Would it makes sense to buy just 10 points?

[ranthony]

Jason-I love that you are thinking creatively to try to make things easier and more economical for your family. I think putting yourself in a position of allowing for transfer of points as opposed to rental of points is a smart one as most owners consider a transfer a much easier way to unload unwanted points. Then there is the benefit of being able to take advantage of owner perks that could help save you money over the long run.

However, as others have said, the minimum contract you could buy would be 25 points. Depending on last minute points in "crisis" becoming available in the amount and when you would need them is like playing vacation roulette. It could cause you most stress to try to get things to work out than it's worth.

You never mentioned how many points you would typically need each year but why not look for a resale contract that could accommodate your families needs with banking and borrowing? Then you can hope for transfers to become available but are not dependent on them every year.

[zavandor]

The european timeshare company who invented the point system, Hapimag, allows only to transfer an amount of points equal to the points owned.
Just to say that transfer rules changed in the past and could change in the future again. If more people buy a small contract to transfer in, Disney could see this as a problem for sales and change the rules.

[LisaS]

Originally Posted by JasonCFamily

Your input is helpful. Especially on the hassle of transfers. The piece I want to challenge is minimum 25 points. That only applies if I buy from Disney, not a reseller of DVC points. Right?

I've only ever read of one DVC member with a 10-point contract. Someone bought an add-on from Disney and Disney didn't have the points they needed in one contract so gave them the points they wanted in two contracts. I don't remember all the details but let's say for example they wanted 50 points and Disney provided those points as one 40-point contract and one 10-point contract. It was many years ago now and I wondered at the time what would happen if they decided to sell that 10-point contract. I suspect it wouldn't pass ROFR if the buyer was not already a DVC member.

In all the time I've been on the DIS, that's the only person I've ever heard of with a contract of less than 25 points so it's not very likely you will find a contract of that size for sale on the resale market unless it's that same member! Is that the case? Have you found a 10-point contract for sale?

ETA: If someone is offering a 10-pt contract for sale, is it through a legitimate broker? I would be careful since it would be a very rare thing and possibly a scam, or someone is confused and thinks they can break up their contract and sell you a small piece of it (which is not possible).

[LisaS]

Another thought: didn't they let some BLT owners purchase small (less than 25-point) contracts due to Disney changing the point charts before BLT opened? I seem to recall some people posting that they were allowed to add on small amounts such as 10 points or so.

[LisaS]

I did a search and found one of the posts where the DISboard member I was thinking of mentions the 10-point contract. It's not the post I was thinking of where he/she provided some background info on how it came about but serves the purpose here that there is at least one 10-point contract out there. It is mentioned in the third post of this thread: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1200804

Disney can break up contracts but cannot combine them unless they are from the same Unit within the resort and the same UY. As a result of breaking up contracts I imagine they occasionally end up with little bits left over that are less than 25 points and in at least one case, they sold one of those tiny contracts as part of an add-on that exceeded 25 points in total across two contracts.

[bwvBound]

Weren't 10-point contracts offered by DVD to certain BLT owners in response to a point chart reallocation (2010?)?