Considering Purchase

[libster]

We are considering purchasing. We are going to WDW on Saturday on our way back to Chicago from South Florida. What incentives can/will the sales reps give purchasers? Can they comp your room? GIve park tickets? Disney Dollars?

Thanks for your input!

 

[littlestar]

We bought our points over the phone, so we didn't take advantage of any freebies. But, I think our friends were treated to a free lunch for taking the DVC tour.

Now, if you buy I'm not sure what the incentives are right now for new DVC members. Perhaps some of the others on the boards could help out with more information.

 

[cruise-o-matic]

You will get vouchers for a free lunch if you take the tour. I've heard people have been given Fast Passes but we weren't offered those when we were there 3 weeks ago.

Also, if you take the tour, be ready to decide whether to buy in at that time. Once you take the tour, the clock starts ticking. You have 72 hours after you leave WDW to buy SSR points with the $10 off incentive. So if you leave Sunday, you must call by Wednesday to tell them you want to buy in.

 

[tjkraz]

Originally posted by cruise-o-matic
You will get vouchers for a free lunch if you take the tour. I've heard people have been given Fast Passes but we weren't offered those when we were there 3 weeks ago.

Rewards offered for taking the DVC tour vary greatly. I woudn't necessarily count on receiving free lunch. Sometimes they give pins. Sometimes it's an instant FastPass. Sometimes just a bag of popcorn or ice cream cone.

The most logical explanation I've heard for variations is that they will offer more if you make arrangements to tour the resort during prime theme park hours. In other words, if you arrange a tour around lunch time, they may end up giving you the lunch vouchers.

If you want to ask for some sort of reward up front, I guess that's your prerogative. Unless the salesperson offers you something up front, you're gonna sound pretty foolish asking "uhhh, so where's my free gift!?!?"

My guess is that if the salesperson feels that you are just looking for a freebie, he/she will probably bail-out on you pretty quickly. If you are legitimately interested in DVC, take the tour...just because you want to take the tour. Don't judge DVC by whether they are willing to give you $50 worth of free lunch coupons vs. an $8 pin.

 

[SlyHubby]

Also, if you take the tour, be ready to decide whether to buy in at that time. Once you take the tour, the clock starts ticking. You have 72 hours after you leave WDW to buy SSR points with the $10 off incentive. So if you leave Sunday, you must call by Wednesday to tell them you want to buy in.

I think that is negotiable. You can call your guide a month later and if you say you'll buy if you get the $10 per point discount, he will be more than happy to get it for you. It's a real estate transaction - everything is negotiable.

I took my "tour" in January the year we purchased. Eight months later I called and bought over the phone - he was more than happy to get us all of the current promotions and excellent financing (if we wanted it - something like 5.6% at the time).

 

[tjkraz]

It's a real estate transaction - everything is negotiable.

Not really. DVC Guides have VERY little leeway to negotiate with buyers. Whatever interest rate you received was the prevailing rate at the time under the terms you accepted.

DVC Guides cannot alter the sale price. They cannot offer things like free park passes (unless they are part of an ongoing promotion.) They cannot give you free nights for taking a tour or buying. They CAN give you things like pins or immediate FastPasses. Probably the highest $$$ value item I've ever seen mentioned was free meal vouchers.

I've seen posts on both sides of the issue regarding the ability to reinstate promotional pricing after an established grace period ends. Some people claimed they had no problem getting a discount weeks or months later. Others said that their salesperson was adamant that the promotion could not be reinstated after its expiration.

IMO, anyone who hopes to extend the expiration date on promotional pricing should discuss it up front with the salesperson rather than automatically assuming it will be reinstated at a later date.

 

[DisneyBill]

I don't know how many points you plan to purchase, but if it is somewhere more than 280, you may want to purchase your initial 150, and then do an add-on for 130 points (SSR only) to obtain the current 2 free APs promo. I think there is also an option for a 50 point add-on to receive a single day WDW admission ticket as well. I sure your guide can give all the details.
Also, many have found the 3 day rule to be the standard, with an exception now and then, if you really want to push for it.

 

[MrShiny]

In February, we got a $50 gift certificate for taking the tour. Of course we bought, so that paid for about 360 of those certificates!

 

[walter]

Even though we have never purchased a resale - many individuals have posted such with the same amenities that we are afforded by DVC at a lesser price. If you like OKW over VWl, BWV over BCV, etc. , you should be able to purchase at less than DVC prices. Purchasing through the Timeshare Store would more than offset (by far) the incentives DVC can offer.

 

[greenban]

I think that is negotiable. You can call your guide a month later and if you say you'll buy if you get the $10 per point discount, he will be more than happy to get it for you. It's a real estate transaction - everything is negotiable.

I took my "tour" in January the year we purchased. Eight months later I called and bought over the phone - he was more than happy to get us all of the current promotions and excellent financing (if we wanted it - something like 5.6% at the time).

We were not so lucky. We decided to buy at 10 or so days after our return in June. Our guide said sorry, no way. We asked to speak to a manager, he said sorry no way. We threatened to buy resale, they said good luck, our guide said she would still be our guide for the Resale!

So we purchased 400 points (instead of the 150) at OKW for 67/point.

When the SSR deals came out our guide called, and we purchased 130 points add on at the $10.00 off deal with the free APs, and our guide got us significant extra goodies (unexpected, value near $1,000).

It seems that some guides will 'bend' da rules more than others!

Good luck!

 

[tjkraz]

Purchasing through the Timeshare Store would more than offset (by far) the incentives DVC can offer.

Maybe yes, maybe no. It largely depends on the resort.

Right now, BCV, BWV and VWL are selling in the $75-80 range. By the time you add in current year's maintenance and closing costs (which the buyer is pretty much obligated to pay in order to pass ROFR), you're looking at paying $80-85 for the contract.

Right now you can get SSR points from DVC at $85 each with 11 more years of ownership. Maintenance, payments and interest (if financed through DVC) deferred until mid-2005. I'd say that's pretty competitive with resale rates. Plus you don't have to deal with the hassle inherent to buying resale.

If one can get a contract with banked points (which are becoming rarer by the day), that can add some additional advantage to resale as you could rent those points to offset the purchase price. And, OKW, VB and HHI points can be found for lower prices on the resale market.

Just depends on what you're looking for and how much effort one is willing to put forth to find it.

 

[DisneyBill]

BTW, welcome to the DIS!

 

[sarhenty]

We recently took a trip in the second week of Sept of this year and stayed at WL. We booked two rooms and each room offered us $100 gift certificate for any kind of purchase within Walt Disney World. ANYTHING. We couldn't pass up $200 so we took the tour and ALMOST bought into it. Like the above posters, they gave us 72 hrs to decide what to do. In the end, we purchased a resale VWL. We used those $200 though for dinner and lunches through out our stay. Nice right?

 

[EpcotKilterFan]

Not to hijack the thread... but....

How long does a tour last? Considering taking a tour, but want to be able to budget the time for it.

Debbie

 

[dallastxcpa]

Just to put a spin on things.... we started considering DVC in July 2003. We scheduled a tour with Ricardo Florez, but due to all our wedding festivities we were unable to make it. Rescheduled two months later during September once again called and said can't make it. Were in the World for NYE no tour. All the while we were in contact with Ricardo and he was very patient with us. Well in late March I finally decided to purchase. I had received a bonus at work and knew exactly what to use that money for. Well, even though it had been 8 plus month since my initial contact with Ricardo he gave us the current promotions. Now, granted we never officially took the tour so maybe that is part of the difference.

We bought because we stayed at the BWV for our wedding and while I loved BWV the lure of the additional years outwayed the Keister Coaster.

 

[Terry S]

Sly hubby... was the same resort for sale that you originally looked at 8 months before or was it a different resort? I ask this because my guide told me the only reason he could give me the "current deal" was that the rules state the offer was made to me on one resort and now a difference resort was being offered Once a new resort starts selling, they can make the new offer again. I took the tour when VWL was for sale but bought BCV a few months later so I was able to get the current deal on BCV.

 

[sarhenty]

Not to hijack the thread... but....

How long does a tour last? Considering taking a tour, but want to be able to budget the time for it.

Debbie

About an hour the most.

 

[libster]

We purchased the 150 points at SSR. We were able to get 4 certificates for meals and 4 fast pass cards. We got a 10 year financing plan at 9.75%.

 

[ArRzrbk]

Go to the Disney Vacation Club website. They often have offers there. I remember seeing a free vacation there or a good price on rooms if you took the membership tour, though I believe that was for a visit to Hilton Head. Worth a look anyway.

As for us, we toured back in 1995 (didn't buy until last year - big mistake waiting). At that time, we didn't get anything for taking the tour except an offer on interest rates or discount per point or something like that. When we did buy, we did so over the phone and got "magical beginnings" and sold back our first year's points for $10.00 per point.

Good luck, and if you love Disney, want to make sure you and your family take vacations often, and like Deluxe options, don't wait. Buy now!

Char

 

[dmoore22]

Obviously there are so many variables to consider. If you miss a window of opportunity for an incentive don't worry. There will be another around the corner. We bought resale several years ago after taking the tour. We found a resale with banked points and then purchased additional points where the seller paid the maintenance fees for the first year. However, if we had not come across those deals we would have had no problem going through Disney with the subsequent incentives plus there are no closing costs when you purchase through Disney. Hence, if we had not found the deals we found we may not have purchased a resale. I do believe it is worth it to take the tour while investigating the resale market. We set up an appointment through the kiosk at our resort. The guide picked us up at the park at the prearranged time. It turned into a mini backlot tour. That was well worth the time spent listening to the sales pitch.