Questions for the Experts

[Davnek]

Our Fed Ex package arrived today and we have so many questions.

We were considering purchasing somewhere between 240-360 points and were offered Animal Kingdom Villas as our home resort. After reading through the boards and figuring out all of the acronyms, I still have so many questions.

I see that some of you recommend buying smaller contracts. Can I do this and what are the benefits of that? Does that mean you could have two home resorts that you could reserve at 11 months? Is there a minimum amount of points you need at each? It feels like we will have very little chance of staying at any other resort that we would have to reserve at 7 months like Bay Lake Tower.

I'm sure I'll be back with more questions soon!

 

[Missyrose]

to the Disboards! You've come to the right place, there are lots of people that can guide you in the right direction.

First off, a couple of questions. Were you buying at Animal Kingdom as your home resort because you love the resort or because Disney made you feel like that was the only resort they could sell you?

Have you looked at the resale market at all?

Have you looked at a points chart to figure out how many points you would need each year for the trips you'd like to take?

Answer those and we can start guiding you in the right direction. DVC is a large purchase, you'd be wise to do a lot of research before jumping in. Coming here is a good first step.

 

[dwight16]

you can only use points for your home resort for months 8-11 so if you have 160 a SS and 50 at BLT you only can book 50 points at BLT and you can borrow so i guess 100. you can add on when you get to the 7 months.

i bought a 160 resale at SS and have never stayed there yet. i just booked a 2 bed room at BCV in the 7 months for OCT i got lucky. for months that are in less demand you will be fine booking at 7 months. like even right now you can get good places in September for a 1. at 7 months AKV, WL, OKW, SS. will always have rooms. BCV, BW, BLT are a crap shoot.

 

[ELMC]

Our Fed Ex package arrived today and we have so many questions.

We were considering purchasing somewhere between 240-360 points and were offered Animal Kingdom Villas as our home resort. After reading through the boards and figuring out all of the acronyms, I still have so many questions.

I see that some of you recommend buying smaller contracts. Can I do this and what are the benefits of that? Does that mean you could have two home resorts that you could reserve at 11 months? Is there a minimum amount of points you need at each? It feels like we will have very little chance of staying at any other resort that we would have to reserve at 7 months like Bay Lake Tower.

I'm sure I'll be back with more questions soon!

It's great that you're asking these questions. The best way to get a lot of information is to read the different threads here on the DISboards. To get you started, I'll try to touch on a few of your questions.

First, you were offered Animal Kingdom because that is the resort that they are actively marketing right now. You can, however, buy at any resort you wish. So the first thing you should do is consider what resort you want to buy at. There are a lot of considerations, such as decor, location, availability, price, etc. I would recommend visiting and/or researching the various resorts before making your choice of home resort. Because it will really be that...your home away from home.

You are right, you will most likely have difficulty staying at Bay Lake if you own Animal Kingdom. The good news is that you can break up your total purchase into two smaller contracts. A few advantages of doing this is that you will get two 11 month windows and smaller contracts are easier to resell if you ever needed to. We love Boardwalk Villas but we also know that we want to stay at Bay Lake a few nights each trip. So we bought 150 points at BWV and 100 at BLT so we can be assured of both (provided we plan ahead).

If by Fed Ex package you mean the commitment to buy, you might want to reconsider holding off until you have more information. I would also do a lot of research on buying resale contracts, where you can save 50% or more on your purchase with only a few restrictions (at this time, the restrictions do NOT stop you from staying at DVC resorts...which is the main reason for buying DVC points).

Keep reading, keep asking questions, and take your time. I painted some pretty broad strokes here, and it would behoove you to investigate these topics (and others as well) in more depth. This is a big purchase, so you want to be as informed as possible. Good luck with search!

 

[DizBub]

The reasoning behind buying smaller contracts is that they are easier to sell or downsize in the future and small contracts seem to sell at a higher price. Say you get 360 points, you can break those up into 6/60 point contracts, 3/100 and 1/60 or any combination totaling 360. You could split those points evenly between 2 different resorts to have the 11 month booking advantage.

You seem to want to stay at BLT, would 180 points be enough to accomodate your room size and time of year that you want to travel? If not, you should have all your points at BLT. We own there and have stayed at all the other WDW DVC resorts, except Wilderness Lodge Villas.

Although, I don't believe you can purchase (new) BLT anymore because it is a sold out resort. In that case you would have to consider resale and those contracts are already fixed pointwise. You could determine how many points you would need and buy multiple contracts, if you can find them in the right amounts. Closing costs on multiple smaller contracts can add up.

Lots to learn. Keep reading and good luck!!

 

[Missyrose]

Although, I don't believe you can purchase (new) BLT anymore because it is a sold out resort. In that case you would have to consider resale and those contracts are already fixed pointwise.

Disney WILL sell you points from ANY of the resorts when buying direct, even the "sold out" ones.

OP needs to first figure out whether he should be buying direct from Disney.

 

[dr&momto2boys]

Closing costs on multiple smaller contracts can add up.

But if you buy directly from Disney, do they still waive the closing fees? Perhaps that's just for add-ons?

Definately decide whether you're better off buying direct (only reason I can think of is if you want to be able to use your points for cruises, ABD, etc.) or resale (a great deal right now!)

Also decide where YOU want to own, not where THEY want you to own! (Not saying AKV isn't a great resort; we just bought resale points there.)

 

[Missyrose]

But if you buy directly from Disney, do they still waive the closing fees? Perhaps that's just for add-ons?

Disney is now charging closing costs. And if you split your points up into multiple contracts, you will pay closing costs on each contract.

 

[Kidanifan08]

It sounds like you are trying to decide between buying 200 or 300 points direct from DVC, with the 20 points free for every 100 you buy. If you choose to buy direct, choosing to buy in 100 point increments is smart, as it maximizes your "savings". If you do decide to go with a direct purchase, you could have DVC break the contract into two or three 120 point contracts, which would make it easier to sell if you ever decide you have too many points, or need to get out of DVC entirely. You may even see if you could do them at 50 point contracts, although I wonder if you have to have a 100 point contract to qualify for the 20 bonus points.

As others have alluded to, the perks that come with a direct purchase could be eliminated at any time by DVC, and the only thing that you are guaranteed is the 11 month booking window for your home resort.

We did our initial purchase direct from DVC in 2008 for AKV and financed the purchase through them. At the time, we did not have enough cash on hand for the amount of points that we wanted, so financing was an acceptable route for us and we paid it off in under 3 years.

Since our initial purchase, we have paid cash for two small add-on contracts via resale and we have a one at DVC for ROFR currently. Had I known about the resale market when we first bought in, I may have done that instead, although, as previously stated, it worked out better for us (at that time) to finance. We probably would not have been able to buy for a few more years and we would not have wanted to wait until we could put together enough cash to buy a resale.

Some of the decision depends on how big of a hurry that you are in to "own a piece of Disney". If you already have your next trip planned with the "free" points that they are giving you, then going resale may be frustrating. If you see yourself as an every other year Disney visitor, you have a little time to look at things a little longer. I think the AKV 100+20 offer goes through mid-June, so take your time.

With regards to using AKV points at the 7 month mark, we have stayed at BLT (10/11, 6/12), OKW (8/11), SSR (1/09 - developer points), and BWV (3/12) all booking within the 7 month timeframe. Now, I know it is highly unlikely that I will ever get BWV or BCV during Epcot F&W or VWL, BWV, BCV, or BLT during the time between Thanksgiving and NYE, and we are OK with that. We really love AKV-Kidani, and would be very happy if that was the only place that we could stay for then next 45 years that we own DVC. If you really have your heart set on going to F&W every year and staying at BWV, then you really need to own there. If you have to have a Magic Kingdom view at BLT every year in December, then you need to own at BLT.

Really take some time to look at the point charts to determine how many points your really need. You may find that the 240 is plenty, if all you need is a studio one year and a 1BR the next. Maybe you have 4 kids, and 360 points won't even be enough. Only you know what your needs are currently. Starting small is always a good idea, because it is easy to add more points later via resale or direct.

Read, read, and read some more. There are folks on these boards who are much more educated than me on making this big luxury purchase. Again, take your time and have fun! We have loved every minute of our DVC ownership!

 

[DizBub]

Disney WILL sell you points from ANY of the resorts when buying direct, even the "sold out" ones.

OP needs to first figure out whether he should be buying direct from Disney.

Got that. I know that points for any and all the resorts can be purchased direct from Disney for add-ons to exsisting members. Thought sold out resorts could not sell contracts to new members. Maybe that's where the minimum comes in. This is what we were told earlier this year when SSR was declared sold out. No more points for new members but they had some for add-ons. If not true, it's not the first time we've been given wrong info.

 

[Missyrose]

Got that. I know that points for any and all the resorts can be purchased direct from Disney for add-ons to exsisting members. Thought sold out resorts could not sell contracts to new members. Maybe that's where the minimum comes in. This is what we were told earlier this year when SSR was declared sold out. No more points for new members but they had some for add-ons. If not true, it's not the first time we've been given wrong info.

I was told (a few months back when I first looked into DVC) by a DVC guide that they could sell me ( a new member) a BWV contract "but we can give you a better deal on BLT or AKV."

At the end of the day, I don't think Disney will turn away any customer, they're in the business of selling. They'd rather sell you AKV, but they will sell you pretty much anything you want.

 

[ELMC]

Got that. I know that points for any and all the resorts can be purchased direct from Disney for add-ons to exsisting members. Thought sold out resorts could not sell contracts to new members. Maybe that's where the minimum comes in. This is what we were told earlier this year when SSR was declared sold out. No more points for new members but they had some for add-ons. If not true, it's not the first time we've been given wrong info.

There seems to be a large variance in what the truth is, depending on who you talk to. My understanding was that even "sold out" resorts are available to anyone, although you might end up on a waiting list. One other thing to consider is that there have been comments that suggest that new members can now buy direct contracts for as little as 50 points. If substantiated, this is a fairly new development as well.

 

[Tunseeker1]

I have been working with some people on resale and here is what I found out.

You can buy at any resort right now but some have restrictions. SSR is closed unless you are a member or a referral from a member.

You can negotiate closing costs if splitting up a contract. 100 points close for around $100.

 

[Missyrose]

I have been working with some people on resale and here is what I found out.

You can buy at any resort right now but some have restrictions. SSR is closed unless you are a member or a referral from a member.

You can negotiate closing costs if splitting up a contract. 100 points close for around $100.

I have no idea what you're saying in any of this. Are you saying there are restrictions on points bought directly from Disney?

And also you're saying you can negotiate closing costs with Disney? I didn't think that was up for negotiations with them.

 

[Disney Dreams]

I see that some of you recommend buying smaller contracts. Can I do this and what are the benefits of that?...
I'm sure I'll be back with more questions soon!

I wanted to mention one of the key reasons to have smaller contracts that no one has mentioned here yet.

A DVC contract is will-able and gift-able. We bought 160 points. Instead of buying one contract, we bought two 80 point contracts that are exactly the same. This allows us to gift one to a relative/friend/whoknowswho if we ever want to do so. (Ex: We know a couple who bought two 100 point contracts that are identical, instead of one 200 point contract. When their (now 10) daughters turn 18, their intention is to gift each daughter one of the contracts. If they had one contract for 200 points, they could not do this.) We did it to keep our options open.

HTH,
Dreams

 

[Tunseeker1]

I have no idea what you're saying in any of this. Are you saying there are restrictions on points bought directly from Disney?

And also you're saying you can negotiate closing costs with Disney? I didn't think that was up for negotiations with them.

The restrictions on SSR, if you are not a current owner you cannot buy SSR direct.
If you know someone that is a Dvc member, with points at any resort, they can refer you to Dvc and you can buy SSR.

As for the closing cost, ask what the costs would be for a single big contract and for 2 contracts with the same number of total points. See if they can close the 2 smaller contracts for the same price as a single contract.

 

[ELMC]

If you know someone that is a Dvc member, with points at any resort, they can refer you to Dvc and you can buy SSR.

So basically anybody can buy SSR. All you have to do is come on here, or basically anywhere on the internet, find the name of anybody who owns DVC, and use their name as a referral. So the fact that it is "closed" seems to be yet another tactic of the "guides" to "guide" people to buy the resorts they want them to buy at.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

The restrictions on SSR, if you are not a current owner you cannot buy SSR direct.
If you know someone that is a Dvc member, with points at any resort, they can refer you to Dvc and you can buy SSR.

As for the closing cost, ask what the costs would be for a single big contract and for 2 contracts with the same number of total points. See if they can close the 2 smaller contracts for the same price as a single contract.

Go tell a guide that you're buying SSR or you're not buying at all and watch what happens.