Buying DVC or Renting Points- need advice please!

Angeliki19

DIS Veteran
Joined
Apr 3, 2011
Hi all! I am not sure if this should go in the DVC forum, but my main objective is to save money with this decision, so it seemed more appropriate here! This is going to be sort of long, but I truly appreciate anyone who will bear with me and give me advice!!!

I am really struggling with the decision to buy DVC or not. It's something I have wanted to do for a long time but my ex-husband was not on board with it. Now that we are recently divorced, it's weighing heavily on my mind as now I am the one making all the decisions and I'm so tempted to pull the trigger!

However, as a single mom, finances are tight. So as much as there are "emotional" reasons for wanting DVC, my main deciding factor is whether this is a good financial decision for me in the long run. In the past, we have always stayed at DVC resort villas, paying cash and using my cousin's CM discount of 40%. This has been awesome, but there are two reasons I am not looking at this as my future long-term strategy. One is that my cousin mentions from time to time leaving Disney, and two is that our options have been very limited and I am ready to stay at some of my bucket-list hotels like the Poly, on which she can not usually get a discount.

Renting points is a REALLY attractive alternative, as from my calculations, it saves more like 50% and would give us more options than what my cousin can get us. However, the main drawback is that once you lock in a reservation, I don't think you can change it. Plus you don't have total control over your reservation as far as making room requests and stuff. For a control freak like me, this is less than ideal, but checks off the other boxes of getting into a variety of resorts while saving money.

So when I did my cost analysis of buying DVC, I compared it to the cost of renting, as those seem to be my two main options at this point. I would not consider financing, as that math just doesn't work out. I looked at both buying direct from Disney, and a resale contract. I found that compared to renting DVC points:

  • Buying Direct from Disney would start saving me money at year 12, and after 20 years, I would have saved $12,892
  • Buying resale would start saving me money at year 8, and after 20 years, I would have saved $17,778

These are kind of rough estimates b/c there are so many variables as to what resort we would actually rent, what season, etc. But I ran it a few different ways and it came out about the same.

So whether I go resale or direct, eventually it will save me money. However my main hesitation is to put out so much money up front at a time when I am just starting off on my own. I have the money in savings, but it would considerably lower my nest egg. I could just wait and save up a few more years, but my kids are getting older and with every trip I pay out of pocket for, I wonder if I should have been putting that towards DVC. I kind of feel like its now or never.

Does anyone have any advice? I know this is such a personal decision, but I am really stuck. Its exciting and terrifying at the same time to be able to make such a big decision without my ex-DH. There are emotional reasons for me wanting to "secure" Disney vacations for my children and me and also I feel like if I ever get re-married, what if the person doesn't like Disney??? :scared: I kind of want to do this on my own so that my children and I always have it, no matter what happens in the future. But it would be a risk and make my finances even more tight for a few years so I don't know if its worth it. Maybe renting is just as good and less of a commitment?

Thank you if you actually read this whole thing!!! :hug:
 
I think you kind of know the answer. If it was me I would wait. You never know what might come up. Take some time to see what your finances actually look like.

I've heard this general piece of advise and it seems to apply to you. When a big life change happens, don't make any major decisions for at least a year. That gives you time to think logically and to remove the emotion from the decision.
 


Hi all! I am not sure if this should go in the DVC forum, but my main objective is to save money with this decision, so it seemed more appropriate here! This is going to be sort of long, but I truly appreciate anyone who will bear with me and give me advice!!!

I am really struggling with the decision to buy DVC or not. It's something I have wanted to do for a long time but my ex-husband was not on board with it. Now that we are recently divorced, it's weighing heavily on my mind as now I am the one making all the decisions and I'm so tempted to pull the trigger!

However, as a single mom, finances are tight. So as much as there are "emotional" reasons for wanting DVC, my main deciding factor is whether this is a good financial decision for me in the long run. In the past, we have always stayed at DVC resort villas, paying cash and using my cousin's CM discount of 40%. This has been awesome, but there are two reasons I am not looking at this as my future long-term strategy. One is that my cousin mentions from time to time leaving Disney, and two is that our options have been very limited and I am ready to stay at some of my bucket-list hotels like the Poly, on which she can not usually get a discount.

Renting points is a REALLY attractive alternative, as from my calculations, it saves more like 50% and would give us more options than what my cousin can get us. However, the main drawback is that once you lock in a reservation, I don't think you can change it. Plus you don't have total control over your reservation as far as making room requests and stuff. For a control freak like me, this is less than ideal, but checks off the other boxes of getting into a variety of resorts while saving money.

So when I did my cost analysis of buying DVC, I compared it to the cost of renting, as those seem to be my two main options at this point. I would not consider financing, as that math just doesn't work out. I looked at both buying direct from Disney, and a resale contract. I found that compared to renting DVC points:

  • Buying Direct from Disney would start saving me money at year 12, and after 20 years, I would have saved $12,892
  • Buying resale would start saving me money at year 8, and after 20 years, I would have saved $17,778

These are kind of rough estimates b/c there are so many variables as to what resort we would actually rent, what season, etc. But I ran it a few different ways and it came out about the same.

So whether I go resale or direct, eventually it will save me money. However my main hesitation is to put out so much money up front at a time when I am just starting off on my own. I have the money in savings, but it would considerably lower my nest egg. I could just wait and save up a few more years, but my kids are getting older and with every trip I pay out of pocket for, I wonder if I should have been putting that towards DVC. I kind of feel like its now or never.

Does anyone have any advice? I know this is such a personal decision, but I am really stuck. Its exciting and terrifying at the same time to be able to make such a big decision without my ex-DH. There are emotional reasons for me wanting to "secure" Disney vacations for my children and me and also I feel like if I ever get re-married, what if the person doesn't like Disney??? :scared: I kind of want to do this on my own so that my children and I always have it, no matter what happens in the future. But it would be a risk and make my finances even more tight for a few years so I don't know if its worth it. Maybe renting is just as good and less of a commitment?

Thank you if you actually read this whole thing!!! :hug:

We have been struggling with the same questions recently. We ultimately decided to rent points again. The reason being that we cannot guarentee that we will have the $1000 + for maintance fees for the next 20 years. We also can't guarantee that we would be able to rent the points out. We have always rented in the past directly from a DVC member. Never ever had a problem. You make your requests as far as where you want. Like at OKW the Hospitality House is a seperate booking catagory. If you want lets say Miller Pond area, Turtle Pond or maybe a specific building tell them. Just like with any other reservation it is not a guarentee you will get where on the resort you will get your room but they will try to accomodate as much as possible.
 
I think you kind of know the answer. If it was me I would wait. You never know what might come up. Take some time to see what your finances actually look like.

I've heard this general piece of advise and it seems to apply to you. When a big life change happens, don't make any major decisions for at least a year. That gives you time to think logically and to remove the emotion from the decision.

Agreed. OP, take a trip to Disney with your kids if you can afford the vacation. But I wouldn't make such a large financial decision based on emotion. You can still make those memories with your kids and revisit DVC in a year or two.
 
Hi all! I am not sure if this should go in the DVC forum, but my main objective is to save money with this decision, so it seemed more appropriate here! This is going to be sort of long, but I truly appreciate anyone who will bear with me and give me advice!!!

I am really struggling with the decision to buy DVC or not. It's something I have wanted to do for a long time but my ex-husband was not on board with it. Now that we are recently divorced, it's weighing heavily on my mind as now I am the one making all the decisions and I'm so tempted to pull the trigger!

However, as a single mom, finances are tight. So as much as there are "emotional" reasons for wanting DVC, my main deciding factor is whether this is a good financial decision for me in the long run. In the past, we have always stayed at DVC resort villas, paying cash and using my cousin's CM discount of 40%. This has been awesome, but there are two reasons I am not looking at this as my future long-term strategy. One is that my cousin mentions from time to time leaving Disney, and two is that our options have been very limited and I am ready to stay at some of my bucket-list hotels like the Poly, on which she can not usually get a discount.

Renting points is a REALLY attractive alternative, as from my calculations, it saves more like 50% and would give us more options than what my cousin can get us. However, the main drawback is that once you lock in a reservation, I don't think you can change it. Plus you don't have total control over your reservation as far as making room requests and stuff. For a control freak like me, this is less than ideal, but checks off the other boxes of getting into a variety of resorts while saving money.

So when I did my cost analysis of buying DVC, I compared it to the cost of renting, as those seem to be my two main options at this point. I would not consider financing, as that math just doesn't work out. I looked at both buying direct from Disney, and a resale contract. I found that compared to renting DVC points:

  • Buying Direct from Disney would start saving me money at year 12, and after 20 years, I would have saved $12,892
  • Buying resale would start saving me money at year 8, and after 20 years, I would have saved $17,778

These are kind of rough estimates b/c there are so many variables as to what resort we would actually rent, what season, etc. But I ran it a few different ways and it came out about the same.

So whether I go resale or direct, eventually it will save me money. However my main hesitation is to put out so much money up front at a time when I am just starting off on my own. I have the money in savings, but it would considerably lower my nest egg. I could just wait and save up a few more years, but my kids are getting older and with every trip I pay out of pocket for, I wonder if I should have been putting that towards DVC. I kind of feel like its now or never.

Does anyone have any advice? I know this is such a personal decision, but I am really stuck. Its exciting and terrifying at the same time to be able to make such a big decision without my ex-DH. There are emotional reasons for me wanting to "secure" Disney vacations for my children and me and also I feel like if I ever get re-married, what if the person doesn't like Disney??? :scared: I kind of want to do this on my own so that my children and I always have it, no matter what happens in the future. But it would be a risk and make my finances even more tight for a few years so I don't know if its worth it. Maybe renting is just as good and less of a commitment?

Thank you if you actually read this whole thing!!! :hug:
First of all, I agree with @SharonZ . This is a post that would get better answers on the DVC boards. People on there can help you sort thru all of the emotional attachment to Disney vs. the true financial cost of owning DVC. They are not a bunch of pixie dust snorting Disney apologists and they will give you very straight answers to your questions.

Having said that, the one thing that jumps out at me from your post is: as a single mom, finances are tight

IMO, that ends the discussion right there. You are not in a position to make a luxury purchase with long-term financial obligations if money truly is tight.
 


I'm a DVC Member since 2001. Besides the purchase of points, there are other costs involved, liked yearly dues. You didn't mention how often you visit Disney and when you travel is it by car or plane? DVC has put more restrictions on people who do not buy directly from Disney. I agree with other posters, if your "finances are tight" and you're a single mom now, perhaps you should wait. My father always told me if I have to struggle with making a decision, then it's not the right decision.
 
You are not ready to purchase yet. This is a luxury item to purchase when you have the extra funds to spare.

I think you kind of know the answer. If it was me I would wait. You never know what might come up. Take some time to see what your finances actually look like.

I've heard this general piece of advise and it seems to apply to you. When a big life change happens, don't make any major decisions for at least a year. That gives you time to think logically and to remove the emotion from the decision.

First of all, I agree with @SharonZ . This is a post that would get better answers on the DVC boards. People on there can help you sort thru all of the emotional attachment to Disney vs. the true financial cost of owning DVC. They are not a bunch of pixie dust snorting Disney apologists and they will give you very straight answers to your questions.

Having said that, the one thing that jumps out at me from your post is: as a single mom, finances are tight

IMO, that ends the discussion right there. You are not in a position to make a luxury purchase with long-term financial obligations if money truly is tight.

Thanks all- I just want to clarify... I have money budgeted for our Disney trips every year. So although things are going to obviously be tighter for me as a single mom, I was planning on spending about $2500 on room accommodations per year at Disney anyway. So, my question I guess is whether or not it makes sense to "pre-pay" in order to save more down the road. I totally agree that this probably isn't a great time to make a big decision, but I guess where I struggle is that if I am going to be paying it anyway, does it make sense to put more out now to save in the long run. Emotionally, I know my answer. :) But yes, I am not trying to make the decision based on that... I am trying to be financially smart.
 
I'm a DVC Member since 2001. Besides the purchase of points, there are other costs involved, liked yearly dues. You didn't mention how often you visit Disney and when you travel is it by car or plane? DVC has put more restrictions on people who do not buy directly from Disney. I agree with other posters, if your "finances are tight" and you're a single mom now, perhaps you should wait. My father always told me if I have to struggle with making a decision, then it's not the right decision.
Ha, yes, that is probably true!
 
I'm a DVC Member since 2001. Besides the purchase of points, there are other costs involved, liked yearly dues. You didn't mention how often you visit Disney and when you travel is it by car or plane? DVC has put more restrictions on people who do not buy directly from Disney. I agree with other posters, if your "finances are tight" and you're a single mom now, perhaps you should wait. My father always told me if I have to struggle with making a decision, then it's not the right decision.
I included the yearly dues in the cost analysis I did. We go down once a year because we have to fly.
 
Thanks all- I just want to clarify... I have money budgeted for our Disney trips every year. So although things are going to obviously be tighter for me as a single mom, I was planning on spending about $2500 on room accommodations per year at Disney anyway. So, my question I guess is whether or not it makes sense to "pre-pay" in order to save more down the road. I totally agree that this probably isn't a great time to make a big decision, but I guess where I struggle is that if I am going to be paying it anyway, does it make sense to put more out now to save in the long run. Emotionally, I know my answer. :) But yes, I am not trying to make the decision based on that... I am trying to be financially smart.
Well, you don't know that you would be paying that anyway. A lot of things will change over the years and going to Disney annually may be one of them.

There are YOLOs who will tell you to dive in and make that purchase. Others are going to caution you to take the time to settle into your new life before making a major purchase. IMO, you should not purchase DVC with the expectation that you are going to save money. Take the name "Disney" out of the equation and you are left with a timeshare. That's it. Plain and simple. You are sacrificing what that money could be doing for you today in favor of "savings" that you will not begin to realize for 8-12 years (by your calculations).

I strongly urge you to post on the DVC boards, most specifically the "Purchasing DVC" subforum. Owners on there can help you sort thru this.
 
Long time dvc owner here. Just wanted to put aside your fears over being able to rent out your points if you don’t use them. I have rented 1000+ points thru the rental agencies. I just rented out some beach club points on Saturday. They were literally rented within the hour of putting them with the agency. There is such demand for dvc points thru the agencies that you shouldn’t have any trouble renting if you have extra points.
 
Long time dvc owner here. Just wanted to put aside your fears over being able to rent out your points if you don’t use them. I have rented 1000+ points thru the rental agencies. I just rented out some beach club points on Saturday. They were literally rented within the hour of putting them with the agency. There is such demand for dvc points thru the agencies that you shouldn’t have any trouble renting if you have extra points.

Thank you. Maybe we will revisit it. This year we are renting points. Already paid for.
 
MO, you should not purchase DVC with the expectation that you are going to save money. Take the name "Disney" out of the equation and you are left with a timeshare. That's it. Plain and simple. You are sacrificing what that money could be doing for you today in favor of "savings" that you will not begin to realize for 8-12 years (by your calculations).
Yep, this is what I am trying to get at. I am trying to figure out if anyone thinks DVC is a good deal compared to renting points. If its not going to save me money, then I am not really interested. Even with doing the math and seeing the eventual savings, 8-12 years is a long time. A lot could change between now and then. It makes it so tough to decide, which I guess does mean that probably I should err on the side of caution and hold off!

I'll also ask on the DVC forum.. but I was sort of afraid I would hear a lot of "do it" over there and wanted to hear from the budget experts here! :)
 
Yep, this is what I am trying to get at. I am trying to figure out if anyone thinks DVC is a good deal compared to renting points. If its not going to save me money, then I am not really interested. Even with doing the math and seeing the eventual savings, 8-12 years is a long time. A lot could change between now and then. It makes it so tough to decide, which I guess does mean that probably I should err on the side of caution and hold off!

I'll also ask on the DVC forum.. but I was sort of afraid I would hear a lot of "do it" over there and wanted to hear from the budget experts here! :)
Is the money you would use for the purchase invested in the stock market? However it's invested or saved make sure to factor in opportunity cost (but if it's in a mattress or really low interest account be realistic about the lost opportunity)

Don't feel bad about renting, its a pretty great deal and only you will be able to answer if you can part with the money to purchase your own contract.

A few extra things to think about:
If your not sure you can always make it a point to rent at as many DVC Resorts as you can so when you go to buy you know where exactly you want to buy.

Did you factor in renting pricing increasing over the years? I know it's a guess but the price wont stay the same forever.
 
Is the money you would use for the purchase invested in the stock market? However it's invested or saved make sure to factor in opportunity cost (but if it's in a mattress or really low interest account be realistic about the lost opportunity)

Don't feel bad about renting, its a pretty great deal and only you will be able to answer if you can part with the money to purchase your own contract.

A few extra things to think about:
If your not sure you can always make it a point to rent at as many DVC Resorts as you can so when you go to buy you know where exactly you want to buy.

Did you factor in renting pricing increasing over the years? I know it's a guess but the price wont stay the same forever.
The money is not invested... just in a standard savings account. As for the pricing increases, I didn't really factor that in, but I feel like everything increases so it should be a wash right? Like the cost of maintenance fees increase with DVC, and the price of cash room rentals goes up??
 
The money is not invested... just in a standard savings account. As for the pricing increases, I didn't really factor that in, but I feel like everything increases so it should be a wash right? Like the cost of maintenance fees increase with DVC, and the price of cash room rentals goes up??
I could be be wrong but I believe that while maintenance fees have increased the going rate for points on the rental market has increased at a much higher rate. (I don't have firm numbers on historical rent prices )
 
I could be be wrong but I believe that while maintenance fees have increased the going rate for points on the rental market has increased at a much higher rate. (I don't have firm numbers on historical rent prices )

This has been my experience. When we first rented DVC points a few years ago (2013), we paid $13 per point. I priced things out for our summer trip and the cost was $18 per point. Now we’re a family of six, so our cost will be higher anyway. But the price difference wasn’t as great as it used to be. This summer we stayed on a bounce back rate and it was cheaper than renting DVC would have been. I can’t comment on renting privately- I’ve always used a broker, so it’s possible one could get a better rate than what the brokers charge.
 
Compound interest is a wonderful thing! Seriously.

While that initial "investment" in DVC now might mean you eventually start "saving" in 8-12 years, if you invest that money in stocks/bonds instead, that money will be earning interest for you, and the longer it's invested, the longer you will be earning interest on your interest.

DVC is 'hot' right now, and it's easy to rent out points. But you don't have a crystal ball. If the economy tanks again (trade wars, anyone?), and people cut back their vacation spending, DVC rentals and resales will take a hit, as they did after the 2008 crash.

I toyed with the idea of buying DVC, but decided against it, not because I don't have the money, but because of the opportunity cost of having it tied up in future vacations, rather than invested and working for me so I can spend it on ANYTHING, including vacations, if I so choose.

Your life is changing a lot right now. I see the emotional appeal of doing something you've always wanted to do, and buying that timeshare, but I agree with PPs that you should let the dust settle a bit, first. You might have the money budgeted for a yearly trip, but if money is, generally, tight, what happens if your car dies? Your water heater blows? You lose your job? Not buying DVC gives you the flexibility to pay for unexpected necessities without draining your savings and the hassle of trying to rent your points and cover your fees. I'm not saying never buy DVC, but wait to do it until your financial position is more stable, and your future looks a bit clearer.
 

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