Annual dues are out

[SNYDERS]

SSR. Up 10 cents from 4.81 to 4.91

 

[DougEMG]

Those BLT increases are scary.

They are real nasty and totally disconnected from what the increases are at the other resorts. If the trend continues, next year SSR MF will be lower than BLT MF.

 

[Dsnybob]

Aulani appears to be stabilizing - 6.4378 for 2014, compared with 6.2529 for 2013 (2.96% increase). Subsidized 4.8380 for 2014, compared with 4.699 for 2013 (also 2.96% increase). The increase the prior year was 4.9%. There is no doubt in my mind that BLT suffered from the same dues miscalculation that Aulani did, but wasn't corrected because Florida timeshare law did not require it. I think 6 - 8% increases per year will continue for some time, most likely until the dues are in the range of the new VGF. BLT will pass SSR next year if the trend continues...

 

[csharpwv]

The BLT dues aren't entirely due to miscalculation - there are a few factors to take in to consideration.

1) There is now full time front desk staff at BLT (I believe that it is 24 hours now, someone please correct me if I am incorrect)
2) The fit and finish at BLT was mediocre at best. I would imagine the repairs will end up being far more expensive than doing it right the first time ever would have been.
3) The design error in placing the ONLY bathroom sink in the studios near the kitchenette, OUTISDE the bathroom caused necessary renovation very early on.
4) The resort has used a Duvet cover from the beginning, it is more expensive... it is WHITE, need I say more?
5) The income from the Top of the World Lounge food and bev service has not met expectation.

We stayed in a Grand Villa last year, and while we loved the experience, there were construction flaws throughout the villa. The laminate flooring in the living room area had drywall screws THROUGH it because it had buckled in several places. Not at appealing fix!

They have had a horrible time with the rain shower heads in the master bathroom - the valve system doesn't work as intended, I believe because it was installed correctly, but many of those have had to be replaced, many are disabled.

It is a beautiful building - but it is showing wear and tear very quickly, and the repair costs will continue to be high. No doubt about it!

 

[disneynutz]

The BLT dues aren't entirely due to miscalculation - there are a few factors to take in to consideration.

1) There is now full time front desk staff at BLT (I believe that it is 24 hours now, someone please correct me if I am incorrect)
2) The fit and finish at BLT was mediocre at best. I would imagine the repairs will end up being far more expensive than doing it right the first time ever would have been.
3) The design error in placing the ONLY bathroom sink in the studios near the kitchenette, OUTISDE the bathroom caused necessary renovation very early on.
4) The resort has used a Duvet cover from the beginning, it is more expensive... it is WHITE, need I say more?
5) The income from the Top of the World Lounge food and bev service has not met expectation.

We stayed in a Grand Villa last year, and while we loved the experience, there were construction flaws throughout the villa. The laminate flooring in the living room area had drywall screws THROUGH it because it had buckled in several places. Not at appealing fix!

They have had a horrible time with the rain shower heads in the master bathroom - the valve system doesn't work as intended, I believe because it was installed correctly, but many of those have had to be replaced, many are disabled.

It is a beautiful building - but it is showing wear and tear very quickly, and the repair costs will continue to be high. No doubt about it!

The initial lower than normal dues and the fact that the Guides were using the low dues numbers in their selling spiel tells me that the low dues rate was intentional.

The fact that DVD decided to use less quality materials, finishes and fixtures has been discussed many times here.

The sink move was paid for by Disney.

I used to post that the cost of cleaning the bird poop off of the windows was going to cause a hefty dues bill at BLT.

The revenue from the TOTWL goes to Disney, not the owners.

Bill

 

[csharpwv]

You are correct, it does not go to owners.... didn't mention that at all.
But it DOES go to the operations budget, whether the facility is leased to Disney F&B, or operated in another way, the lounge was originally for guests at BLT... they opened it up to others to make the lounge more viable, and to extend the benefit to others.

They don't operate something like that just for fun.

Yeah, Disney paid for the sink mistake,
And members keep paying for it, the move was because of member comment and dissatisfaction.... the change wasn't free, and members pay dues.... money comes out of of and moves through different pots all the time.

Thank you for pointing out that the fit and finish issue has been discussed, it will continue to be discussed until all of the junk fixtures have moved on to property control to be liquidated - until then, members will keep paying higher dues until all of the initial mistakes are repaired - and then the dues will stay high.

Do I think that the lower dues ended up being an attractive selling feature, yes, absolutely, do I think it was intentional, no - I really don't think it was intentional.

BLT was to be the resort that broke the mold - higher buy in cost, lower yearly dues - it was a trade off, the guides sold it that way. Just because it was sold that was didn't mean it would be true forever.

However, I think the operational expenses of the resort have been much higher than anticipated.

In addition, the vast majority of BLT points sold at a discounted price.

I've heard that BLT was the first resort DVD/DVC to ever open and remain in the red for more than 50% of it's selling life.

The higher price per point of VGF is what they had intended to do with BLT, but the economy was not conducive to new sales, add ons, and hard sales with little to no discounts.

I've also heard that it was the project that DVC wished it had red-lighted, even before the wrecking ball was aimed at the Garden Wing.

The building was well under construction (at full height), without DVC announcement, when we were visiting in the the first week of September 2008, and just a month later the stock markets crashed.

So before pre-sales even started, they knew it was going to be a long haul.

Finally, in 2013, the building sold out.

It wasn't the size of Saratoga Springs, it wasn't the size of Animal Kingdom Villas, yet it took that long to sell down.

I referred a friend this time last year, and he was within the last point declaration.

The MF's are still on the lower end - at least they aren't as high as Vero! WHEW! There has to be a good number of VB owners out there that cringe every year when those dues goes up!

It's bad enough for those of us that own at HHI, but VB is a step beyond!

I just hope that the owners still feel that their ownership is valuable.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

If dues must increase...I am very pleased with BWV dues only going up 2.84%.

 

[deploylinux]

Aulani $6.437 per point if I read it right? Up from $6.25 per point last year....3% increase roughly.

 

[Minniesgal]

The BLT dues aren't entirely due to miscalculation - there are a few factors to take in to consideration. 1) There is now full time front desk staff at BLT (I believe that it is 24 hours now, someone please correct me if I am incorrect) 2) The fit and finish at BLT was mediocre at best. I would imagine the repairs will end up being far more expensive than doing it right the first time ever would have been. 3) The design error in placing the ONLY bathroom sink in the studios near the kitchenette, OUTISDE the bathroom caused necessary renovation very early on. 4) The resort has used a Duvet cover from the beginning, it is more expensive... it is WHITE, need I say more? 5) The income from the Top of the World Lounge food and bev service has not met expectation. We stayed in a Grand Villa last year, and while we loved the experience, there were construction flaws throughout the villa. The laminate flooring in the living room area had drywall screws THROUGH it because it had buckled in several places. Not at appealing fix! They have had a horrible time with the rain shower heads in the master bathroom - the valve system doesn't work as intended, I believe because it was installed correctly, but many of those have had to be replaced, many are disabled. It is a beautiful building - but it is showing wear and tear very quickly, and the repair costs will continue to be high. No doubt about it!

They also have a problem with the showers in the bathroom in the living area of the 1 and 2 bedrooms. We couldn't use it this summer as it was actually painful. The other two showers were fine. I reported it and was told it was a known fault they had to fix everywhere.

 

[maburke]

If dues must increase...I am very pleased with BWV dues only going up 2.84%.

Yes, but topping $6 is a big deal, I think. We're in HH territory now!

 

[cel_disney]

Can anyone share the tax burden for the older resorts? In my head. I am thinking that the BLT and AKV taxes are likely higher because of the sale price increase impacting taxes and keeping them high, but I can't find my papers from last year.

 

[WDW-BWV]

Anyone have thoughts on VB? Just do I can feel like .... After I read it...;(

 

[HtomSirveaux]

Can anyone share the tax burden for the older resorts? In my head. I am thinking that the BLT and AKV taxes are likely higher because of the sale price increase impacting taxes and keeping them high, but I can't find my papers from last year.

If that's the "Ad Valorem" Taxes, SSR was 0.9871 in 2013, 1.0110 in 2014.

 

[HtomSirveaux]

I can't remember - I think last year there was some type of credit for overpayment of the prior year's taxes (overestimate). If there were adjustments like that again, are they listed in these notices or was that once the statement itself generates?

 

[Tigger2ntinkerbell]

I found this on DVC online. Do I only go by what I have under lined in red x the amount of pts I have to figure out my dues? TIA

Animal Kingdom Villa

2014 Estimated Annual Dues Assessment
The estimated Annual Dues for the year January 1, 2014 through December 31, 2014 are $5.9748 per Vacation Point, which is comprised of the estimated Annual Operating Budget ($4.0944 per Vacation Point), the estimated Annual Capital Reserves Budget ($0.6840 per Vacation Point) and the estimated ad valorem taxes ($1.1964 per Vacation Point). The total amount of Annual Dues paid by a Purchaser or Owner is determined by multiplying the total number of Vacation Points represented by the Ownership Interest purchased by $5.9748. For example, if the Ownership Interest is represented by 230 Vacation Points, the estimated Annual Dues would be $1,374.20.

 

[Dsnybob]

The fact that the Aulani dues have less than a 3% increase indicates that they bit the bullet, made the correction in the documents and moved on. They did not with BLT, which will probably grow around twice the rate of the other recent resorts until the dues are in the range of the Grand Floridian. Its logical that the operating expenses for these reports would be similar since they are both monorail resorts with separate buildings.

I have to also believe that BLT was considered successful by DVC from a sales standpoint, or the Grand Floridian and Polynesian projects would hot have moved forward. It is interesting that sales at the Grand Floridian have slowed significantly from the pre-sales, as the salespeople were stating that they believed the resort would sell out in less than a year. At the current pace, it looks like a 2 - 3 year sell out. The initial sales were probably people who were fans of the resort, however, those who are buying with economics in mind may be choosing Animal Kingdom Lodge since the the point cost, dues and points needed per room are so much less.

 

[Tink-n-Belle]

I own at both BLT and BW...bottom line is that the BLT dues are still $1.22 lower than BW.

So if the dues went up 6% at BLT and only 2% at BW....what does that matter.....BLT dues are still cheaper.

I love both resorts and their location but I never got why the BW dues were so high......they have always been high? BCV dues are cheaper and they don't even share bus service with the swan/dolphin.

I know the dues will always increase but it's still cheaper then paying rack rates plus tax. On 340 points my dues went up $72....or $6 a month,but look how much tickets and dinning have gone up this past year. And that is per person not per room.

 

[Dsnybob]

Obviously, the issue with BLT is not the end of the world, and yes, the dues are lower than other resorts. The point is that it was built and developed around the same time and by the same team that built Aulani. A mistake was made in Aulani, and due to state law, DVC was required to correct it. A mistake was never acknowledged for BLT, but the growth history in the dues indicates that the mistake was also there. When one resort increases at a rate significantly greater than other similarly situated resorts it is disconcerting. Hopefully, it stabilizes sooner than later, but based on VGF's dues, that is not anytime soon. I do give credit to DVC for not trying to correct the mistake quickly as they are allowed, by law, to increase dues by a much greater percentage than they are. I am very happy with the resort itself.

When we purchased at both BLT and Aulani, part of the decision for each was based on the significantly lower dues / reasonable dues at the time. I know for certain that had the Aulani dues been what they ended up being, we would not have purchased there. I am thankful that I have a contract there with subsidized dues. To be honest, I'm not sure about BLT because I'm not sure yet where they are going to end up.

 

[keaster]

I can't remember - I think last year there was some type of credit for overpayment of the prior year's taxes (overestimate). If there were adjustments like that again, are they listed in these notices or was that once the statement itself generates?

Yes we received a $73 dollar credit on our AKL statement last year because of the property tax overpayment/over estimate.

I don't think they are listed in the notices, they come out once the official statement is generated.

 

[dizfan]

They also have a problem with the showers in the bathroom in the living area of the 1 and 2 bedrooms. We couldn't use it this summer as it was actually painful. The other two showers were fine. I reported it and was told it was a known fault they had to fix everywhere.

For the showers at BLT, turn the pressure to full speed, then dial it back.