Do you regret buying Direct over resale? (or vice-versa)

[Can_Dannn]

Question is in the title

Any owners now regret buying direct over resale, or vice versa?

What have you learned and what wisdom can you blanket us newbies with?!

 

[McCrae]

No regrets, bought BLT direct at $99 a point roughly 10 years ago. Since that time buying a resort direct when it is newly offered has not been a bad deal. The difference between direct and resale prices has not been that much. I wouldn’t buy BLT or any other established resorts direct now.

 

[igrsod]

We bought resale just over a year ago. We have no regrets at all. The amount of money that we saved over direct prices has us laughing all the way to the bank. For us, the perks of a direct contract were not enough to justify the extra cost.
Each situation is different. So you will have to decide what is right for you. Will you use the perks that come with direct... how much of a savings is that to you? How many years will that savings take to balance out the extra cost of initial investment?

 

[Marionnette]

Question is in the title

Any owners now regret buying direct over resale, or vice versa?

What have you learned and what wisdom can you blanket us newbies with?!

All of my contracts are resale. Some are “blue card eligible” and only one has the post 1/19 restrictions. Absolutely no regrets. I purchased a fully loaded VGF contract in 2017 (Dec 2016 UY) with banked 2015 points. I paid $10 less per point than what the sellers had paid in 2014 and almost $40 under what the direct price was at the time.

Resale restrictions were a different animal back then. I already had my blue card. I really felt no need for the “Disney Collection”, cruises or ABD trading benefit. But the newest resale restriction, that one would sting a lot more if it weren’t for the fact that the one contract that I purchased post-1/19 is a 2042 resort.

Once the 2042 resorts expire, the L14 become the L9 (or 10 if you consider OKW to be a 2057 resort). By 2064 (when my VGF contracts expire) there will only be PVB and CCV for restricted resales to trade into. All newer resort resale owners will be restricted to only their home resort. It’s something to think about going forward if you think you will keep your contract(s) until they expire.

 

[Madame]

No regrets. Our SSR contract is grandfathered with only the first set of restrictions (concierge collection etc) & our BCV is post 2016, but pre 2019. We’ve bought Gold APs, visited the DVC lounge, used the merchandise & dining discount and attended one MM event.

The only worthwhile benefit is the AP discount (and we’d probably SAVE money if we went with non AP tickets as we’d visit less). All the rest meh, we could live without. Post 2019 restrictions I cannot stomach and we wouldn’t have purchased that product.

 

[motherof5]

Wish I purchased earlier

 

[robinb]

No regrets whatsoever. We bought OKW (resale) months after our first trip to WDW. We bought resale again when we realized we wanted the 11 month window at BWV. We sold OKW and bought AKV direct as soon as it was offered.

ETA: If i were to do it again now, I would still buy resale. The perks are good for Blue Card members, but not worth the extra money IMO.

 

[kniquy]

I have a pre-2016 AK resale w/ benefits -- so no regrets there.

Just this year we bought a poly resale and certainly didn't mind saving $9000 over current direct prices.

Even buying resale without member benefits is a great way to stay in deluxe resorts for a better deal than direct pricing or even doing a DVC rental. The room is really what you are paying for all the other incidentals are there but could be gone next month. So people should buy for what they are actually getting.

 

[Wakey]

I have direct and resale, only reason I have a direct is I actually wanted a small contract and at the time with reduced closing, the points with hardly any dues etc, there was very little in it and it also made me benefit eligible although I was not buying for that reason.

APs are not much use to me. If I do go twice a year one is at Xmas, and I can buy U.K. 14 day super tickets for under $500 each.

The Epcot Lounge I do like, but it’s not worth much in monetary value.

I don’t eat much table service, and buy 1 mug per trip merchandise wise. So I’d be surprised if I saved $30 in discounts per trip.

I’ve never been there for a Moonlight Magic.

No way on earth are direct points worth the premium for my case.

 

[bakerworld]

We bought direct a long time ago and all of our contracts would resale in the black now so our regrets are nil. We just closed on a 30 point BC direct. We have tried to add on to BC both resale and direct for 3 years but all we could find was larger contracts. We were only interested in BC and a small contract - nothing ever seemed available either direct or resale - not that I looked every day or every week, just occasionally. We went on a cruise in June and talked to the rep there. Came home and contacted a former rep that works for resale now. Suddenly, Disney comes up with 30 points so we hopped on them. The sudden availability after 3 years of looking was odd, and costly, but we don't even have buyers remorse of that because we want them and we're in a position to purchase what we want.

 

[ELMC]

I deeply regret not buying VGF when it came out in 2013 for $145 per point. I came very close but in the end decided not to. But that is total hindsight. At the time I had bought BWV resale around $70pp and BLT around $95pp, and the $145 price tag just seemed absolutely overpriced to me. If I had any idea that they were going to push direct prices to the astronomical levels they were today I would have executed my plan which was to buy 100-150 points split into 50 point contracts. I could have used those contracts for five years and sold them today and be close to break even, including MFs.

That said, I do not think the opportunity exists for that level of regret going forward. What is someone going to do, say that they regret not buying Riviera at $188 because the price shot up to what, $250? $300? I can't fathom that happening and will certainly be back on here eating copious amounts of crow when it inevitably happens.

 

[BlueRibbon]

We have both resale and direct at BLT. The direct purchase was more emotional than economic, the thought of "being part of the club" was the major driver for both my wife and I, though we did only get the minimum 75 for direct.

Regrets? No way!

 

[stuartsong]

I have no regrets on all of our direct purchases at HHI, AKV, and BLT. What I regret is missing out on buying direct at VGC.

 

[vikequeen]

Our first contract was a direct Aulani purchase. And I somewhat regret it. I didn't understand resale etc at the time. I wish I had understand the ability to split my points into two contracts. And I personally don't enjoy the resort as much as I thought I would. (Its beautiful. just has always been so very crowded on our visits its discouraging). So I won't use those points at Aulani as much as I thought I would. That said, we've had pretty good success using the points at other resorts but it still means we probably over paid for what we are doing with them and will have a hard time if/when we decide to sell them. I now have another direct purchase at Riviera (which I'm very happy about) and a pending resale purchase at BLT. Its working out ok.

 

[emchen]

Bought 75 points direct from RIV instead of Aulani cuz I wanted a WDW resort over offered "bonus" of 20 extra points at cost of 150 points. Actually rescinded said original 170 point Aulani contract to go the "hybrid" route of buying the minimum direct points needed for a blue card and remainder resale. If I had do-over, would go for SSR or OKW '57 direct for minimum blue-card points.

BTW, is it true that the minimum blue-card points varies with the sold-out resorts?

20/20 in hindsight.

 

[Jkarrows]

My only regret was not buying direct when we first went as we could have had most places cheaper then current resale prices but that's the same answer anyone would give.

You just have to have the money, right time, right place.

 

[pineapplepalms]

We bought direct at actively sold resorts (CCV and RIV) and resale at sold out resorts. No regrets about going this route since we’re comfortable with the cost and terms of our points, especially since all our resale points are pre-2019 restrictions. I do wish we knew about DVC when we started going on frequent Disney trips back in 2012 since we could have afforded it then, but just didn’t know that Disney had a timeshare. In hindsight I would rather have spent the money spent on our wedding on DVC instead, but we had family obligations to have a big wedding. So much money for just one weekend!

 

[Brett Wyman]

I have no regrets on all of our direct purchases at HHI, AKV, and BLT. What I regret is missing out on buying direct at VGC.

Why would you continue to buy direct when you already had the perks from your initial contact(s)?

 

[ElizabethG]

Why would you continue to buy direct when you already had the perks from your initial contact(s)?

I purchased all 500 of my points direct and I don't regret it. I paid $97/ppt for 200 points at BLT in 2009. Then, I added on 300 points at CCV (direct) last year. I paid $163/ppt. Resale contracts, only a year later, are around $155. By buying direct, I could break it into 2x150 point contracts in my choice of use year and get the points right away. The whole process from deciding to buy to signing was about 1 hour. The points were in my account a couple of days later.

I had someone I know ask me why I purchased direct at that time. They had just purchased BWV points resale for around $130-132/ppt. In 2018, BWV had 24 years left and CCV had 50. I paid $30/ppt more for twice as many years.

So far, buying direct when a resort is first offered has been a good deal. After holding them for just a couple of years, the resale price is more than the initial purchase price. We'll see what happens with RIV.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Why would you continue to buy direct when you already had the perks from your initial contact(s)?

I assumed they meant when it was in it's active sales. At one point the VGC direct points were down in the $80's with incentives. With resale at $190 or higher for small contracts? That could cause some regret.
And there was no difference in direct and resale then. I think closing costs on direct even came a little later or maybe it was right at that time.