Help with where to start adding points

[emmamc252]

Really appreciate any help.
We are looking to add 150ish points.
We have looked at prices and it seems to us that buying at our current home resort makes the most sense.
Points seem cheaper and means we can book at 11 months with all our PTA if needed instead of 2 different resorts and then try to change resort at 7 months.
We normally travel in aug due to school holiday restrictions and have always got in somewhere at 7 months if we wanted to but we do really like Saratoga anyway.
Ok so here's my questions.

1- it seems the resale price per point on the time share store etc are much lower than what dvc can offer, is there any reason to pay more and go direct thru dvc?

2- since we have been looking and getting emails on the ads o. That site SSR listings seem to be $60 or over yet when I have looked for historic sales info and the rofr post on here it seems many have gone for $45-53 per point. Is it common practice to make offers on listings or how does this work? Is it just that noone is willing to sell at those lower prices at the minute?

3. Is there any financial dangers of buying thru agent such as the timeshare store: any hidden cost apart from the closing and dues that it clearly tells you?

4. Anything else we should know/ tips?

We want to buy next year or year after, going next year but can manage on our current points, if we bought in early them we'd extend our stay but we won't be going 2013 and are saving ALL our PTs for 2014 when it's my mums 60th!!! So we definitely want the PTs available to book that and need PTs in 2013,14and 15 to do what we want.
Our family has grown a lot since we first invested so it's time to reinvest anyway but it makes sense to do it to get the extra for mums bday!!!
Thanks for any help!!!

 

[lions1995]

Been lookng into adding points as well. I have 200 at SSR which works pretty well, we like to explore other resorts. To your questions.

1. If you bu resale, you can ONLY ever use DVC resorts. Buying directly from DVC means you can exhange into RCI and also use points to cruise. You need to decide if the delta in cost is worth it to you. For me, I have points already, so I am certainly looking resale.

2. I have seen sites that have you "make an offer" as an inquiry. I have also seen people state that they negotiated on the resale. So it is possible to get a cost in th $50 range. I have only seen one posted on the web at that range and I currently have an inquiry in on it. I suspect it may be a typo.

3. I am not sure if there are hidden cost. There are potential maintence fees that may ned to be paid plus closing cost and of course the cost forthe points. After that I am not sure. The timeshare store looks to be the most legit reseller out there (not that the others are not, but they really seem to have their act together).

4. Make sure you are ware of what points are available. Some resale may have exhausted thier points for current and future use year. Others may not have used their point from the previous use year. So you could be between starting with 0 points and get 0 the next year or starting with double points (if previuos UY was banked) and the following UY with full points. You may want to factor that into price. I fyou do not plan on using them soon, you may look for a contract that may not provide points for another year or so and see if you can get the price down based on that.

 

[DenLo]

Really appreciate any help.
We are looking to add 150ish points.
We have looked at prices and it seems to us that buying at our current home resort makes the most sense.
Points seem cheaper and means we can book at 11 months with all our PTA if needed instead of 2 different resorts and then try to change resort at 7 months.
We normally travel in aug due to school holiday restrictions and have always got in somewhere at 7 months if we wanted to but we do really like Saratoga anyway.
Ok so here's my questions.

1- it seems the resale price per point on the time share store etc are much lower than what dvc can offer, is there any reason to pay more and go direct thru dvc?

Only if you plan to use your points for a Disney collection stay and that includes the Disney Cruise Line, because resale points purchased after March 21, 2011 cannot be used for the Disney Collection.

2- since we have been looking and getting emails on the ads o. That site SSR listings seem to be $60 or over yet when I have looked for historic sales info and the rofr post on here it seems many have gone for $45-53 per point. Is it common practice to make offers on listings or how does this work? Is it just that noone is willing to sell at those lower prices at the minute?

Keep in mind that the figures posted to the ROFR thread here on the Disboards is a small representation of all the resales that are processed each month. Just because a few get bargain prices does not make those amounts the standard price for a resale contract. That's why you see so many low prices ROFRd or the sellers reject the offer. I really think the sales reps at the resale companies have a really good idea what contracts are selling for and it's reasonable to accept their advice. Or you can make a low offer and see what happens. It just might take you longer to actually buy a contract.

3. Is there any financial dangers of buying thru agent such as the timeshare store: any hidden cost apart from the closing and dues that it clearly tells you? It's not really hidden costs, but we in the process of buying a small contract and we are paying the 2012 annual dues upon closure. I can't remember if we did that on our other resale contract or if it's because we will probably close in January.

4. Anything else we should know/ tips?

Give yourself extra time for processing when buying resale. If you want the points for a certain reservation buy them at least 3 - 4 month before you need them. That way if you get ROFRd and have to start over and bid on another contract you'll be okay.

We want to buy next year or year after, going next year but can manage on our current points, if we bought in early them we'd extend our stay but we won't be going 2013 and are saving ALL our PTs for 2014 when it's my mums 60th!!! So we definitely want the PTs available to book that and need PTs in 2013,14and 15 to do what we want.
Our family has grown a lot since we first invested so it's time to reinvest anyway but it makes sense to do it to get the extra for mums bday!!!
Thanks for any help!!!

The only advantage of having points at a second resort is for the home resort advantage (11 month booking).

Sometimes I think it's more trouble than it's worth having two contracts because of the combining at the 7 month mark. But that's really not because it's a lot of work but because we have to wait until the 7 month when we already know at the 11 month what we want to do. LOL But as long as you are happy staying at your home resort you'll be fine.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Been lookng into adding points as well. I have 200 at SSR which works pretty well, we like to explore other resorts. To your questions.

1. If you bu resale, you can ONLY ever use DVC resorts. Buying directly from DVC means you can exhange into RCI and also use points to cruise. You need to decide if the delta in cost is worth it to you. For me, I have points already, so I am certainly looking resale.

.

The bolded information above is not correct. There were certain restrictions placed on resale points purchased after March 21, 2011. "Those Vacation Points will instead be valid only for reservations at Disney Vacation Club resorts, as well as for RCI® exchanges, Club Cordial and Club Intrawest". They are restricted from being used for the Disney collection, Concierge Collection and Adventurer Collection.

Also, there are several reputable resale brokers and I've used most. The Timeshare store is good but so are all others that I've used and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend any of them. Making offers on a contract is pretty standard and then it's just dependent on how firm the seller is. It can take time to find someone willing to sell for a lot less than what they are asking but it's far from impossible and I'd guess it's not uncommon for lots of sellers to agree to a few dollars less per point.