Help! Should I buy through Disney or Resale?

[robinbutterfly]

We are so confused!!! We had the cheesiest DVC salesperson at the open house and it was quite a turnoff! However, we know we want to buy we just don't know if it is better to buy resale or through Disney. Obviously, we could get more points if we did resale since they are cheaper, but is that the wisest decision??
Please help and break this all down for me!

 

[disneynutz]

Step one is to determine if you should buy from anyone. Do you know what you are buying, how long will you keep your contract, do you know for sure which resort you love the most?

If you figure out step one then step two is who do you buy from. Disney has made it clear that they want to punish the resale market and the members who buy there. Disney has also made it clear that they will change policies and rules as they see fit, it doesn't matter if it hurts the owners, Disney is not your friend, they are a business.

If you only intend to use your points at DVC resorts, then I would buy resale. If you want to use your points outside of the DVC resorts, then pay more and buy direct with the understanding that your access to the outside locations is not guaranteed.

Bill

 

[lovin'fl]

Resale will save you a ton of money (or for the same amount of $$, you can buy more points). We have now bought 2 contracts through resale and had no problems doing so (all went very smoothly and I'd recommend either of the 2 companies we used). To us, resale is the way to go.

But, nevertheless, here are the reasons one might by directly through DVC:

1- to get points immediately (resale takes 6-8 weeks)
2- easier to finance or use credit card (resale requires a cashier's check)
3- you can use with the Disney Collection (resales can no longer use their points to stay at regular resorts like the Poly or to book cruises).
4- can pick exact contract (use year and # of points. resale, you may be hunting for just the right contract).
5- you'd get a fully loaded contract (with all 2012 points...maybe even still 2011 points too...you have to hunt a bit to find a loaded resale contract).

So, if you know what home resort you want and what use year and you can find a resale that isn't stripped of points (is loaded) and you don't need to finance and can wait 2 months...I say go for the resale.

 

[JimMIA]

I agree with Bill, with a couple of minor exceptions.

Step one is to determine if you should buy from ANYONE. (Emphasis added)

THIS -- to me, is the most important question anyone could ask.

Unfortunately, it's a question most of us just skip over without really considering NOT buying seriously. That's a big mistake. I'd advise any prospective buyer to really think seriously about taking on a 30-50 year financial committment with the same diligence you used in taking on a 30 year committment for your home mortgage. Consider ALL options for vacation travel, not just what some timeshare salesman dangles in front of you.

Do you know what you are buying, how long will you keep your contract, do you know for sure which resort you love the most?

And IF you get to the home-resort selection part of the process...can you reliably book vacations 9-11 months in advance? And does it REALLY matter that much to you which DVC resort you visit? If the answer to either of those questions is "Not so much," then I'd pick a WDW home resort based on lowest overall cost because you won't be using the home resort booking advantage.

Disney has made it clear that they want to punish the resale market and the members who buy there.

Naw. They are just getting in step with the rest of the timeshare industry and trying to differentiate their product so they can charge a much higher price. It won't work any better for Disney than it has for others.

Disney has also made it clear that they will change policies and rules as they see fit, it doesn't matter if it hurts the owners, Disney is not your friend, they are a business.

True, but it's not as malicious as it sounds. They have a fiduciary obligation to their stockholders to maximize profits.

If you only intend to use your points at DVC resorts, then I would buy resale. If you want to use your points outside of the DVC resorts, then pay more and buy direct with the understanding that your access to the outside locations is not guaranteed.

Buy resale.

If you want to use your DVC points outside the DVC resorts, don't buy DVC at all. There are much better options for non-WDW lodging for a tiny fraction of the cost of DVC.

 

[ajseagles3]

The one thing that people need to understand is that Disney cannot and will not change the restrictions on resale interests AFTER THE SALE. There are legal and public relations implications that are highly prohibitive. And, frankly, they can only devalue resale so much before it starts devaluing the original interest as well.

For me, the choice was simple... there was a $50/pt difference in the add-on price from DVC to the ownership interest I purchased.

 

[luckyman_apd]

The one thing that people need to understand is that Disney cannot and will not change the restrictions on resale interests AFTER THE SALE. There are legal and public relations implications that are highly prohibitive. And, frankly, they can only devalue resale so much before it starts devaluing the original interest as well.

Yes, and no. They cannot make changes to resale AFTER the sale, unless they make changes to everyone. Right now if you buy resale, you can use the WDW DVC resorts and the RCI exchange. As Jim has pointed out, if you PLAN to use points for anything other than DVC resorts, you shouldn't buy. I can understand if down the road, people want a change and the membership has paid for itself already, then maybe using the points for something else could work for you. But don't buy direct because you PLAN to use those points for other things. It's a B.S. sales pitch, as the money you are spending on points and the points requirements are more than if you just did those things with cash from the beginning. And Disney reserves the right to take these benefits away from everyone in the future. The only thing you are guaranteed is the points to use at your home resort. (however likely or unlikely this may be.)

To me, the restrictions Disney put on the resale market are not a deterrent for me to buy resale. My wife and I LOVE to visit WDW. We have always felt the need to "cram" everything in each trip, and the trips ended up NOT being a vacation. With the way our kids have enjoyed it, and the love we have for it, DVC works for us. We bought enough points to travel 2 times every 3 years. Each trip we are planning, we are already NOT planning to "cram." We are planning vacations, with park times and down times. We know we will be back in 18 months to do the other things we enjoy. If we try to do everything every trip, we will be burnt out.

As for buying direct vs. resale.....we bought resale because we saved $45 per point. Big diffence in cost. There are some that bought direct a few years ago for the same price we paid resale. Either resales have come down in price, or direct has increased over the last year or 2, but to me it's just too much of a price difference to buy direct. Especially since we plan to only use the points for DVC resorts.

We are in the process of buying BLT resale. When we were looking last year from Disney, the Sales rep told me (between SSR and BLT) that I should not buy BLT because the dues were cheaper as I would never make up the higher buy in price over the life of the contract. Doing the math he was right. But on the resale market (and the fact that my wife was insistent on buying BLT) we still probably won't make up the difference, but the difference in price is Half the difference it would have been buying direct. Just because resale is cheaper, I wouldn't necessarily buy more points. Buy the points you think you will use for your needs, because you will still pay Dues on those points every year. If you buy more points because they are cheaper up front, you will pay more in dues over the 30-48 years you own it. We didn't buy direct because we wanted BLT but couldn't afford it direct. I was OK buying SSR direct, but my wife did not want SSR as a home resort. SOooo resale we got BLT points for less than SSR direct price. To me it was completely worth it. It is just taking me longer to close the contract than if I bought from Disney. I'm going to own it for the next 48 years......waiting another month or so to close is a small price to pay for the huge savings up front.

 

[ajseagles3]

That's exactly what we just did. We were going to rent points from someone to try out BLT but didn't want to miss out on the lounge. We could have waited until 7 months out but didn't want to risk availability of a theme park view room. So, we did the only logical thing and bought a new interest on the resale market.


In all seriousness, we considered adding on ~100 points through DVC as an alternative and a quicker way to book, but the prices have gone up so much to buy direct that we simply couldn't. So, we put in a low bid on a contract that met our needs, and it was accepted without counter and also passed ROFR. Our "patience" in not pulling the trigger on the direct buy but putting in a knee-jerk offer on a resale was rewarded, and our desired time frame was still very available after we closed.

Based on other BLT interests passing ROFR, I can't imagine we'd do much worse than breaking even if we chose to sell, and THAT provides me significant piece of mind.

 

[robinbutterfly]

That's exactly what we just did. We were going to rent points from someone to try out BLT but didn't want to miss out on the lounge. We could have waited until 7 months out but didn't want to risk availability of a theme park view room. So, we did the only logical thing and bought a new interest on the resale market.


In all seriousness, we considered adding on ~100 points through DVC as an alternative and a quicker way to book, but the prices have gone up so much to buy direct that we simply couldn't. So, we put in a low bid on a contract that met our needs, and it was accepted without counter and also passed ROFR. Our "patience" in not pulling the trigger on the direct buy but putting in a knee-jerk offer on a resale was rewarded, and our desired time frame was still very available after we closed.

Based on other BLT interests passing ROFR, I can't imagine we'd do much worse than breaking even if we chose to sell, and THAT provides me significant piece of mind.

We rented points from BLT and we were able to use the lounge!

 

[robinbutterfly]

So if we bought resale, how do we know it is legit? WHo do we mail the money too? Is there a lawyer involved? That is what makes me nervous...mailing a certified check to who knows where!

 

[ajseagles3]

We rented points from BLT and we were able to use the lounge!

It's hit and miss. I wanted to be certain, so we spent about 18 grand JUST TO MAKE SURE WE COULD GET IN THE DARN LOUNGE.

So if we bought resale, how do we know it is legit? WHo do we mail the money too? Is there a lawyer involved? That is what makes me nervous...mailing a certified check to who knows where!

All the major reselling companies work with experienced and reputable title companies. It's kind of like closing on a home. You can wire the funds if sending a certified check gives you the willies.

 

[lovin'fl]

So if we bought resale, how do we know it is legit? WHo do we mail the money too? Is there a lawyer involved? That is what makes me nervous...mailing a certified check to who knows where!

There are 3 companies that are mentioned in these boards and all are legit...we used 2 of them and they were great (Jerry with The Timeshare Store and Jaki with Garden View Realty)...the 3rd is Fidelity. We mailed our Cashiers check this last time (about 10 days ago) and I worried after...I should have done certified mail...but it got there just fine. And you don't need to be there for closing...they e-mail documents back and forth. It's really easy. Just ckeck out the contracts those 3 companies have for sale and see if anything is interesting you and shoot that company an e-mail that you are interested. Also, remember that you can offer any price you want...you do not have to pay what they are asking. You may want to check out the thread 'has anyone passed ROFR recently'. Go to the last 5-10 pages of the thread and that will tell you the prices that contracts are selling at lately.

 

[Frontside720]

Question...

If you buy direct and resale can you combine the points?
If BLT was a resort of choice, could you buy 100pts direct and 100 resale and get use of the concierge benefits lounge regardless of whenever you stay?

Thanks

 

[JimMIA]

Question...

If you buy direct and resale can you combine the points?
If BLT was a resort of choice, could you buy 100pts direct and 100 resale and get use of the concierge benefits lounge regardless of whenever you stay?

Thanks

How you purchase your points has nothing to do with whether you have access to TOWL. Neither does which resort you own.

If you are a DVC owner anywhere, staying at BLT on your points, you have access.

 

[robinbutterfly]

Which resale company do y'all recommend??

 

[disneybeachprincess]

HI ROBINBUTTERFLY...We finally took the DVC plunge & are buying resale through Garden Views Realty, Inc. / **********.

Our decision was easy...the property we chose for our home resort is sold out thru Disney & available via resale markets only.

Email them & ask to be put on the weekly email listings. They have been a joy to work with so far & the communication is excellent. Their website has great info too!

We are awaiting our waiver from Disney & hope to close in early March. Good luck! You will be in good hands!!!

 

[Jennifer_Anne12]

I bought directly through Disney and although it was more expensive, I like the flexibility of my membership. Even though the other collections aren't the best use of points, the fact that I have the option was enough for me. I'm an owner at AKL.