Best Practices for Owners with Medium DVC Contracts

I often argue that Disney Vacation Club membership falls into three categories. Our collective includes owners with small contracts, medium contracts, and large contracts. Thanks to the scalability of DVC, each membership level works differently.

That’s especially true of owners with medium-sized contracts, as you enjoy a plethora of options. You can downsize your contract if you find you’re not using it as much or add on more points if you always feel like you’re a few points short of satisfying your needs.

So, let’s discuss the best practices for owners with medium DVC contracts.

What’s Considered a Medium Contract?

When discussing small contracts, I arbitrarily chose 100 DVC points as the upper boundary. As I mentioned at the time, owners with fewer than 200 DVC points are technically below average, but there’s quite a bit of statistical noise with that assertion.

I won’t bore you with conversations about mode, median, and mean, but let’s just arbitrarily choose 101 to 250 points as the size of a medium contract.

You have plenty enough points to take a Disney trip or two each year, or you can go all out with a luxury vacation. You don’t need to behave conservatively or cautiously with your precious DVC points, as you’ll have plenty more next year.

Still, there are a few skills that you should master over the duration of your contract.

Creativity

You don’t necessarily need to worry about your points distribution each year, although I’ll level with you that if you have 150 points or less, the occasional sacrifice is necessary.

Even so, you have enough points to book an annual vacation. That’s a huge win for you, as that’s the entire purpose of the program. You want to be at Disney as often as possible, so you must learn to leverage your points to maximize their value.

You’ll want to get creative with your Banking, Borrowing, and booking. On those occasions when you don’t need all your points, please don’t feel compelled to use them. When you stockpile points in future years, you can do even more. 

Better yet, you’re not robbing Peter to pay Paul, as they are free points left over from a previous use year. You can use those points guilt-free to enhance your vacation. Then again, you could just keep banking points until you have enough extra to take additional trips. 

Another creative consideration is to rent your extra DVC points at DVC Rental Store. The company pays up to $18 per point, which can not only pay for your annual dues but also a sizable portion of your trip. This sort of supplemental income is precisely the sort of tactic veteran DVC members use to maximize their medium DVC contracts.

Flexibility

I mentioned this in the introduction, and it matters here. Just because you currently have a medium-sized contract doesn’t mean it has to stay that way. The genius of the DVC program is that it stretches or shrinks to fit your current needs.

Importantly, these needs evolve as you grow older. You may need more points now when you’re younger and then downsize when you’re older. Based on conversations I’ve had with DVC members, the reverse is more likely to be true, though. As people gain more vacation time or retire, they spend more and more free time at Disney.

So, when you find you have too many points, you can either sell your contract or rent the points as previously discussed. When you feel you don’t have enough points, you can add on until you actually move into the large DVC contract category.

I like to always pay casual attention to the current state of the DVC marketplace. That way, I know whether I can sell a contract during a shaky economy, or I can buy a contract at a price that is sure to increase in value when the market is stable.

By adopting this approach, you’ll start to perceive your DVC contract as an asset. Based on nearly 35 years of pricing history, odds are good that your asset will appreciate in value. So, if you know you have too many points, you can rent or sell some. Conversely, if you’re hungering for more, you have the flexibility to buy them.

Access all available Disney Vacation Club resale listings, or learn more about buying and selling with DVC Resale Market.

If you’d like to make an offer or request a free consultation about buying or adding to your DVC contract, the DVC Resale Market team is here to help!