over into low interest rate cards with teaser rates.

 

[dreamfinder]

Ouch!!!

That's pretty high. Can you buy DVC points with a credit card? The rates may be lower, especially if you just keep rolling the balance over into low interest rate cards with teaser rates.

Personally, even if they would let you, if that was the situation, I wouldn't bother. Your credit score would end up taking a pretty nasty ding by opening and reopening new lines of credit every 6-12 months. That's assuming you can even get approved after doing it 3 or 4 times.

Unfortunately in many cases, having to finance DVC takes it from a great deal over the lifetime of the points down to an ok deal if you use it properly. I think it ends up doubling the breakeven point in most cases? Not to mention that to get the apparently only slightly lower DVD finance rates right now you could end up paying double the resale cost on the point.

 

[BCVTalsJam]

Buy where you want to stay...don't buy at Saratoga hoping to switch into Beach Club at seven month window.

We own at Beach Club and love it.

 

[goodanu]

Buy where you want to stay...don't buy at Saratoga hoping to switch into Beach Club at seven month window.

We own at Beach Club and love it.

Not always true....we own at SSR and are staying at beach club for nine days over the fourth of July week.
Called at the seven month mark and had a choice of BWV or BCV one bedroom.

 

[BCVTalsJam]

Not always true....we own at SSR and are staying at beach club for nine days over the fourth of July week.
Called at the seven month mark and had a choice of BWV or BCV one bedroom.

Well yea one bedrooms are available but not a studio. If your looking to stay in a studio it is very difficult to switch especially at BCV and BWV. Try doing that around food and wine... Lol Studios are the first things to go. Not saying its impossible just saying difficult. I meant don't buy at one resort cause its cheaper points and expect to switch at the seven month window and always get what you want...

 

[ParentsOf4]

Not always true....we own at SSR and are staying at beach club for nine days over the fourth of July week.
Called at the seven month mark and had a choice of BWV or BCV one bedroom.

How come I never read about BCV and BWV members calling at the 7-month window so they can book SSR?

@BCVTalsJam offered the best advice; buy where you want to stay.

 

[WWWD]

What everyone does is their own business, but for what it's worth, when I was looking to purchase DVC I received some great advice by reading these boards. When people say buy where you want to stay, they are probably speaking from experience. I want to make one phone call (or on-line reservation) and be done. Among other things, my choice of ADR's might be effected if I'm still wait listing on where I'm staying.

If you absolutely have to finance, be smart about it. I would never finance a car at 9% so I wouldn't finance future vacations that way.

Never buy DVC after a tour or after a recent stay - it's very easy to want to become a member of the club. Go home and sit on it for awhile.

Buy DVC for DVC vacations, not cruises, RCI exchanges, etc.

 

[MaxsDad]

Most resorts have some advantage to home resort ownership. At AKV, you have one the lowest point requirements in the value size rooms. These book pretty quickly. Even faster is the Club Level rooms, with only 5 lock offs total. I have found members can book regular AKV rooms at 7 months pretty often. I have never heard of someone not being able to book SSR, ever.

I bought AKV because when I first stayed at AKL, I feel in love with the place. If I could not get another resort at 7 months, and "had" to stay at AKV, I would be more than OK with that. That is an important factor in where you buy.

Have I been able to book the low inventory/high demand resorts at 7 months or less? Yes.

 

[GoofGoof]

What everyone does is their own business, but for what it's worth, when I was looking to purchase DVC I received some great advice by reading these boards. When people say buy where you want to stay, they are probably speaking from experience. I want to make one phone call (or on-line reservation) and be done. Among other things, my choice of ADR's might be effected if I'm still wait listing on where I'm staying.

If you absolutely have to finance, be smart about it. I would never finance a car at 9% so I wouldn't finance future vacations that way.

Never buy DVC after a tour or after a recent stay - it's very easy to want to become a member of the club. Go home and sit on it for awhile.

Buy DVC for DVC vacations, not cruises, RCI exchanges, etc.

Really good post.

Especially the last 2 points. Like going to the car lot, always walk away and if the deal still seems good go back.

If you really want to trade in a timeshare through RCI there are much better deals out there. I would even consider buying a smaller DVC contract and then another timeshare to trade in vs buying extra DVC points to trade in through RCI. Not a good deal for trading in at all.

 

[sxeensweet]

Ouch!!!

That's pretty high. Can you buy DVC points with a credit card? The rates may be lower, especially if you just keep rolling the balance over into low interest rate cards with teaser rates.

Ouch!!!

That's pretty high. Can you buy DVC points with a credit card? The rates may be lower, especially if you just keep rolling the balance over into low interest rate cards with teaser rates.

Yes u can get credit card maybe with lower rates...these days they are hard to come by unless u already have a low rate of which they can raise at anytime even if you have a fixed rate and never defaulted. We have good credit and they have done it to us and doubled our interest rate for NO REASON! We usually call and I they don't fix it being we are good customers we have closed the cards to keep paying at the lower rate. Also you usually have transfer fees when moving to another card of 3% or more to get the 0% or really low lifetime rates. Also a loan is always fixed rate and you will pay less in the long run than credit cards even with a slightly higher rate. Credit cards are never safe to put a large sum on and try to pay them off. Any financial person will tell you this same advice. Credit cards have screwed us eventhough we were PERFECT CUSTOMERS!! In the fine print it always says they can change even your fixed rate at any time as they please but you can always close the card and opt out which we have done.

 

[goodanu]

Well yea one bedrooms are available but not a studio. If your looking to stay in a studio it is very difficult to switch especially at BCV and BWV. Try doing that around food and wine... Lol Studios are the first things to go. Not saying its impossible just saying difficult. I meant don't buy at one resort cause its cheaper points and expect to switch at the seven month window and always get what you want...

Sure, the best advice is to buy where you want to stay. You can also look at it as buy where you don't mind staying. All I was saying is that for me this year, we booked the busiest week of the summer with no issues at seven months as non owners at beach club. I did not mean to imply that your statement was wrong, but simply stating my experience. Yes, studios are harder to book, but if your willing to pay( point wise) it can be done. We only travel during summer times and we have yet to stay at SSR. So for me, so far this has worked.

 

[goodanu]

How come I never read about BCV and BWV members calling at the 7-month window so they can book SSR?

@BCVTalsJam offered the best advice; buy where you want to stay.

No need for the wise crack pal......I simply stated my experience for my reservation this summer.

 

[BCVTalsJam]

How come I never read about BCV and BWV members calling at the 7-month window so they can book SSR?

@BCVTalsJam offered the best advice; buy where you want to stay.

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How come I never read about BCV and BWV members calling at the 7-month window so they can book SSR?

@BCVTalsJam offered the best advice; buy where you want to stay.

I know I have seen that post a lot which is why I always suggest this...beautiful resort at SSR but the way it's set up and where it's located is not my cup of tea. But i can see why people love it...I would rather be closer to the parks but for people who love downtown its amazing. Either way I think for personal preference buy where you want to stay because it might not work out they way you always need it to...from personal experience.

 

[GoofGoof]

Personally, even if they would let you, if that was the situation, I wouldn't bother. Your credit score would end up taking a pretty nasty ding by opening and reopening new lines of credit every 6-12 months. That's assuming you can even get approved after doing it 3 or 4 times.

Unfortunately in many cases, having to finance DVC takes it from a great deal over the lifetime of the points down to an ok deal if you use it properly. I think it ends up doubling the breakeven point in most cases? Not to mention that to get the apparently only slightly lower DVD finance rates right now you could end up paying double the resale cost on the point.

Yes u can get credit card maybe with lower rates...these days they are hard to come by unless u already have a low rate of which they can raise at anytime even if you have a fixed rate and never defaulted. We have good credit and they have done it to us and doubled our interest rate for NO REASON! We usually call and I they don't fix it being we are good customers we have closed the cards to keep paying at the lower rate. Also you usually have transfer fees when moving to another card of 3% or more to get the 0% or really low lifetime rates. Also a loan is always fixed rate and you will pay less in the long run than credit cards even with a slightly higher rate. Credit cards are never safe to put a large sum on and try to pay them off. Any financial person will tell you this same advice. Credit cards have screwed us eventhough we were PERFECT CUSTOMERS!! In the fine print it always says they can change even your fixed rate at any time as they please but you can always close the card and opt out which we have done.

I agree with both of you. I was just curious if it was possible. I wouldn't actually advise someone to do that, but the rates are pretty crazy especially considering how low mortgage rates have dropped. I know the timeshare isn't as valuable as a house as collateral, but it seems they are probably making quite a nice profit from that rate.

 

[GoofGoof]

Sure, the best advice is to buy where you want to stay. You can also look at it as buy where you don't mind staying. All I was saying is that for me this year, we booked the busiest week of the summer with no issues at seven months as non owners at beach club. I did not mean to imply that your statement was wrong, but simply stating my experience. Yes, studios are harder to book, but if your willing to pay( point wise) it can be done. We only travel during summer times and we have yet to stay at SSR. So for me, so far this has worked.

I would agree with this. If you have a preference but really don't mind staying at any of the resorts it really doesn't matter where you own. SSR has the best combo of low dues and low per point buy in price.

If you know you want to mostly stay at a popular place like BLT or you know you want to stay at an EPCOT resort frequently for F&W buy where you want to stay. It's possible to trade in at the 7 month window most places, but its also possible that you get wait listed. If you want to avoid the stresses of hoping that you get what you want on a trade in, just buy where you want.

 

[dreamfinder]

...but the rates are pretty crazy especially considering how low mortgage rates have dropped. I know the timeshare isn't as valuable as a house as collateral, but it seems they are probably making quite a nice profit from that rate.

It's all about the risk and reward. If a mortgage lender needs to forclose on a house, odds are they should be able to recoup a large portion (if not all of) the outstanding debt on the mortgage. (With the exception of this f'ed up housing market with some regions of the country worth 20%+ less than what they were 5 years ago) If they need to forclose on a normal timeshare, they would be lucky to get 5-10% back, at that. A quick check of eBay pulled up plenty of timeshares just outside the WDW gates selling for less than 1% of their initial selling price. Heck, there are some in Kissimee, you can BIN a week for $19, no closing costs, and the seller will throw in a $100 Visa gift card.

Bank sees timeshare, they don't really care that DVC can get 50% back with no trouble.

 

[Jim Chandler]

Does not matter where you buy it just does not matter. You can stay where ever you want the points required is the difference. If you camp it is 46 points a night if you do GF it is 99 per night.
Be more concerned of how many you think you will need each yr. If you think a Safari might be in your plans then you need more points than staying a week at SSR.
GF can be 54 to 130 per night depending on when.
A week in the SW is 450 per person for a week
Yes the BC is nice and one of the ones you need fewer points.
Your plans your points your financing

BTW we used credit cards but paid off when bill came in.

 

[GoofGoof]

It's all about the risk and reward. If a mortgage lender needs to forclose on a house, odds are they should be able to recoup a large portion (if not all of) the outstanding debt on the mortgage. (With the exception of this f'ed up housing market with some regions of the country worth 20%+ less than what they were 5 years ago) If they need to forclose on a normal timeshare, they would be lucky to get 5-10% back, at that. A quick check of eBay pulled up plenty of timeshares just outside the WDW gates selling for less than 1% of their initial selling price. Heck, there are some in Kissimee, you can BIN a week for $19, no closing costs, and the seller will throw in a $100 Visa gift card.

Bank sees timeshare, they don't really care that DVC can get 50% back with no trouble.

Agreed 100% on a regular timeshare. The loan is pretty much the same as a personal loan with no collateral. Still my bank offers a personal loan at 9.5% with nothing but my word posted as collateral.

With DVC if someone defaults on a loan and the points go back to Disney chances are they will resell them for more than the loan balance which at most will be 80% of the original selling price and could be a lot less depending on how many years of payments were made. Recent reports are that the older resorts have a wait list to buy direct from Disney so it's not like they have to hold the points long.

 

[dreamfinder]

With DVC if someone defaults on a loan and the points go back to Disney chances are they will resell them for more than the loan balance which at most will be 80% of the original selling price and could be a lot less depending on how many years of payments were made. Recent reports are that the older resorts have a wait list to buy direct from Disney so it's not like they have to hold the points long.

And that was one of the reasons why they used to offer dirt cheap financing. They had nothing to lose as they could just reclaim the points and resell them. Odds are the yearly payments more than covered the use for the year, so no real loss to DVC.