So we have thought about DVC on and off for the past 1-2 years. Hubby finally said this is something we can seriously look into. I am sure there have been tons of threads on this in the past so I’m sorry for repeating this. I would love someone to give me a breakdown on the basics… pros vs. cons. as well as resale vs. buying direct (these are my biggest concerns) including reputable resale sites for those who have purchased resale in the past.
To give you an idea on our trip history, we have been going yearly for about the past 3-4 years (skipped 2013 because we went in late 2012). We are skipping this year because we are expecting baby #2 in April (yay!) so neither one of us will have vacation time left for 2016. We usually stay deluxe (Contemporary and Grand Floridian are our preferred resorts) so the value vs. deluxe thing and cost is not an issue (because we have been paying rack rate for deluxe). We have also stayed concierge level for our past two trips (not sure if you can use points to stay concierge or if you can only stay in the DVC portion so that is another question I have).
I would love any input you have!
Thanks in advance!!!
MouseSavers had a lot of information on the pluses and minuses of buying DVC Disney Vacation Club Info - MouseSavers.com
Also, to answer your last question, you use your DVC points to stay at a DVC resort (or the DVC portion of a resort)- you cannot use them to stay at a non-DVC resort.
Thanks for the link!
And also that is what I thought regarding regular rooms but just wanted to be 100% sure. So much to research on this topic!!! It is making my head spin!
Almost, you can use your points at non-dvc resorts, but the exchange rate is stupidly horrible.
https://disneyvacationclub.disney.go.com/destinations/list/
One thing I did when comparing prices was to calculate the actual cost per point. Take the number of years left on the contact times the points on the contract times the annual dues per point. Then add the price of the contract including closing costs. Divide that by the total number of points on the contract, and this gives you an actual price per point. That way when you are comparing a shorter and “cheaper” Vero beach contact with a longer and pricier grand Floridian contract, you’ll be comparing apples to apples.
Example:
25 years on a contract at 100 points at $50/pt with annual fees of $10/pt…all made up numbers because I don’t have my other spread sheets near me that I used and I want easier math…
$50/pt*100pts=$5000 initial contract cost
100pts25 years=2500 total points
2500pts$10/pt=$25000 for the contract life cost
$5000+$25000=$30,000 total cost
$30,000/2500pts=$12/pt.
Yes, I guess I block that option out of my mind because it is such a poor use of points. 
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