Help Me Understand Buying Resale vs. Buying From Disney

[sjaz22]

We currently own 200 points at BLT which we bought from Disney. We are considering buying more points, but need to understand the best way to do it. So I have the following questions:

1.) I realize an advantage of buying resale is that they are much cheaper. Are there any other advantages?
2.) what are the advantages (if there are any) from buying direct from Disney again?
3.) Disadvantages to consider?
4.) I think we would be interested in buying points at either BCV or VGF. Should we match up the new points we buy to have the same UY date as our existing points? Or does it not matter? We normally vacation in summer and our current UY starts June 1st.
5.) how do you take advantage of having points at two different resorts? At the 7th month window, can you combine them and use all the points at the same resort?

Thank you in advance for your help!

 

[chalee94]

1.) I realize an advantage of buying resale is that they are much cheaper. Are there any other advantages?

cheaper is the big thing.

you are also prohibited from wasting pts for high priced trades...so that can be a positive depending on how you look at it...

2.) what are the advantages (if there are any) from buying direct from Disney again?

the big advantage is speed. you can call and book almost immediately - with resale you might have to wait 5-8 weeks.

also, if you have a tough request for your first booking, the DVC salesperson may be able to access some of the inventory that DVC owns to help you book that first stay (which might show up as unavailable otherwise).

it is true that direct purchasers are the only ones who can trade out their DVC pts for the disney collection (disney cruises and wdw hotels like POFQ) and the concierge collection (way overpriced fancy hotels like the hotel del coronado in san diego) but like i said above, the trading costs are ridiculous and not really a benefit. so mostly it gives the disney salespeople a chance to show you pretty glossy pictures and encourage you to pay a bunch of extra money to buy direct...

no compelling advantages, though, IMO. both direct and resale purchasers can trade out through RCI for other timeshares.

the big disadvantage, obviously, is higher cost upfront for no real value.

4.) I think we would be interested in buying points at either BCV or VGF. Should we match up the new points we buy to have the same UY date as our existing points? Or does it not matter? We normally vacation in summer and our current UY starts June 1st.

it's easier if you have the same UY and the deeds are titled the same. it allows the contracts to work together more seamlessly (although you still cannot use different resorts' pts together until 7 months out, no matter what you do.)

5.) how do you take advantage of having points at two different resorts? At the 7th month window, can you combine them and use all the points at the same resort?

at the 7 month window, yes. never the 11 month window.

if i have a contract at BCV and a contract at VGF, i can also choose to go to BCV in year one with current and borrowed pts from my BCV contract and book at 11 months out...and then in year two, go to VGF with current and banked pts from my VGF contract and book at 11 months out there. in other words, use the contracts separately for each resort.

 

[disBOBney]

In addition to what Charles said, a big advantage of buying direct has been getting what I want when I wanted it. Going resale you may have to wait for just the right contract to come along and then you have to hope it passes ROFR. I have bought three contracts thru Disney, the first because I was just learning about DVC, the second because I wanted BCV and the right contract was never coming along, the third at OKW because all direct OKW are 2057 pts and again the size contract I wanted and use year weren't being advertised.

Another thing to consider, is that Disney contracts are not stripped, as many resales are.
but I admit the price per point was considerably more, however If you consider the cost of stripped contracts (i.e. your paying dues on full years worth of points even if you don't have use of them) and difference in closing costs, the financials aren't really as different as they may at first appear. The peace of mind was worth it for me to buy direct.

 

[sndral]

Of the two resorts you are interested in I would buy BCV resale but VGF direct. I have not seen many VGF resales on the market and the ones I've seen where overpriced and stripped. BCV resales are available via resale and seem to offer a significant savings over direct at present, plus you may have to be on a waiting list w/ Disney to buy BCV points direct, thus you have to wait to buy from Disney to buy sold out resorts like BCV so you may not even save time v. buying on the resale market.

 

[sjaz22]

Thanks for the info. We are leaning towards buying resale at BCV because we like the idea of owning in the MK area with our BLT contract and the Epcot/HS area with a BCV contract. One last question though. Should we give consideration to the fact that a BCV contract will end in 2041, but a VGF contract won't end until 2060 or later?

 

[BL2014]

Thanks for the info. We are leaning towards buying resale at BCV because we like the idea of owning in the MK area with our BLT contract and the Epcot/HS area with a BCV contract. One last question though. Should we give consideration to the fact that a BCV contract will end in 2041, but a VGF contract won't end until 2060 or later?

i say YES, I have two at BLT for the many tears to come!

 

[JimMIA]

1.) I realize an advantage of buying resale is that they are much cheaper. Are there any other advantages?

You are purchasing the same points at a discount of 20%-50%, depending on resort. That's a huge advantage to me.

2.) what are the advantages (if there are any) from buying direct from Disney again?

None, IMHO.

The quickness and ease of the transaction, IMHO, is an absolutely dumb reason to pay a huge premium. The same is true for the idea that your timeshare salesman may make ONE reservation for you in a 50-year ownership. To me, both of those "advantages" are just excuses for taking the easy path. I almost (but not really) feel sorry for anyone who actually purchases direct for those reasons.

Another KEY thing to understand about the purported "advantages" of buying direct is that they are NOT guaranteed -- even to direct purchasers. They are perks which can be changed or eliminated at any time with little or no notice.

3.) Disadvantages to consider?

Disadvantage for direct purchase? Paying 20% to 50% too much for a timeshare which is already very expensive to buy and own.

4.) I think we would be interested in buying points at either BCV or VGF. Should we match up the new points we buy to have the same UY date as our existing points?

Yes. It matters greatly. Different UYs = different accounts, necessitating transfers between accounts -- something currently limited to one either way per year, and which could be eliminated at any time.

5.) how do you take advantage of having points at two different resorts? At the 7th month window, can you combine them and use all the points at the same resort?

The advantage is having home-resort booking advantage, and possibly lower annual MFs for some of your points.

The ability to combine points at 7 months (which you can do easily if everything has the same UY and is in the same account) is not an advantage to me. To me, it's making the best of the negative of not having all points at the resort where you want to stay.

 

[chalee94]

Thanks for the info. We are leaning towards buying resale at BCV because we like the idea of owning in the MK area with our BLT contract and the Epcot/HS area with a BCV contract. One last question though. Should we give consideration to the fact that a BCV contract will end in 2041, but a VGF contract won't end until 2060 or later?

depends on your age and how badly you prefer to stay at BCV.

if you are younger, the extra years may add value down the road.

if you own a longer term contract, it may hold its value better for when you decide to sell. some people like the idea that their contract will expire around a certain date (retirement or whatever) so they can guarantee that the maintenance fees will end at a certain date.

keep in mind that many people only own for 8-15 years and the expiration dates of the resorts are rarely a real factor...but your case may be different.