Which DVC for Grand Villas?

[RoseGold]

I plan to buy 200-250 points to be used to book grand villas and bungalows, the kind of room that doesn't sell out. I plan to keep this contract 10, maybe 15 years, then sell it.

I already have Poly points that I might hold longer. My instinct is to go with VGF, because it seems to have the most potential to hold value, and maybe even increase. However, a cheap Saratoga contract would get the job done for what I need to do for the next ten years, and there's a lot less money at risk. I've never even been to Saratoga, and would never stay there. The Saratoga contract I'm looking at is 19K (200 points) vs VGF at 34K (200 points). But, yea, 34K is a lot of money, and could be hard to resell.

The number that has me hesitating is total points. BLT is about 5.7M, Saratoga 14M, and VGF 1.1M points total. This makes VGF much rarer, and my instinct is that if Disney is going to keep up anything if times get hard, it will be VGF.

Would you buy Saratoga or VGF?

UPDATE: Put in a Saratoga offer, thanks for the feedback!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

IMO it's difficult to say what values will do in the future. As you can see SSR probably has it's cost correction built in. If I were doing what you are I'd spend less up front and buy the SSR. Lets say that DVC in general drops 20% across the board. For SSR that drop would be $3800. For VGF it would be $6,800. If you plan to book at VGF most of the time then maybe the VGF but the planned time of stays would be a factor for me. If VGF is a once in awhile then I'd save the cost upfront and buy SSR. What you can do with the $15K by keeping it in your pocket and investing it elsewhere would offset additional gains by VGF over SSR too. If those additional gains happened.

 

[BillPA]

Did I miss your question? What are you looking for from us readers?

 

[Sandisw]

If you are looking to stay many different places, I’d go with SSR because as you mention, bungalows aren’t booking up that fast and many GV can be gotten at 7 months.

 

[Soap_1984]

Not sure of the question but vgf has the nicest grand Villa in my opinion.

What's the strategy here just trying to help if I can; you are going to buy 200 points at vgf to book grand villas? I don't really understand, even in low season if you banked and borrowed three years worth of points with 200/yr I think you would only get five or six nights at vgf.

 

[RoseGold]

I want to stay at different grand villas/point hogs, so home resort will never be useful to me.

However, home resort does matter to me for resale in 10-15 years.

This isn't my only contract. For difficult bookings, I've never had a problem with my old faithful Poly.

 

[miTnosnhoJ]

VGF has great GVs. But there are only six of them. They are very gettable at 11 months. Not sure about 7 months.

 

[Soap_1984]

I want to stay at different grand villas/point hogs, so home resort will never be useful to me.

However, home resort does matter to me for resale in 10-15 years.

This isn't my only contract. For difficult bookings, I've never had a problem with my old faithful Poly.

I'd go for the most points you can get if that's what you're looking for, SSR might be the answer although others would know more about availability than me. Two bedrooms have not been a problem for us

 

[TexasChick123]

You won’t get a lot of nights in a GV or bungalow at most resorts if you purchase 200-250 points. Have you had a chance to review the point charts? The cheapest grand villas are at old key west, but you usually need to own there to get them. I’d recommend buying there, if that’s what you’re after.

 

[Soap_1984]

Yes that was my point put more coherently lol. You can't even get two nights at a grand Villa at vgf with 200 points in early September so unless you have 500 points at poly you're best bet is to get as many points as possible.

 

[DVC Doctor]

this is a weird thread as you are not being specific with your questions

However, OKW has the cheapest and very large GV so your points go a longer way there.

 

[RoseGold]

I have two other contracts and understand points. This particular contract would only be used for point hogs that do not sell out (bungalow, 3BR off peak, cascade cabin) and is intended for a handful of "legacy" trips in the next 10, maybe 15, years.

Because I don't value home resort in this contract, it changed the math for me for these points and made the home resort unclear.

However, it looks like BLT might be a good middle ground, especially with some of those prices at the cheap brokers! Lots more years than Saratoga, solid location for resale, and without the huge GF mark up.

 

[DVC Doctor]

I have two other contracts and understand points. This particular contract would only be used for point hogs that do not sell out (bungalow, 3BR off peak, cascade cabin) and is intended for a handful of "legacy" trips in the next 10, maybe 15, years.

Because I don't value home resort in this contract, it changed the math for me for these points and made the home resort unclear.

However, it looks like BLT might be a good middle ground, especially with some of those prices at the cheap brokers! Lots more years than Saratoga, solid location for resale, and without the huge GF mark up.

I like your idea to BURN tons of points on a few great GV, as I have been in the VGF GV twice and it is incredible.

I would look at this as musical chairs. Buy now, use now and for 5-10 years, then sell. Using that method you may find SSR is a better buy then BLT, but I think BLT is better than VGF, CCV, RR, etc. You may even look at AK or OKW, BUT remember that just because one resort has the lowest annual dues one year, will not guarantee it will remain that way forever. I have seen AK vs SSR vs BLT vs OKW dues swing a lot that changes buying decisions.

 

[HappyDisneyWife]

I have two other contracts and understand points. This particular contract would only be used for point hogs that do not sell out (bungalow, 3BR off peak, cascade cabin) and is intended for a handful of "legacy" trips in the next 10, maybe 15, years.

Because I don't value home resort in this contract, it changed the math for me for these points and made the home resort unclear.

However, it looks like BLT might be a good middle ground, especially with some of those prices at the cheap brokers! Lots more years than Saratoga, solid location for resale, and without the huge GF mark up.

I think BLT would be a great choice. I very much think that a person should buy where they’d be happy staying. But knowing that you want to resort hop as much as possible, purchasing the VGF doesn’t make much financial sense. I think choosing a mid-priced resale you’d be happy staying at would satisfy both of your “requirements” quite nicely.

 

[JasonMak2000]

I have been tossing around this strategy some lately myself - getting some sleep around points that I can bank/borrow to use for cabins and GVs every few years in between my regular DVC trips. Does anyone know the general availability of GVs at the 7 month mark? I know its probably dependent on the season. But if you are not opposed to a split stay every now and then, how likely is it to get 5 nights any given time of year?

 

[Marionnette]

I have been tossing around this strategy some lately myself - getting some sleep around points that I can bank/borrow to use for cabins and GVs every few years in between my regular DVC trips. Does anyone know the general availability of GVs at the 7 month mark? I know its probably dependent on the season. But if you are not opposed to a split stay every now and then, how likely is it to get 5 nights any given time of year?

https://www.disboards.com/threads/a...or-days-7-11-months-out.3281173/post-51506136

 

[Deb & Bill]

There are many times of the year when you cannot get a full week in an OKW GV at seven months out. BWV GV are few in number, so getting one of those at seven months out is rare.

 

[crisi]

Yeah, your assumption that those big rooms don't book and you'll be able to sleep around is wrong. Bungalows don't book - but that's because their point cost is so high.

 

[mort1331]

So to answer your question. Forget about VGF. Upfront cost and dues will eat into your projected sale and net afterwards. BLT SSR are your 2 best. Where it comes down to is where the dues end up. Right now the dues are close. But no one knows. The life span is close couple years different. So roll the dice and pick one of those 2.

 

[prs_14]

SSR is probably the answer here. It's the most "economical" resort based on average cost per point, years left, and current dues. Poly and BLT would also be "in the conversation" because this will depend a bit on the actual contract price at which you can buy. But if you are just using the points to book cabins, bungalows, and other things at the seven month mark, I think SSR is the best way to do that. As others have said, not sure whether/which GVs are available at the seven month mark, but it seems like you do not care about that - you will only use these points to book rooms that otherwise do not sell out. Best of luck!