Question About Changing Membership??

[popstar7867]

Hi,

I had a quick question that I was hoping someone would help me with. I bought into the Disney Vacation Club in June of 2007. We bought 160 points at Saratoga Springs and are now regretting that decision and wishing that we bought at AKV. Does anyone know if you can change your membership interest to another resort and pay the difference? Or do you have to sell your membership back to re-purchase? If we have to resale how much do you usually get back for it? We have already used all of our points in our December 2007 Use Year and most of our points in our December 2008 Use Year.

[DVC Mike]

Hi,
Does anyone know if you can change your membership interest to another resort and pay the difference? Or do you have to sell your membership back to re-purchase? If we have to resale how much do you usually get back for it?

You can't just change your ownership from SSR to AKV. It's like you bought a house and then wish you had bought the house next door instead.

You have a deeded real estate interest in SSR. You'd need to sell that (there are several real estate brokers) and buy a new interest in AKV. You'd probably loose money after you deduct the broker's fee and the closing costs.

Once AKV is fully built it will be the third largest DVC resort at WDW (behind SSR and OKW), so you should be able to book it at the 7-mo window using your SSR points.

You could also do an add-on at AKV.

[popstar7867]

Ya we are thinking about doing an add-on. We already did a 25 point add on and are now thinking about doing a 75 point add-on. Do you know if there are any perks for a add-on of 75 points at AKV? Also, if our 25 point contract is Jambo and our 75 point is Kidani will that matter? Would we be able to use all 100 points at one or the other at the 11 month mark?

[administrator]

Ya we are thinking about doing an add-on. We already did a 25 point add on and are now thinking about doing a 75 point add-on. Do you know if there are any perks for a add-on of 75 points at AKV? Also, if our 25 point contract is Jambo and our 75 point is Kidani will that matter? Would we be able to use all 100 points at one or the other at the 11 month mark?

Unfortunately, you receive no incentives/perks for such a small add-on.

It won't matter whether the points are mixed at Jambo and Kidani -- you'll still be able to use all 100 at the 11-month mark.

[DVC Mike]

Do you know if there are any perks for a add-on of 75 points at AKV?

DVC recently lowered the minimum number of points to get some of the incentives from 100 points to just 50 points.

AKV = $104 - $8 incentive = $96 (50 point minimum)

Check out Current Incentives/Prices from DVC.

[popstar7867]

That's awesome! I'm really contemplating doing another add-on! Man I wish I just bought into AKV initially!

[ldgrmnmc]

Sorry for such a basic question, but your thread raises something that unclear about (I'm contemplating buying into DVC--possibly buying a resale). What is the difference (other than the 11 versus 7 months ahead to book) what your home resort is? If you are going to buy (especially a resale), why wouldn't you just buy at the resort where you get the best price per points (like Vero Beach?). We have family in Orlando and go to Disney over 2 weeks/year. We usually stay in a one or two bedroom at one of the moderately priced resorts like OKW or SaratogaS. Thanks for the help.

[Mickeyfan0805]

Sorry for such a basic question, but your thread raises something that unclear about (I'm contemplating buying into DVC--possibly buying a resale). What is the difference (other than the 11 versus 7 months ahead to book) what your home resort is? If you are going to buy (especially a resale), why wouldn't you just buy at the resort where you get the best price per points (like Vero Beach?). We have family in Orlando and go to Disney over 2 weeks/year. We usually stay in a one or two bedroom at one of the moderately priced resorts like OKW or SaratogaS. Thanks for the help.

There are others on here who will be able to speak more fully to this, but I would say you are half right. The only major difference in where you own is the 7/11 month reservation window (except for minor differences in things such as mf's). However, I would suggest the 7/11 issue may be a bigger deal than you seem to reflect in your note. I've read a lot about it getting harder and harder to get ressies at the 7m window, and as they add more off-site DVC's (GCV and HI for example), there will be more and more people vying for the resorts on Disney property. If you plan to use your membership for mostly DW visits, it would be risky to buy elsewhere and assume you'll always be able to get in at 7 months (especially if you travel during timesof higher traffic).

We DID decide to go with the cheaper on-site contract through resale because we were comfortable staying anywhere, as long as it was at DW. But, we would not have been willing to buy VB or HHI and take the risk of not being able to get a ressie we wanted. Good luck with your explorations - there's a lot of good people on here who will be happy to help you along the way.

[burcs]

why wouldn't you just buy at the resort where you get the best price per points (like Vero Beach?)

there are at least 3 reasons that i would not buy at vero beach.

1. despite the low price per point, this short term savings will be eaten alive by long term high maintenance fees

2. you would always be at 7 mo for WDW reservations, no backup

3. personally, i don't see myself ever going to vero beach.

on the other hand, if all you want to do is stay onsite, i think that buying a resale contract at a reasonable price is definitely the way to go.

[carolina_yankee]

Regarding the 7/11 month window - the biggest conflict is if you want to stay at BCV, BWV, or VWL. They are smaller and highly desirable compared to SSR, OKW, and AKV. I suspect you'll almost always be able to get into those last three at 7 months (not always the cheapest room, poinst-wise, or best view, though). The Disneyland resort isn't going to put that much of a load on the WDW system because it's small. I also think Disneyland and Hawaii will balance out - for every owner there who wants into WDW, there's probably 10 WDW owners who want GCV or Hawaii. Should BLT turn out to be a DVC resort of any size, that will also reduce pressure on the other WDW resorts.

That said, if you don't care what resort you stay at, buying any WDW DVC will likely serve you most times of the year. If you travel during peak times, I would definitely buy the resort I want to stay at.

Another reason home resort matters is that Disney could theoretically remove any DVC resort from the DVC system. This is more likely to happen with HHI or VB than a WDW resort, but it could happen. I would hate to be a Hilton Head owner for the purpose of a cheap buy-in and then find out, 10 years down the road, that Disney makes that a stand alone resort.

Dirk

[Mickeyfan0805]

Another reason home resort matters is that Disney could theoretically remove any DVC resort from the DVC system. This is more likely to happen with HHI or VB than a WDW resort, but it could happen. I would hate to be a Hilton Head owner for the purpose of a cheap buy-in and then find out, 10 years down the road, that Disney makes that a stand alone resort.

Dirk

REALLY?? I could see that they could remove a resort and no longer allow people to use DVC points to stay at a place like HHI - but could they really tell HHI owners that they are no longer able to use their points to stay anywhere else? This may be in the fine print somewhere that I did not see, but this surprises me. I know this is a real estate ownership, but it is sold with the understanding of usage across the DVC resorts. Not a biggie for us, we bought at WDW because that's where we plan to use it, it just surprises me that they may yank that from some owners.

[carolina_yankee]

REALLY?? I could see that they could remove a resort and no longer allow people to use DVC points to stay at a place like HHI - but could they really tell HHI owners that they are no longer able to use their points to stay anywhere else?
If non-HHI owners aren't allowed to stay at HHI on points, then HHI owners can't be allowed to stay in other resorts on points. The principle of trades (within DVC or outside of DVC) is that someone takes the space that you're giving up.

The POS is clear that the points you buy are for that resort only. Trading to other resorts can be changed at any time. Now, is DVC going to do that? There would have to be some very serious economic incentives to do so before DVC would change the program like that. As you point out, people buy into DVC with the expectation of being able to stay at any DVC resort provided space is available, so removing a resort or limiting usage at other resorts would discourage people from buying into DVC.

Taking all of the small print into account, however, all your purchase guarantees you is the usage of your points at your resort.

Dirk

[Leftcoaster]

That's awesome! I'm really contemplating doing another add-on! Man I wish I just bought into AKV initially!


I think you will be fine with keeping your SSR contract and then trading into AKV. And, as others have said, you can do an add on at AKV.

Someone had mentioned that when completed, AKV will be the third largest DVS resort onsite. Here are the resorts from largest to smallest. The first number is the number of units. The second number is the maximum number of possible units.


SSR 828 (1260)
OKW 531 (761)
AKV 458 (708)
BWV 383 (532)
BCV 208 (282)
VWL 136 (181)