Closing Process Questions from First-Time Resale Buyer

[BrianL19]

Just recently put an offer down on a BCV contract that was accepted and is now waiting for ROFR decision. Even though I thought I had done plenty of up-front research about buying/owning DVC, after diving into some threads on this board, I am realizing I did not as much research as I could have on how to best manage the actual process once you have an offer accepted (I just assumed all of these reputable brokers/title companies had done this thousands of times and took for granted the variability in their performance). E.g., I just told the broker to use whatever title company they recommend (ended up being First American) and didn't realize there could be such a huge difference in timeliness/reliability.

Any ways, just had some additional questions:

- What is "delayed closing"? What would the verbiage look like in a contract?
- In my contract, the closing verbiage says closing will be 65 days from the date the sales contract is signed by all parties - is this reasonable? Seemed completely reasonable to me when I originally saw the contract.
- My contract also has a Resort Notification section that states the Developer (I assume DVC) has up to 90 days to complete the transfer after closing. Is that pretty boiler-plate / CYA kind of statement? I assume DVC might take up to a few weeks after closing, but 90 days does seem excessive.
- Is it recommend to obtain title insurance? do most people obtain title insurance?
- Any questions I should ask or directions I should give to the title company / agent to help ensure the process runs as smoothly as possible?
- Any other recommendations in terms of due diligence to make sure everything is correct / reasonable? I have reviewed the contract to make sure all the details look correct (purchase price, amount of points, UY, resort name, closing costs, buyer obligations, etc.). I also looked up the records for the deed from the seller on the Orange County Comptroller and everything matches including the contract number and exact seller names on the contract and deed.

Appreciate any insight to help me mitigate any potential gotchas as I go through this process.

 

[tom1944]

I worked for a tax agency and I would never purchase property of any type without purchasing title insurance

I saw too many examples of people not having clear title because the prior owner had a judgment

 

[RoseGold]

You want to know what can go wrong?

For all we know your seller is an identity thief with a fake passport? Beach Club might burn down the day after closing?

I"m not sure what you are asking.

If you're this far in the process, you should already know if you have a delayed closing or title insurance.

 

[BrianL19]

You want to know what can go wrong?

For all we know your seller is an identity thief with a fake passport? Beach Club might burn down the day after closing?

I"m not sure what you are asking.

If you're this far in the process, you should already know if you have a delayed closing or title insurance.

Hi, Rose. Apologies if my post was confusing. At this point, I have signed the sales contract and it is submitted to Disney for ROFR (at least according to the broker). I just had specific questions about things that I should maybe I should be checking/asking in due diligence (not only for this contact, but also potential next purchases). E.g., no one said anything to me about a "delayed closing" and had never heard of it before, so was curious what I should be looking for to understand if that was applicable in my purchase. As for title insurance, my sales contract just states I have the right to ask for and obtain title insurance after closing, so wanted to know whether most folks purchased title insurance when buying DVC resale, etc.

 

[RoseGold]

You need to call your title agent.

 

[tom1944]

Hi, Rose. Apologies if my post was confusing. At this point, I have signed the sales contract and it is submitted to Disney for ROFR (at least according to the broker). I just had specific questions about things that I should maybe I should be checking/asking in due diligence (not only for this contact, but also potential next purchases). E.g., no one said anything to me about a "delayed closing" and had never heard of it before, so was curious what I should be looking for to understand if that was applicable in my purchase. As for title insurance, my sales contract just states I have the right to ask for and obtain title insurance after closing, so wanted to know whether most folks purchased title insurance when buying DVC resale, etc.

If you are financing the lender will make you get title insurance

 

[sndral]

I’ve purchased 3 resale contracts & I got title insurance each time.
The 65 days to close seems reasonable.
I’ve never seen an additional 90 days after closing for DVC to transfer ownership - that seems excessive to me, but my last resale was over 5 years ago so maybe things have changed, looking at this thread https://www.disboards.com/threads/closing-time.3836891/page-132 it looks like it’s currently taking 2-3 weeks after closing to transfer everything, so an extra 3 months is a long time.
Regarding delayed closings, most reputable companies will make it clear in the listing that the current owners have a trip booked using the points & need to delay closing/transferring ownership until after that trip. Dis posters have reported that Fidelity has recently not disclosed this information to them & they only learned about it after they’d passed ROFR. I would email the broker and cc the title company & verify that the sellers have no pending trips using the points booked that would delay transfer of ownership & that the title company will be filing the paperwork w/ DVC to transfer ownership immediately after you have closed & the deed is recorded.

 

[BrianL19]

Thank you, @sndral ! This is very helpful information.

 

[zavandor]

Just recently put an offer down on a BCV contract that was accepted and is now waiting for ROFR decision. Even though I thought I had done plenty of up-front research about buying/owning DVC, after diving into some threads on this board, I am realizing I did not as much research as I could have on how to best manage the actual process once you have an offer accepted (I just assumed all of these reputable brokers/title companies had done this thousands of times and took for granted the variability in their performance). E.g., I just told the broker to use whatever title company they recommend (ended up being First American) and didn't realize there could be such a huge difference in timeliness/reliability.

Any ways, just had some additional questions:

- What is "delayed closing"? What would the verbiage look like in a contract?
- In my contract, the closing verbiage says closing will be 65 days from the date the sales contract is signed by all parties - is this reasonable? Seemed completely reasonable to me when I originally saw the contract.
- My contract also has a Resort Notification section that states the Developer (I assume DVC) has up to 90 days to complete the transfer after closing. Is that pretty boiler-plate / CYA kind of statement? I assume DVC might take up to a few weeks after closing, but 90 days does seem excessive.
- Is it recommend to obtain title insurance? do most people obtain title insurance?
- Any questions I should ask or directions I should give to the title company / agent to help ensure the process runs as smoothly as possible?
- Any other recommendations in terms of due diligence to make sure everything is correct / reasonable? I have reviewed the contract to make sure all the details look correct (purchase price, amount of points, UY, resort name, closing costs, buyer obligations, etc.). I also looked up the records for the deed from the seller on the Orange County Comptroller and everything matches including the contract number and exact seller names on the contract and deed.

Appreciate any insight to help me mitigate any potential gotchas as I go through this process.

Disney won't close a contract if there is a stay booked on points (i.e the owner has one last vacation booked). If this is the case it's usually disclosed in the listing as "Cannot close before XXX date". If you don't have it, it doesn't apply to you.

65 days it's reasonable. It's just a template time to give Disney a deadline on ROFR. There is the misconception that Disney must answer within 30 days, it's not true, they have until the closing date stated in the contract, but you must give them at least 30 days. They usually answer within 30 days, but there are some uncommon delays.

I don't think you can give a deadline about when Disney will load the contract and give you the points. It's done when it's done. (within what's reasonable). It's usually way less than 90 days. It's probably more of a warning for you: don't be impatient after closing, it can take time.

Many say title insurance is useless for DVC. If the contract doesn't match exactly what's written in the contract, Disney won't close and will ask to modify the contract. I wasn't asked if I wanted it when I purchased, it was part of the closing costs.

 

[Straulin]

Title insurance is a drop in the bucket and can save numerous headaches and potential losses. Just get it and you don’t have to worry.

We closed on our BCV contract last year in June. You should generally be able to close faster than 65 days but they give themselves plenty of time. Be prompt signing and returning documents to speed things up. You have no control over how long you have to wait for the other party to sign except if the closing gets delayed. (The wait for them to sign was excruciating as mine were slow about it.)

Once you close and are contacted by Disney that your account has been created, you can normally call and members services can load you contract to your account while you are on the phone if you are needing it loaded so you can book a trip.

Others have described the delayed closing so I won’t get into that.

 

[supersnoop]

A "delayed closing" is when the seller has a vacation booked. You can't close the deal until after their vacation. It would look something like "Seller can close after July 4th."

 

[BrianL19]

Thank you, everyone, for your helpful responses. This helps fill in some gaps in making sure everything looks good. Sounds like the verbiage in the sales contract seems reasonable (and does not include a delayed closing) and I think I am the type of person that would just prefer to pay the small premium to obtain title insurance for piece of mind (maybe it is already included in the closing costs). Next step for me is to figure out how to get a hold of the title company to confirm I want to obtain the title insurance and also confirm the title company plans to complete and file the paperwork to DVC immediately upon closing. Again, appreciate the valuable insights.

 

[Cheesehead13]

Thank you, everyone, for your helpful responses. This helps fill in some gaps in making sure everything looks good. Sounds like the verbiage in the sales contract seems reasonable (and does not include a delayed closing) and I think I am the type of person that would just prefer to pay the small premium to obtain title insurance for piece of mind (maybe it is already included in the closing costs). Next step for me is to figure out how to get a hold of the title company to confirm I want to obtain the title insurance and also confirm the title company plans to complete and file the paperwork to DVC immediately upon closing. Again, appreciate the valuable insights.

Hi - I just had a BCV offer accepted through Fidelity as well. They also recommended the same title company, but never asked about title insurance. Would be eager to hear what you find out! Thanks to all for the great info in this thread!

 

[Cheesehead13]

Hi - I just had a BCV offer accepted through Fidelity as well. They also recommended the same title company, but never asked about title insurance. Would be eager to hear what you find out! Thanks to all for the great info in this thread!

In case it is helpful to anyone else buying through Fidelity, I was told today that their quote of ~$500 for closing costs already included title insurance.