Good reason to buy direct?

[Lorilais_mommie]

Everyone on the DIS boards seems to think resale is better then buying direct..
Altho DH and I have gone through everything with a fine tooth comb, we are still stuck on buying direct or resale?
So maybe you guys can help..

Back info if needed:
My DH and I have been looking at DVC for three years. DH and I are in agreement that it's a good thing for our family and can make good use of it. (Once a year at least)
We are on the middle of selling a piece of property we own, and will be using some of the extra money from the sale to pay for DVC.. No financing



Here are our reasons for buying direct:
Pros:
-We LOVE the VGF! Other DVC resorts have never been such a draw to us.. In fact 3 years ago when look at the AKV I said to DH " I wish it was the GF instead."
-We want the full 50 years, we are young and with any luck would be able to use all 50 years..
- we want the paper work done FAST! Selling our current property has taken 6+ months and has taken an emotional toll on both of us..
- we want an oct Year use.. We hate to travel in June,July, Aug, and w/ kids in school sept. Is out of the question. We haven't seen many of those in the Resales.
- DVC is offering last year points..
- we can use our CC and get bonus points to use for air flights ect ect.
-we like to cruise (not has much as going to Disney) , and altho we probably never use our points for cruises(most the time NEVER a good deal)
We know is VERY RARE but I've noticed 1-2 good deals offered in recent years (transatlantic 2014 was one that we noticed. As well as the Alaska repo cruise)
This is not a deal breaker. If we really wanted a cruise, we would most likely bank our points and use them the next year.. Or rent them out.

Cons: it costs more money..


Reasons for buying resale

- saves A LOT of money.. No one has money to just throw around..

Cons:
-Would not buy at Resort we like.. We would buy in at SSR or AK (both of which are our LEAST fav.)
- would not get the full 50 years.
- takes more time..
- May not get an OCT. UY..
- May not get any banked points
- can't use CC
- would not be able to use points for anything else then DVC properties.. (But this is not a deal breaker)

 

[Lorilais_mommie]

Has anyone bought direct and not regretted it?

 

[chalee94]

Reasons for buying resale

Cons:
- would not be able to use points for anything else then DVC properties.. (But this is not a deal breaker)

minor issue but you can still trade DVC resale pts through RCI or buena vista trading co. for other timeshares. no disney hotels and no disney cruises, but don't go so far as to say no trading out at all.

you know, if you've got the money and really, really want VGF right now, it doesn't matter if it doesn't make sense to most of the DIS boards. (i just wouldn't try to justify it financially, as you are paying a lot extra to get exactly what you want.)

 

[chateau]

Buy VGF, that's where you want to stay. You can always add on resale later.

We bought a smaller VGF, because we like it at the Grand Floridian. We also like it at other resorts, so own a mix of resale/direct other villas too. Even a small point contract permits member cruise bookings (you can pay cash and save).

I'm not sure of the buy in point minimum at VGF, if you are already not DVC owners. We had a friend who bought a small contract resale in order to be a member, then added on direct at VGF with a very small contract. They then sold the first resale. They only wanted to do a once-every-three-year stay at VGF, it being such a point heavy resort.

Everyone who bought into "Disney Vacation Club" villas, which became OKW, had to buy direct. Seems to me, once you look at it long term, if they used that contract, they did pretty good price wise. Your 50 year investment will likely do the same, if you use it wisely (buy the right amount of points for your family's use).

Besides, seems to me you are long overdue to create a new countdown clock!! Good luck!

 

[disneynutz]

Everyone on the DIS boards seems to think resale is better then buying direct..
Altho DH and I have gone through everything with a fine tooth comb, we are still stuck on buying direct or resale?
So maybe you guys can help..

Back info if needed:
My DH and I have been looking at DVC for three years. DH and I are in agreement that it's a good thing for our family and can make good use of it. (Once a year at least)
We are on the middle of selling a piece of property we own, and will be using some of the extra money from the sale to pay for DVC.. No financing



Here are our reasons for buying direct:
Pros:
-We LOVE the VGF! Other DVC resorts have never been such a draw to us.. In fact 3 years ago when look at the AKV I said to DH " I wish it was the GF instead."
-We want the full 50 years, we are young and with any luck would be able to use all 50 years..
- we want the paper work done FAST! Selling our current property has taken 6+ months and has taken an emotional toll on both of us..
- we want an oct Year use.. We hate to travel in June,July, Aug, and w/ kids in school sept. Is out of the question. We haven't seen many of those in the Resales.
- DVC is offering last year points..
- we can use our CC and get bonus points to use for air flights ect ect.
-we like to cruise (not has much as going to Disney) , and altho we probably never use our points for cruises(most the time NEVER a good deal)
We know is VERY RARE but I've noticed 1-2 good deals offered in recent years (transatlantic 2014 was one that we noticed. As well as the Alaska repo cruise)
This is not a deal breaker. If we really wanted a cruise, we would most likely bank our points and use them the next year.. Or rent them out.

Cons: it costs more money..


Reasons for buying resale

- saves A LOT of money.. No one has money to just throw around..

Cons:
-Would not buy at Resort we like.. We would buy in at SSR or AK (both of which are our LEAST fav.)
- would not get the full 50 years.
- takes more time..
- May not get an OCT. UY..
- May not get any banked points
- can't use CC
- would not be able to use points for anything else then DVC properties.. (But this is not a deal breaker)

Here's my suggestions based on owning 6 resorts, 24 contracts, and averaging 20 WDW days per year.

Make sure that VGF is where you want/need to call home. If it is and you don't want to wait, buy direct, it's your money. You can use a CC card and you can make your first reservation the day after putting down your deposit.

Most owners will not keep their contracts full term, life changes and after several years the novelty of Disney will fade.

Disney created most of the resale delays, not a nice thing to do but it drives people to pay a higher price direct and DVD is about making Disney money.

DVD isn't giving you last years points, you are buying last years points, it's a sales tactic.

Disney created the use restrictions to drive direct sales, again not a nice thing to do.

You can buy any resort direct or resale and Oct UY's are hard to find resale but they are there, we have an Oct UY.

Bill

 

[Nabas]

Everyone on the DIS boards seems to think resale is better then buying direct..

Buying resale is less expensive, not better.

Besides that, buying direct is better.

(The other exception is availability, if Disney doesn't have the resort and UY that you want.)

 

[bumbershoot]

Has anyone bought direct and not regretted it?

We bought direct AND financed, and haven't regretted it. What we've gotten out of our membership so far has been AMAZING, and we wouldn't have been able to do what we've done if we hadn't bought when we bought, and the ONLY way to do that at the time was to finance while buying directly from Disney.



I think the first rule of DVC is to "buy where you want to stay". You have an answer to that.

 

[bwvBound]

Has anyone bought direct and not regretted it?

LOL -- you are reaching/stretching here, aren't you?

But, for fun, and because you asked:

We went through these same pains 10 years ago. We had been noodling a DVC purchase for six years, had done our "study" of the overall DVC ownership considerations and were aware of the resale market. We had knowingly chosen our target resort (BWV), use year (DEC) and # of points (200). Multiple resale purchase attempts fell through -- so ultimately we went direct. Direct pushed us to a different property (SSR), different use year (OCT) and fewer number of points (150) but we were gaining a property with the full 50 years and lower dues.

FWIW, 10 years later ... I don't regret having bought direct. I also don't regret the last-minute change in resort or UY. We solved the "too few points" problem with later add-ons when we could. Both of the add-ons were also direct. The last add-on was signed, on a whim, on a Sunday afternoon on the very last day of our UY (9/30/2007) -- and the points were in our account by the time we got home that evening!!! Talk about "quick" and "easy"!

So, no -- I don't regret any of the three direct purchases (original + two add-ons). Of course -- the direct prices were both lower then and, more importantly, running only slightly above resale rates. By the time I factored "incentives" (discounts, free APs, loaded contract, etc) and the value of my personal time -- I figured it was a wash between direct and resale pricing.

Who knows what you'll say looking back 10 years from now?
Best wishes on your evaluation!

 

[Nabas]

We went through these same pains 10 years ago.

What was your purchase price per point?

 

[bwvBound]

What was your purchase price per point?

$79/pp in early 2004.

My last add-on was officially $101 before incentives ... outlined in this post the day we made the deal: $10pp discount + "triple" points (developer + banked + current) + 2 Annual Passes (DL or WDW; no expiration on activation) + various schwag.

 

[chalee94]

What was your purchase price per point?

post #5 here will give you a good idea:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2823949

 

[AnnaS]

If you want VGF - buy direct. Many new members are buying here and many current DVC members are adding on here direct and right now this is the only choice.

We also bought direct almost 13 1/2 yrs. ago and have no regrets!!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

My take is that you are simply torn over the economics and trying to convince yourself that direct is ok. Your con to direct and pro to resale are all about the $$$ difference. At the core DVC is best for DVC stays and direct and resale both provide that. All of the rest could be eliminated at any time for both direct and resale - it's not guaranteed - and also not necessarily as easy to use as a guide may make it sound.

If DVC does really make sense for your family (will you be booking at 11 months out? If not during the home resort priority then where you own doesn't matter) then you need to decide if the savings makes enough of a difference over the possibilities that you could be staying at resorts that are not your favorites and dealing with 7 month booking windows.

The majority of your cons to resale are easily solved by searching for the proper contract. Reality is that you can also buy a resale contract with banked points and get even more than you can direct. Oct UY? - just wait for one. Using your CC for bonus points? - still won't make up for the price difference. Full 50 years? A lot can change in 50 years and it's impossible to say what Disney will even be like then or if your children will even have an interest in it. 40+ years is still a very long time. Can't book outside of DVC? - as was mentioned that isn't correct. The big thing people get hung up on is that you can't book the Disney collection but you generally would come out ahead by renting your points and paying cash anyway.

However I think you should probably own someplace that you don't mind staying if you can't book somewhere else since you seem to so dislike what you are looking at for resale. Have you stayed at all these resorts to really know how you feel about them?

Or - another consideration may be just to invest the money and rent points when and where you need them.

 

[Nabas]

$79/pp in early 2004.

My last add-on was officially $101 before incentives ... outlined in this post the day we made the deal: $10pp discount + "triple" points (developer + banked + current) + 2 Annual Passes (DL or WDW; no expiration on activation) + various schwag.

Thanks. $79/pt works out to be about a 5% increase annually compared to current direct prices of $130/pt. I was curious how much it had increased over the last 10 years.

 

[CMOORE185]

If GF is where you want to stay the majority of the time, too me it is a no brainer, buy GFV's.

If GFV's were available when I was buying, that is where I would buy.

 

[Nabas]

post #5 here will give you a good idea:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2823949

Thanks for that.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

W bought direct in 2005 at BWV and then added on direct in 2007. In both cases, the price was "reasonable" and much quicker.

We bought BWV because we wanted to have the 11 month window to book standard view or Boardwalk view. With only minor exceptions, when travelling to WDW, we stay at BWV in those views every trip. Exceptions were 2 nights at AKV club, cash reservations made 1-2 months before travelling in Oct and Dec and BW pool view to combine with 7 night trade through RCI.

Last year, we bought resale at GCV last summer because the price was "reasonable" and much quicker. I actually went on the waitlist for GCV points a year ago and -- as far as I know -- we are still on it!

We haven't regretted either purchase. -- Suzanne

 

[ldo]

I would buy enough VGF direct for every other year with Oct UY. Since you get last year's points, you have enough to book your 1st trip without borrowing points. When you have your points, during the year, look at availability for times you might want to go. If you can usually get it at 6-7 months, then no need to buy more VGF.
Also, tastes change. We bought VWL thinking that VWL was "it" and that we would want to go at Christmas and "needed" that 11 mth booking window. We went 1 Christmas and it was great, but then after staying at some other DVCs, our kids really liked the pools at other DVCs. Now we rarely go at Christmas and I really wish we had AKV. We even thought about selling and rebuying. If you buy direct, make sure to split your points into 2 contracts, so that you can resale 1 contract if you plans change over the years and you don't want to go to DVC every year.

 

[Nabas]

Cons: it costs more money..

Cutting to the chase, you have to ask yourself: Can I afford it?

If there's any hesitation, don't buy. Period.

It's a timeshare.

At Disney's direct prices, you are going to lose thousands of dollars up front. Can you afford to throw away thousands on a vacation?

If you love VGF so much, then consider sticking with renting DVC points.

Renting is not as sexy as buying but, at Disney's direct prices, it's probably going to take you at least 10 years to break even.

Realistically, are you going to be visiting WDW 10 years from now and, more importantly, are there other things you should be using that money for during those 10 years?

I watch transactions on the Orange County Comptroller regularly. Every month, there are scores of DVC timeshares being foreclosed on.

Do you really want to be one of them?

 

[McCrae]

Has anyone bought direct and not regretted it?

We bought BLT direct at $99 and have no regrets. Whilst buying resale generally tends to be cheaper it's not necessarily always the case or if their is a difference it can be marginal.

People who bought BLT and VGC at the start direct didn't lose out by not buying resale.

Perhaps it will be the same with VGF?