Buying resale after the new restrictions.

[dmurf01]

I am buying resale now in the post-restriction stage. For the number of points I bought, to buy them direct would have cost me $11,700 more if I bought Riv, $8710 more if I bought SSR direct. There are ZERO direct benefits for me worth $11k.

1) I live in the Northeast, so every trip to ANY of the properties is a plane flight. Average cost on SW for me and my family is between $800-$1600 depending on the time of year, so we will most likely never go more than once per year, and I will probably never buy more than a 6 day ticket.
2) This makes an AP not a value
3) This makes attending MM events unlikely
4) I have a Disney Visa which does give some discounts, albeit not the same.
5) The L14 are all great properties and varied enough to me that I will not miss staying at Riviera or Reflections or whatever else. If I set a goal of staying in every one of the L14 that would take me probably 20 years to check off so I am not sweating these restrictions at all. I bought at SSR and would be perfectly happy to only stay there, but most likely I will try other resorts too. I wanted a timeshare on Disney property in Orlando and I have that. Will I "miss out" on staying at Riviera? Maybe, but no more than I will miss staying at POFQ or Contemporary tower or Yacht Club. And if I ever feel so compelled to stay at these places I can rent my points and book them.
6) Epcot lounge - not worth $11k entrance fee IMO
7) Status of having a Blue Card or calling myself a "true" member - not worth $11k IMO

It sounds like you looked into the various aspects and made the best decision for your family. The thing I have heard many times though is that our plans over time can change, so we may think we will only do x and y now, but a lot of people have changed and increased over time. You can always cross that bridge if and when you may come to it later. Thanks for sharing your thought process. If everyone thinks through all of the details they will make the best decisions for their families.

 

[Gary Carter]

Being a Florida resident, I feel like I miss out on almost nothing by having only resale points. They can make me feel like a second class member all they want, but I'm in the same room that everybody else is. Also, I have points that can be used at Riviera and beyond, so no harm to me with the restrictions. I suspect in time that we will all find that the original 14 resorts are the "good" ones. Better locations, good theming, etc.

 

[disneynutz]

While the restrictions do affect resale buyers and may create some 100 point direct sales, DVD uses the restriction to entice prospective new buyers to close the deal.

Bill

 

[paults]

no way would I buy DVC now. Prices are getting to crazy.

 

[Miffy]

At this point, I wouldn't buy DVC at all unless the purchase price was basically money I wouldn't mind burning. Because it's possible (likely?) that resale value is going to diminish as Disney continues to restrict resale contracts. So it wouldn't matter whether I purchased resale or direct, since if I ever needed or wanted to sell it, the market might not be there.

I realize that many people who purchase DVC feel relatively certain that they'll recoup their investment in 10 or 12 years or less so that it wouldn't matter if they couldn't get much for the contract if they wanted or needed to sell it. But what if they needed to sell it sooner? That's why I said I wouldn't do it unless the purchase price were money that wasn't significant to me.

 

[skippytx]

At this point, I wouldn't buy DVC at all unless the purchase price was basically money I wouldn't mind burning. Because it's possible (likely?) that resale value is going to diminish as Disney continues to restrict resale contracts. So it wouldn't matter whether I purchased resale or direct, since if I ever needed or wanted to sell it, the market might not be there.

I realize that many people who purchase DVC feel relatively certain that they'll recoup their investment in 10 or 12 years or less so that it wouldn't matter if they couldn't get much for the contract if they wanted or needed to sell it. But what if they needed to sell it sooner? That's why I said I wouldn't do it unless the purchase price were money that wasn't significant to me.

I'm not sure why it bothers me so much, but it makes me cringe when people use the word "investment" and DVC together (this isn't directed at you OP). DVC is a freaking timeshare program, nothing more, it just so happens to retain some value better than other timeshare systems due to current demand for the product. If that demand ever goes away we're all stuck holding the proverbial bag.

I've never felt like DVC was an investment for me. It was partially prepaying for hotel accommodations for future WDW trips. Someone around here called it a hedge against hotel room price increases. The strong resale value, and the ability to rent points are definite factors I considered when it came to me spending the amount of money I did on this timeshare purchase. If something happens one year, there is comfort in knowing I can rent the points I can't use out and at least cover my annual dues for the year. If the worst happens, I could sell the contract for something. At no point did I ever expect to be able to sell my DVC contract for 30 to 40 dollars a point more than I paid, or be able to rent points for over double my annual dues cost.

We all keep thinking resale prices will eventually start to come down, but they haven't yet. I think we're probably 5 to 6 years away from seeing some of the pricing of the 2042 resorts start to soften a little bit. DVC still looks attractive as long as on site hotel room prices keep going up at the rate they do. That was the main driver for us. Will Beach Club points still be selling in the mid 150's in 5 or 6 years though when there are say 15 years left on the contract? Remains to be seen I guess.

While the restrictions do affect resale buyers and may create some 100 point direct sales, DVD uses the restriction to entice prospective new buyers to close the deal.

Bill

This is an excellent point that is often overlooked around here. It's much easier to sell Riviera with full benefits when there are restrictions in place. Sure you can buy BLT point resale for 155 a point right now, but for 180 a point (or whatever the incentives are right now), you can be a full DVC Member with benefits at our newest resort with a longer contract and access to all the new DVC resorts coming in the future. You wanted full membership, but BLT points? Sure we can do that, it'll cost you 235 a point though. Some people pay it, but I bet more go ahead an buy at RIV instead.

 

[agirlcallededdy]

We closed on a resale SSR contract last month. A couple of things that crossed our minds that haven't been mentioned yet:

As west coast buyers, we knew we wouldn't be buying APs. We wanted more points resale to have flexbility to move into a 2 bedroom, rather than less points direct. Buying resale allowed us to buy a larger amount of points. This was important to our family of 5. We were also able to purchase without financing. I knew I would come to resent DVC if I was paying $500+ a month and my vacation was still 18 month away...

As for RIV - our thought was - if we really really really wanted to stay there (for some reason). We can always rent our points out and rent someone elses for RIV. When RIV has resale contracts in the mix, I suspect there will be an active RIV points rental market. In fact, for DH who wondered what happens when we are tired of Disney laughing the ability to rent our points to pay our MFs and still have some vacation fund left was a selling point.

Buying resale saved us over $15K. There is no discount for us that makes up for $15K in the bank (or it would have been debt) that we could avoid. And.... $15K buys a lot of plane tickets. In fact, it is buying some plane tickets to Aulani in Feb.

Best of luck in your research!!

 

[€lairebear]

Has anyone thought if there will be an influx in the rental market since resale holders that have restricted points plan on renting out points to stay at future resorts? Same for riviera owners if they rent out their reservations? I feel that will affect owners that actually want to use their points to make a reservation for their vacation since members there will be an increase in members that will rent out their points and/or reservations especially during the fall when it’s a popular time of travel for dvc.

 

[Sandisw]

Has anyone thought if there will be an influx in the rental market since resale holders that have restricted points plan on renting out points to stay at future resorts? Same for riviera owners if they rent out their reservations? I feel that will affect owners that actually want to use their points to make a reservation for their vacation since members there will be an increase in members that will rent out their points and/or reservations especially during the fall when it’s a popular time of travel for dvc.

It may increase owners who decide to book reservations for others to rent.However, every owner is entitled to book, and what they do with them is really their choice.

Could it increase competition? Sure. But as long as DVC allows owners to book reservations in the names of others..whether they are renters or family/guests...they really aren’t doing anything different than an owner who books to use themselves.

 

[SecondEventuality]

I think it depends on what resort you are buying. For us, it made better financial sense to buy OKW direct, and a big kudos to @kboo for helping us realize this as well.

Being that we are buying at the end of year and get a fully loaded contract (prorated dues + 2019 points), bought before the recent increase and also have an extended contract at 2057 that will (hopefully) be more viable to resale at some point vs. a stipped resale contract for 2 years that expires 2042, it just didn't add up. It actually was better to buy direct at that moment in time PLUS get membership benefits that will allow us to stagger annual passes and save on that.

We looked at BCV resale, but geesh, that is not a great deal at all. I tried to make this one work, but the numbers just don't lie. That resort is totally at its apex right now. We'd love to buy that resale as extra points once the PP goes down for the 11-month window, but in the meantime look to book at the 7-month window during its offseason. SSR resale is a SUPER deal right now, but we didn't like the resort, no matter how much we tried. You have to also buy where you want to stay.

So it all depends on what resort, in our experience. Admittedly, the continued resale restrictions are a harbinger of future ones, almost as if they are slowly dropping bombs for a long con until it completely annihilates resale altogether.

Just my 2 cents coming into this very late in the DVC game.