DVC Newbie, worth it to wait on buying direct?

[Adopted By Disney]

Hello all,

Came across this forum and it appears to have vital information regarding DVC. My family is likely going to move forward with purchasing 150 direct points Poly for our first purchase.

I’ve researched extensively regarding direct vs resale and I believe for us starting 150 direct is the way to go. Any contracts after that would be resale. I keep seeing people are disappointed with current direct prices but over time they appear to keep going up anyway. Currently with incentives Poly would be at $202 a point with MB and the Disney visa incentive and I understand it could go lower but why wait? I’ve seen people talk about how VGF got to $167 per point (new members) and I would assume that’s unlikely to happen again. Poly will likely be the best resort direct to not have resale restrictions going forward either so it seems like the time would be now to buy poly as direct.

Even if Poly got down to $180, ultimately that’s a small difference for a lifetime of happiness.

I’m also aware I could buy a small resale contract to become a member and then get member add on pricing but again, resale is a longer process with no guarantees and the pricing difference isn’t huge. Our guide also said we can pick any use year we want initially.

Just looking for some opinions on if it’s a good idea to proceed direct now.

Thanks!

 

[supercarrie]

If you 100% know buying direct is for you, I'd buy in now if you want Poly and would like to use the points soon to book your next trip. If you don't have a trip on the horizon needing the 11 month window, perhaps wait until the last few days of this incentive period so you have time to review next round's incentives, too.

If you wait for a fire sale (for Poly, I think it is likely to come at least a couple years down the road, if at all), you would miss out on using 2+ years of points and likely go through at least two more rounds of base price increases, too. I also question whether those days are behind us.

The bigger discussion is whether direct is "worth it" at a higher price relative to resale, but if you have made that personal decision for your family, go for it! Everyone has to weigh it up for themselves.

 

[Adopted By Disney]

If you 100% know buying direct is for you, I'd buy in now if you want Poly and would like to use the points soon to book your next trip. If you don't have a trip on the horizon needing the 11 month window, perhaps wait until the last few days of this incentive period so you have time to review next round's incentives, too.

If you wait for a fire sale (for Poly, I think it is likely to come at least a couple years down the road, if at all), you would miss out on using 2+ years of points and likely go through at least two more rounds of base price increases, too. I also question whether those days are behind us.

The bigger discussion is whether direct is "worth it" at a higher price relative to resale, but if you have made that personal decision for your family, go for it! Everyone has to weigh it up for themselves.

Yep! The plan is to wait until the last week to see if next round of incentives are any better. That was another thought is we don’t want to wait another 2 years if there was a fire sale.

As for direct vs resale price. I feel like obtaining 150 points direct is worth it? Are you able to have to all the discounts for resale as we do the dining quite often and buy a lot of merch. We have the Disney Visa card but it doesn’t look like it has discounts to the extent that DVC would.

 

[RivGirl]

Hello all,

Came across this forum and it appears to have vital information regarding DVC. My family is likely going to move forward with purchasing 150 direct points Poly for our first purchase.

I’ve researched extensively regarding direct vs resale and I believe for us starting 150 direct is the way to go. Any contracts after that would be resale. I keep seeing people are disappointed with current direct prices but over time they appear to keep going up anyway. Currently with incentives Poly would be at $202 a point with MB and the Disney visa incentive and I understand it could go lower but why wait? I’ve seen people talk about how VGF got to $167 per point (new members) and I would assume that’s unlikely to happen again. Poly will likely be the best resort direct to not have resale restrictions going forward either so it seems like the time would be now to buy poly as direct.

Even if Poly got down to $180, ultimately that’s a small difference for a lifetime of happiness.

I’m also aware I could buy a small resale contract to become a member and then get member add on pricing but again, resale is a longer process with no guarantees and the pricing difference isn’t huge. Our guide also said we can pick any use year we want initially.

Just looking for some opinions on if it’s a good idea to proceed direct now.

Thanks!

Hi from a fellow newbie who just signed her first contract. So take my thoughts with a grain of salt because I haven’t been around too long. But as someone who just bought 150 direct at Riviera after researching and running numbers for almost an entire year…I say the right time to buy is when you have the cash on hand to do it and still maintain your overall financial footing in life. We can never predict what the pricing will do exactly, other than that it *will* go up over time, with *maybe* a slight dip here or there due to incentives. If you’re ready to make the purchase, and you know what you want, then IMO waiting to see if you can get a few thousand off (or less…) isn’t a fun game to play. My husband and I went back and forth and back and forth and had sooooo many conversations. I’m really glad we are moving forward! (I don’t regret the time we took to research either, though.)

That said, I do think it’s worth it to buy within ten days of the current round of incentives expiring, as FL timeshare law allows you to cancel within ten days, so that you can compare two different incentives and take the better of the two. For instance, I waited until February 2 to get things rolling with my guide. He knew that my intent was to compare incentives pre and post Feb 11, and take the best one. Yesterday when the new incentives began (plus price increase), he reached out to confirm that my pre-Feb 11 price was better (as we all now know).

If you wait until April when the current round expires, you can do the same. It just has to be within ten days of the current incentives expiration date.

Those who have been around longer might have better advice. I have heard that summer incentives have been better in recent years, so since you are already dealing with the new post-Feb 11 price hike, maybe it would be worth it to wait for the summer round.

 

[Adopted By Disney]

Hi from a fellow newbie who just signed her first contract. So take my thoughts with a grain of salt because I haven’t been around too long. But as someone who just bought 150 direct at Riviera after researching and running numbers for almost an entire year…I say the right time to buy is when you have the cash on hand to do it and still maintain your overall financial footing in life. We can never predict what the pricing will do exactly, other than that it *will* go up over time, with *maybe* a slight dip here or there due to incentives. If you’re ready to make the purchase, and you know what you want, then IMO waiting to see if you can get a few thousand off (or less…) isn’t a fun game to play. My husband and I went back and forth and back and forth and had sooooo many conversations. I’m really glad we are moving forward! (I don’t regret the time we took to research either, though.)

That said, I do think it’s worth it to buy within ten days of the current round of incentives expiring, as FL timeshare law allows you to cancel within ten days, so that you can compare two different incentives and take the better of the two. For instance, I waited until February 2 to get things rolling with my guide. He knew that my intent was to compare incentives pre and post Feb 11, and take the best one. Yesterday when the new incentives began (plus price increase), he reached out to confirm that my pre-Feb 11 price was better (as we all now know).

If you wait until April when the current round expires, you can do the same. It just has to be within ten days of the current incentives expiration date.

Those who have been around longer might have better advice. I have heard that summer incentives have been better in recent years, so since you are already dealing with the new post-Feb 11 price hike, maybe it would be worth it to wait for the summer round.

I agree, we plan to wait until the last week of this round to pull the trigger. As for being a direct member vs resale, I keep wondering if being a direct member is worth it or not. I know there is the ability to book any resort going forward, and the lounges. But the main driver for me are the dining/merch/ ap discounts. As far as I know you have to be a direct member to get those right?

 

[RivGirl]

I agree, we plan to wait until the last week of this round to pull the trigger. As for being a direct member vs resale, I keep wondering if being a direct member is worth it or not. I know there is the ability to book any resort going forward, and the lounges. But the main driver for me are the dining/merch/ ap discounts. As far as I know you have to be a direct member to get those right?

Yes.

The main driver for me was wanting unrestricted points that could be used anywhere, which is a heightened problem when you love Riviera (or any restricted resort going forward). Even if I love my home resort - and I do - I imagine there might be times when we want to stay somewhere else for a whole host of reasons. Maybe the Riviera is in dire need of refurbishment and we want more refreshed digs. Maybe we want to try out Animal Kingdom (we do) or Aulani (also that). Maybe we want a lower cost points chart to stay in a bigger room or a longer trip. I wanted that flexibility, and I wanted it for the life of the contract. The only way to have it is with direct. (We did discuss doing two resale, one Riv and one OG, which I think is a great second best option if you love Riviera but also want to stay at some different resorts.)

Because the discounts can be taken away at any time, I have seen everyone advise NOT to base your direct purchase on that.

 

[JackosinDIS]

To begin with I was resale all the way. Couldn’t see the value in direct. Then I got FOMO and decided to buy 150 poly points when the tower went on sale. Mainly as I decided it was worth it to have access to new resorts when they come online. The other benefits still don’t have much value to me (don’t need an AP and discounts on food and merch can mostly be had with resale points anyway!)

Now, fast forward a few years, and I just bought a small direct contract, which I could have easily saved 50% buying resale, but it is a restricted resort and I’m just not prepared to spend that amount of money and not be able to use the points elsewhere if I need or want to. Plus I’m impatient and decided I couldn’t go through another round of ROFR and waiting for DVC to load points!

Brainwashing complete.

 

[Girlstar30]

I agree, we plan to wait until the last week of this round to pull the trigger. As for being a direct member vs resale, I keep wondering if being a direct member is worth it or not. I know there is the ability to book any resort going forward, and the lounges. But the main driver for me are the dining/merch/ ap discounts. As far as I know you have to be a direct member to get those right?

You can get discounts thru other means, if you have an annual pass or chase visa. We got 10% off food and merch with the chase visa, however we did notice that at the signature restaurants in the hotels we did not get a chase visa discount, they only had dvc discounts. You don't even need a chase visa credit card, my wife has the free debit card thru her bank and they honored the discount everywhere which surprised me. I'm not sure if they were supposed to do this and didn't realize it was a debit card but we gladly accepted lol. Another way we get discounts is buy a target gift card thru circle for 5% and stock up on annual gift card sales thru sams club. Not sure if they have those warehouses everywhere but I heard one called bjs wholesale has discounts too. Best buy also ran a discount this past year. My point is, there are other ways to obtain good discounts and buying direct just for that might not be good because they could lower it or take it away anytime if they want to. If I didn't care about staying at the new hotels or direct member only events I would 100% go resale and splurge on twice as many points I could afford with direct, no question about it.

 

[Adopted By Disney]

You can get discounts thru other means, if you have an annual pass or chase visa. We got 10% off food and merch with the chase visa, however we did notice that at the signature restaurants in the hotels we did not get a chase visa discount, they only had dvc discounts. You don't even need a chase visa credit card, my wife has the free debit card thru her bank and they honored the discount everywhere which surprised me. I'm not sure if they were supposed to do this and didn't realize it was a debit card but we gladly accepted lol. Another way we get discounts is buy a target gift card thru circle for 5% and stock up on annual gift card sales thru sams club. Not sure if they have those warehouses everywhere but I heard one called bjs wholesale has discounts too. Best buy also ran a discount this past year. My point is, there are other ways to obtain good discounts and buying direct just for that might not be good because they could lower it or take it away anytime if they want to. If I didn't care about staying at the new hotels or direct member only events I would 100% go resale and splurge on twice as many points I could afford with direct, no question about it.

I didn’t realize there were other means for the same discounts. But I still do like the ability to book anywhere with the direct points and any new resorts going forward. As for buying twice the points for resale, it’s still double the dues so I feel like for our family to start with 150 is ideal and then go from there.

 

[pzw90]

Don't forget to take advantage of a referral to get another $500 off

https://www.disboards.com/threads/dream-it-forward-referral-thread.3924074/

 

[Girlstar30]

I didn’t realize there were other means for the same discounts. But I still do like the ability to book anywhere with the direct points and any new resorts going forward. As for buying twice the points for resale, it’s still double the dues so I feel like for our family to start with 150 is ideal and then go from there.

This is true. I literally went back and forth with resale vs direct so many times that I was making myself sick and driving everyone on here and reddit insane I finally was like you know what since the annual dues are the most expensive part, just cough up the extra for 150 direct and be done and have it secured and that way you won't feel some type of way when something you want to does comes up and your blocked. I want to feel like I'm fully a part of this thing with all benefits and not some second class citizen

 

[ark101]

If you can take advantage of the fact you can buy the sorcerer pass instead of the Incredipass, that is ~$400 savings per person per year you get the passes. That adds up quickly too. This was one of the reasons I bought direct but the main reason was to have the ability to use the points at all resorts.

 

[tx911]

You can get discounts thru other means, if you have an annual pass or chase visa. We got 10% off food and merch with the chase visa, however we did notice that at the signature restaurants in the hotels we did not get a chase visa discount, they only had dvc discounts. You don't even need a chase visa credit card, my wife has the free debit card thru her bank and they honored the discount everywhere which surprised me. I'm not sure if they were supposed to do this and didn't realize it was a debit card but we gladly accepted lol. Another way we get discounts is buy a target gift card thru circle for 5% and stock up on annual gift card sales thru sams club. Not sure if they have those warehouses everywhere but I heard one called bjs wholesale has discounts too. Best buy also ran a discount this past year. My point is, there are other ways to obtain good discounts and buying direct just for that might not be good because they could lower it or take it away anytime if they want to. If I didn't care about staying at the new hotels or direct member only events I would 100% go resale and splurge on twice as many points I could afford with direct, no question about it.

The DVC discount on merch is 20%, which is pretty hefty.

 

[stat]

The DVC discount on merch is 20%, which is pretty hefty.

I'll add that the food/merch not only work more places with DVC than the Visa discount, but also on any dollar amount (many of the Visa discounts only work on purchases > $50).

 

[Brian Noble]

As for direct vs resale price. I feel like obtaining 150 points direct is worth it? Are you able to have to all the discounts for resale as we do the dining quite often and buy a lot of merch. We have the Disney Visa card but it doesn’t look like it has discounts to the extent that DVC would.

If by 'worth it" you mean "will cost me less in the long run," the answer is almost certainly no, it is not worth it.

That doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad idea. It depends a little bit on what you want as your home resort, and how you imagine using your ownership.

 

[Brian Noble]

Just looking for some opinions on if it’s a good idea to proceed direct now.

The right time to buy is when you are ready to buy at the price currently on offer. I'm notoriously bad at market timing, so I don't even try anymore.

 

[Dismas]

If you have any questions about Poly, I am a Poly owner (direct and resale), and would be happy to answer any questions you have about the resort and talk about any pros and cons I've experienced from my stays there. Shoot me a message if so.

 

[Adopted By Disney]

The right time to buy is when you are ready to buy at the price currently on offer. I'm notoriously bad at market timing, so I don't even try anymore.

I think we’re ready and have been mulling it over for a while. Feels like the right time for us.

 

[ark101]

I think we’re ready and have been mulling it over for a while. Feels like the right time for us.

Just remember, as soon as you purchase direct, the points will be in your account in hours and you get to book a 'welcome home' trip if you so desire. Voila, you will go on a trip that you did not plan for already lol (just account for that additional expense )

 

[Steelers0854]

You will only drive yourself crazy by trying to time a market that is impossible to predict. If you are in a good financial position and the current buy in is within your means then go forward and don’t look back. I wish we would have done this years ago, and I can only imagine years from now we will be happy we bought in direct last year.