another newbie better late than never question

[smahoney6]

So now that our 4 kids are just all about college age (3 in college and one about to be) and we've gone to wdw every yr, sometimes twice, FINALLY we're thinking of buying DVC but overwhelmed and nervous about this huge price tag.
Please correct me- and advise- but the way that seems to be most beneficial is buy to 75 points from Disney direct and the other 125 pts we want re-sale? All for the same property? We want BLT and we are willing to wait for it from Disney but is there any benefit I'm missing by not just paying something like $7000 more (based on what I can find listed now- 75 Direct, 160 resale) and getting all 250 pts direct? Not to sound like that's not a lot of dollar difference but the unknowns of dealing with a second contract makes me nervous.

 

[wnielsen1]

Not really. And you should strongly consider buying ALL of your points resale. The benefits of direct do not add up to the price differential between direct and resale when you have to buy 75+ points direct.

 

[Bing Showei]

The unknown is always scary until you get to know it. DVC Resale is very manageable once you become more familiar with all the ins and outs of the process.

You've managed to wait this long to investigate DVC, it wouldn't make sense to suddenly rush into buying direct. Maybe spend a few weeks to investigate resale more by reading as much as you can on these boards. You may ultimately decide to go direct, but at least that would be a decision driven by information as opposed to fear.

If you decide to talk to DVD, do your own research first. Their objective first will be to sell you direct points, and they'll make some pretty compelling (on the surface) arguments for buying direct; providing you with unbiased, accurate information is not in their job description, but it's something you'll find a lot of around here.

@disneynutz has a list that should appear shortly that is a pretty good start on how to frame your DVC considerations.

 

[Deb & Bill]

The perks you get from purchasing direct change all the time and can go away at a moments notice. For example free valet parking for DVC members. It disappeared overnight. People who valet parked for free at night, wound up owing for valet parking the next morning.

 

[Ben E N]

I have a hybrid BLT contract (160 resale, 25 direct). Not at all a pain to manage. Not worth $7000 to avoid working with. As long as your direct sale matches your resale month, you are good to go. I agree that the real path worth investigating is if it is worth your upfront money to get the direct benefits at a higher cost than just going all resale.

 

[pineapplepalms]

It's easy to manage multiple contracts especially if they have the same UY and are titled the same, so they are under the same membership number. It doesn't matter if they are resale or direct points for ease of use since you can access them all in your account. I would look into whether the direct benefits (which can change at any time) are really worth it for your family. For us, we bought CCV direct because we specifically wanted it and it's not worth getting resale right now. For our other home resorts (BWV and SSR), we bought resale since it's a lot cheaper to buy these older resorts resale. While the resale process does take longer than direct, I found it to be pretty straightforward and simple to navigate, and definitely worth it to save many thousands of dollars. Doing lots of research on these boards before developing our purchase plan helped a lot.

 

[deedubb]

$7K is $7K, regardless of whether you're poor or whether you have $1 million sitting in your bank account. It makes no sense to buy it all direct. As above, title all your contracts the same way and with the same UY and it is easy to manage them.

 

[gharter]

Its easy for me to say buy all your points resale, since we purchased before they removed some of the perks.
However, what perks are you looking at that makes purchasing 75 points direct worth the extra cost? As others have mentioned, realize that any and all perks can be changed or removed or added at any time.
if you go hybrid, titling both with the exact same names and UY makes it easy.

 

[disneynutz]

You want BLT, why? You didn't like your stays at the other DVC resorts? Your kids are in college, do you expect them to continue vacationing with you?

Select the best UY for your vacation patterns.
Buy where you love to stay.
Book at 11 months.
Buy resale if you can.
If you buy additional contracts, keep the same UY and names on deeds.
DVD/DVC marketing can change the perks at any time.
Perks and policies tend to change when management changes.
Expect to spend more on Disney vacations after you buy DVC.

Bill

 

[smahoney6]

Thank y’all for patiently responding to I’m sure are questions asked over and over!!
1. The perk I mainly want is 11 mo out
2. Contemporary has always been my fav- I like option of 3 bv for when all/more of us go

 

[deedubb]

Thank y’all for patiently responding to I’m sure are questions asked over and over!!
1. The perk I mainly want is 11 mo out
2. Contemporary has always been my fav- I like option of 3 bv for when all/more of us go

11 month booking is for everyone at their home resort, regardless of whether you buy direct or resale.

 

[disneynutz]

We thought that BLT would be our favorite, we bought there before it opened, it turned out to be out least favorite and we no longer stay there, BLT isn't the contemporary. We also bought AKV and BCV and rarely stay there, (see a pattern here?) Our favorites for MK stays are VGF and BRV, for Epcot/DHS stays, BWV.

Bill

 

[kboo]

I have a hybrid BLT contract (160 resale, 25 direct). Not at all a pain to manage. Not worth $7000 to avoid working with. As long as your direct sale matches your resale month, you are good to go. I agree that the real path worth investigating is if it is worth your upfront money to get the direct benefits at a higher cost than just going all resale.

Agreed. We are in the same situation, bought last year when 25 points got us the perks. I will say that even for $25 points at $185 per point, I thought long and hard about whether it was worth it. Ultimately decided I *might* break even on that 25 point add on if we got the gold pass 20x.* None of the other "perks" are worth much.

*For a family of 4, that does *not* equate to 5 years! Because if we were planning to go annually, the only way an AP makes sense is then to buy it every other year, and go 11 months later, then 13 months later (getting a new AP), then 11 months later. Which then comes out to 10 years to break even.

Put another way, if you only look at the AP discounts for food and stuff (if you don't plan on always getting Gold AP, or will travel during the gold AP blockout times), you'd "make back" the extra $7000 if you spent $70,000 on the food and stuff. ugh.

 

[DduzDis]

I concur with all of the above. We also bought 25 points direct when they got us the perks (mostly for the Gold AP, but also didn't want to miss out on opportunities like the Moonlight Magic Events (that can also come and go)). That said, I would have to think long and hard about 75 points. The 25 point add-on was worth it to us to ensure we didn't miss opportunities over the course of our contract that only direct membership affords. But, only you can decide if the economics make sense for your DVC experience as some of it is more a feeling than a bottom line.

 

[CraigInPA]

Frankly, unless you're close enough to hop over for the Moonlight members-only events and have a large enough family that the annual pass discounts can pay for the cost difference (caveats below), or you only want a small (<100 point) contract, there is no advantage to buying ANY points direct.

The member benefits associated with a direct purchase aren't guaranteed. Those annual pass discounts could disappear. The members-only events may become few and far in between. They could discontinue the members-only cruise. The Epcot lounge isn't likely to stay around forever. In the past, they gave free length of stay passes and valet parking. Both were discontinued. Do NOT buy direct thinking that any of these benefits add any real value to offset the higher cost of a direct purchase.

You noted that you want the 11 month advantage. Every member of that resort gets that advantage, whether they purchased all resale, part resale, or all direct. That is written into the timeshare declaration and something that cannot be changed.

Resale has higher closing costs, but only a few hundred dollars. If you're looking for a 200 point contract, you will likely save around $10k buying it resale at the current prices I've seen.

If you're bringing your 4 college age "kids" with you, you very likely could stay in a 2 bedroom dedicated. There's a king in one bedroom, 2 queens in another bedroom, a pull out sofa and a sleeper chair in the common area, and 3 full bathrooms!

My wife and I love BLT, and own there.

 

[sndral]

Be aware that in the near future your 4 college age children will most likely move out and start their own families and thus no longer qualify for DVC member perks like the discounted APs, nor will your future grandchildren, as only DVC owners and their immediate household (eg: family members who can prove they live at your house) qualify.
I put my son on my deeds to enable he and his future family access to DVC perks - but there are downsides to that approach as well.

 

[kristenrice]

Agreed. We are in the same situation, bought last year when 25 points got us the perks. I will say that even for $25 points at $185 per point, I thought long and hard about whether it was worth it. Ultimately decided I *might* break even on that 25 point add on if we got the gold pass 20x.* None of the other "perks" are worth much.

*For a family of 4, that does *not* equate to 5 years! Because if we were planning to go annually, the only way an AP makes sense is then to buy it every other year, and go 11 months later, then 13 months later (getting a new AP), then 11 months later. Which then comes out to 10 years to break even.

Put another way, if you only look at the AP discounts for food and stuff (if you don't plan on always getting Gold AP, or will travel during the gold AP blockout times), you'd "make back" the extra $7000 if you spent $70,000 on the food and stuff. ugh.

Don’t forget that the Gold pass also includes the Memory Maker ($180-$200 value) which some people buy for every trip so that can factor in as a “benefit” as well.

 

[JoanneDL]

In the same boat sorta, we have a resale contract but are on the fence about adding a direct contract. We missed the AP deal they had going. We're a family of 7 so that discount would of been great for us.

 

[Ben E N]

In the same boat sorta, we have a resale contract but are on the fence about adding a direct contract. We missed the AP deal they had going. We're a family of 7 so that discount would of been great for us.

As a family of 7, the direct sales benefits may end up being worth it to you even if you buy 75 points. That would come out to about $1400 in savings every other year, assuming you go yearly and use APs to go on the front and back end of the trips (July '18-June '19, then buy again for July '20, etc). That wold add up to over $10,000 in savings in just 15 years, assuming you followed that pattern, and that the deal stayed in place.
I am not at all pushing you towards it, just pointing out that the math could work more in your favor than it would for a family of 4.

 

[JoanneDL]

As a family of 7, the direct sales benefits may end up being worth it to you even if you buy 75 points. That would come out to about $1400 in savings every other year, assuming you go yearly and use APs to go on the front and back end of the trips (July '18-June '19, then buy again for July '20, etc). That wold add up to over $10,000 in savings in just 15 years, assuming you followed that pattern, and that the deal stayed in place.
I am not at all pushing you towards it, just pointing out that the math could work more in your favor than it would for a family of 4.

Right, thats what I was thinking. Guess I needed to hear it from someone else. I'm not sure if we can buy blocks of 25 at a time or not, I need to call. I figured that way we could save up and just pay cash. We own OKW so the direct prices aren't bad. That way every six months we could buy 25 points until we hit 75, then be done.