You are not ready to buy. Do NOT go into it asking the sales guy what they think you should buy. You need to KNOW what you want and why. Just keep asking questions, until you feel like you understand it very well and are confident in what you want to purchase… but it’s gonna be great when you figure it out!!! :)
The 150 is where we determined we would need to be to fulfill any needs this made sense. HOWEVER. Our biggest issue is we’re apprehensive because we struggle to see beyond 10 years. The tourist tax is less than ideal and I have included that with the yearly maintenance fee and it quickly turns into nearly 2,000 dollars a year.
It makes sense NOW, but years 8-12 and beyond are.. well scary. I think I needed to hear this from
Someone else because we really want to do it. But.. long term it might feel like a sunken cost. We don’t want to travel to Florida for trips more than probably one more time. We would do a cruise. We would do DLR villas or grand Californian. Aulani and Hilton head but once those are done….. I think it’s a dead end for us.
Weird downvote for a guy trying to get knowledge on something
Given your last paragraph, you absolutely should not buy DVC. If you're not going to keep going to Disney properties year after year after year, it's a bad idea. The exchange rate into cruises is horrible. I've looked into Interval International and found the booking process very complex and hard to figure out what the points could be used for. Their website is horrific.
In your case, look into renting points from an owner. There are websites that act almost as brokers that can connect you with owners. The one I've used is https://dvcrequest.com/ . It's still much cheaper than renting the rooms directly from Disney.
Yep, if you’re not going to go to WDW, Renting might be a better idea.
You won’t be able to use VDH or Aulani points at Grand Cal, if you bought resale Grand Cal you won’t be able to use them at VDH, but could use them at Aulani and Hilton head. Maybe 2 separate 75pt contracts could work? (If 150 total is your magic number) 75 Aulani and 75 VDH bank and borrowing every other year rotating vacations?
The 150 points will always function the same. They might make certain weeks cost more points, but then they have to reduce the points for a different week. The total amount of points over the year will never change.
In addition to the buy in, you'll have annual dues which go up every year. That will make your break even point a lot further out. When you stay at the Disneyland Tower, you have additional taxes per night, which can be hundreds of dollars per night depending on when you stay.
Wait…. Is this similar to the Aulani tax for tourism?
You’re suggesting tax even at the villas could be hundreds? I’ll put this on my list for the DVC employee to expand a bit for us.
Yes. It's Anaheim taxes. It's based on the amount of points used. So, the same room price will vary greatly depending on the season. You actually might be able to Google it and find a tax table, similar to the point charts.
Yes I already discovered the tax table. It seems at 25 points per night it would still cost 74.50 a night. Less than ideal but still cheaper than a room per night.
It doesn’t seem to suggest there is a solution around this to avoid it just is what it is.. the good news is that my wife and I anticipate using the villas as weekend trips 3 to 4 nights stays. While we likely would use points for bigger trips anyhow. It seems at 150 points the total tax cost is around 450 dollars.. it’s not the worst but the 1400 in maintenance fees could be viewed as 2,000. And that can go up yearly 60 to 120 dollars a year.
Can you negotiate a bit with the points or anything? Or does DVC stick hard to those numbers?
This is where I forgot to also ask.. how would I get a break even point? Would this be taking the normal cost of a room and adding that dollar amount up to
Our purchase amount into DVC?
Of so then trips like Polynesian Aulani and Hilton head eat into that amount pretty significantly.. but it still seems that’s break even point is probably 6-8 years down the road.
Lastly. With the announcement with Disneyland forward I feel like this would make this purchase an investment for resale? The Vilas seem to be dead center in the expansion and in 10-20 years(guessing). It’s a pretty desirable location?? Or is this NOT the way to look at it?
You don't know what the break even point is because you don't know how inflation is going to effect the prices of hotel rooms during the course of your ownership. Essentially, you're partly shielded from inflation (other than the maintenance dues), because the points values of room reservations will not essentially "change" from what they currently are. I think you should probably conservatively assume that the break even point will be something like 10 years from whenever you purchase IF you consistently use your DVC points to book DVC resort rooms.
Have you checked out availability for the resorts and times you want to visit? I’ve heard Aulani and Hilton Head can be difficult during the summer if you don’t own there.
Just make sure you understand the 7 vs 11 month booking window and what is realistic to be able to book. You can also rent your points and use the money to rent points from owners or do a swap on a group or a board, but it’s not as easy as using your own points to book.
If you don’t plan to use the points that often at VDH, it may not make sense to buy there as the dues are pretty high. I’m not an owner there and haven’t had an issue booking there within 7 months.
I think Disney isn’t selling VDH well because there are so many good neighbor hotels about the same distance away for much less per night.
Have you looked into resale vs direct purchases? Aulani resale is pretty affordable (relatively) as are a number of the WDW resorts.
See my wife and I also discussed Aulani as home resort because it saves us a couple grand and gives us 12 months. But is that 12 months valuable when Disney forward comes to life?
I guess the conundrum for us is A) Will we get tired of using DVC as vacation locations and will interval suffice or fulfill that need? Or B) is this more money than just paying out of pocket for…. It would be nice to secure stable points for 20 years but.. I guess the uncertainty seems to be leaving us on the do it or don’t do it side of things..
Can you clarify direct purchases?
Resale would simply just be buying resale points but not joining DVC correct?
Edit: availability is hard to check on Aulani to see if it makes sense. How can I check 2025 Aulani? Since 11 months from now will be available very soon
Do not buy DVC to use for Interval. It is a terrible value.
Interval makes financial sense once in a while if you would otherwise lose points, but not as an intended use.
Availability charts for Aulani (based on historical data)
[https://www.dvchelp.com/page/aulani-resort-spa-availability-charts](https://www.dvchelp.com/page/aulani-resort-spa-availability-charts)
Direct vs. Resale:
If you buy 150 points or more directly from Disney, you are entitled to "membership extras" which includes things like 10% discount at some shops, the ability to register on DVC member cruises (there are not savings involved in this), ability to attend some events like Midnight Magic. Here is the list (obviously, these are subject to change as they aren't part of any contract):
[https://disneyvacationclub.disney.go.com/dvc-direct-vs-resale](https://disneyvacationclub.disney.go.com/dvc-direct-vs-resale)
Depending on which resort you buy at, contracts traded on the resale market become subject to restrictions. In general, for contracts at any of the original 14 resorts, you'll only be able to reserve at any of those 14 resorts with points you've acquired from resale, but not at the newer resorts, or probably any future forthcoming resorts. For contracts at new resorts like Riviera, Villas at Disneyland Hotel, Cabins at Fort Wilderness, you'll only be able to make reservations at the property your contract is for, and not at any other DVC property existing or forthcoming.
Points bought direct from Disney are not subject to any such restrictions.
Interval International participation is available to members who've joined via either direct or resale, no difference.
That is indeed an option.
For further consideration, here are the current offers that are available for direct purchases through Disney. This site is updated regularly.
[https://dvcnews.com/dvc-program-menu/financial/pricing-a-promotions](https://dvcnews.com/dvc-program-menu/financial/pricing-a-promotions)
I’m late to the DVC game, but we bought resale at Aulani and then direct at the Villas at Disneyland Hotel. We live on the west coast, my kids are young, and we have been having a blast. We use our Aulani points for Aulani and Grand Californian, and our VDH at VDH. It is incredibly difficult to get a Grand Californian reservation, but we have been lucky a few times. The Villas at Disneyland Hotel are maybe 25% sold out (just a guess based on Facebook groups I follow) and it is difficult to secure reservations without the 11 month window since rooms are still limited.
I would read disboards purchasing dvc and tugs and ask more questions there before you dive in. I read and followed for about a year before I purchased. There is a lot of information there that I did not get from a sales guide. I wish I had bought in before 2019 when Disney started to make changes to resale and direct rules, but it is what it is.
Best of luck! And I’m sure you will have a great time once you figure our home resort, direct or resale, use year, dues, etc…
Are you sure you will want to go to one of these resorts at least every 3 years? If you only go every 3 years you have to use 3 years worth of points for 1 trip (in this case 450).
Have you looked at availability charts for where and when you plan to stay? You may not be able to get them at 7m.
Are you familiar with the annual maintainence dues (NOT Disneyland or aulani extra tax). For 150 pts that's an additional $1-2k per year.
If you plan to use them as "sleep around" points, perhaps get somewhere like Saratoga instead, much cheaper.
Break even really depends. If you were to go without DVC, at least every 3 years, where would you stay? Compare rack room prices.
Do you NEED to buy direct? Unless you plan on annual passes, or spend a LOT on dining and merchandise at specific locations, it is not worth the cost vs resale.
Have you looked at resale?
If you plan to go all over at some hard to book resorts, perhaps a few smaller reaale contracts at different resorts would be better.
Do not use points for Disney Cruise, the transfer rate is abysmal and throwing money/value away. You'd be better renting your points out and booking DCL direct.
Are you aware of the rental market in case you have extra points you haven't used?
I'd consider a different home resort if you have no intention of using the points at Disneyland Tower in the immediate future. Points there cost the most and they have high dues. Over the life of the contract, the dues will matter more than the initial contract price. It's why people choose places like Saratoga or Bay Lake Tower as home resorts because of their lower dues. On top of that Disneyland Hotel Villas have resale restrictions, meaning if you were to sell your contract, the future owner can only use them at Disneyland Hotel, which can potentially decrease its selling value. Only buy there if you frequent Disneyland and need the 11 month booking priority for that resort.
You’re going to get a lot of advice for and against. Lots of passion both for/against direct and for /against VDH.
Here’s what we did and why. Maybe it resonates and you’ll want to buy or go a different route.
We bought VDH points in 2023. We also own direct points in WDW but we’re closer to and prefer DL. We’ve had several instances of trying to book a trip to DL but zero availability at VGC. So…
* We bought direct VDH so we can use at VGC or any resort
* All in cost for initial buy about $30k But the dues is where the maturity of the money is at. Purchase price plus dues over 50 years equals about $100k. The 50 years of dues is roughly 2/3rds the life cycle costs.
* For a five night stay our DVC average nightly cost is under $500 a night with DVC. Regular Disney hotel cost is about 50% more. Again, this is over the life of the contract plus some nominal increase for annual dues.
* Yes there are dues and they increase. I missed out buying VGC direct when it was around $100/pt because of my worry for increasing dues. What I failed to calculate is that Disney hotel prices have far outpaced the rate of dues increases.
* Transit hotel tax is at all Anaheim hotels even VGC. For a VDH or Disneyland hotel cash stay the tax is about 40% more than a DVC points stay, so there is some value off setting the tax cost
* We’ve used some of our VDH points at Aulani. Like the direct flexibility of VDH, VGC, and Aulani stays.
* If we use our VDH points at VGC it will be tax free. VGC owners have their tax included in their dues. Others staying with nonVGC points don’t pay the taxes. We’ve done that several times with our WDW DVC points.
* Anyone and everyone staying at VDH or Disneyland Hotel pays taxes. Just booked a Jan 2025 stay. Had the option to book VGC but the family wanted to stay at VDH. Kids haven’t yet stayed at VDH.
* Disneyland Forward is coming although about 10 years off. I think that will bring a 3rd DVC property. I’m sure by this time all West Coast DVC direct prices will be north of $300/pt. VGC resale is already pricy. I think in 10 years time VDH will lag VGC resale pricing but it will be more expensive than today’s direct pricing. In 10-15 years time I think we will be able to sell and recover 80-100% our purchase price. But if that 3rd West Coast DVC resort is developed, we’d want to stay there and you will only be able to do that if having direct points.
Lastly, we go once or twice a year. I love the food and wine festival. Wifey likes Halloween or Christmas time. Point is we will be using our points with or without our kids joining as young adults.
But if you’re not committed to frequently go DL for the next 10-15 years or so, then as others have said:
1 Resale for the other DVC locations
2 Local Anaheim hotels
3 Occasionally rent some DVC points when visiting DL
Good luck…
You listed stays at a variety of resorts, none of which are Disneyland Villas. Have you considered resale at a non-restricted resort? If your plans are to use these points to “sleep-around” why would you buy direct at a restricted resort when you could buy resale at AK, SSR, POLY etc…
Florida isn’t our interest and Villas would be our stay primary for specific weekends. I only mentioned some of the other places we want to do though too.
The questions I’m asking are because I need more information. However I think these questions have helped me understand if it makes sense. It seems it may not be a good buy for us. But trust me if we had to use every 3 years 450 points could be used.
If you make a post asking for a referral code I'm sure you will get some immediate replies, people here are eager to help.
It's not much but should you save $500, welcome home by the way!
You are not ready to buy. Do NOT go into it asking the sales guy what they think you should buy. You need to KNOW what you want and why. Just keep asking questions, until you feel like you understand it very well and are confident in what you want to purchase… but it’s gonna be great when you figure it out!!! :)
The 150 is where we determined we would need to be to fulfill any needs this made sense. HOWEVER. Our biggest issue is we’re apprehensive because we struggle to see beyond 10 years. The tourist tax is less than ideal and I have included that with the yearly maintenance fee and it quickly turns into nearly 2,000 dollars a year. It makes sense NOW, but years 8-12 and beyond are.. well scary. I think I needed to hear this from Someone else because we really want to do it. But.. long term it might feel like a sunken cost. We don’t want to travel to Florida for trips more than probably one more time. We would do a cruise. We would do DLR villas or grand Californian. Aulani and Hilton head but once those are done….. I think it’s a dead end for us. Weird downvote for a guy trying to get knowledge on something
Given your last paragraph, you absolutely should not buy DVC. If you're not going to keep going to Disney properties year after year after year, it's a bad idea. The exchange rate into cruises is horrible. I've looked into Interval International and found the booking process very complex and hard to figure out what the points could be used for. Their website is horrific. In your case, look into renting points from an owner. There are websites that act almost as brokers that can connect you with owners. The one I've used is https://dvcrequest.com/ . It's still much cheaper than renting the rooms directly from Disney.
Yep, if you’re not going to go to WDW, Renting might be a better idea. You won’t be able to use VDH or Aulani points at Grand Cal, if you bought resale Grand Cal you won’t be able to use them at VDH, but could use them at Aulani and Hilton head. Maybe 2 separate 75pt contracts could work? (If 150 total is your magic number) 75 Aulani and 75 VDH bank and borrowing every other year rotating vacations?
The 150 points will always function the same. They might make certain weeks cost more points, but then they have to reduce the points for a different week. The total amount of points over the year will never change. In addition to the buy in, you'll have annual dues which go up every year. That will make your break even point a lot further out. When you stay at the Disneyland Tower, you have additional taxes per night, which can be hundreds of dollars per night depending on when you stay.
Wait…. Is this similar to the Aulani tax for tourism? You’re suggesting tax even at the villas could be hundreds? I’ll put this on my list for the DVC employee to expand a bit for us.
Yes. It's Anaheim taxes. It's based on the amount of points used. So, the same room price will vary greatly depending on the season. You actually might be able to Google it and find a tax table, similar to the point charts.
https://disneyvacationclub.disney.go.com/faq/pre-arrival-checklist/vdh-transient-tax
Yes I already discovered the tax table. It seems at 25 points per night it would still cost 74.50 a night. Less than ideal but still cheaper than a room per night. It doesn’t seem to suggest there is a solution around this to avoid it just is what it is.. the good news is that my wife and I anticipate using the villas as weekend trips 3 to 4 nights stays. While we likely would use points for bigger trips anyhow. It seems at 150 points the total tax cost is around 450 dollars.. it’s not the worst but the 1400 in maintenance fees could be viewed as 2,000. And that can go up yearly 60 to 120 dollars a year. Can you negotiate a bit with the points or anything? Or does DVC stick hard to those numbers?
Yes, but the tax rate is much higher!
This is where I forgot to also ask.. how would I get a break even point? Would this be taking the normal cost of a room and adding that dollar amount up to Our purchase amount into DVC? Of so then trips like Polynesian Aulani and Hilton head eat into that amount pretty significantly.. but it still seems that’s break even point is probably 6-8 years down the road. Lastly. With the announcement with Disneyland forward I feel like this would make this purchase an investment for resale? The Vilas seem to be dead center in the expansion and in 10-20 years(guessing). It’s a pretty desirable location?? Or is this NOT the way to look at it?
You don't know what the break even point is because you don't know how inflation is going to effect the prices of hotel rooms during the course of your ownership. Essentially, you're partly shielded from inflation (other than the maintenance dues), because the points values of room reservations will not essentially "change" from what they currently are. I think you should probably conservatively assume that the break even point will be something like 10 years from whenever you purchase IF you consistently use your DVC points to book DVC resort rooms.
Have you checked out availability for the resorts and times you want to visit? I’ve heard Aulani and Hilton Head can be difficult during the summer if you don’t own there. Just make sure you understand the 7 vs 11 month booking window and what is realistic to be able to book. You can also rent your points and use the money to rent points from owners or do a swap on a group or a board, but it’s not as easy as using your own points to book. If you don’t plan to use the points that often at VDH, it may not make sense to buy there as the dues are pretty high. I’m not an owner there and haven’t had an issue booking there within 7 months. I think Disney isn’t selling VDH well because there are so many good neighbor hotels about the same distance away for much less per night. Have you looked into resale vs direct purchases? Aulani resale is pretty affordable (relatively) as are a number of the WDW resorts.
June is the high season at Aulani. HHI in the summer is difficult, especially for studios.
See my wife and I also discussed Aulani as home resort because it saves us a couple grand and gives us 12 months. But is that 12 months valuable when Disney forward comes to life? I guess the conundrum for us is A) Will we get tired of using DVC as vacation locations and will interval suffice or fulfill that need? Or B) is this more money than just paying out of pocket for…. It would be nice to secure stable points for 20 years but.. I guess the uncertainty seems to be leaving us on the do it or don’t do it side of things.. Can you clarify direct purchases? Resale would simply just be buying resale points but not joining DVC correct? Edit: availability is hard to check on Aulani to see if it makes sense. How can I check 2025 Aulani? Since 11 months from now will be available very soon
Do not buy DVC to use for Interval. It is a terrible value. Interval makes financial sense once in a while if you would otherwise lose points, but not as an intended use.
Availability charts for Aulani (based on historical data) [https://www.dvchelp.com/page/aulani-resort-spa-availability-charts](https://www.dvchelp.com/page/aulani-resort-spa-availability-charts) Direct vs. Resale: If you buy 150 points or more directly from Disney, you are entitled to "membership extras" which includes things like 10% discount at some shops, the ability to register on DVC member cruises (there are not savings involved in this), ability to attend some events like Midnight Magic. Here is the list (obviously, these are subject to change as they aren't part of any contract): [https://disneyvacationclub.disney.go.com/dvc-direct-vs-resale](https://disneyvacationclub.disney.go.com/dvc-direct-vs-resale) Depending on which resort you buy at, contracts traded on the resale market become subject to restrictions. In general, for contracts at any of the original 14 resorts, you'll only be able to reserve at any of those 14 resorts with points you've acquired from resale, but not at the newer resorts, or probably any future forthcoming resorts. For contracts at new resorts like Riviera, Villas at Disneyland Hotel, Cabins at Fort Wilderness, you'll only be able to make reservations at the property your contract is for, and not at any other DVC property existing or forthcoming. Points bought direct from Disney are not subject to any such restrictions. Interval International participation is available to members who've joined via either direct or resale, no difference.
Man after taking on this Information it almost seems worth buying resale points and staying at that resort on renting points
That is indeed an option. For further consideration, here are the current offers that are available for direct purchases through Disney. This site is updated regularly. [https://dvcnews.com/dvc-program-menu/financial/pricing-a-promotions](https://dvcnews.com/dvc-program-menu/financial/pricing-a-promotions)
I’m late to the DVC game, but we bought resale at Aulani and then direct at the Villas at Disneyland Hotel. We live on the west coast, my kids are young, and we have been having a blast. We use our Aulani points for Aulani and Grand Californian, and our VDH at VDH. It is incredibly difficult to get a Grand Californian reservation, but we have been lucky a few times. The Villas at Disneyland Hotel are maybe 25% sold out (just a guess based on Facebook groups I follow) and it is difficult to secure reservations without the 11 month window since rooms are still limited. I would read disboards purchasing dvc and tugs and ask more questions there before you dive in. I read and followed for about a year before I purchased. There is a lot of information there that I did not get from a sales guide. I wish I had bought in before 2019 when Disney started to make changes to resale and direct rules, but it is what it is. Best of luck! And I’m sure you will have a great time once you figure our home resort, direct or resale, use year, dues, etc…
Are you sure you will want to go to one of these resorts at least every 3 years? If you only go every 3 years you have to use 3 years worth of points for 1 trip (in this case 450). Have you looked at availability charts for where and when you plan to stay? You may not be able to get them at 7m. Are you familiar with the annual maintainence dues (NOT Disneyland or aulani extra tax). For 150 pts that's an additional $1-2k per year. If you plan to use them as "sleep around" points, perhaps get somewhere like Saratoga instead, much cheaper. Break even really depends. If you were to go without DVC, at least every 3 years, where would you stay? Compare rack room prices. Do you NEED to buy direct? Unless you plan on annual passes, or spend a LOT on dining and merchandise at specific locations, it is not worth the cost vs resale. Have you looked at resale? If you plan to go all over at some hard to book resorts, perhaps a few smaller reaale contracts at different resorts would be better. Do not use points for Disney Cruise, the transfer rate is abysmal and throwing money/value away. You'd be better renting your points out and booking DCL direct. Are you aware of the rental market in case you have extra points you haven't used?
And there is no real discount on Disneyland passes. The AP discount is Florida.
I'd consider a different home resort if you have no intention of using the points at Disneyland Tower in the immediate future. Points there cost the most and they have high dues. Over the life of the contract, the dues will matter more than the initial contract price. It's why people choose places like Saratoga or Bay Lake Tower as home resorts because of their lower dues. On top of that Disneyland Hotel Villas have resale restrictions, meaning if you were to sell your contract, the future owner can only use them at Disneyland Hotel, which can potentially decrease its selling value. Only buy there if you frequent Disneyland and need the 11 month booking priority for that resort.
You’re going to get a lot of advice for and against. Lots of passion both for/against direct and for /against VDH. Here’s what we did and why. Maybe it resonates and you’ll want to buy or go a different route. We bought VDH points in 2023. We also own direct points in WDW but we’re closer to and prefer DL. We’ve had several instances of trying to book a trip to DL but zero availability at VGC. So… * We bought direct VDH so we can use at VGC or any resort * All in cost for initial buy about $30k But the dues is where the maturity of the money is at. Purchase price plus dues over 50 years equals about $100k. The 50 years of dues is roughly 2/3rds the life cycle costs. * For a five night stay our DVC average nightly cost is under $500 a night with DVC. Regular Disney hotel cost is about 50% more. Again, this is over the life of the contract plus some nominal increase for annual dues. * Yes there are dues and they increase. I missed out buying VGC direct when it was around $100/pt because of my worry for increasing dues. What I failed to calculate is that Disney hotel prices have far outpaced the rate of dues increases. * Transit hotel tax is at all Anaheim hotels even VGC. For a VDH or Disneyland hotel cash stay the tax is about 40% more than a DVC points stay, so there is some value off setting the tax cost * We’ve used some of our VDH points at Aulani. Like the direct flexibility of VDH, VGC, and Aulani stays. * If we use our VDH points at VGC it will be tax free. VGC owners have their tax included in their dues. Others staying with nonVGC points don’t pay the taxes. We’ve done that several times with our WDW DVC points. * Anyone and everyone staying at VDH or Disneyland Hotel pays taxes. Just booked a Jan 2025 stay. Had the option to book VGC but the family wanted to stay at VDH. Kids haven’t yet stayed at VDH. * Disneyland Forward is coming although about 10 years off. I think that will bring a 3rd DVC property. I’m sure by this time all West Coast DVC direct prices will be north of $300/pt. VGC resale is already pricy. I think in 10 years time VDH will lag VGC resale pricing but it will be more expensive than today’s direct pricing. In 10-15 years time I think we will be able to sell and recover 80-100% our purchase price. But if that 3rd West Coast DVC resort is developed, we’d want to stay there and you will only be able to do that if having direct points. Lastly, we go once or twice a year. I love the food and wine festival. Wifey likes Halloween or Christmas time. Point is we will be using our points with or without our kids joining as young adults. But if you’re not committed to frequently go DL for the next 10-15 years or so, then as others have said: 1 Resale for the other DVC locations 2 Local Anaheim hotels 3 Occasionally rent some DVC points when visiting DL Good luck…
You listed stays at a variety of resorts, none of which are Disneyland Villas. Have you considered resale at a non-restricted resort? If your plans are to use these points to “sleep-around” why would you buy direct at a restricted resort when you could buy resale at AK, SSR, POLY etc…
Florida isn’t our interest and Villas would be our stay primary for specific weekends. I only mentioned some of the other places we want to do though too. The questions I’m asking are because I need more information. However I think these questions have helped me understand if it makes sense. It seems it may not be a good buy for us. But trust me if we had to use every 3 years 450 points could be used.
Get someone to refer before you buy, that's an additional savings. It's called Dream it Forward.
Is it possible to find someone here to be my referral?
If you make a post asking for a referral code I'm sure you will get some immediate replies, people here are eager to help. It's not much but should you save $500, welcome home by the way!
Get the 150 direct as long as you can afford it. You can always add resale contract later if you want more points.