Comparison Help Please

[DM275011]

Hi
We are seriously looking at buying into DVC but want to compare with other properties outside Disney. What other, similar, timeshares should I be looking at?

[Dr.JumbaJookiba]

I don't think many can compare, you have the flexibility of the point system and the fact that all resorts are on property. I own at three DVC resorts purely to stay in the WDW bubble.

[2point]

I think the Timeshare Users Group would be a good place to start.

tug2

I briefly looked at the other options but decided Disney was the one we were joining. The variation from the 'good' to the 'bad' is huge. A quick glance at the resale prices will give a fair idea of which are which, eg, Westgate Resorts - you can buy for a $. Don't touch with a bargepole.

[Br'er Bear]

Originally Posted by DM275011

Hi
We are seriously looking at buying into DVC but want to compare with other properties outside Disney. What other, similar, timeshares should I be looking at?

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While you are right to seek out and make comparison's with other timeshares I think you will quickly discover that no other company comes close, even the well known brand names of Hilton Grand Vacations and the Marriott Vacation Club.

If you do decide that DVC is for you then I would suggest you first treat each DVC resort as a standalone timeshare. The reason I say that, is that while all of the resorts can be a way of saving over a cash booking some can be looked at as a medium to long-term investment due to their deed expiration date.

So possibly consider discounting those ending in 2042 even though that includes the likes of BCV and although at $1 per point more in annual dues consider AKV 2057 over SSR 2054 mainly because AKV has club level and the lower value rooms starting at 7-points per night in 2022 while SSR starts at 10-points.

If you sell in 10-years time then there will still be 27-years remaining on the deed so it's resell price will still be high. Consider that OKW 2042 current resell value is not a lot different than AKV but that won't be the case in 2031 with just 11-OKW deed years remaining.

Also, do you have some extra spare cash that's earning little to no interest which can be invested for 10-years, if so consider buying up to twice as many points than you require, the extra being for renting which at $16 a point in 2021 will pay for all your dues, so basically you've locked in at today's currency and paid up front for all your future dues.

And if you did sell in 10-years time then while your initial outlay might be worth around the same as selling, consider that you've experienced an initial return of $16 on a AKV $110 per point investment which works out at a 14.5% return. But as you are only using half of the points for yourself then that's more like a 7.25% rate of return. Obviously need to consider selling cost and inflation but it is a way of almost having free accommodation at Disney over the next 10-years.

Good luck in your choice.

[KarenG]

This is a very out of date example.

But when we first bought in 2003 we paid about £6k for 150 SSR points. Our friends bought at Sheraton Vistana for about £2k.

Over the years the dues have been been broadly similar but they stay in a two bed unit compared to us in a studio.

This is just one example and I don’t know what the figures now look like, but it seems to support the age old argument of ‘on-site location in small units is still more expensive than off site big units’.

But that said the buy in cost differential over many years of ownership becomes less important, the ongoing cost of dues more so.

Are you an on-site or off site preferrer? That would drive my decision

[tigger48]

OP if you don’t mind me asking why particularly are you looking at DVC? If you’re looking to stay closest to Disney with transport etc included, and be in the bubble, then there is no viable alternative imho. If that’s you then take your time and research which resort you want to call home, and understand use year etc etc, and seriously consider resale as that’s where the savings are.
However, we have also owned another points based timeshare 😮 now for > 20years which we’ve used many times, all over the world as well as in Florida (before our DVC purchase). As KarenG says we typically would stay in a huge 2 bed 2 bath apartment on the non Disney complex for our annual points e.g. Grande Villas in LBV. Our non DVC has gone through several name changes in that time, but the points required for stays and seasons have remained static. If our non Disney timeshare folded tomorrow, it owes us nothing. There isn’t really a resale market for it, but by now that doesn’t matter to us. In Covid times we also have relatively easy UK/Europe options that we could use our points on without an exchange fee, plus access to a wider exchange network.
DVC on the other hand does have a resale value. However, in just the few years since we initially bought direct (& later added on resale) DVC has adjusted the points charts and seasons significantly. Their behaviour hasn’t felt like the “gold standard” of ‘timeshare’. BUT honestly we bought DVC to stay onsite and are building a points cushion to ensure changes in values aren’t a problem. We didn’t pay the DVC premium to swap out to RCI as we’ve had to this year. If onsite is where your family want to be then yes, there’s a premium to be paid and for the annual points you are looking at smaller units than offsite but then the same is true of cash stays.
It’s a personal decision. Good luck with your research, there are many much more knowledgeable DVCers on here than me.

[DM275011]

Thank you all for your responses, it is all excellent advice. We have more to think about. We have been going annually for the last 25 years (with the exception of this year!) and tend to mix between on and off site. We are now in the position to think about investing in something that will give us a holiday for the next, however many years. Driving isn't a problem for me out there (I actually quite enjoy it!) but I think DVC is probably the way for us to go!

[YorkshireT]

Disney is the only Timeshare you will likely get a good chunk of change back if you come to sell, in fact many of us have made money including myself who was a relative latecomer to the party, although prices expanded so much from around 2016 those easy big gains are not quite so likely now. I bought one contract in 2016, rented out some banked points and made a good few thousand in rental income, had two trips and could have sold for around 15% clear profit after fees in 2018. In effect I was being paid to go to Disney, although I hit that one just right.

I have been going to Disney since 1991, and for many years stayed off site. I’d seen DVC in parks and thought ‘Dodgy timeshare’. In the early days I certainly did not have the money to buy in.

Then in 2011 I went to Hilton Head Island and stayed at Palmetto Dunes. There was a fantastic looking Disney Hotel across the road- I couldn’t work out why I had never heard of it. Then I realised it was DVC and that piqued my interest.

By now we had also started staying on site at Disney with the kids and I loved it. I could see the benefits of on-site I had never appreciated before. And loved OKW.

So I started looking at it seriously, and worked out it was actually a ‘no brainier’ on the figures and what back then I could pick a contract up at. I also foresaw little risk.

Another issue is rental ability. In normal times demand outstrips supply for points rental so you can actually make a great return. And if you have the property with your partner, you can each receive (so I understand from a post on here) £1000 tax free income pa on this. So on say a 150 point contract you should be able to clear about £900 in profit a year after dues depending on resort. Given such a contract at Saratoga say will cost about £12000, that’s actually not a bad rate of return.

Then again Fauchi was on the news last night saying that by Spring businesses would be operating normally again mostly and by Autumn Corona will be just a bad memory so demand for places like Disney may then go through the roof.

Other timeshares have nice properties, you’ll often see people rightly singing the praises of the likes of Hilton Grand Vacations. But they do not have the benefit of either the World’s biggest tourist attraction right outside, or the savings over often ridiculous cash prices Disney charge (particularly in Season which is not summer, but times like Christmas).

Whilst these other timeshares may be a lot cheaper to buy upfront, you’ll almost certainly lose a lot more money on them and overall costs will be higher than a good DVC contract- particularly if you go resale.

My advice is to research at least 2 months (I did 6), look at availability at 7 months charts (Skier Pete on Disboards) think about how you will use it, remember it’s a luxury purchase and only buy if you have the spare cash, expect to lose some money when you sell despite the above, and try not to buy if you need loans- interest kills a lot of the cash benefit.

I do remind myself that if I’d put what I paid on DVC into Tesla stock around the same time, I’d now be retiring.

[JasonErpelding]

Originally Posted by DM275011

Thank you all for your responses, it is all excellent advice. We have more to think about. We have been going annually for the last 25 years (with the exception of this year!) and tend to mix between on and off site. We are now in the position to think about investing in something that will give us a holiday for the next, however many years. Driving isn't a problem for me out there (I actually quite enjoy it!) but I think DVC is probably the way for us to go!

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Keep in mind buying into DVC can be customized for you. Say perhaps you want to "dip your toes in the water." You could buy say 50 points and use them once every 3 years to have 150 points for your Orlando DVC stays. You have all sorts of options.

Jason Erpelding
Lic. Real Estate Broker
Buy and Sell DVC, Inc.®