Sellers:WHY are you selling?

[AspiringCindy]

I am considering purchasing DVC points. Everyone says they are so great, yet I see many trying to sell they points. What gives? Is there a flaw with this timeshare? Please shed some light!

[nuthut]

The only flaws are things in life in general, things like death and families breaking up, financial difficulties, etc will force some owners to sell.

[WDWguru]

We've purchased two resales. One was the result of property settlement in a divorce, the other because of a bankruptcy.

You've also got people who bought in early and whose lifestyles, budgets (even when paid off, you still have dues) or travel habits have changed. They can now easily sell their contract for more than they purchased it for, making a tidy profit. What other timeshare can you say THAT about?!

[InstImpres]

Originally posted by AspiringCindy
I am considering purchasing DVC points. Everyone says they are so great, yet I see many trying to sell they points. What gives? Is there a flaw with this timeshare? Please shed some light!

Do you mean selling of a contract or renting of points on the rent/trade board? If your question is about rentals, my answer is simple. I bought more points than I can use in an average year now. I bought more because in the future, I will have more vacation time and family growth. Therefore, right now, I rent part each year as I don't need them. Down the road, my renting will stop.

Other people are renting to pay for a Disney Cruise. It is more cost effective to rent your points and pay cash for your cruise than to use points for your trip.

Hope this helps a little
Sandy

[crisi]

I purchased mine resale contract from someone who thought they could afford it, hung onto it for a couple of years, and then discovered that she was overextended and DVC wasn't a financial priority.

[AspiringCindy]

I was really interested in selling of contracts. I was quoted a price of $84 a point by DVC. On the Dis, a majority of the resale contracts are selling at $68-$72 a point. The thing that confuses me is... many are selling that have already burrowed next years points. Does this mean you can't use these contracts till 2005 if they've used most or all of 2004 points?

[InstImpres]

Sorry, misunderstood.

Disney is currently selling for $84 per point but has an offer called Magical Begininngs. You sell them the current year points and you get a $10 credit...aka know $74 per point. There is no ROFR process and no waiting. There is also no "already borrowed points". Depending on use year will depend when your next points are available, though you to have the option of borrowing ahead a year. So if they use all or most of 2004 points, you can still vacation in 2004 and just borrow from 2005. Personally for the small difference, I think I would rather start with a clean slate. Factor in that you are paying for a year's worth of points you can't use.

JMHO
Sandy

[AspiringCindy]

That is precisely what I thought! Unfortunately for me, I am planning a huge trip for next summer, so Magical beginnings will not work for me. I'll need too many points!

[5infam]

I am currently waiting for a resale to clear ROFR, and I was told that the family I am buying from lives in another country. In talking with several agents, they seem to get several resales from folks that live outside of the U.S. Maybe they bought on a spur of the moment thing (fell in love with Disney Magic) and figured they would keep coming back year after year, and that never ended up happening, so they sell.

I ran the numbers on resales a million times trying to figure out which is better, a direct purchase or a resale. In the end, the thing that makes the most sense (IMHO) is to buy a resale contract that has all points available for the current year and as a bonus, maybe even find one with banked points as well unless you are adding on (then other factors may apply, such as use year and points available through Disney at your home resort).

I also have a big trip planned next year and was getting ready to spend a lot of money on hotel rooms, until a friend told me about DVC. It just seemed to make more sense to buy in than to blow a lot of cash on renting (direct from Disney). The contract I waited for was one that I could bank all of this years points, and a use year in the month I was traveling, thus giving me double points to use next year. I also may need to borrow from 05 to get exactly what I want (but hopefully not).

Don't forget to include in your comparisons the closing costs that you will pay on a resale, as well as if you will be paying maintenance fees for current years points.
:cool: :cool: :cool:

[CaptainMidnight]

Check out the resale prices, they are pretty good for a timeshare. You can have some comfort in that if something unplanned happens with a life event and you neeed some cash, you can still get good value through the sale of your DVC points. After all, unemployment is very high right now, the economy is not doing well and hasn't been for a while.

[JudithM]

We knew a couple of DVC members who sold points - one was due to a spouse's death & the other was family financial issues. I have yet to hear about former members who sold because they didn't like it although there could be someone like that out there.

[jimmytammy]

I think you have to look at it this way: There are 60,000+ DVC contracts sold. When you go to the resales and see so many, sure it may throw up a red flag. But compare how many resales you see to how many contracts DVC has sold. IMO you couldnt get a drop in a bucket in comparison.
So dont let the resales scare you off, in fact look at them as a possible way to get exactly what you want from DVC.
Good luck!

[Caskbill]

What do you mean you see so many trying to sell their points? How many have you actually counted? If you check out the resale sites, how many are listed? 30? 40?

As mentioned, there are over 65,000 DVC members out there, so that 40 resales would represent only 0.06% of owners, or 1 out of every 1,625 owners.

We live in a town of only 5000 people. But I'll bet that right now there are at least 25 houses on the market for sale. (Our daily walk takes us right past the real estate office where they have their photos of houses in the window)

So here in town, that represents 0.5% of all owners, or 1 out of every 200 houses. (I have no idea how that compares nationwide, and yes, people sell houses for other reasons such as relocation of a job, wherein relocation may or may not be a reason to sell DVC.)

You may also find that many of the sales are from people who have purchased multiple contracts and are selling 1 but keeping the others. Any contract you see for less than 150 points is definitely an add-on contract someone has.

[crisi]

There is a woman on this board who bought DVC and sold it because it didn't fit their needs. IIRC, she was happy staying in Values and Moderates and DVC was not saving her any money - in fact cost her more money.

DVC does not work for everyone. You are committing to using your points at least every three years for the next 39 (?). You can do this by renting them, by using them at DVC resorts, by using them at one of the other options, or by giving them to friends and relatives. You are committing to paying dues on those points every year. Its only a good deal if you stay in at least Moderates (and then I have my doubts) or Deluxes - or want accomodations with kitchens and bedrooms and are not willing to stay off site.

I think a lot of people buy DVC during their vacations when they are in vacation mode. Disney is a wonderful place and most people, while they are there, are busy saying "we should do this again." For us DISers, we certainly do! But a lot of people get home - DVC contract in hand - and their own reality sets in. The finances are tighter than they thought and they've forgotten that DVC pays for the rooms, but not the airfare or park tickets! They've forgotten that their next vacation won't be to Disney - they've already promised to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Arizona.

If I were planning a huge trip for next summer, I would buy direct from Disney. It could take a couple of months to even find the right contract resale, then Disney could exercise ROFR on it and you'd start over. Another while to find another contract and as many as four months to close before you can make your ressies and you may be within the seven month window. At very least, start now, and give yourselve a deadline for "if I haven't made an offer on a contract by X, I'll call Disney."

[lurontravel]

I'm with the previous posters, "all" the resales out there are a drop in the bucket when you look at how many of us there are. A lot of people sell their points b/c they want to buy into disney's latest vacaion club and want their 11 month window to be there bc they travel at peak times. We bought ours on the resale. Our sellers were starting a new business and needed fast cash. They had about 1/3 of their points from that use year and none borrowed. We'd called a couple of resale realtors and told what we were looking for - OKW (b/c the dues are cheapest there and we're really flexible about where we stay), with at least some points left on the current year, none borrowed from the next, and our range of desired points. We received a call about a week later that something had come in, and we made an offer, it was accepted immediately by the seller, and in about 4-5 weeks we found ourselves staying in an OKW studio for three nights to celebrate Mickey's Not So Scary. We've found that in an OKW studio (or standard BWV studio) we are actually paying less then if we stayed in a regular hotel (that was a little better then Days Inn) off property when parking is factored in. We love the early admission, we leave the parks around 1pm to rest/avoid crowds, and return later. We have annual Seasonal passes and it works great for us.

Now, on the other hand, my sister has a beach timeshare in South Florida, it is a nice 1 bedroom timeshare about a half hour from both our homes, and she has never really used it even though she bought a "great week", she would be unable to sell it for what she paid for it, and her dues are about what OKW is for 100 points or so. She has no flexibility with staying weekends only either. She (for some unknown reason) won't sell it and cut her losses. I guess she feels bad if she sells it, I don't know. It is an RCI or whatever. They traded once.

Maybe you don't see so many other timeshares out there for sale b/c 1.) there isn't much of a market for them, and 2.) because at most timeshares (like my sisters) there aren't more then 100 units. If you look out there I'm pretty confident you'd find quite a few Mariotts and Hiltons for sale too, just b/c of the sheer number of them that exist. I'd love to add on points at OKW in the future, when my finances allow, so I hope that they keep popping up.

Like others have said so well, timeshares are not right for everyone. THey weren't for me either until recently.

Good luck deciding.

[CarolA]

My first DVC resale was as a result of a death and the remaining spouse was just not the Disney fan. Have no idea on this one that I am doing now.

However, a lot of people on this board spend a lot of time deciding if DVC is right for them. I have seen people who have not thought about it go in and buy the timeshare and those may be people who later decide it is not for them.

I would think that finances are a major reason to sell. Occasionally I will read about someone buying DVC who based on the information they sounds like they are pretty far in debt anyway. That kind of worries me since like another poster said, once you buy you still have dues, tickets, transporatation to Orlando, food in WDW etc....

[AspiringCindy]

Does everyone who owns a DVC contract pay the same amount of dues per point? Or do you lock in at a particular rate depending on time of purchase and home base?

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by AspiringCindy
Does everyone who owns a DVC contract pay the same amount of dues per point? Or do you lock in at a particular rate depending on time of purchase and home base?

Dues can (and do) change annually. They are the same per point for the same resort. Dues differ between resorts, but it doesn't matter when you bought. Thus, if you bought an OKW contract, you would pay the same amount of dues per point as any other OKW owner. Your dues per point would be different from the dues per point paid by a BWV owner or a VB owner, etc.

HTH.

[AspiringCindy]

Thanks to everyone who has posted and given such great info so quickly! I do have 1 last question though...Approximately, what are the closing cost on resale contracts(say for 200 points)?

[jaysue]

Closing costs are about $450 or so then depending upon whether you get any banked points or current use year points, you may have to pay mtce. on those points

thanks
jaysue

[Caskbill]

Keep in mind there is a difference between having your annual points and paying your annual dues.

Points are allocated on a use year. If you have a March use year, you get your new point allocation every March 1st. A June use year, you get new points every June 1st, and so on.

Dues are for the calendar year, Jan 1st through Dec 31st for everybody, no matter what your use year is.

[lizziepooh]

I too think that some people underestimate the additional costs of airfare, park tickets, food, etc. The room costs are only one part of the cost of a trip.

When we bought our resale, we were told that the owners were from out of the USA and were having problems getting money out of their country for dues, payments etc. due to political problems.

[Cruelladeville]

Cindy,
When I was looking into buying a resale contract last year, all 3 were due to divorces. As I have found from family experience, you MUST sell all your assets in order to settle debts in a divorce, unless both spouses have enough money where they can buy each other's interests out in order to hold on to a contract.

As for your question about resales, you need to pay for closing costs of about $500, dues on, say, 200 pts=$820, and the cost of the pts @$74=$14,800. Your cost for a resale is around $16,100. This is why several people mentioned Magical Beginnings, where you give up this year's points, but you save the $500 closing, and you can get Disney financing for up to 10 years. If your resale had current and banked points for $74 per pt. and you have financing already, then you have a better deal with resale. It just depends...

[reneesam]

Originally posted by lizziepooh
I too think that some people underestimate the additional costs of airfare, park tickets, food, etc. The room costs are only one part of the cost of a trip.


I think this is an excellent point and cannot be overemphasised. No matter how you slice it, WDW is an expensive destination, even with prepaid accomodations. People may find out too late that they cannot afford the "rest of" the costs of DVC membership, i.e. the cash you spend on the trip. While people may buy DVC sight unseen (we did), buyers should be well aware of the cost of a trip to WDW.