Small Contract owners

[Instagramhusband]

What was your rationale with a small contract? Is it a case of add onitis? or Do you really want some points at a particular resort for home booking advantage? Have any of you bought and sold a few years later? If so how did you do on the cost/benefit side?

 

[hhisc16]

What was your rationale with a small contract? Is it a case of add onitis? or Do you really want some points at a particular resort for home booking advantage? Have any of you bought and sold a few years later? If so how did you do on the cost/benefit side?

We own 3 small contracts. All at HHI. 2 UY.
Contract 1 was the trial.
Contract 2 was a good deal with resale.
Contract 3 was a small direct to add to contract 2.

 

[JackosinDIS]

For me, it’s to get home resort priority at more resorts. I like split stays, so happy for a small contract to just cover a few days… if I want longer I’m also happy to bank and borrow alternate years.

Also, it is psychologically easier to drop $6k on a contract than it is on a $20k+ contract (despite the fact it is rationally more per point!).

I don’t plan on selling (especially the 2042 contracts), but the theory is if I do have to sell then the small contracts should be easier to shift.

 

[Instagramhusband]

We own 3 small contracts. All at HHI. 2 UY.
Contract 1 was the trial.
Contract 2 was a good deal with resale.
Contract 3 was a small direct to add to contract 2.

Thanks for the response. I have two medium contracts and want a third but the small contracts are appealing to me at other resorts.

 

[Tatebeck]

I bought 100+ points contracts only, just due to the math. But I may buy a smaller contract later to get into an expiring resort like BCV. If you buy a bigger contract and rent out your extras, you essentially can get the smaller contract at a cheaper price. Or you can keep the extra points and have extra flexibility or more vacations. It's definitely the way to go if you plan on holding for a long time, renting points out possibly, can convince yourself to spend the money, and of course if you actually have the to

 

[kanerf]

It is also much easer to sell a small contract and get a higher price per point.

 

[Instagramhusband]

For me, it’s to get home resort priority at more resorts. I like split stays, so happy for a small contract to just cover a few days… if I want longer I’m also happy to bank and borrow alternate years.

Also, it is psychologically easier to drop $6k on a contract than it is on a $20k+ contract (despite the fact it is rationally more per point!).

I don’t plan on selling (especially the 2042 contracts), but the theory is if I do have to sell then the small contracts should be easier to shift.

I would not mind a small contract at Boardwalk. That is what is tempting me. I would like to stay there on Epcot Days. The fact it would expire in 2042 is actually somewhat comforting to me because I know I will not want to retain too many contracts to 2057

 

[mathgeek]

I impulse purchased two VGC small contracts within the past couple years. The first one was b/c I really wanted to own there and have home resort priority for a short stay every year (50 pts - different UY than my others). The second one was b/c I had been thinking about adding on so I could go 2x per year and saw a 50 point contract with the same UY as my other two contracts. So if I decide to sell one in a few years, it'll obviously be the one with the different UY.

My other contracts aren't that big either, 100 and 120, but I always stay in studios.

 

[AstroBlasters]

1) liquidity
2) add on to other contracts to move up room size or category
3) low point chart resort with bank/borrow strategy

 

[GogoDenali]

Its easier to have the cash flow for it. buying a loaded contract gives you a lot extra points initially until u need to add on again. allows u to put a little extra in DVC and a little in the IRA.

 

[bianca]

We have over 800 points at various resorts, but have a tiny 25 point contract at Poly. The reasoning is that we can reserve the first day or two or three (depending on banking/borrowing) of our stay at the 11 month window. We then come in at the 7 month window and reserve the rest of the stay. We only stay there during slower times of the year and we’ve always gotten the remainder of our reservation with no difficulty. It just allows us to not have to be on the computer at 8 am or walk the reservation.

 

[ClaraOswald]

We purchased a 50 point BRV contract earlier this year. The original plan was that we'd only go every other year or every 3rd year, and stay in a studio.

But....shortly after purchasing...we realized we'll likely want to go more often and even stay in a 1-bedroom. We assumed this would be the case eventually....just not 1 month later. Ha!

So now we have 50 BRV points and soon 150 more. I actually don't mind having the smaller one because if down the road we do think we might want to go less often, we can ditch a small amount of points, if needed.

 

[SpicyMcHaggis]

My contract is 75 points, which is enough for standard view studios most years during the travel periods we are interested in. The reason we went with AKV vs something else for the contract is because we love AKV, and want to have the ability to take a shot at value rooms. We can stay basically indefinitely in a standard view studio for one week per year during our travel times with 75 points as long as we get lucky once every few years with a value room, or if not, take a year off as needed.

I'm hoping to augment this one with 150 direct at RIV once we've got the money to be able to do so, and get at least two weeks every year in a studio.
Starting with the small contract, we'll be able to benefit from member pricing when we're able to pull that trigger, and if our plans change we can be reasonably confident that we can divest in a decent time frame. If we end up not going direct, we'll probably be looking for another one or two small-ish contracts to achieve the same sort of thing.

 

[marmentrout85]

We purchased a 50 point BRV contract earlier this year. The original plan was that we'd only go every other year or every 3rd year, and stay in a studio.

But....shortly after purchasing...we realized we'll likely want to go more often and even stay in a 1-bedroom. We assumed this would be the case eventually....just not 1 month later. Ha!

So now we have 50 BRV points and soon 150 more. I actually don't mind having the smaller one because if down the road we do think we might want to go less often, we can ditch a small amount of points, if needed.

This will inevitably happen to us at RIV I'm almost certain of it lol. Just bought a 50-pointer there mostly because we knew it'll theoretically be easier to sell down the road if need be. Basically just being risk averse due to the resale restriction variable, and I also have a hard time justifying paying more annual dues than necessary for points I know I can only use at that resort.

 

[RichVIII]

Buy small contracts b/c they are much easier on the budget.
Buy small contracts to accumulate points.
Buy small points to sell (hopefully) easier if need be.
BUT buying small contracts at other resorts is a pain in the butt. 25 and even 50 points means either banking/borrowing to piece together much of anything. So adding more to one resort or more focused is my recommendation.

 

[Chili327]

With banking and borrowing you can get a lot with a small contract, especially if you have a few of them.
Also resale value is a bonus.

 

[Genie+]

Smaller contracts avoid that scary 5th digit. $4,000? Ok. $8,000? Alright. $16,795?

Ouch I may need AoA. Add-on Anonymous. (Or Art of Animation might help too by just paying cash LM room )

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

Smaller contracts avoid that scary 5th digit. $4,000? Ok. $8,000? Alright. $16,795?

Ouch I may need AoA. Add-on Anonymous. (Or Art of Animation might help too by just paying cash LM room )

I agree. $6-8k is the cost of a trip, $20k is an extra year before retirement.

They are not that different in the grand scheme of things, and the bigger contract gets you more for your dollar, but psychologically, it feels very different.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Well...and bigger contract = higher dues. That's the hard part for me.

 

[DanCali]

What was your rationale with a small contract? Is it a case of add onitis? or Do you really want some points at a particular resort for home booking advantage? Have any of you bought and sold a few years later? If so how did you do on the cost/benefit side?

75 pts Poly - Enough for a long weekend once a year. And relatively easy to add on to the stay at 7 months with other contracts.

50 pts at BRV - I couldn't bring myself buy a bigger contract at a 2042 resort at the given market prices.

(of course I later violated my own rule when we bought a larger BWV contract, but the price in that was on the attractive side)