First time buyer, first time poster

[jrpeterson5]

Hi all. The wealth of knowledge here is amazing, I feel like (and am) a completely newbie here. I've been reading about DVC for weeks now, and we are ready to make a purchase. But we have a question that I'm sure has been asked before regarding home resort.

We are looking at AKV and OKW. We currently have a 4 and 2 year old so we know we will be staying at 2 bedroom villas AKV in the near future. However, we also have a large extended family and friends and plan on staying at the three bedroom villas at OKW on occasion. The reason for the change in resorts for two bedroom vs three bedroom is due to the points....much more reasonable at OKW for three bedroom.

We will rarely go for a week at a time, most trips now will be 3-5 nights at a shot. Most trips will be planned about 6-9 months from the travel date. So now to the questions which most of you can guess: Should we just buy OKW due to the limited availability of three bedroom villas, and the rather abundance of two bedroom villas a AKV?? Can someone tell me if it's hard to book a two bedroom villa at the 7 month range at AKV if we choose to buy OKW?

We are just about ready to purchase (resale of course) 210 points at OKW, or 160-170 points at AKV. Of course this is why OKW is more attractive for us if the 7 month booking can work out at AKV. Thanks for the help.

 

[gripp35]

To be sure, OKW has over 270 dedicated 2-br, which means that only people wanting a 2-br will get those. AKV only has 140 dedicated 2-br (the others are lockoffs, which become 1-br as people rent the studios...).

The other question you might ask is: If I got my home resort at 8-months out, which one would make me happier if I couldn't find the other resort at 7-months? Of course, for those times you're less than 7-months, your home resort doesn't really matter.

 

[k3chantal]

Hi all. The wealth of knowledge here is amazing, I feel like (and am) a completely newbie here. I've been reading about DVC for weeks now, and we are ready to make a purchase. But we have a question that I'm sure has been asked before regarding home resort.

We are looking at AKV and OKW. We currently have a 4 and 2 year old so we know we will be staying at 2 bedroom villas AKV in the near future. However, we also have a large extended family and friends and plan on staying at the three bedroom villas at OKW on occasion. The reason for the change in resorts for two bedroom vs three bedroom is due to the points....much more reasonable at OKW for three bedroom.

We will rarely go for a week at a time, most trips now will be 3-5 nights at a shot. Most trips will be planned about 6-9 months from the travel date. So now to the questions which most of you can guess: Should we just buy OKW due to the limited availability of three bedroom villas, and the rather abundance of two bedroom villas a AKV?? Can someone tell me if it's hard to book a two bedroom villa at the 7 month range at AKV if we choose to buy OKW?

We are just about ready to purchase (resale of course) 210 points at OKW, or 160-170 points at AKV. Of course this is why OKW is more attractive for us if the 7 month booking can work out at AKV. Thanks for the help.

Buying where you would really like to stay is probably the most important factor but the second factor is getting as many points as you can afford. So the 210 point contract is much more attractive to me than the 160-170 point contract.
When we bought our membership, we were a family of four. We bought 280 points. We also quickly learned that we like to travel and bring friends with us so the points get 'eaten up' quickly. And now we are a family of five. So more points will give you more flexibility as you figure out how you travel with your DVC.

 

[Mtnman44]

I would probably go with the cheaper points. AKV is our favorite resort but availability is generally really good at 7 months, except for the value unit and Concierge. If you don't care about those, normally you should be fine except for the extremely popular times (holiday weeks), but it is like that at all the resorts just about.

 

[DizBub]

If you want a Grand Villa at OKW then you should buy there. Availabilty for AKV at 7 months for the 2br is pretty good. OKW GVs are very popular and seem to be hard to get at 7 months but not totally impossible but if that's what I wanted I wouldn't take the chance.

 

[DisDad07]

we own at both AK and OKW. We like both resorts for different reasons. We love AK because the kids do so enjoy the animals and they have great food at all the restaurants there. OKW is a great place to relax, you can even tahe a nice boat ride to DTD an enjoy the day or night. OKW GV book out at 11 months pretty fast as they are the best value, point wise. AK is second best in GV rooms,and have the best Studio value of all. 210 points is a nice numder of points to start with. Good luck, you will enjoy no matter what you do, after all its DISNEY!

 

[ELMC]

Unless you want Concierge Level, Grand Villas, or Value Studios, there really isn't much of a need to have the 11 month advantage at AKV. Combine that with the fact that you will most likely need the 11 month booking window for OKW GV, and the cheaper OKW points seem to be the choice. Keep in mind, that you will want to book those as close to the 11 month window as possible. (In your post you said that you typically book 6-9 months in advance...you may want to try to increase that to 10-11 months if you buy DVC).

Good luck, let us know what you decide.

 

[jrpeterson5]

Thank you everyone for your insight and suggestions. Based on confirmation of our thoughts, we are going to go for OKW!! Also, we bumped our point 'needs' to the 230 point range. Would love 2057 expiration, but they seem just too scattered to even worry about.

I'll post more as we make the offer! Thanks again everyone!

 

[k3chantal]

Thank you everyone for your insight and suggestions. Based on confirmation of our thoughts, we are going to go for OKW!! Also, we bumped our point 'needs' to the 230 point range. Would love 2057 expiration, but they seem just too scattered to even worry about.

I'll post more as we make the offer! Thanks again everyone!

I think you have made a good decision. The larger point contract will be easier to work with in the end. Even though we have 280 points a year, we find ourselves 'borrowing' from the next year all the time. (Perhaps, its time to buy ourselves more )

 

[jrpeterson5]

I'm just going to post my updates here instead of starting a new thread. It may possibly help others in their thought process and chronicle my process at the same time.

So we made an offer this morning on an OKW listing. Not before we exhausted the 2057 expiration listings which turned out to cost more than we wanted to spend. We decided last night to make the offer of $56 a point with buyer covering closing and prorated MF between seller and buyer.

So we heard this morning, before we made our offer, that there was another offer on this listing. I quickly sent our offer in. The other buyer offered $54 a point with seller covering all closing and MF. They countered ours by offering $56.52/point with same closing cost and MF that we had in our offer.

We countered this by only raising our total offer $200. The other buyer didn't counter and we just found out this evening that the seller accepted!! Yes!!

Now, I understand that we will fill out buyer paperwork once the points are confirmed with Disney. Once seller sends theirs (which we believe will be quick as they are very fast per the agent) then it's off to ROFR with Disney. We only have to send $1000 with the contract to hold in escrow till closing.

The agent is extremely responsive to email and easy to reach via phone. (unlike our initial contact experience with an unnamed forum sponsor ) I couldn't be happier with our experience there so far. They have assured me it's not a bankruptcy or divorce listing.

So now what?? I guess it's all waiting from here, once we get the buyer contract done and submitted?? Anything else I should watching for or looking out for?

 

[cz4ever]

I'm just going to post my updates here instead of starting a new thread. It may possibly help others in their thought process and chronicle my process at the same time.

So we made an offer this morning on an OKW listing. Not before we exhausted the 2057 expiration listings which turned out to cost more than we wanted to spend. We decided last night to make the offer of $56 a point with buyer covering closing and prorated MF between seller and buyer.

So we heard this morning, before we made our offer, that there was another offer on this listing. I quickly sent our offer in. The other buyer offered $54 a point with seller covering all closing and MF. They countered ours by offering $56.52/point with same closing cost and MF that we had in our offer.

We countered this by only raising our total offer $200. The other buyer didn't counter and we just found out this evening that the seller accepted!! Yes!!

Now, I understand that we will fill out buyer paperwork once the points are confirmed with Disney. Once seller sends theirs (which we believe will be quick as they are very fast per the agent) then it's off to ROFR with Disney. We only have to send $1000 with the contract to hold in escrow till closing.

The agent is extremely responsive to email and easy to reach via phone. (unlike our initial contact experience with an unnamed forum sponsor ) I couldn't be happier with our experience there so far. They have assured me it's not a bankruptcy or divorce listing.

So now what?? I guess it's all waiting from here, once we get the buyer contract done and submitted?? Anything else I should watching for or looking out for?

Congratulations on getting the deal accepted. How many 2010/2011/2012 points were included?

As you surmise, you are now in a month-long waiting game. The only real "steps" between now and Disney making an ROFR decision is having your agent verify that (a) the seller has returned their signed paperwork and (b) the title company has forwarded the paperwork to Disney to start the 30-day ROFR countdown. Oh, and lots of (virtual) pacing and clock watching, waiting for that (seemingly infinite) 30-day period to end.

Good luck!

 

[jrpeterson5]

We just received word that Disney excercised their ROFR. We thought we were safe due to the price per point being higher than any others that were documented here and taken on ROFR.

OWK, Dec UY, 230 points, 224 banked 2011, 230 2012, all points forward.
Buyer pays closing cost. MF: 10 months seller, 2 months buyer.
$57.39 per point. ($13,200)
Submitted 8/23/12, ROFR (notified) 9/7/12

I know, loaded contract. Still hurts! Guess the quest continues.....

 

[CarolMN]

We just received word that Disney excercised their ROFR. We thought we were safe due to the price per point being higher than any others that were documented here and taken on ROFR.

OWK, Dec UY, 230 points, 224 banked 2011, 230 2012, all points forward.
Buyer pays closing cost. MF: 10 months seller, 2 months buyer.
$57.39 per point. ($13,200)
Submitted 8/23/12, ROFR (notified) 9/7/12

I know, loaded contract. Still hurts! Guess the quest continues.....

Sorry this one didn't work out - good luck on the next one!

WELCOME to the DIS DVC Forums and thanks for sharing your journey with us.

 

[dvcterry]

cripes! is it just me or are there more ROFR for the OKW lately?

op, so sorry to hear that.

 

[ELMC]

We just received word that Disney excercised their ROFR. We thought we were safe due to the price per point being higher than any others that were documented here and taken on ROFR.

OWK, Dec UY, 230 points, 224 banked 2011, 230 2012, all points forward.
Buyer pays closing cost. MF: 10 months seller, 2 months buyer.
$57.39 per point. ($13,200)
Submitted 8/23/12, ROFR (notified) 9/7/12

I know, loaded contract. Still hurts! Guess the quest continues.....

Sorry for the bad news. Thanks for taking the time to update us and good luck with your next try. You will find something, so have faith!

 

[DougEMG]

We just received word that Disney excercised their ROFR. We thought we were safe due to the price per point being higher than any others that were documented here and taken on ROFR.

OWK, Dec UY, 230 points, 224 banked 2011, 230 2012, all points forward.
Buyer pays closing cost. MF: 10 months seller, 2 months buyer.
$57.39 per point. ($13,200)
Submitted 8/23/12, ROFR (notified) 9/7/12

I know, loaded contract. Still hurts! Guess the quest continues.....

Sorry that didn't work out for you. If you check at DVCNews you can see they are reporting that for August 2013:

10,212 Old Key West points were sold in the month, the most in a single month since October 2010 when 12,724 points were sold. Disney Vacation Development reacquired 1,641 Old Key West points in August by exercising its Right of First Refusal on resale transactions.

OKW is still a very popular resort for direct sales even though it is sold out and not being marketed, combine that with Disney's desire to get all the contracts extended, OKW resales are going to be having a lot of ROFR activity on them for a while. I personally think price has nothing to do with it and you are just going to have to be lucky to get an OKW contract through or have 5-6 go to Disney all at once and hope 1-2 get passed.

 

[jrpeterson5]

I personally think price has nothing to do with it and you are just going to have to be lucky to get an OKW contract through or have 5-6 go to Disney all at once and hope 1-2 get passed.

If I did go ahead with this, if 3 or 4 pass, then I'm 'stuck' with all of them correct? Or am I reading this wrong??

 

[ELMC]

If I did go ahead with this, if 3 or 4 pass, then I'm 'stuck' with all of them correct? Or am I reading this wrong??

I think what Doug is suggesting is that if a number of OKW resale buyers all submit around the same time, somebody is probably going to get their contract through. Sort of like in the Serengeti, the lions can't eat all the antelope at once, so some are bound to survive.

But to answer your question, if you backed out at that point you would lose your deposit.

 

[DizBub]

So sorry to hear that they took it out from under you. It stinks especially since you did all that work.

Thanks for the update and keep us posted on the next one!

 

[333disneymom]

Sorry you lost that one. Thanks for reporting back. Your post is the fourth post I read today about an OKW December UY getting taken by Disney. Good luck with any future bids.

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