First time buyer

[nfro24]

Hi all,

im sure this has been asked a bunch but do you all think its best to buy direct through disney or a resale? We are currently staying at disney now and they are pushing for rivera because the contract is 50 years and the entry point is $195/point but we would get 200 points so it goes down to $175/point. they said that is the smartest "financial move" because that is fairly cheap in relation to what other resorts are reselling for AND it being good for 50 years.

we are trying to make the smartest economical decision for our family. my wife and i have 3 kids. i would normally do resale but then i heard you do not get the benefits so that seems like a big deal.

does it make sense to do the minimum direct points which i believe is 125 to get the benefits and then add on with resale point?

does anyone have a road map on the most economically smart way to buy into DVC, meaning direct vs resale, where to buy into, etc? it sounds like most say to buy into the place where you want to stay but the disney person today said it is not smart to buy contracts with less time on them. and i would regret it 30 years down the road when i don't have another 20 years left on my deed.

sorry for the long post and appreciate anyones insight in advance!

thanks,

N

 

[limace]

Take a breath! You don’t need to buy right now-there will always be another deal. Research until your eyes bleed before you sign. Make sure you completely understand things like use year, home resort, banking and borrowing. Figure out if the direct benefits make financial sense for your family.

 

[FinnFogg]

Make sure you are fully informed about the resale restriction that apply to Riviera! And as noted above, no rush in making a decision.

 

[masupo]

Make sure you are fully informed about the resale restriction that apply to Riviera! And as noted above, no rush in making a decision.

You're asking some great questions! You're ahead of a lot of other people who just tour & sign then and there. I agree with all the above advice, especially about Riviera.

Resale is definitely more economical. The blue card benefits are great but do the calculations to see when/if you'll break even.

How old are you & do you have kids? Riviera is the longest contract right now, but do you love it? There are some other great resorts that have decently long contracts.

I say only buy at RIV if you absolutely love it (and I'm someone who bought direct at RIV). Especially if your plan is buy 125pts for the blue card and rest resale. Your price per point will be higher because you won't hit the better incentive. RIV resale pts can only be used at RIV. You could add on resale points elsewhere though (just be aware of the 11 month & 7 month booking windows).

You can buy direct at the sold out resorts as well to hit 125 pts for the blue card.

I relate to your dilemma as someone who just went through it. I can give you some links later that were helpful.

To start, check out the ROFR thread to see the latest resale offers vs accepted.

 

[Lorana]

Hi all,

im sure this has been asked a bunch but do you all think its best to buy direct through disney or a resale? We are currently staying at disney now and they are pushing for rivera because the contract is 50 years and the entry point is $195/point but we would get 200 points so it goes down to $175/point. they said that is the smartest "financial move" because that is fairly cheap in relation to what other resorts are reselling for AND it being good for 50 years.

we are trying to make the smartest economical decision for our family. my wife and i have 3 kids. i would normally do resale but then i heard you do not get the benefits so that seems like a big deal.

does it make sense to do the minimum direct points which i believe is 125 to get the benefits and then add on with resale point?

does anyone have a road map on the most economically smart way to buy into DVC, meaning direct vs resale, where to buy into, etc? it sounds like most say to buy into the place where you want to stay but the disney person today said it is not smart to buy contracts with less time on them. and i would regret it 30 years down the road when i don't have another 20 years left on my deed.

sorry for the long post and appreciate anyones insight in advance!

thanks,

N

Riviera sleeps 5 in studios so that’s great for having 3 kids.

And if you plan on getting Annual Passes each year, then direct is worth it for the AP discounts: you’ll save $315 per person on the Platinum AP. If you don’t go over Christmas or Easter, you can get the Gold AP instead as a DVC member, saving you $507 per person.

The other big direct benefit is that you can use those points at any future DVC resort. With resale, you are limited to the original 14 (if buying one of the 14 resorts) or only to RIV (if buying Riviera resale).
Do you love Riviera? Is it where you plan to stay every time you go to Disney? If so and you want the benefits above, go direct!

If you prefer another resort and don’t mind being restricted to the original 14, consider resale as it can be more economical.

 

[Spinster Travel]

I would definitely recommend that you take some time...you can buy after you get home and the incentives that they are currently offering will not expire just because you don't buy on-site (the current deals, which have some extra bonus incentives do not expire until December 4th). I got really serious about DVC back in June and as I started to crunch the numbers I changed my mind several times before I settled on my plan. While my internal "back and forth" in the decision making process drove me a bit crazy, I was really glad that I took the time because when I did pull the trigger, I was totally confident in my decision. There is a balance between the financial aspect of the "best deal" vs the emotional aspect of what you really want. There is no right or wrong choice, only what is best for your family. The discount on Annual Passes for a family are real savings, so if you plan to get AP's each year, than buying direct makes sense. To the point you already made, you can buy the minimum of 125 Direct and then buy the rest on resale, but as @masupo pointed out, if you only buy 125 points, you won't hit the "full incentive". You just really want to run the numbers so that you are totally informed of what is best for you and that you feel comfortable going in knowing that this is exactly what you need/want. For some of us, that is resale only; others direct only and then the rest being a mixture of the two. Good luck and enjoy your trip!

 

[CarolMN]

Spend some time reading all the information that is available in the DIS DVC Resource Center. You'll learn a lot and be better able to know what specific questions to ask. Good luck!

 

[starry_solo]

The discount on APs (which are currently not being sold) should not factor into the decision right now as there are no guarantees that Disney will offer that incentive to DVC to market.

 

[fixerupper]

Make sure you weigh the impact of dues as well. The price of direct vs. resale is a drop in the bucket compared to 50 years of dues. Be sure you understand the various resale restrictions and how that may impact you as either a resale or direct buyer. You can easily google the current direct prices for other resorts and you can choose a "sold out" resort to buy direct. Currently, none of the "perks" of being a direct member are being offered. Will an AP or moonlight magic be something you will use? Do you want to own for 50 years or does less make sense (I'll be in my 80s when my resort contract is up). If you do buy a large quantity of direct points, you can - and I believe it is smart to - break them into two contracts. That way you can sell one if needed or more easily pass them on. There is no reason to rush your decision. You can call in weeks or months when you decide, and they always put out another offer. There are lots of good spreadsheets in here that people have made that I used to help me decide.

 

[DSLRuser]

Here is my take.

We have been going to WDW 1-3x a year since 1993. Took the tour for old Key West in 1995 and took the tour for Saratoga in the mid 2000's. We didn't buy until 2017 with Copper Creek. Yes, we wish we would have bought sooner, but it just did not make financial sense for us at the time. Back in the old days you could get 35% off rooms all the time.

Having said that. Some people say...."buy where you plan on staying"....I disagree. In 7 trips with points in the last 4 years, we have only stayed at our home resort 1 time. We frequently book in the 5 to 2 month window. Copper creek is never open in that window. But we have had great luck every place else.

In regards to blue card bennies..... 10-20% discounts on food and merch don't really add up to any significant savings.

Knowing all I know right now.......I would buy the biggest resale contract you can afford at copper or poly. That way you get the 14 resorts. The 10-20% member discounts can't make up for an extra $30 a point x 200.

 

[havoc315]

Hi all,

im sure this has been asked a bunch but do you all think its best to buy direct through disney or a resale? We are currently staying at disney now and they are pushing for rivera because the contract is 50 years and the entry point is $195/point but we would get 200 points so it goes down to $175/point. they said that is the smartest "financial move" because that is fairly cheap in relation to what other resorts are reselling for AND it being good for 50 years.

we are trying to make the smartest economical decision for our family. my wife and i have 3 kids. i would normally do resale but then i heard you do not get the benefits so that seems like a big deal.

does it make sense to do the minimum direct points which i believe is 125 to get the benefits and then add on with resale point?

does anyone have a road map on the most economically smart way to buy into DVC, meaning direct vs resale, where to buy into, etc? it sounds like most say to buy into the place where you want to stay but the disney person today said it is not smart to buy contracts with less time on them. and i would regret it 30 years down the road when i don't have another 20 years left on my deed.

sorry for the long post and appreciate anyones insight in advance!

thanks,

N

The problem with "most economical" is that there is a lot of subjective value.

1 -- totally subjective

The *big* resale restrictions are very subjective -- If you buy resale at the original resorts, then you can only use your points at the original resorts. You can't stay at Riviera or future resorts... So subjectively, how much does that matter to you?
If you buy resale at the Riveira, then you can ONLY use the points at the Riviera -- How big a deal is that to you?

2 -- Potential objective value, but only for some people

The biggest "perk" of buying direct is the ability to buy a discounted Gold Pass. If you take multiple trips per year (and not during Christmas/Easter), then this can be a big cost savings of buying direct, making it more worthwhile than buying resale. Other perks are more minor, like 10% of dining, tour discounts, etc.

3-- The difficulty in measuring future objective value.. and the subjective aspects of a longer contract
While it might be fair to conclude that a 50 year contract has more value than a 22 year contract, even that's not certain. And when you start comparing a 37 year contract to 40 years to 45 years to 50 years... It becomes really difficult to come to concrete calculations. The future is so unknown, it's unknown the extent those extra years will hold real value.
Of course, part of the value of a longer contract, is if it's something you really want to pass on to children and even grandchildren.

4-- The problem with the mixed direct/resale
Direct minimum + resale will give you the perks like a Gold card discount. So it can have economic value. But, it comes with a mix of the more subjective restrictions. If you buy 125 new Riviera points -- great, you can use those points anywhere. But then you buy 75 resale Riviera points, those points are only usable at Riviera.

My conclusion -- You can't just plug it all into a spreadsheet and get an answer.
Even with the "perks," in most cases, re-sale will still be cheaper. Most certainly, you'll break even faster. If you plan on using all the perks, it narrows the gap in the prices. But then there are issues that are harder to measure.
Imagine you bought BLT re-sale... And imagine it's now 2042... HHI, VB, BR, BCV and BWV have all expired -- you can't use your points at any of those anymore. You can't use your points at the Riviera, you can't use them at the Disneyland DVC Tower, you can't use them at Reflections, you can't use them at other newer DVC resorts. Is that a big deal to you, or not?

 

[Stitchescape]

Some great advice on here already - definitely research and research and then research some more! You don’t have to decide on this today despite what your guide might want.
Will you need to finance the purchase? Where are you staying onsite currently? Do you plan your vacations a long time in advance, or are you late availability bookers? The latter may mean that DVC isn’t a great fit, whilst the former works better with this system. Does your family stay deluxe or moderate? What suits your needs now eg when you have very small kids, may not work so well for you in 5/10 years. Where do YOU want to call home, and where feels like home? What are your retirement plans and will you be good continuing to pay annual dues in retirement?
I can see that there may be instances where RVA direct may work well for you, but I can also see many reasons why that might not be the best approach. DVC will also sell you points at the majority of the sold out (original 14) resorts. If these resorts/end dates are your preference, one approach could be to find the best deal on the UY and contract size at your preferred resort, and then add on direct for 125 points with Disney who can match the same UY for the direct (blue card) benefits.
There are lots of much more knowledgeable people here than me so if in doubt I’d suggest ask away until you’re 110% confident with your choice!! Good luck.

 

[Eric Smith]

Hi all,

im sure this has been asked a bunch but do you all think its best to buy direct through disney or a resale? We are currently staying at disney now and they are pushing for rivera because the contract is 50 years and the entry point is $195/point but we would get 200 points so it goes down to $175/point. they said that is the smartest "financial move" because that is fairly cheap in relation to what other resorts are reselling for AND it being good for 50 years.

we are trying to make the smartest economical decision for our family. my wife and i have 3 kids. i would normally do resale but then i heard you do not get the benefits so that seems like a big deal.

does it make sense to do the minimum direct points which i believe is 125 to get the benefits and then add on with resale point?

does anyone have a road map on the most economically smart way to buy into DVC, meaning direct vs resale, where to buy into, etc? it sounds like most say to buy into the place where you want to stay but the disney person today said it is not smart to buy contracts with less time on them. and i would regret it 30 years down the road when i don't have another 20 years left on my deed.

sorry for the long post and appreciate anyones insight in advance!

thanks,

N

The answer to your question is really "it depends." Whether Direct makes sense or not really is up to how you vacation, how often you go to WDW, whether you would buy annual passes or not and whether it matters to you to have that blue card. From a financial standpoint, the only way that resale would make sense is if you live out of state and buy annual passes consistently. If you would want to be able to go to Moonlight Magic, that could also be a consideration. The rest of the direct benefits (as they stood pre-COVID) really don't save you much money. Keep in mind that a lot of the direct benefits aren't being offered right now. All Moonlight Magic events have been cancelled and you can't buy new annual passes right now. Once things start coming back, there is no guarantee that the direct benefits will look the same post-COVID as they did pre-COVID.

I don't think it ever makes sense to buy more points than the absolute minimum directly from Disney. Direct points go for a pretty substantial markup over resale points. For example, we bought in at AKL about a year ago. We were able to get our contract at $103 per point and the direct price for AKL at the time was $186 per point. Riviera was at $195 per point at the time. It's also worth keeping in mind that Riviera has a resale restriction where anyone who buys that contract from you via resale will only be able to stay at Riviera. That may hurt your resale value if you ever have to or want to sell the contract.

I think the guide you talk to was giving you some bad advice. Look at how old you are now and how old you will be when your contract expires. Riviera's contract lasting 50 years is good, but if you're in you're 35 right now, you'll be about 84 years old when that contract expires. I think it is very hard to project what your desires will be 20-30 years down the road. By that point your kids will be grown up and you may not need as large a room as you do now and thus you will need fewer points.

I think buy where you want to stay is a great piece of advice. If you love Riviera, that's fantastic! Go ahead and buy in there. If you don't like it as much, I wouldn't recommend doing that.

 

[kboo]

There is great advice above. I will only add:

if you decide to buy 200 points at RIV to get the pricing incentive, you can and should ask them to split it into 2x100 pt contracts, or 125 + 75 points (so you can keep blue card benefits with 125 points). you will still get the 200-point incentive. Also the resale restriction will matter less with selling a smaller contract because a) they go for a premium and b) someone buying is 75-100 point RIV resale is likely planning to use it only for RIV and isn't going to care so much about the restrictions.

How old are your kids and will your family be growing? Think about how you will be vacationing with your kids 5 years from now, 10 years from now. With 3 kids, you may be ok in a studio for a while, but you may want to think about a home resort that sleeps 5 (in beds) in both a 1br and a studio so you have some flexibility. Which is pretty much Grand Floridian or Riviera, and you need home resort preference to be able to book their standard rooms, especially studios. Even so, consider how long your kids might be willing to be in a sofa+murphy before you will go to a 2BR. We own at both RIV and VGF and 200 points is a good size contract (to start with!), especially if you think you may end up going during school vacation times, which usually cost more points. (Or you could go for 125 points and bank/borrow to use 250 points every other year until you get a better sense of how your family likes to DVC)

ETA: we were already in process of adding on when I booked a VGF studio for a week over Easter break for 196 points. (edited solely to use this emoji)

 

[sethschroeder]

The discount on APs (which are currently not being sold) should not factor into the decision right now as there are no guarantees that Disney will offer that incentive to DVC to market.

Very little chance they don't bring back the AP discount or some other ticket discount. They pretty much have always had some sort of ticket discount on DVC.

Might be worth waiting to verify what the discount would be but I would do the math with the ticket discount.

If the math makes sense then make the decision on if you want to wait or not to guarantee it.

It's still in the updated disclosures even that show the 125 point requirement. Only reason you can't get it right now is Disney putting hold on new APs (people are even renewing with the discount last I looked).

 

[kboo]

Very little chance they don't bring back the AP discount or some other ticket discount. They pretty much have always had some sort of ticket discount on DVC.

Might be worth waiting to verify what the discount would be but I would do the math with the ticket discount.

If the math makes sense then make the decision on if you want to wait or not to guarantee it.

It's still in the updated disclosures even that show the 125 point requirement. Only reason you can't get it right now is Disney putting hold on new APs (people are even renewing with the discount last I looked).

When I bought and renewed APs last month, we got the DVC discount on both.

 

[Eric Smith]

When I bought and renewed APs last month, we got the DVC discount on both.

You can only renew APs right now. You can’t buy new ones.

 

[kboo]

You can only renew APs right now. You can’t buy new ones.

Um no. We canceled our old ones in August and then bought new ones. In October. They are only selling new ones over the phone to people who had APs that were affected by the park closure and who chose to cancel by a certain date. Huge snafu and many hours on the phone, but we bought 3 new ones and renewed one.

 

[Heather07438]

Going by these boards DVC works out great for most people. Guess the ones where it didn't don't hang around to talk about it. Probably the common regret posts I come across most aren't about the purchase, just the details they would've done differently like UY, resort or amount of points.

Yes resale can save alot of money on initial cost but over time the difference becomes less meaningful. On a 200point RIV direct at $175pp, you'd save $7000 buying Poly $140 resale. Sounds like alot of money... but over 50yrs that's just $140/yr. You got your membership and your pick of all the resorts, first dibs on high demand RIV rooms and dates. Not bad really. And direct or resale, dues are the same regardless. OTOH, say you were financing... then you'd also need to factor in interest on that extra $7k coming out of your pocket now. With so many variables, the right choice really depends on individual details.

Another thing often overlooked on first purchase is point charts. They are not all the same. A studio for Jan 11 can run as low as 8pts/nite for a value studio AKV, 10pts/standard 15pts/BW view at BWV, 17pts at Poly, or 21 pts GFV at 7 month window because you'll likely only find preferred studio category (if you can find a studio at all there). Depending what your plans are, this can make a huge difference on how far your points go or what you paid for them. Think about it this way-

A person loves BWV, buys resale and gets 1st dibs 10pt/nite studio during Epcot F&W, $133/nt
(100pt resale contract $120pp with 22 years left = approx $5.50pp paid per year + $7.80MF)
If they want to stay all 7 nights that week Sept 20-27 it's 78 points $1037/wk
Only 78pts used! Such a deal darling if you snag that room right at the 11 month window.
(On the same token, AKV owners can snag 7nts between Sept 1-19 for 55pts... though that's very competitive down to the second at 11 months and watch out for hurricanes, lol)

Let's run the same with RIV with direct incentive $175/200pts ($3.50pp/yr + $8.40MF)
Sept 20: small tower room 12pt $142/nt, or standard studio 16pt $190/nt
Sept 20-27: small tower room 88pt $1047/wk or standard studio 116pt $1380/wk

Say you were considering either of those purchases and knew you'd soon enough be trying to trade in to the Poly at 7 months (since Poly is all studios this is actually possible most of the time, and they sleep 5).
Sept 20: std studio 17pt- BWV pts $226, RIV pts $202;
-----------lake view 21pt- BWV pts $280, RIV pts $250
Sept 20-27: std studio 125pt- BWV pts $1662, RIV pts $1487;
-----------lake view 153pt- BWV pts $2035, RIV pts $1820
so you're saving $215/week of your money here on this last example if using RIV direct points.

WDW loves making everything impossible to compare apples to apples. Breaking down the numbers depends on personal choices and not knowing our future preferences makes it that much harder. Just some food for thought.

Generally costs run near the same ballpark after figuring in contract length and dues, but if you know exactly what rooms you're most likely to prefer then you can run these kind of numbers to see what gives you the best advantage. A person who loves 1BRs and doesn't care about staying RIV can simply buy SSR resale for the savings and not worry much because 1BRs across most resorts have decent availability at 7 months. Different strokes as Sandy likes to say Some people actually prefer a 22yr contract over 50.

We were ready to buy our first reasale this year but have decided to wait another year since the pandemic. Goodluck. Do some reading, get familiar... and then don't worry too much. It's all good!

 

[Eric Smith]

Um no. We canceled our old ones in August and then bought new ones. In October. They are only selling new ones over the phone to people who had APs that were affected by the park closure and who chose to cancel by a certain date. Huge snafu and many hours on the phone, but we bought 3 new ones and renewed one.

That's really close to a renewal though. Still, someone who didn't have an AP recently can't buy one. It also sounds like they didn't make it easy for you to do so.