For those of you who bought direct...

[KSR0330]

...do you have any regrets?

I know there are many reasons people buy direct. A couple of my reasons for considering it are:
*if the points that I want are available, I'll have them quickly
*the buying process just seems so much easier!
*I want the AP discount (even though it's not guaranteed... or even available now)
*I want the blue card and for the purple light to glow when I check into a park (I know... but I can't help it!)

So I'm wondering, no matter what your reasons for buying direct were, do you regret it and wish you got that contract resale?

 

[TCRAIG]

I’ve bought both resale and direct...I started with resale but tend to buy direct now due to the restrictions (our daughter is on the contracts so we want to be sure she gets all the blue card privileges) and I’m normally looking for odd/small points - like 53 or 87...

 

[Sunnyore]

I bought my first DVC contract which is resale in October. It closed fairly smoothly which still took about 60 days from bidding to points in account. Then I almost immediately bought some direct points because I didn't like how I was restricted somewhat and can't stay at Riviera and possibly future resorts being built. I bought a small contract (75pt) which won't get me the blue card or AP discounts, but if I bank/borrow I should be able to have a nice unrestricted stay every 2 years. And because I did it backwards, I was allow to buy a small contract direct since it's technically an add-on, and it was easy to get my same use year as my resale contract. So no regrets for me buying direct but my reasons are different than yours. Your magic band should scan purple whether you're resale/direct. Sounds like if you will buy AP passes annually, then then price difference may be worth it. I live in LA so the premier pass makes more sense for me. The biggest benefit of buying resale is saving tons of money. My only regret was not looking into buying DVC like 2 years ago when the blue card requirement was just 75 points and just get grandfathered in. I am interested in the Disneyland Towers though so there's still a chance for me to get that blue card may be some day!

 

[cm8]

...do you have any regrets?

I know there are many reasons people buy direct. A couple of my reasons for considering it are:
*if the points that I want are available, I'll have them quickly
*the buying process just seems so much easier!
*I want the AP discount (even though it's not guaranteed... or even available now)
*I want the blue card and for the purple light to glow when I check into a park (I know... but I can't help it!)

So I'm wondering, no matter what your reasons for buying direct were, do you regret it and wish you got that contract resale?

I’ve done both. I don’t regret either. I actually bought resale to buy direct! DVC would not sell me BLT for some reason and kept pushing AK and AUlani... We wanted neither... Paid cash for 200 BLT points( Ha ha DvC) and then that made me eligible to purchase VGF! We were really after VGF and wanted dibs on a fixed week. DVC wouldn’t sell us what we wanted so I bought that resale and it made us eligible to buy VGF before they opened it up to non members.

We were going to add another week this year but 2020 /2020ed LOL

The reasons you list should never be used to buy direct. The bottom line is all you’re entitled to is a room at the resort you paid for. All those other things can go away and you would be left with just a room?? Also, the light doesn’t always turn purple ( ask my DH, he’s still salty) Blue card perks aren’t sometimes worth the ink used to print it! The only good thing about direct honestly is how fast they load your points and take your dues .

If you can save a few bucks now, go with resale. Then you can always add on later for those so called perks!

Whatever you decide, make it worth it. There’s still a year of unknown ahead of us and you don’t want yourself or family overextended behind some turnstile light that may or may not recognize you as a member.

 

[KSR0330]

I’ve bought both resale and direct...I started with resale but tend to buy direct now due to the restrictions (our daughter is on the contracts so we want to be sure she gets all the blue card privileges) and I’m normally looking for odd/small points - like 53 or 87...

That makes a lot of sense to get the exact small contract add on points direct. You're daughter is very lucky!

I bought my first DVC contract which is resale in October. It closed fairly smoothly which still took about 60 days from bidding to points in account. Then I almost immediately bought some direct points because I didn't like how I was restricted somewhat and can't stay at Riviera and possibly future resorts being built. I bought a small contract (75pt) which won't get me the blue card or AP discounts, but if I bank/borrow I should be able to have a nice unrestricted stay every 2 years. And because I did it backwards, I was allow to buy a small contract direct since it's technically an add-on, and it was easy to get my same use year as my resale contract. So no regrets for me buying direct but my reasons are different than yours. Your magic band should scan purple whether you're resale/direct. Sounds like if you will buy AP passes annually, then then price difference may be worth it. I live in LA so the premier pass makes more sense for me. The biggest benefit of buying resale is saving tons of money. My only regret was not looking into buying DVC like 2 years ago when the blue card requirement was just 75 points and just get grandfathered in. I am interested in the Disneyland Towers though so there's still a chance for me to get that blue card may be some day!

Disneyland Towers will be a great reason to buy direct! Thanks for your input. I also wish I had gotten in earlier at the lower point minimum!

 

[RoseGold]

Im resale and got the purple light.

 

[skeeter31]

No regrets here. And the DVC discount for APs is still active right now we renewed our passes a couple months ago and took advantage of the discounted rate for our platinum passes.

 

[DVCsloth]

I tend to favor buying direct right now. I don't want restricted points and I enjoy the Moonlight Magic events, even though I missed 2 of them last year. Buying direct, I get my points right away, get current years points included,use a credit card and split into 3 seperate payments, no restrictions. I add small contracts so I don't see much savings buying resale. My first 2 contracts were resale with only the Concierge and cruise restrictions which I was not interested in. I am a Florida resident so we usually buy Silver passes but you dont need the Blue card only Florida resident. Also the dining and shopping dicounts are nice.

 

[DebLovesPooh]

I bought direct mostly because I saved to be able to pay in cash, and ended up buying 25-50 point contracts as I could afford them. Before my first contract, I figured I could wait and look and look for a 50- point contract and hope it went through or just call my DVC guide and have the points in three days. I bought direct in October for my Dec use year and got current year points too. Stayed Jambo value until I could afford to add-on a little (25 points) with cash. Rinse and Repeat for more 25/35 point contracts. Across all of my little contracts, I figure I've paid about 10k more than if I had paid resale for one contract, that burns a little. But, I've never regretted it. I paid for them with my disney chase and then paid off the cards with cash during the zero percent financing period. If I decide to sell, they will go for a slight premium and until then, I don't have to worry about restrictions. I have a dangerous, high stress job and the ease with which I purchased and can use my points has been priceless for me.

Good luck!

Deb

 

[KSR0330]

I tend to favor buying direct right now. I don't want restricted points and I enjoy the Moonlight Magic events, even though I missed 2 of them last year. Buying direct, I get my points right away, get current years points included,use a credit card and split into 3 seperate payments, no restrictions. I add small contracts so I don't see much savings buying resale. My first 2 contracts were resale with only the Concierge and cruise restrictions which I was not interested in. I am a Florida resident so we usually buy Silver passes but you dont need the Blue card only Florida resident. Also the dining and shopping dicounts are nice.

I almost forgot about the Moonlight Magic events! I have watched Pete's videos on them and they look great! Another reason to lean towards direct!

I bought direct mostly because I saved to be able to pay in cash, and ended up buying 25-50 point contracts as I could afford them. Before my first contract, I figured I could wait and look and look for a 50- point contract and hope it went through or just call my DVC guide and have the points in three days. I bought direct in October for my Dec use year and got current year points too. Stayed Jambo value until I could afford to add-on a little (25 points) with cash. Rinse and Repeat for more 25/35 point contracts. Across all of my little contracts, I figure I've paid about 10k more than if I had paid resale for one contract, that burns a little. But, I've never regretted it. I paid for them with my disney chase and then paid off the cards with cash during the zero percent financing period. If I decide to sell, they will go for a slight premium and until then, I don't have to worry about restrictions. I have a dangerous, high stress job and the ease with which I purchased and can use my points has been priceless for me.

I agree, Deb. I have a high stress job and sometimes you just want easy. Thanks and take care!

 

[Spark65]

My wife has the DVC linked to her so she gets the purple light not me but I could care less. If your on the fence about buying direct vs resale try to list reasons why?

I have bought all my points direct it's easy and no hassle just the way I like it. If it's the cost savings between the two then do it. If you plan to sell in the future plenty of direct purchasers have made money on their DVC so no worry there but that could change and it would for resale owners too.

If you won't feel comfortable buying resale your probably better off not.

Team Blue Card, Poly/RIV SAP

 

[Sandisw]

I have bought both and never regretted getting direct, I just bought BLT resale and have to say, it does stink that I can’t use those points at RIV. I have plenty that can, but I realized I don’t like have restricted points as it adds an extra layer of planning when booking on my two memberships.

I will say that the purple light is hit or miss so I’d take that out of the mix, but there are good reasons to buy direct if one wants to stay at RIV and future resorts, can see the AP discount being useful when it returns for new sales.....and there is still a DVC gold pass because you can renew at that rate.

 

[KSR0330]

My wife has the DVC linked to her so she gets the purple light not me but I could care less. If your on the fence about buying direct vs resale try to list reasons why?

I have bought all my points direct it's easy and no hassle just the way I like it. If it's the cost savings between the two then do it. If you plan to sell in the future plenty of direct purchasers have made money on their DVC so no worry there but that could change and it would for resale owners too.

If you won't feel comfortable buying resale your probably better off not.

I think the main reason is that I want easy. No putting in an offer, then waiting for ROFR, then the paperwork. It seems with Disney you see if they have the resort you want and if they do, it's pretty much done. We're also planning an extended family/granddaughter's first trip for possibly Jan 2022 and would like to be all set for that. The savings with resale would be nice, but right now the ease of direct may be winning!

 

[Carol_]

We bought direct and regret nothing. CCV and then SSR after a bout of acute addonitis.
FYI, the purple light now comes with a sound effect that says, “Welcome Home” that made me jump with glee because it’s the little things.
Direct was just “pushing the easy button” for us.

 

[RanDIZ]

First off, I’m resale and I get the purple light and a nice “welcome home“ every time I enter a park. And if I didn’t, I wouldn’t spend thousands extra for it. I wouldn’t go into to it expecting any benefits to remain the way they’ve been cutting back in general. Overall, I would just do the math and see if getting the discount for AP is worth the thousands you’ll pay extra for. How many times a year you’ll use it is key. A CCV example of 150pt direct would be $32,500 almost $216/pt with the promo right now. Resale could be picked up around $145/pt plus closing around $22,500. Let’s call it $10k savings.

 

[Spark65]

I think the main reason is that I want easy. No putting in an offer, then waiting for ROFR, then the paperwork. It seems with Disney you see if they have the resort you want and if they do, it's pretty much done. We're also planning an extended family/granddaughter's first trip for possibly Jan 2022 and would like to be all set for that. The savings with resale would be nice, but right now the ease of direct may be winning!

Sounds like you've justified your reason for buying direct just like me. Get your foot in the door with direct then add on points later through direct or resale as you'll have time to jump through hoops for resale if you want too in the future

 

[EYL]

We first bought 200pts PVB resale, knowing that we would like more points. We could've bought more resale, but we decided to purchase PVB 75 points direct for a purely psychological reason - FOMO. This was 4 days before they increased Blue Card qualification to 100pts in Sept. 2019. That said, wifey and I weighed how much our FOMO was worth, did our calculations on the cost difference between direct and resale, how much we can "recoup" through the life of the contract, and decided to go for it. Blue Card qualifications start at 125 points now and I'm not so sure that our calculations would justify it now.

This one is all up to you, but we have no regrets. Why? Because when we bought the 75 points direct, even I thought it was crazy to satisfy some FOMO. After it increased to 100 points, we justified it a bit. Now, at 125 points, we just thank ourselves for buying direct before the last 2 increases...

 

[sanibel93]

Bought my first contract in 2010 resale, after that I have bought direct 5 times because I could not find the small contract(25 50 points) and use year I wanted. I always bought a month or two before my use year and got the previous years points which I banked right away.

 

[HappyThoughtsTees]

We live in CA and really only visit Disneyland, so we bought resale VGC in August this year. Added on direct shortly after that for the benefits before the increase to 125. They were able to match our use year, and we got current years points. We knew we didn't want the bulk of our points to be direct, just due to the price difference, and the minimum buy in for benefits just keeps going up. In the end, points are points and you'll probably be happy no matter what! Good luck!

 

[Roxas_XIII]

I bought my first (small) contract recently, and I, too, was on the fence about going direct vs. resale.

After looking into the process, the direct route was extremely attractive to me due to the speed, the ease, the peace of mind, and the Chase card option/repayment window.

I ultimately went resale because I felt it was the "smart" option, given I'm not planning a trip in the immediate future, I don't desperately want any of the direct benefits (they'd be nice, but I probably wouldn't make use of them), and the savings are, of course, significant. And though Riveria looks beautiful, I strongly prefer the original dvc resorts and don't mind missing out on the new.

All that said, if I were to go back in time (or look ahead to when I inevitably add on), I'm not 100% sure I would go resale again. The process has been totally fine, and the company I'm working with has been very nice and responsive. But I made my offer end of September, and my contract hasn't closed yet. I know this is a normal timetable, and I'm not worried or anything... but it's very hard to wait! Also, even though I know everything is going smoothly, it's still kind of a bummer sending such a large amount of money away without seeing any movement for several weeks.

So... I suppose I'm not really sure if I'm on Team Resale or Team Direct yet. :S