it's a good thing I don't do it with you - because even if it was a financially "better" deal, I would have no interest in it.
I'm a Disney shareholder, so you already have, actually. From that perspective, I thank you for your high margin purchase and the considerable profit that came with it. ESPN has been a stinker so we need people to pay full price on DVC contracts to keep those dividends and higher share prices going.
I wouldn't offer you a better deal, anyway. If I were a manager at a car dealership, I'd send out a smooth talking salesman to tell you stories and make you feel good...and then soak you for the full sticker price. Who cares about the financial part of the decision, right? It's only money.
Your opinion. I find it rude to say that I am poorly researched or short sighted because of how I choose to do business....but then I didn't purchase into DVC to sell it. If I had to sell it, I am sure I would use one of the reputable resale markets - but that's due to lack of another option. In the case of purchase, there *is* another option, albeit a more expensive one.
You can get snippy all you want, but if you spent 5 years researching DVC and never got around to figuring out an exit strategy, that's on you.
Few buyers plan to sell but when you spend tens of thousands on an asset, it's good to know how you'd need to proceed if things don't work out. And if the only exit strategy available is resale instead of working with your more "trusted" option, that should have been a red flag.
My problem is you are doing the same thing you are accusing me of which I was trying not to do. You are making Disney out to be the devil and that anyone who buys direct is clearly uninformed.
Disney is not the devil, they are simply motivated by profit. You cheerfully pay full price as a profitable customer - it's good for the economy to spread the wealth (and it's true that if people like you didn't pay extra to buy direct, there would never be cheaper resales for the rest of us to purchase). But most of us are more interested in finding a way to accomplish the same thing they are offering but in a way that costs less.
On other timeshare sites, they would suspect you of being a shill. A poster with connections to Disney sales to try to discourage people from buying resale by painting vague scary stories about resale and how much better and safer direct purchases can be...but you don't actually offer any reasoning of substance. Your opinion seems to be that setting $20 bills on fire is fun and recreational, and hey, that is your "opinion" and no one can argue with an "opinion."
But as for the actual facts - and math - that "smart people" care about, there is no real benefit to buying direct other than the AP discount. You get your pts faster (but it's a contract for several decades so a couple of months is not a legit consideration). Maybe you get a tote bag for those extra thousands of dollars but most of the rest of us won't spend that much on a tote bag.
Small contracts sell for a premium on the resale market, so for a 25 pt contract purchased directly, even a $40 per pt differential is still only $1000 extra total. You can make a factual case for how many AP discounts can make up the extra spent on a direct purchase...(assuming that DVC doesn't cut the AP discount for everyone)...but in terms of hard facts and not pixie dust, that's really about the only time a direct purchase is logically defensible.
Just waiting for the right season of life to hit. Can't wait!
