Buying through Disney or resale?

[tigger2on]

Still trying to decide how to "join" the "Club"!
I know what to expect buying through resale but what do you do when you go through Disney.
How much is it per point @ SS?
What is the purchase minimum?
Can you pay with a Visa card if you live in Canada?
Thanks
Suzanne

 

[JimMIA]

Still trying to decide how to "join" the "Club"!
I know what to expect buying through resale but what do you do when you go through Disney.
How much is it per point @ SS?

Currently, it is $95-$8 rebate = $87. It's supposed to go up in early June.

What is the purchase minimum?

150 points

Can you pay with a Visa card if you live in Canada?

Yes with Disney. No with resale.

You didn't ask whether it was better to buy a minimum purchase through Disney or resale, so I won't take a stab at that... other than to say Disney.

 

[OneMoreTry]

To make a long story short, buy resale.

 

[JimMIA]

To make a long story short, buy resale.

I respectfully disagree...

There is only one SSR resale that's gone through on the ROFR thread, and that one was an unusual case. The buyers are in Australia, and if I am not mistaken, did not have the option of buying directly from Disney because Disney is not authorized to sell in Australia. That contract was for 150 points at $83 (Feb use year). There were no banked or borrowed points, so they got the full allocation of '05 points.

If you do the math on that sale, you find they actually paid a little more than they would have paid buying direct from Disney. I'd estimate they paid about $400 in closing costs and they would have to pay dues from Feb '05 forward, which would be $525. Add those together and divide by 150 and you get costs of $6.17 per point + $83 = $89.17 per point actual cost. That works out to a little more than $300 extra, but as I said, they really had no choice but to buy resale.

Resale will save you money with most of the sold out resorts, but I don't see it saving enough to justify the time and uncertainty of resale if you're buying SSR.

 

[tigger2on]

I don't like Saratoga Springs though. WE did a tour last year. I love BWV ... had a 1-bedroom there last May... and it felt "homey". Rented points and stayed at BCV.... and though I loved SAB, I swam more in the quiet pool as I hated the walk to SAB... We are renting points again for OKW... 2-bedroom in Oct. I think we will wait to decide then which one to buy into. I guess the only way i can buy into these resorts is through a resale, right?
We have a disabled child so the bigger rooms at OKW could be an asset... but exterior halls and a non-airconditioned walk to the pool could be a trouble point.
Oh well... i guess we';; see.
Thanks for the different perspectives. Advice is much appreciated.

P.S. If we wait a while ... maybe there will be another DVC to purchase at :O)

 

[JimMIA]

I don't like Saratoga Springs though.

Unless you are visiting during peak periods and can book more than seven months out, it really doesn't matter whether you love SSR or not. If you want the 12 years of extra points, buy SSR and book where you want to stay at seven months. No, there are no guarantees, but few report troubles at seven months.

I love BWV

So, if you want to stay there most of the time - AND if you can book more than seven months out, buy BWV.

I guess the only way i can buy into these resorts is through a resale, right?

Wrong. You can buy either directly from Disney or resale. For OKW, HH, VB, VWL, and probably BWV, you will likely come out ahead buying resale. For SSR, you are better off buying direct. BCV is right on the edge. You might be better off resale - especially if you are able to get a loaded contract, or you might be better advised to buy direct for a couple hundred bucks more and skip the hassle of resale.

P.S. If we wait a while ... maybe there will be another DVC to purchase at :O)

That's undoubtedly true if you wait LONG ENOUGH. More important, though, is to understand everything, be sure of your decision, and do whatever is in the best interests of your family. There are no cookie-cutter "best answers." There are just a world of options, and maybe one that is right for your family.

 

[ribbot]

We visited DVC on Monday at SS and we weren't offered any rebate of $8. It was a flat $95 with yearly dues over $600

 

[T.E. Yeary]

In the past 6 months, The Timeshare Store, Inc., has had over 20 SSR's pass ROFR!

Tom

 

[JimMIA]

We visited DVC on Monday at SS and we weren't offered any rebate of $8. It was a flat $95 with yearly dues over $600

Hmmm...that's the first I've heard of that. That could be a communication problem...or they could have changed. DVC is rather complicated and they have a number of ways they apply the incentive. For example, they have an alternative where they offer 100 "free" vacation points in lieu of the rebate of $8. They may have other ways of phrasing the deal, but it all amounts to $87.

Unless they've changed the incentive, of course...which is possible.

 

[JimMIA]

In the past 6 months, The Timeshare Store, Inc., has had over 20 SSR's pass ROFR!

Tom

In light of that info from Tom, probably the best path would be to look at the SSR contracts for sale, come up with a price, and ask an agent if they think it will pass. Tom certainly could not put such a price here, but if you have an offer in mind, they may be able to give you a feel for the adequacy of your offer.

 

[tiggercrew]

I agree with JimMIA, for the most part. We just bought directly from Disney at a sold out resort...after we figured the closing costs saved, the prorated maint fees (vs the entire year with a resale) and the fact that all the resale contracts for this resort seemed stripped, we figure we paid a couple hundred more going with Disney. To me it was worth it to be able to go ahead and make ressies for June...we put our deposit down on Friday and had a Member I.D. number Saturday morning. So even though we paid more, I think the convenience was worth it for us.

Good luck in your search...it will all be worth it in the end.

 

[rinkwide]

...it really doesn't matter whether you love SSR or not. If you want the 12 years of extra points, buy SSR and book where you want to stay at seven months. No, there are no guarantees, but few report troubles at seven months...

<Big>Danger, Danger Will Robinson!</big>

 

[Rebd40]

We visited DVC on Monday at SS and we weren't offered any rebate of $8. It was a flat $95 with yearly dues over $600

I just purchased SSR yesterday via Disney and got the $8 off plus no dues for 2005 so the incentive is still going on. Perhaps it is due to the particular use year. Originally my intention was to get an October Use Year but was told the incentive was not available for that month. It was offered, however, for September so I that's what I went with.

 

[ribbot]

Gee, why is this starting to sound like when you buy a car? Everybody gets a different price. We weren't given any incentives to buy now, no pressure, no nothing. It's actually kind of sad because if there was an incentive it might have made us look into this a little harder to see if it really was something we wanted to do. Maybe it was a communication problem, but when the man sits there and hands you the 2005 chart and says it's $95 a point, and you just say ok without haggling---maybe he saw no reason to offer us the incentive. We've never bought into timeshares, so we didn't know to ask for any discount.
I guess it doesn't matter anyway, we've looked over the information and for us we don't think it's gonna be the way we go. Although we did stay in a value resort, we were only in the room for 8 hours and stayed 9 days with park tickets for $1300 and I probably could have done better than that if I would have shopped elsewhere for the park tickets.
I guess we can always shop at the timeshare store if we do decide.