I thought DVC was for us, but...

[Anthony1971]

WOW!!!
What ever your choice is it is personal everyone needs to set thier onw priorities and if DVC is such......
Renting is fine and in most cases these will come out ahead of those who own a hosue assuming they save as they will not incur the upkeep wich is outrageous.
I own and am lucky to.. we live in the NYC area.... I had second thoughts but I can say for all of you who think you can not afford to own chances are you can or someday soon you will as you progress in your career. With that in mind I do not buy into houses being that much more unaffordable.. yes you need to save a large sum of money for a down payment but no one seems to ask what thier interest rate was???? My parents was 21% 36 years ago my rate is 5.5%. Now is becoming a great time to buy a house as it IS a buyers market and what a person asks and what they get are entirely different plus most are paying part of the closing fees. What each person does is up to them but my opinion is do not throw out buying a house and buy DVC because of the market.
I am a strong believer in at some times in your life you will make more money than you can spend at other times you may find it hard getting by.
Vacations are a luxury and can be done without when you are down a place to live you will always need rented or owned.
My opinon is obvious of what to put first BUT what is right for me may not be right for someone else but I encourage all to weight ALL options before buying DVC and for that fact a House as both are an expense way beyond the initial price.

 

[KatiebugsMom]

That was me in 1999 on my honeymoon. Did the tour with DH. DH wanted to sign on the dotted line that day. But I was more cautious.....Just married, no house, no kid, no dogs........wanted to see the world........

Fast forward 2006........dogs, house, one beautiful daughter, 9/11 scaring me about wanting to see the world anymore......take her for her first birthday to WDW......revisit DVC. The rest is history. I love it more now and appreciate it more then I would have in 1999.

Would I like to have paid 1999 prices and get BWV, of course. But I love my SSR and have no regrets about anything else either!!!!

The decision is yours to make....DVC will be there for a long time to come!

 

[robinb]

And the more you try to make your point, the more you show your true colors. You might OWN your house, and you may have 2 DVC CONTRACTS, but in my RENTED house, and with my 1 DVC CONTRACT I have more class and respect for other peoples opinion than I guess you do-and money can't buy that.

And exactly how does this post show class and respect for my opinion?

We all have choices to make in life. I made my choices and you made yours. The OP needs to make hers. Maybe she'll use her house down payment money on DVC and maybe she won't. I would advise against it as would other people on this thread.

Enough squabbling. What do you say we make up? I don't want to cause any more strife on this thread. I am sorry that I chose your post as an example of what could happen if you postpone home ownership. It was not meant as an attack but I can see how you took it personally and retaliated. Can I offer you a belated "Welcome Home"?

 

[CoconutCookie]

The $250,000 annual income to own DVC .... yikes. If a lot of people felt that way, I don't think DVC would be as popular as it is. I think it would be interesting to see how many DVC owners fall in to that income bracket though (no, I am not rude or foolish enough to ask, lol).

Thanks for the additional perspectives/opinions

 

[allaboutmm]

And exactly how does this post show class and respect for my opinion?

We all have choices to make in life. I made my choices and you made yours. The OP needs to make hers. Maybe she'll use her house down payment money on DVC and maybe she won't. I would advise against it as would other people on this thread.

Enough squabbling. What do you say we make up? I don't want to cause any more strife on this thread. I am sorry that I chose your post as an example of what could happen if you postpone home ownership. It was not meant as an attack but I can see how you took it personally and retaliated. Can I offer you a belated "Welcome Home"?

Its all good!

 

[robinb]

Its all good!

 

[cseca]

OK, back to OP's question.
I am one of "those" people who thinks that there's nothing wrong with having DVC before owning a home... LOL!!!
I live in MI which housing market is currently down in the dumps. So if I had bought a house oh say... 6/7 years ago when I had bought my DVC I wouldn't be better off. Even if the bank says there's some equity there's NO BUYER for that amount.

The DVC contracts I've had for 6 years already given me at least 12 vacations if not more of priceless much needed break from work...
I wouldn't trade my contracts for anything.
And now, if I want to buy a house I can still buy it maybe for what it was sold back then or even less.
I understand that I didn't get the tax break from owning a house but I didn't feel like being tied down in one place at that point, so that was not a big issue for me.

Trust me, when people I work with ask me how I can afford to go on so many trips to WDW I smiled and just say I have a timeshare...
Even if they try to say anything bad about it I know that they are still a teeny tiny jealous that I get to do fun things at least twice a year with no worries of breaking the bank...

Anyways, what I'm trying to say is... to each their own...

Don't let other people's opinion makes you feel small/wrong/bad... you do what you think is best for you. Do your research and be comfortable with your decision... you'll be fine...

 

[starbox]

I understand that I didn't get the tax break from owning a house but I didn't feel like being tied down in one place at that point, so that was not a big issue for me.

ITA - we were married ten years before we bought a home - we married in our very, very early twenties and just were not ready to commit to staying in one place at the time.

When we started looking into DVC, we were already at a point where we were starting to think seriously about buying a house. I think a big issue is really timing - are you going to finance and would you (will you) possibly want that additional money in the next couple of years to help purchase a house?

In terms of future enjoyment and memories, and as much as I love my DVC, I will admit that the house is the better investment. I can't tell you how great it was to fall in love with VB, and look up real estate in the VB/Sebastian area, and realize that when I retire I should be able to sell our house move to VB to retire - making $$ in the process.
DVC is nice - knowing I could use the investment we made in the house and retire in Florida one day is much nicer.