You will have to consider a resale if you want to have your home resort at OKW or BWV, as those resorts are sold out from Disney. Right now, you can buy VB, HH and VWL from Disney. VB and HH are also available resale. VWL apparently is still too new to have any resales yet.
The cardinal rule is you should buy where you plan to stay most because you will be able to make your reservations at your home resort 11 months in advance. At non-home resorts, you can book starting seven months in advance of your planned stay.
I've bought both resale and from Disney. Some of the differences I've seen are:
1. The terms of the deal in a resale are negotiable. That means you can negotiate with the seller on the price per point, who pays the closing costs, and the annual dues for the points. With Disney, it's not negotiable. The price now is $72 per point ($75 come June 3)and that price includes the closing costs. You pay the dues.
2. Although Disney doesn't negotiate, they do offer a program called Magical Beginnings in which they will buy back your points for your first use year, effectively reducing the price per point paid. This apparently varies by resort, so check with your salesperson what's available now.
3. Disney will finance your purchase, and they make it easy. You can lower the interest rate charged by having the payment debited directly from your bank account. The resale broker may be able to direct you to financing, but I've been told the rate charged may not be attractive. Some people use home equity loans to finance their resale purchase because the rate is better than what they can find elsewhere and the interest is tax deductible.
4. Some people have seen resale closings take longer than Disney closings. With a resale, you can't use your points and make reservations until the deed is filed and Disney records you in their computer system. Through Disney, you can use your points (provided you didn't sell them back under MB) pretty much right away, and I've heard some people have made reservations when they closed their deal. I have not done this, so other posters can explain it better. My resale closings have taken about four weeks from the time I signed the purchase contract to the day I got my deed in the mail. Some posters on this board have reported closing as fast as two weeks. Some have seen it take longer than a month.
Overall, my resale experiences have been excellent. My Disney purchase has been good, too.
Good luck!
