Use year has to do with the date you get your annual allotment of points and establishes banking dates. It has nothing to do with when you can go (any time of year) and when you can call to reserve (11 months in advance at home resort and 7 at others).
Once you buy resale, you become a
DVC member like everyone else and are treated exactly the same as anyone who buys through Disney. Timeshare brokers that specialize in Disney, like the one that is a sponsor of this board make the process very easy and quick. Resales are definitely a route to go particularly if you want BWV but you need to understand exactly what you are buying and what actual cost is:
1. With Disney, Disney pays closing coss (about $500). With resale, the buyer does unless negotiated otherwise. Also, price is negotiable in a resale (not with Disney). Moreover, there are dues prorations done at closing with a resale and you can negotiate what proportion for the applicable year you will pay.
2. When you buy from Disney you usually get a use year that begins about 5 months before the date of sale and thus you get a full allotment of points dating back 5 months which can be immediately used or banked into the next year. With a resale, you must check closely at what you are actually buying in currently available points. Often, you will see resales where the seller has already used the current year's points and may have even borrowed and used next year's. That kind of contract basically leaves you with a purchase where you cannot even go to Disney on points for a year or two. That kind of contract is also less valuable (and thus should go at a lower price than) a contract where all current points are available and possibly there are even some additional banked points from the prior year.
3. Financing is a major issue. If you can pay cash a resale is ideal; if you need to finance then you have to find a lender. Best would be to get a home equity loan on your existing home--that would have a lower interest rate than even Disney is offering. Absent that you will need a financing company that does timeshares. Timeshare brokers have access to them and thus they are not that hard to find but they will most likely be charging an interest rate that is higher, often by 3 percentage points, than Disney is offering. Because of the differences in rates, the true overall cost of buying through Disney at $75 a point can actually be less than buying a resale at $65 a point. Thus you need to carefully consider what your overall cost will be and not just that your point price is less than Disney.