Buy to Resell?

[Coldzero1116]

Hello!!!
I was searching around and not sure if this topic has been covered much or not - or maybe it is just a stupid idea.

My family is looking at going on a trip to Aulani in a few years - probably 2023 - when my kids are a little older. We want to go all out and book an Ocean View Grand Villa for 5-7 nights. We are already saving towards it and know we can rent points, as we have done that in the past for much cheaper and shorter stays at Vero Beach and WDW.

I was looking into buying an Aulani contract, around 230 pts to book at 11 months and pool together 3 years of points for the trip. I would intend on selling (2024) the stripped contract to recoop some of the money. I understand it wouldn't be a breakeven because of annual dues, closing costs, etc. I am just not sure how bad of an idea it would be. Renting points would cost us around 411-12K - which we could share with another family who could travel with us. We living in Virginia and wouldn't need such a large contract and wouldn't travel to Aulani very often to want to own long term. We want to own at some point, but want a contract at WDW for what will be the vast majority of our stays - "buying where you want to stay".

Am I missing any details only an owner might think of? For anyone else who has also resold did you breakeven or how much value did your contract drop? Or am I trying to predict the future and who knows what the value will really be in 4-5 years. Thanks for everyone's time!

 

[vnovabri]

Hard to predict its value 4-5yrs from now. You'll also have to eat 8.5 % on the resale for commission, so you would have to recoup that and 3yrs of maintenance fees to make it worth it. Plus stripped contracts generally sell for less that loaded contracts. You can probably look at the ROFR thread to get an idea on how much prices have changed but that is no means an indicator for how your contract value will change.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

And Aulani has not held value.

 

[vnovabri]

So it'll cost ya about 22540 to buy the 230, plus 1900 dues the first year plus about 2k average the next two. Then 1916 in commission. Assume you sell at the same price. So you are approaching 8k in costs, plus time and hassle to theoretically save a few thousand.

Quick math, someone can probably give more accurate numbers.

 

[Coldzero1116]

So it'll cost ya about 22540 to buy the 230, plus 1900 dues the first year plus about 2k average the next two. Then 1916 in commission. Assume you sell at the same price. So you are approaching 8k in costs, plus time and hassle to theoretically save a few thousand.

Quick math, someone can probably give more accurate numbers.

Thanks! Not a lot of savings....if any at all, if we can split it with another family. Thanks for the help!

 

[DL1WDW2]

Have you kept track of the length of time the Aulani Resales stay on the market?
Best advice is don’t do this.

 

[ScubaCat]

And Aulani has not held value.

Yeah, +1 on that. If I were to try this, it definitely wouldn't be with Aulani.

Now it may ultimately save you money vs. booking with cash, but it seems like a really risky strategy to me.

Obviously YMMV.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Have you kept track of the length of time the Aulani Resales stay on the market?
Best advice is don’t do this.

Especially anything over 200 points.

 

[Coffee54]

Yeah, +1 on that. If I were to try this, it definitely wouldn't be with Aulani.

Now it may ultimately save you money vs. booking with cash, but it seems like a really risky strategy to me.

Obviously YMMV.

Is that a bad resort?

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Is that a bad resort?

Aulani is fine. But as a timeshare it's had issues. It's been for sale direct for 10 years and not sold through. Nearby development may make a few of the already suspect "Ocean" Views more suspect.

Disney misread the market badly building Aulani, and points don't sell well either direct or resale. Even small contracts, which at most resorts demand a premium, are selling for less than $100pp.

 

[Coffee54]

Aulani is fine. But as a timeshare it's had issues. It's been for sale direct for 10 years and not sold through. Nearby development may make a few of the already suspect "Ocean" Views more suspect.

Disney misread the market badly building Aulani, and points don't sell well either direct or resale. Even small contracts, which at most resorts demand a premium, are selling for less than $100pp.

Wow. Hard to figure out why they didn't see that.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Wow. Hard to figure out why they didn't see that.

Part of it is they were counting on the Chinese and Japanese markets, and 2011 was not good in Japan. Then they had to suspend sales to deal with regulatory issues, resulting in firing 3 executives.

Aulani does fine, especially with cash bookings, but it really shows how Disney has had issues doing DVC away from theme parks.

 

[Coffee54]

Part of it is they were counting on the Chinese and Japanese markets, and 2011 was not good in Japan. Then they had to suspend sales to deal with regulatory issues, resulting in firing 3 executives.

Aulani does fine, especially with cash bookings, but it really shows how Disney has had issues doing DVC away from theme parks.

Well said. I wonder if they will do that again.

 

[CaliAdventurer]

They make a ton of money on cash bookings and it’s almost always packed. They may not be in a hurry to sell it out. The resort is amazing, maybe the best one but you don’t have to own there to go there and most of the US is too far away to consider going every year or two. For us west coasters, it’s about the same to HI and FL. Aulani is one of homes and we go annually but for the resale alone, I would go with something at WDW and then hold on to it. No need to buy and sell and buy and who knows what say, BWV will cost you when you try to buy in 4 years.

 

[Disneykate605]

I agree with Caliadventurer. From what I have read Aulani seems to be available at 7 months most of the year so maybe buy a contract at WDW and use that to stay at Aulani and you can use it at WDW after that. That eliminates the buying and selling to buy again. You can book the room with your WDW points and figure out how much you want to charge the other family for the stay. That way they can save some money and you can recoup some of your costs...maybe a win/win for you both. Just a thought.

 

[ray3127]

They make a ton of money on cash bookings and it’s almost always packed. They may not be in a hurry to sell it out. The resort is amazing, maybe the best one but you don’t have to own there to go there and most of the US is too far away to consider going every year or two. For us west coasters, it’s about the same to HI and FL. Aulani is one of homes and we go annually but for the resale alone, I would go with something at WDW and then hold on to it. No need to buy and sell and buy and who knows what say, BWV will cost you when you try to buy in 4 years.

I agree with Caliadventurer. From what I have read Aulani seems to be available at 7 months most of the year so maybe buy a contract at WDW and use that to stay at Aulani and you can use it at WDW after that. That eliminates the buying and selling to buy again. You can book the room with your WDW points and figure out how much you want to charge the other family for the stay. That way they can save some money and you can recoup some of your costs...maybe a win/win for you both. Just a thought.

Only concern with this is OP wants an Ocean View Grand Villa. Depending on the time of year, these can go. I tracked June 2020 availability at 9, 8, 7, and 6 months (sometimes daily) over the last several months, and I could not have booked those OV GVs. Many have the same idea as OP--save up a bunch of points and spend them on a big family getaway out there. there are 18 such units, which sounds like a lot, but depending on the time of year it may not be possible at 7 months.

Also, finding somebody with 690 points they are willing to rent at once is not a guarantee. I'm not saying I would recommend buying and reselling ... I ran some quick numbers on that and don't love how they look. But the only way to guarantee your spot is to own there or pay cash.

 

[DVC Doctor]

Too complicated and full of risk with little reward. Just rent the points or simply chose another location such as Marriott or Hyatt in Hawaii.

 

[CaliAdventurer]

Only concern with this is OP wants an Ocean View Grand Villa. Depending on the time of year, these can go. I tracked June 2020 availability at 9, 8, 7, and 6 months (sometimes daily) over the last several months, and I could not have booked those OV GVs. Many have the same idea as OP--save up a bunch of points and spend them on a big family getaway out there. there are 18 such units, which sounds like a lot, but depending on the time of year it may not be possible at 7 months.

Also, finding somebody with 690 points they are willing to rent at once is not a guarantee. I'm not saying I would recommend buying and reselling ... I ran some quick numbers on that and don't love how they look. But the only way to guarantee your spot is to own there or pay cash.

Good points! I bet you could rent the points tho. Despite owning 1340 pts we had to rent two large reservations this year, one for a GV at VGF at over 600pts. With bank and borrow, someone doesn’t have to owner a crazy amount of points for a big one time payday. The trouble is finding people who don’t spend their points before they get them like me!