1 bigger contract or 2 smaller?

Gackley

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jun 16, 2021
The title pretty much says it all. We’re still debating which resort to buy into and we are toying with the idea of buying a single 200 point contract or 2 100 point contracts at different resorts (same use year obviously).

Anyone have any suggestions or pros and cons?

I know the big pro is that way if we ever want to sell we can sell the two smaller contracts instead of the bigger one. But are there any overwhelming benefits of having 2 smaller contracts?
 
Two contracts at different resorts limits how many points you have at 11 months for those resorts., without using banking and borrowing

For example 200 points at BLT gives you 200 at BLT during home resort booking.

100 at BLT and 100 at VGF would only give you 100 at each. You could not sure them together for a stay until 7 months at either or any other resort.

So it comes down to how you want to use. I own more than one because we split stay a lot and use die different trips.

If buying direct they will allow you to buy all 200 at the same resort as two 100 if future sale is a concern. You pay more closing costs this way and if you are buying to have the blue card for potential perks, one contract would need to be 150 as that is the minimum.

If you had two 100/ and sold one, you would lose that blue card as you would fall below the minimum.

If going resale, the perks aspect is not applicable
 
If you're buying direct, absolutely split it up into smaller contracts - small contracts tend to hold higher price on resale, it allows you to 'downsize' without fully selling your entire contract in the future. If buying resale it could be advantageous - but you'll pay double closing costs (buying direct with multiple there are additional costs, but not fully double), higher price per point and potentially - depending on resort, use year, etc. - have a hard time finding what you want at the same resort.
 


Aside from an OKW direct recently, we've switched to mostly 25-50 points per contract but only when we can find them at rock bottom prices. We actually are finding one at least every month or so. It seems so much less of a risk as we don't have to "sell the farm" if we need an occasional injection of cash now and then in retirement.

A tip for savings in closing costs is trying to watch for new contracts that are from the same owner. I see them every week - same UY, same banked points, same or similar price. Most brokers will bundle the contracts to save you money in closing which can be 50%. I've only had one broker refuse and she pretended not to understand what I was talking about LOL! We have done it three times, so it is very possible.

Good luck!
 
Thanks for all your advice. We would probably Be buying resale instead of direct For the savings. Just debating between 200 points or 2 100 points
 


For resale,
A the smaller contracts will be more expensive (but have higher value if you ever sold)
B smaller contracts are harder to find and are gone quickly
C for resale matching UY is not always easy
D Finding the right point value, in the right UY (repeat), with the right loaded/stripped position is tough.. let alone doing it twice.

My advice would be to have a target point value (+ 25 - 0) and look for a great match. If you find a perfect contract - do it with 1. If you find a good smaller contract - buy it, and then look for another small one to compliment the first one, knowing it could take much longer.
 
It depends on how you travel. Do you take long trips that require 200 points? Or 2 shorter trips per year? Or do you want to do one big trip as a split reservation?

If you're doing one long trip per year, and don't want to do a split stay, I'd get the 200 points at one resort. But if you want to do 2 trips, it would be fun to stay at a different resort for each trip.
 
No one has mention this reason to buy two contracts. If you have children and they all want a piece of DVC, having multiple contracts (2- 100 point for example) would enable you to gift each with a contract. If you own one contract, it can not be split.
 
For resale, there can be a price jump at 150. Not always, I do have a 100 point contract that was a deal. But in recent bananas pricing, 100 has been expensive.

For price, I’d stick to 200. I’d rather take the savings now than gamble on getting a few bucks more when I sell.

I would think differently if the two contracts were useful to you in another way, like wanting two resorts or wanting to pass it down to two kids, or preparing to sell half of it later.
 
The title pretty much says it all. We’re still debating which resort to buy into and we are toying with the idea of buying a single 200 point contract or 2 100 point contracts at different resorts (same use year obviously).
You've got a lot of superb feedback here. Agree with all of it. Trip length, whether you're willing to do a split-visit or want to check in once and be done, passing it on to kids, ability to sell later at a better price vs getting the savings now. End of the day, you have to figure out what is right for you.

And, if you haven't stayed at the resorts you're considering buying at, I'd most certainly suggest renting points and enjoying a stay FIRST anywhere you're considering buying, to make sure it's somewhere you'd be happy year after year.
 
I’ve only just purchased DVC this year so I haven’t banked any points yet and not exactly sure how it works. If the OP has two contracts for 100 points each, A resort and B resort. The first year can he use 100 A points and bank all of his B points. The next year he has 200 B points and banks 100 A points. The folowing year flip it use 200 A points and bank B points. This way he always can book a resort at 11 months and have 200 points to use except for the first year? I purchased the minimum 125 points direct, tagged on with my sister already a DVC member and the way I schedule my trips I don’t that I will ever have any points to bank.
 
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The title pretty much says it all. We’re still debating which resort to buy into and we are toying with the idea of buying a single 200 point contract or 2 100 point contracts at different resorts (same use year obviously).

Anyone have any suggestions or pros and cons?

I know the big pro is that way if we ever want to sell we can sell the two smaller contracts instead of the bigger one. But are there any overwhelming benefits of having 2 smaller contracts?
First, try and figure out what resort you would mind staying at year after year and make this your "home" resort. Second if you are looking to do this as cheap as possible and you don't care about getting the blue card you will be looking to get a single 200 point resale contract. The smaller the contract the higher the cost per point will be.
 
We bought direct at VCG (3) 100 point contracts to leave to each of our kids. Then last year we bought a resale 270 point contract at Aulani so that we could get the 11 month priority. It was much easier to request our demands when buying direct, ,but we are happy with the point amount paid on our resale contract. As others have said, the smaller point contracts would command a higher price per point. In our case, since this resale contract has a different use year, we needed a higher point contract to use annually independent of the other points we have.
 
The biggest benefit I think of having 2 smaller contracts instead of 1 bigger one is just giving you 2 home resort advantages. This is assuming you have 2 favorites that you normally like to stay at. And you pointed out the ease of selling the smaller ones which usually commands a higher price. Just keep in mind if you like bigger trips, you may be doing more split stays just because you only have 100 points to work with at 8-11 month window for each particular resort. Or what many do is book and bank and then alternate resorts every other year. You really need to think what kind of rooms you want and how fast those rooms go. If you don’t have a favorite resort then buying 200 points together would definitely be much easier to find a better deal compared to 2 smaller ones.
 
I’ve only just purchased DVC this year so I haven’t backed any points yet and not exactly sure how it works. If the OP has two contracts for 100 points each, A resort and B resort. The first year can he use 100 A points and bank all of his B points. The next year he has 200 B points and banks 100 A points. The folowing year flip it use 200 A points and bank B points. This way he always can book a resort at 11 months and have 200 points to use except for the first year? I purchased the minimum 125 points direct, tagged on with my sister already a DVC member and the way I schedule my trips I don’t that I will ever have any points to bank.
Fast learner :thumbsup2 Enjoy your DVC membership.
 
I’ve only just purchased DVC this year so I haven’t backed any points yet and not exactly sure how it works. If the OP has two contracts for 100 points each, A resort and B resort. The first year can he use 100 A points and bank all of his B points. The next year he has 200 B points and banks 100 A points. The folowing year flip it use 200 A points and bank B points. This way he always can book a resort at 11 months and have 200 points to use except for the first year? I purchased the minimum 125 points direct, tagged on with my sister already a DVC member and the way I schedule my trips I don’t that I will ever have any points to bank.

Right, but if 2020 has shown anything, it's do the same strategy with borrowing instead. Fixes your first year too. A bit harder to execute with the Covid borrowing restrictions, but the concept is the same.
 
Aside from an OKW direct recently, we've switched to mostly 25-50 points per contract but only when we can find them at rock bottom prices. We actually are finding one at least every month or so. It seems so much less of a risk as we don't have to "sell the farm" if we need an occasional injection of cash now and then in retirement.

A tip for savings in closing costs is trying to watch for new contracts that are from the same owner. I see them every week - same UY, same banked points, same or similar price. Most brokers will bundle the contracts to save you money in closing which can be 50%. I've only had one broker refuse and she pretended not to understand what I was talking about LOL! We have done it three times, so it is very possible.

Good luck!
Quick question - how do you find contracts from the same owner? I generally don't see that info on the broker sites, unless I'm missing something. Is it a matter of just asking the broker if they have other contracts up for sale? Thanks!
 

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