DVC Price Points

[DanPadavona]

Hey everyone,

We were DVC members in the early 2000's, but it has been about 10 years and I am feeling "out of the loop." We are interesting in buying in again.

I was looking through the Timeshare Store's available properties. One thing I noted was the price per point between resorts seems much larger than I remember it being. For instance Bay Lake Tower is in the $95/point range, while Boardwalk Villas is around $65/point.

That is a huge difference. BWI Villas appear to be cheaper per point than they were in the early 2000's. Am I mistaken? If true, that would mean BWI has lost value over the last decade.

We love the Boardwalk Area and I would be happy owning there. If Bay Lake was about $10 lower, they would have my interest too.

Any thoughts on the reason for the very large price discrepancy? Have the older properties declined in value, and are there any caveats to purchasing at BWI that we should be aware of?

[CarolMN]

There are probably several reasons contributing to the decline in value.

One is/was the economy. Many members sold during the past few years out of necessity.

Two is the length of contract. The resorts that end in 2042 naturally will bring in less viua resale than those with later ending dates.

Three was the decision to remove some options for resale points such as the ability to use them for cruises.

Supply and demand still plays a role, however.

Until the mid 2000's, resale values held up well. There was a point when we could have sold our BWV contract for more than we paid initially. (We didn't). IMO, there is still a lot of value to the 2042 contracts. I would NOT buy if I couldn't make the numbers work without considering resale value. Timeshares are just not something that one can count on to have resale value. Nature of the beast and DVC is a timeshare.

I do not expect to get anything out of our contract when we finally decide to sell. But if we do, it will be gravy. If we wanted more points, I would not hesitate to buy resale BWV points or any of the resorts via resale.

Good luck with your "homework" and the journey back to DVC - if that's what you want to do.

[LisaS]

BWV contracts expire Jan 31, 2042. BLT contracts expire Jan 31, 2060 so you get 18 more years of points/ownership. A combination of the economy tanking (lots of contracts for sale) and Disney not exercising ROFR as aggressively as they used to has caused prices to fall on the older resorts.

There have been a more limited supply of BWV contracts on the resale market recently so prices have actually gone up a bit lately.

Another thing that has changed since you last owned is that Disney introduced some restrictions on resale contracts purchased after March 2011. Scan through the threads in this forum and you will see the question asked and answered many times about buying resale vs direct.

[DVC Dude]

The most important factors are:

1. Location -where do you want to own/stay as your favorite

2. Annual Dues - there is a huge price difference here that far outweigh the initial buy-price when looked at over the life of the contracts

[DizBub]

Originally Posted by DanPadavona

Hey everyone,

We were DVC members in the early 2000's, but it has been about 10 years and I am feeling "out of the loop." We are interesting in buying in again.

I was looking through the Timeshare Store's available properties. One thing I noted was the price per point between resorts seems much larger than I remember it being. For instance Bay Lake Tower is in the $95/point range, while Boardwalk Villas is around $65/point.

That is a huge difference. BWI Villas appear to be cheaper per point than they were in the early 2000's. Am I mistaken? If true, that would mean BWI has lost value over the last decade.

We love the Boardwalk Area and I would be happy owning there. If Bay Lake was about $10 lower, they would have my interest too.

Any thoughts on the reason for the very large price discrepancy? Have the older properties declined in value, and are there any caveats to purchasing at BWI that we should be aware of?

BLT is still a "newer" DVC property, smaller than BWV, harder to get into, on the monorail and people who are trying to sell most probably owe more on ther contracts and have to get a bigger price.

End date for BWV is 2042, BLT is 2057/2060. BLT still currently has the lowest dues at $4.50 and BWV has the highest dues on property at $5.84.

Parking and bus service at BWV are the absolute worst.

Those are just my thoughts.

[DanPadavona]

Great information everybody, thank you very much.

That's a very good point about dues + taxes. By my math, by 20 years BWI Villas and Bay Lake Tower are virtually identical in total cost. After 25, BLT becomes significantly cheaper.

At 44 years old today, chances are I won't outlive a BLT membership. At the very least, I won't be riding Splash Mountain by then.

Well that gives me a little more to think about. I know the bus system from the Boardwalk Area resorts is far from optimal. However I do love that area, and Epcot is my favorite park. This is going to be a tough decision.

[DizBub]

Originally Posted by DanPadavona

Well that gives me a little more to think about. I know the bus system from the Boardwalk Area resorts is far from optimal. However I do love that area, and Epcot is my favorite park. This is going to be a tough decision.

I know what you mean, that's why we own at BLT and BCV.

Good luck with your decision and keep us posted!

[DanPadavona]

Originally Posted by DizBub

I know what you mean, that's why we own at BLT and BCV.

Oh boy, now you've really given me something extra to think about

[Sandisw]

Originally Posted by DizBub

I know what you mean, that's why we own at BLT and BCV.

Good luck with your decision and keep us posted!

We do too!! We bought at BWV and BLT so we could spend time near and walk to 3 of the 4 parks!!!

[Missyrose]

Originally Posted by DanPadavona

Oh boy, now you've really given me something extra to think about

Count us among those who own at an Epcot and MK resort (BW and BLT for us)!

[DanPadavona]

We ended up purchasing at BLT. 95/pt, and it came with a lot of banked points which need to be used by December. I'm pleased with the deal.

We don't go to Disney every year like we used to. So we might rent the points some years, or stay at Hilton Head. If we can get the deal closed fairly soon, hopefully we can lock in a summer date. With the banked points, we can go 1-bedroom preferred view instead of studio standard view this year.

[disneynutz]

Originally Posted by DanPadavona

Great information everybody, thank you very much.

That's a very good point about dues + taxes. By my math, by 20 years BWI Villas and Bay Lake Tower are virtually identical in total cost. After 25, BLT becomes significantly cheaper.

At 44 years old today, chances are I won't outlive a BLT membership. At the very least, I won't be riding Splash Mountain by then.

Well that gives me a little more to think about. I know the bus system from the Boardwalk Area resorts is far from optimal. However I do love that area, and Epcot is my favorite park. This is going to be a tough decision.

We own at 5 resorts with BLT being our least favorite. For us it just doesn't have the Disney theming that we enjoy, it's like any other high-rise condo found anywhere.

The last 2 years BLT has had 6% plus dues increases. Prior to being sold out, Guides would use the less expensive dues as a sales presentation point plus it's well known that the interior selections were on the cheap which will cost more to repair/replace.

We used VWL as our MK home base and BWV/BCV as our Epcot/DHS home base.

We also own at AKV for our AK visits.

Bill

[DizBub]

Originally Posted by DanPadavona

We ended up purchasing at BLT. 95/pt, and it came with a lot of banked points which need to be used by December. I'm pleased with the deal.

Congratulations!! It looks like you got a nice deal with banked points.
Best of luck with ROFR!

We love BLT and sure you will too!