Selling a contract and rebuying a new one?

[arthur06]

We bought a small BWV contract a few years ago. I was thinking about selling the contract and just taking the money from it, its paid off, and applying that to a larger contract at another resort.

Who has bought a contract and then sold it shortly later for various reasons. I hate to lose any money selling the contract, but I would rather lose a few hundred bucks and move on to a contract that actually works for us.

I know people have done this, any details?

 

[Sandisw]

I put my VWL contract up only two months after I closed on it so that I could re-buy the points at BLT with the UY that worked better for us.

I did book one trip off of it (did a delayed closing) so my loss was not huge. IT was only a 50 point contract so it was doable.

The contract was just not big enough to do anything with, along with my BLT points, without always having to be in borrow mode, something I did not want to do.

Plus, it was an Oct UY and we are summer travelers. I realized after buying that it was a mistake. When I added on my first contract at BLT, they allowed me to get a June UY so that meant two different memberships.

Once it sold, I immediately added on the 50 points at BLT. Now, everything is all under one UY, one membership, and one home resort. It was well worth the $800 loss.

 

[JimMIA]

You don't give many specifics in your post (and you can't, or it's going to appear to be an ad), but it's hard to imagine a situation where you would not lose some money. The question is how much.

If you use a broker, most brokers charge 10-12% commission, so if you sold at the same price you purchased for, you'd lose 10-12%. You can look at the ROFR thread or contact a broker and get a ballpark idea of what BWV contracts are selling for...which is likely to be a few dollars lower than the listing prices. Use that price, do the math, and determine whether the switch makes sense for your family. If you have a very small contract, the loss may be nominal.

The other obvious option is to keep the BWV points and buy a little smaller contract at another resort.

 

[arthur06]

Its only a 30 point contract, and I dont even know if I want to sell it. I will be staying at BWV in Jan for a few nights and the 30 points works out well for a Standard view. But it just seems that I use the points for 7 month window, rather then the 11 month window.

We are staying at AKL next week, and have been on a WL since the day of our 7 month mark. We wanted a 2br, and have 2 studios. Really wanted something and didnt get it!

 

[Best Aunt]

I bought at $107 per point, sold at $110 and still lost money. There were settlement fees, recording fees and estoppel fees as well as commissions. Make sure you do the math when making your decision.

 

[spiceycat]

sold OKW and brought BLT.

really love BLT and had OKW since 1993 (this was in 2008) and did not lost any money.

now the prices have gone down alot more.

I have 50 points at BWV - use it for standard studios. 60 points at VWL that have to bank and borrow on to use it. Or stay 4 or less days.

 

[Simba's Mom]

We sold our VWL points after owning about a year. and bought OKW points because DH wanted to be an OKW owner. We'd expected to be happy with VWL, but one stay at both VWL and then OKW changed that for DH. In the buy-sell process, we ended up with 35 more points, so that was OK with me. Not sure it was wise financially, but we haven't regretted it.

 

[The Red Head]

Last year we sold one of our BWV contracts to buy more points at the Grand CA. We live in CA and wanted the 11month booking advantage here. We did keep one contract at the BWV so we still have a booking advantage at one property in Fl as well. And we originally bought in 1998 so we didn't loose money on the sale.

 

[Dean]

We bought a small BWV contract a few years ago. I was thinking about selling the contract and just taking the money from it, its paid off, and applying that to a larger contract at another resort.

Who has bought a contract and then sold it shortly later for various reasons. I hate to lose any money selling the contract, but I would rather lose a few hundred bucks and move on to a contract that actually works for us.

I know people have done this, any details?

IMO this situation depends on specifics. Since you'd have closing costs on any resale contract anyway, you're really only losing the difference in what you paid and what you net after commissions. Depending on what you replace it with (resort and # of points), it might help you to have access to more and better contracts with the extra funds. Selling a 30 and buying a 60 likely makes no sense, selling a 30 and buying 200 may make sense, again, depending on specifics.

 

[arthur06]

IMO this situation depends on specifics. Since you'd have closing costs on any resale contract anyway, you're really only losing the difference in what you paid and what you net after commissions. Depending on what you replace it with (resort and # of points), it might help you to have access to more and better contracts with the extra funds. Selling a 30 and buying a 60 likely makes no sense, selling a 30 and buying 200 may make sense, again, depending on specifics.

I found a nice 125 AKL contract at $80 per point. It has banked and full points. I could put $2500 down, and then the amount of the sale. I would have to finance the rest, maybe $6500 worth? I could have it paid off within 12-18 months.

We just really seem to want to stay at AKL when we go and want the booking advantage! I have a BWV stay in Jan, a BCV stay in April, a BLT stay in Sept/Oct. We have an AKL/THV stay next week. I might try to rent points for an OKW stay on the first part of our BLT stay. Then I will have stayed at all them except VWL. Then I could buy with alot more information. We just seem to, at least for now, be wanting AKL.

 

[spiceycat]

getting financing with a resale is completely different.

can you get a line of credit on your home?

you really need to love AKV to trade in BWV for it.

 

[Dean]

I found a nice 125 AKL contract at $80 per point. It has banked and full points. I could put $2500 down, and then the amount of the sale. I would have to finance the rest, maybe $6500 worth? I could have it paid off within 12-18 months.

We just really seem to want to stay at AKL when we go and want the booking advantage! I have a BWV stay in Jan, a BCV stay in April, a BLT stay in Sept/Oct. We have an AKL/THV stay next week. I might try to rent points for an OKW stay on the first part of our BLT stay. Then I will have stayed at all them except VWL. Then I could buy with alot more information. We just seem to, at least for now, be wanting AKL.

Personally I'd have to say no. I don't finance luxury purchases and I don't see the added value given what you've stated. Good luck with your decision.

 

[kenny]

We are in the process of selling our SSR contract and bought all BLT.

We had SSR originally. Added on 100pts at BLT when it went on sale.

After our 1st stay at BLT, we knew this is where we want to stay. Having pts split made it hard because we had to wait until 7 month window to try an switch.

This past Oct we decided to just do it. We put the SSR up for sale. Sold in less than 2 weeks. Should actually get the closing docs this week.

We then purchased more BLT.

We did lose some money on the SSR contract but our thinking was for the amount of money we spent on DVC, for a few bucks it didn't pay to skimp and not get what we really wanted. We knew over the next 50 years we would be kicking ourselves.

Good luck with your decision. And yes it is a hard one. Even though we wanted BLT it was still hard to lose money on SSR to do it.

 

[lisaviolet]

Well I did something that on paper was not smart. At all. It made no sense. But five years later I'm still glad I did it.

I sold some SSR for a BWV contract. My DVC was paid in full and I wanted to keep it that way so I actually took a hit in points to break even. 38 actually - from 278 total to 240 total.

If I had posted on here people probably would have suggested to stay put.


But for us - even years later - it was the best choice. Those "lost" points don't even enter my mind because I've been really happy owning BWV.

 

[Simba's Mom]

If I had posted on here people probably would have suggested to stay put.

Not me. As one who's done the same thing, I can really understand how you'd want to "own where your heart is". And it certainly makes paying those yearly dues a lot less painful, doesn't it, when you know they're going to pay the upkeep on the resort you love.

 

[WebmasterCricket]

I have 4 small odd point contracts and:
1) I'm sick of dealing with 4 sets of points (1 OKW 1 VWL 2 AKL)
2) The point re-allocations hit me hard and messed with my bank/borrow 3 year plans

I'm pretty sure I'm going to dump the OKW & VWL units and get more AKL just to make things easier. They are both small so should go easily. I'm almost always booking @ 7 months anyway so the 11 month advantage rarely comes into play and we go in low demand seasons but if I needed an 11 month, I'd have more @ one resort.

 

[arthur06]

I have trips booked for THV/AKL next week, BWV in Jan, BCV in April and BLT in Sept. I have only been a member for a year and a half, so I think that I might just take all those trips and try to rent some OKW points for a few nights before our BLT trip. Waiting a year for points isn't a bad thing to make sure I have the right decision going forward.

 

[sweetdana]

If it is only 30 points. I would keep it and just buy the other resort. Use it when the occations for 7 months comes into play.
The actual take home $$ of 30 points would be very low, and though it is not many points if you banked and borrowed, or booked at 7 months sometimes I think it would make more sense then selling it.

If you need to finance. I'd consider buying direct, or wait until you have it saved up.

I have seen homes foreclosed due to people take $$ out for things they didn't need, like time shares, finishing a basement, putting in a pool, buying a new car with cheaper interest. Heaven forbid something happen and you need to dump your DVC, and it is not paid for. (Maybe the market tanks, maybe new rules of reselling, maybe you just cannot afford the MF and cannot use it).. you lose your home, over buying a vacation 25 yrs from now. Maybe your roof is leaking in 6 yrs, and you have a HELOC already and are denied due to that.
If you have the funds sitting in a non-liquid place that you can pay off easily in a yr or 2.. then HELOCs are a great option. Other than that, using your homes equity, is easy, but not always the best opinion. Better would be pay cash even if it is less points, finance with only DVC as collateral.. meaning buy direct, or wait until you have more $$. Do not use your home, without really knowing the possible down side of this.

 

[Dean]

Well I did something that on paper was not smart. At all. It made no sense. But five years later I'm still glad I did it.

I sold some SSR for a BWV contract. My DVC was paid in full and I wanted to keep it that way so I actually took a hit in points to break even. 38 actually - from 278 total to 240 total.

If I had posted on here people probably would have suggested to stay put.


But for us - even years later - it was the best choice. Those "lost" points don't even enter my mind because I've been really happy owning BWV.

There's certainly more to consider than just the numbers. One of the problems with reselling to buy somewhere else is there is generally a loss, one that there's not way to make up. Generally just adding on additionally is better than selling to buy back. However, there are exceptions and there are personal preferences that one must account for. Ultimately we ended up doing the same thing though not by intent. I maxed out at 885 points when I added BWV to our DVC portfolio then later sold 3 OKW contracts and added 100 AKV points.

 

[docg]

If you are selling one contract for another, also take into consideration the different dates that each contract will expire. You may end up buying a new contract that may last a few more years before expiration and that might make the loss of money on the one you sell more palatable.