I dont completely understand the idea of a 25 or 50 point contract.
I would want a one bedroom, so say for example, I need about 200 points a vacation. If I have 50 points somewhere, wouldnt I only have a max of 150 to book at that specific resort at the 11 months? So I could maybe book a studio at 11 months, but then at the 7 months, I have to take the chance of rebooking a 1 bedroom anyway by borrowing more points from my other resort? Am I missing something here w/ the small contract thing? I feel like I must be because so many people talk about their 50 point contracts.. I hope my question isnt too confusing..
Thanks!
To be clear, I'm not saying I only want to have 50 points each resort. As I said, have decided that 255 points per year is about the right number of points for us. So, we could either just buy a single 255 point contract at one resort. Or we could buy several smaller contracts that, when combined, total 260 points per year. In our case, we are buying 85 points at VWL to start. Will add 85 points at AKV and a yet to be determined third resort. (And, in reality we will really be owning six contracts: a 50 and a 35 at each of the three resorts). Then by using banking, borrowing and using, we will effectively have 255 points per year at each resort every three years, on a rotating basis.
The strategy appeals to me on several levels: (1) you get the home booking advantage. Both my wife and I are planners and have good control over our work schedules, so the 11 month window has value to us. By doing it this way, you get the home booking advantage a three different resorts. (2) Enhanced flexibility for adjusting ownership levels as circumstances change. Right now we think 255 per year is what we need, but things change. By holding several small contracts, if I want to downsize, I can sell some but not all of my points. (Versus having to sell the entire contract and repurchase a smaller one, if all points were held in a single contract). Plus, as many have mentioned the resale time of small contracts is much faster than large ones. (3) One way to structure the can spread out the costs of acquisition over three years. As you only have 255 points available for use in the "middle" year of each contract, you need to stagger when the middle year for each resort falls. One way of doing this is to buy a resort each year, for three years.
There are also things about the approach that have risks & costs. First, it obviously takes more planning than a single contract. (But, I would submit, this is something easily solved with a decent spreadsheet.) Second, during the year of the initial purchase you have to bank your points, delaying you first trip until your second year of ownership. A downside that I'm sure would not appeal to many. (But you can get around this by buying a re-sale contract that has banked points.) Third, there will certainly be more transaction costs on acquisition & resale by selling 6 contracts versus one. (But I think those are a small price to pay for the aforementioned benefits. It also seems to me that the real potential for costs overruns in DVC is owning more points than you need or can use. Thus, the attractiveness of being able to make incremental adjustments in ownershiip levels buy buying/selling small contracts). Fourth, using the bank/borrow/use exposes you to a greater risk of losing points if you cancel a trip at the last minute. Make sure you have your head around how these rules work. A risk to be sure, but again, we are planners and very much in control of our own work schedules; we don't cancel anything at the last minute so its a de minimus concern to us.
So think about how many points you would need
per year for the vacation you want. If that is 200, than three 67 point contracts at three different resorts would get you there. Food for thought.