Did we make an offer that was too high? (Resale question)

[everythingdisneyfan1]

Hi guys-

My husband and I recently put in an offer for 150 points, SSR. The asking price was $65/point, but we offered $60/point, split dues reimb., and are covering closing costs. The offer was accepted this morning, but after reading these boards I have seen much better deals accepted for BWV and SSR and am wondering if I didn't negotiate low enough? They had 144 points available for 2012 with an April use year, and will have 150 points available in April 2013.

Would you guys recommend holding out for a better deal based on your experiences? We are currently really hopping the fence each day literally between DVC direct (more travel options), and DVC resale. I know that the Adventurer's, Concierge, DCL and Passport are all bad deals to use points with, but we live in Oregon and probably won't be able to vacation multiple times a year at WDW. However, we probably travel to WDW at least once every other year, and DL once every other year. We are definitely a Disney-heavy family, but my dad (who is a DVC member as well and purchased 4 contracts direct), says that even though cruises are not a great way to spend points, if you're finding yourself unable to travel for a couple of years, it's a great opportunity to "cash in" points and not have to pay cash for a cruise if you don't want to.

What do you guys think? Honest opinions, please.

 

[camafrogs]

Well if it were me and they did not have any 2011 points i would not and i do feel that they should pay closing cost or at least pay 1/2 this is just what i think i have also seen people get a loaded contact for less.

 

[Disneypubgal]

It is a personal choice... but when spending the kind of cash (even resale) for DVC, it should be something you are sure about.... sounds like this might not be the right contract for you if you are having second thoughts.... just my two cents... good luck to you!

 

[gray52]

These are the questions you should have been asking yourself before you made the offer, not after. Only you can determine if you paid too much or not. Use year, is the contract current or is it stripped/loaded, who pays CC and MF's all go into the decision if it's a good deal. Ultimately, a good deal is if you're happy with the price you paid.
If you're hopping the fence daily, that's a good indication that you're not sure about your purchase... you might never be completely sure, but daily? For that kind of cash, I'd be sure.
I think all or most contracts have the 10-day grace period to change your mind.
I have a recent purchase for BWV in the ROFR thread... i overpaid by a little compared to others... but it was exactly the contract i wanted and was available when i needed it to be, so for me, it was a fair deal.

 

[disneynutz]

I would buy my favorite resort at WDW and I would buy VGC for DL. If you don't have a favorite resort at WDW yet, then buy VGC first and use the points to stay at all of the WDW resorts before you buy there.

Using points for stays outside the DVC as you know is not the best use of your points but everyone has there own ideas. I would never pay my dues monthly instead of one yearly CC payment which gives us free airfare on Southwest but that how I roll.

Bill

 

[dbs1228]

I do not think 60.00 pp is a bad price for BWV, I have seen lower and higher and think that is right in the middle. I personally would not hesitate at the price thinking it was too high. If you are still on the fence about being a member that is another story. Good luck

 

[everythingdisneyfan1]

Thanks everyone.

We were only on the fence simply because of the travel offerings of each option (direct vs. resale), but ultimately we spent three hours breaking down the costs of each option and decided that resale was best for our travel habits. I don't think we would ever have enough points to take a 7 night DCL, and instead would just rent our points out that year or bank them if we decided to spend some actual cash on a cruise. (For instance, we just bought a 7 night DCL cruise for two through Costco for just under $1100 pp [5A category, verandah] and also got a $265 Costco cash card as well. There is no way the point equivalent would save that much money!).

We had a budget for how much we were willing to pay in cash for the contract, wanted SSR, wanted April use year and our deal gave us all of that. We want to take a trip this summer so we didn't want to get rejected in ROFR and have it be delayed, and we knew we didn't need more than 150 points. Our contract wasn't stripped, but it wasn't loaded either. 2012 points are available next month which will be before we close anyway.

I am realizing that we could have offered lower and then accepted a more reasonable counter offer, but I think that saving $750 off asking price was okay for us, plus we are still under the 10k mark which is significantly less than Disney is offering. I do think we could have gotten $55 a point, but perhaps it would have been rejected in ROFR?

In any case, I have learned a valuable lesson and when we decide to add-on, I will probably offer much lower than before.

Thank you all for your help!

 

[Missyrose]

If you're this unsure about the purchase, I would pull out. Then honestly answer several questions before looking to purchase again.:

1. Resale vs. Direct: This is the first domino that must fall. If you're worried about being a few dollars too high on a resale contract, then direct prices are going to be pretty severe sticker shock. Plus, with a 150-point contract, how often will you really have enough points for the perks that come with buying direct.

2. Home resort:Even though you put a bid on the SSR contract, it sounds like you're still undecided on a home resort. The best idea would be for you to take a weekend trip down to Disney to visit the different DVC resorts and get a feel for which one would be right for you.

3. If you decide to go the resale route, do lots and lots of research. And once you think you've researched enough, research some more. Explore the ROFR thread to see what others have paid for their contracts over the past couple of years. So when you go to make your next offer, you'll feel much more confident in your bargaining position.

Good luck, this is a big purchase with lots of decisions to make. But it's definitely doable.

 

[everythingdisneyfan1]

If you're this unsure about the purchase, I would pull out. Then honestly answer several questions before looking to purchase again.:

1. Resale vs. Direct: This is the first domino that must fall. If you're worried about being a few dollars too high on a resale contract, then direct prices are going to be pretty severe sticker shock. Plus, with a 150-point contract, how often will you really have enough points for the perks that come with buying direct.

2. Home resort:Even though you put a bid on the SSR contract, it sounds like you're still undecided on a home resort. The best idea would be for you to take a weekend trip down to Disney to visit the different DVC resorts and get a feel for which one would be right for you.

3. If you decide to go the resale route, do lots and lots of research. And once you think you've researched enough, research some more. Explore the ROFR thread to see what others have paid for their contracts over the past couple of years. So when you go to make your next offer, you'll feel much more confident in your bargaining position.

Good luck, this is a big purchase with lots of decisions to make. But it's definitely doable.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm thinking you didn't see my most recent reply.

We have very specifically wanted SSR as our home resort for four reasons: 1, lower per-point price than AKL or BLT; 2, the lowest MFs of all of the properties; 3, the location (love being able to walk to Downtown Disney!), and 4, the fact that it is a big longer in contract than BWV, OKW and VWL. We didn't need as long of a contract that AKL offered when it was met with higher MFs anyway.

We decided that the bonus collections Disney offer with buying direct are not a great use of points and would cost much more in the long run point-wise than if we just banked or rented our points on a year we wanted to take a cruise or travel to Europe on our own. We are good bargain hunters so we would no doubt come up with a good deal not going through Disney. However, we are also teachers and can only travel in the summer which is what makes the villas at WDW properties such a great buy using points because to stay in 1 & 2 bedroom rooms at the different resorts, we would be spending $$$ out of pocket.

We also decided that many years of Disney vacations are the most economical way to travel with our kids until they are out of the house, and then we will see what we decide to do points-wise in twenty years. We want our kids (when we have them) to see other places besides Disney, but those times we can just rent our points or bank them for the next year if we decide to take a non-Disney vacation one year.

All in all, I think the resale market with a moderate contract at SSR is the best choice we could make because we don't want to get stuck in ROFR and we can afford the price we are offering in cash w/o financing. Much higher (as in, through Disney direct), and we would have had to finance.

 

[dbs1228]

Congratulations! Once again I do not think you over paid - and you will have current years points by the time you close. We bought SSR resale in 2009 for 69.00PP then 1.5 years later we bought an add on for 59.00 (actually rented banked points and brought our purchase price down to 49.00) now 1.5 years later SSR is in the same ball park as our 2nd buy(59.00) - it was the right time for us and the right contracts. I would love to add on at BWV but for now we have enough points. At least that is what DH keeps telling me!

 

[SabresFan]

If you're splitting 2012 maintenance fees, I'd say you might have been able to talk them down to $58 per point, but $55 per point was probably too low. (And I say this as somebody that bought 150 points June use year for $50 pp last fall).

For one thing, you'll have almost all the 2012 points available to you on day 1 - you won't be able to close before April 1 when the points come due. My contract closed in November and the points didn't become available for 8 months - that's a time value of money thing. That difference is worth between $3 and $4 per point right there.

Splitting the maint. fees also picks you up another $2.50 per point. So if you use my own deal as the yardstick, you're at $56 or $57 per point. You paid $60 per point. Big deal. Are you going to kill yourself that you might have saved four bucks if you were a better negotiator? If it makes you feel better, punish yourself by forgoing one latte at the coffee joint as penance.

Focus instead on the $50 or $60 per point you saved by going resale instead of direct. That's real money.

 

[DVCanadian]

Focus instead on the $50 or $60 per point you saved by going resale instead of direct. That's real money.

I think this is the best advice.

Yes, if you check the ROFR thread your offer was on the high side. And I don't think disney is taking the ROFR on any SSR contracts, ever.

But listen to sabresfan, you saved $39 over the $99 retail price. That's where the real savings is. And you will have practically the same benefits (all the benefits that matter IMHO) as the people paying $140 per point from Diseny for the other resorts. At an $80 per point savings!