High Number Of SSR resales..??

[Littlegem]

Hi all,

Still weighing up the option to Buy DVC on my October Trip to WDW..

DH has now become fully commited to buying our piece of the Disney Magic , but we are still researching which resort to buy in..??

DH thinks SSR would be a good choice, due to location & the fact that its teething problems should be sorted out by now ( as opposed to AKV which is still under construction..! )

I am just a bit worried though, that there are a huge number of resale contracts available at the Timeshare Store ( 71 at the moment.. ! ) for SSR..

Does this mean that a lot of people dislike SSR, or is there a less sinister reason..?

I want to buy into a resort that will appeal to lots of people, like WLV or BCV do. This way I hope to maintain the value of our investment, in case we decide in a few yrs that DVC isn't for us. ( living in the UK, it may become too expensive to keep traveling long haul to the States down the line...)

Myself I feel that AKV may be a better option, although I agree with DH about SSR's excellent location..

Does anyone have a view on this ??

Any help would be appreciated,

Hazel

 

[lisaviolet]

Here are my thoughts:

* SSR is huge. More sales = more resales

*Disney really expanded their marketing while selling SSR = more % buying
when not financially ready. We seem to live in a want now/buy now society

*On the same note. There is talk that financing became easier in the last couple of years (during SSR sales)

*A lot of talk about upcoming DVCs....possibly some selling to be $$$ ready for new DVC resorts that have a longer lease date as well

I sold one of our SSR contracts over a year ago. When I bought DVC I thought I would never use the 7-11 window ever. I always knew BWV/VWL were our favourites; however, what was the sense of buying there when I couldn't ever use the home advantage. So I liked SSR and Disney was selling it so I bought there twice. Then we stayed at BWV and I thought, "Oh I can change for this". I'm laughing. We sold one SSR to buy BWV but I don't think I've even used the BWV window! But it's a nice feeling.

So not all resales mean "I dislike SSR". Many other factors. But there probably are a few that mean "I like other resorts more than SSR".


Also, this isn't a SSR factor. But remember there are so many reasons for selling that don't have to do with disliking the resort. Divorce, finances etc.

Also, you talked about selling in the future. I had no problem selling my SSR contract and it was completely stripped. However, things have changed now. There will now be resorts with longer ending dates. I believe mine sold so quickly because younger buyers are looking for longer contracts. That won't be a selling point now. Plus, with DVC extending OKWs contract and maybe others....well lots of competition for selling. If you are buying thinking about the possibilty of selling I wouldn't buy SSR. I think the low dues are a good sell but other resorts will be more popular. Best of luck to you.

 

[Littlegem]

Thanks Lisaviolet

Its quite hard for DH & I to decide which resort to buy, as we have yet to visit any of them..!

I hope to make it my mission this trip to get round to all those we are interested in, & check out the "feel" of each resort, before we make a final descision.

DH will not be with me though, so I will have to relay my thoughts back home before I go & sign the contracts..

BTW... Will I be able to sign both DH & myself up for the DVC, or will I need his signature??

Also if we like one of the sold out resorts better I may have to go through the Timeshare Store instead of WDW itself..

So much to still decide & October is almost here.. Yikes!!!

 

[disneykidatheart]

Hi--I agree with Lisaviolet that many people buy when not really financially able in this "gotta have it now" society. I think I read on these boards that the average amount of time holding a Disney timeshare is four years so that tells you there are many impulse buyers.

We toured in March of 2004 and like many others walked out with the bag of documents after putting down a deposit. I asked my guide what percentage of people touring buy on the spot. His reply was 4 out of 10 which is a high percentage in my opinion.

What bothered me throughout the tour was our age at the time and that we did not need a 50 year timeshare. Our children had been to WDW with us several times but did not seem to share the magic we felt. (They like parks with thrill rides). The thought of maintenance fees going into the 40-50 years mark bothered me. We ended up canceling our purchase. About six months later I found a smaller perfect OKW contract through the timeshare store and later added another small contract. For us, this works and we've never been sorry we made our purchase this way. We have not stayed at SSR yet but hope to soon; we love how it looks and the location.

 

[rantnnravin]

Another possibility:
There were some reeeealllly good incentives for SSR late last year. A number of owners bought with the intention of stripping the contract and then selling for the price paid - thus gaining a free vacation or two out of the deal. The tail end of this may be what you're seeing, now that most of those free trips have been taken.

 

[Chic]

Littlegem-You can sign up both you and your husband. You will receive legal documents in the mail which will require both of your signatures. We own at Saratoga Springs and are very pleased. Why? We have the lowest maintenance fees of all the resorts, a phenomenal fitness center, fresh new facilities, and will enjoy our investment for more than 47 years. In fact, I will be 90 years old when we have to renew our DVC membership! Even if Saratoga isn't your favorite resort, there are several other resorts you can stay at when booking 7 months out. What are the chances of availability at other resorts in the 7 month window? Very good. I booked a trip this past July for the Food and Wine Festival October 9-14 and immediately confirmed a room at Old Key West, no waitlist. Last week, I just booked a trip for January during Martin Luther King Holiday weekend and got a room at the Wilderness Lodge, no waitlist needed for this trip either. It can be tricky getting a room at Boardwalk and Beach Club in the 7 month window but I've read several success stories from people who placed themselves on the waitlist and did have availability come through. With the Animal Kingdom Villas just opening and the soon to be announced Contemporary Villas, there will be even more resort choices available for all the DVC members. I think you will be very pleased with a membership at Saratoga Springs.

 

[Littlegem]

Thanks to everyone for the thoughts and advice...

The incentives thing explains a lot.... They had a friends & family promotion didn't they, with a $15 discount per point, & double developers points thing at some stage as well....

Chic.. its nice to see someone say something positive about SSR... I did do a breif tour of the site back in 2005, a couple of hrs before I was due on a plane back to the UK!.. As you can guess I didn't have much time to look round, but what I did see was good...

I didn't go further at the time as DH wasn't interested...
Now our situation has changed, we have a young family & more money & we feel it would be nice to have some quality family vacations...

 

[tjkraz]

IMO, it's mostly a supply and demand thing. SSR is the largest resort, which means it has the largest number of points in circulation.

And regardless of the incentives being offered, SSR is the resort that is most in direct competition with DVC for sales. DVC doesn't publicly market points at OKW, VWL, BCV, BWV, VB or HHI. Those wanting to buy those resorts are almost compelled to go resale. So you've got a low supply and high demand.

Since SSR can be readily obtained from either resale or DVC, supply is much, much higher.

There are some people who don't find SSR to their liking, but the same can be said for every other resort. I wouldn't let the quantity of resale contracts influence your decision.

 

[Disney MAINEiac]

I gotta agree with other posters. Just based on the size of SSR I think you can expect to see a higher number of resale listings. I don't have any numbers to back this up, but I bet the percentage of resales to total contracts is not much different from the other smaller resorts.

 

[MEK]

I just agreed to purchase a resale at SSR through the time share store. My contract is going through ROFR now. I will admit that some of the other property locations are more inticing, but the thing I like about SSR is that it is Disney, but it would also be perfect for a non disney vacation.

I stayed at the resort last November when I rented a member's points. I liked everything about the resort. It was close to DTD, it was great for running in the mornings, the pools were lovely, and the transportation to the parks was great. I left perfectly satisfied with the resort. It has been almost a year since I stayed there and I know that it would be a good resort for me and how I like to vacation.

My kids are in high school and junior high school. It won't be long until both are in college. I plan to visit Orlando every winter and I think its a good location for me. I have friends in Daytona, which is a little over an hour drive.

I am excited about my future stays at SSR. If I am lucky enough to be able to snag 7 month out stays at the other resorts, then great!

Good luck with your decision.

P.s. If I hadn't already stayed at SSR, I might have been skeptical about the purchase, but that stay convinced me.

 

[salmoneous]

I am just a bit worried though, that there are a huge number of resale contracts available at the Timeshare Store ( 71 at the moment.. ! ) for SSR..

Huge number? There are tens of thousands of SSR owners. Focus on the happy folks, not those that have to see for some reason.

 

[crisi]

I think there are two primary reasons - size (it is a big resort) and the cyclical nature of ownership (i.e. people buy, have buyers remorse and sell - you are in that point of the SSR cycle).

Here is the most important thing - IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE IF ANYONE ELSE LIKES SSR, WHAT IS IMPORTANT IS THAT YOU LIKE SSR. However, keep in mind when you tour that there aren't any guarenteed categories (yet) at SSR - so you need to be happy with the whole resort - even if you end up staying in a "less preferable" location.

What I would do in your circumstances is print out the current resale listings and educate yourself about the resale market before your trip. Then go down and spend a morning or afternoon driving around and visiting the different DVC properties - you probably can't see the rooms, but for most of us, when we talk about what we love about a resort its a whole package - not the inside of the rooms. If a resort sings to you - then that is "your" resort. If a resort doesn't sing to you, all the resorts are lovely and make your decision off a different factor. Like value, or "Disney is selling it" or whatever.

Here is another important thing to remember - many of us purchased resorts that we hadn't seen - that weren't built yet off drawings or we bought through distance without visiting. Many of us bought "whatever Disney was selling at the time." The VAST majority of us are content with the resort we call home. There are exceptions to content, but I think a lot of people worry too much over home resort and we sometimes make too big a deal about it here.

 

[Granny]

Here is another important thing to remember - many of us purchased resorts that we hadn't seen - that weren't built yet off drawings or we bought through distance without visiting. Many of us bought "whatever Disney was selling at the time." The VAST majority of us are content with the resort we call home. There are exceptions to content, but I think a lot of people worry too much over home resort and we sometimes make too big a deal about it here.

Crisi...I was right with you until this paragraph. For many people, just being at WDW is good enough and you're right...for them, any resort is a good home resort. But I think it would be a disservice to prospective buyers to indicate that home resort is unimportant if they have a desire for a particular resort, or a particular booking classification such as BWV Standard View or OKW Near HH.

For me, home resort choice ended up being critical (BWV & VWL) since we want to visit them during high DVC demand seasons and, in the case of BWV, book SV.

 

[crisi]

Crisi...I was right with you until this paragraph. For many people, just being at WDW is good enough and you're right...for them, any resort is a good home resort. But I think it would be a disservice to prospective buyers to indicate that home resort is unimportant if they have a desire for a particular resort, or a particular booking classification such as BWV Standard View or OKW Near HH.

For me, home resort choice ended up being critical (BWV & VWL) since we want to visit them during high DVC demand seasons and, in the case of BWV, book SV.

That's why I said visit all the resorts and see if one does sing to you. But if one doesn't - then don't fret over it. Some people don't have strong feelings.

Those of us that bought OKW or BWV may have fallen in love with say - VWL - we either bought more points to fill a need or we stay there when its available, but only a few of us have scrapped our original contract because we discover we prefer a different resort. USUALLY people determine its a workable situation - even if it isn't ideal.

You could buy today and a year from now DVC could announce Villas at the Poly and you could kick yourself. But despite multiple resorts owning since most of us bought, we don't kick ourselves.

 

[Granny]

That's why I said visit all the resorts and see if one does sing to you. But if one doesn't - then don't fret over it. Some people don't have strong feelings.

Very true that you said that, and I agree. I was just trying to point out that there are practical matters in addition to matters of the heart when it comes to choosing a DVC home resort.

I've seen you post long enough to know that you and I aren't far apart on this issue. I guess I always cringe a bit since so many Guides seem to say that home resort doesn't matter because you can always stay at any of the DVC resorts (conveniently forgetting to add "except for certain times" or "except for particular room classifications") and cover it with a wave of the hand and a quick "subject to availability" to give themselves deniability later!

 

[Littlegem]

My Thanks to everyone who has posted this last two days...



I must admit that I hadn't realised we were talking "Tens of Thousands" of other owners at SSR Salmoneous ...I knew the resort was big, but thats a lot of people to be in competion with for a room..!

Its good to hear positive praise for SSR MEK... My husband is not a Disney Die hard, & would enjoy not being surrounded by Disney 24/7... Also I loved the central location when I went to look in 2005...

Reference crisi & Granny ... I am planning to go and visit as many of the resorts as I can, to see if one does give me that "Welcome Home" feeling... I have studied the pictures on line of the resort rooms, which all seem roughly the same, except for themeing...

We would mostly want a 1 bedroom villa ( or perhaps a Studio occasionally..) so I am hoping that will not be too hard to get most of the off season times that we usually travel.. Not fussy about views, so hopefully not an issue for us..

What does concern me is that I keep seeing post from people who have been here a long time & have good knowledge of DVC, mentioning that Home resort could be a real issue, if Disney decide to scrap the policy that you can stay in any DVC resort, instead of just your own.. How likely is that to happen, I wonder..??

 

[Longhairbear]

One reason there seems to be alot of resales might have to do with all the forclosures. People might have to sell off their DVC contracts to get some cash to save their homes. We are losing more than a few, neighbors to foreclosures on our street.

 

[Granny]

What does concern me is that I keep seeing post from people who have been here a long time & have good knowledge of DVC, mentioning that Home resort could be a real issue, if Disney decide to scrap the policy that you can stay in any DVC resort, instead of just your own.. How likely is that to happen, I wonder..??

I think that is very unlikely. People just want to point out that there are aspects of the ownership that may come and go such as the various perks. During such conversations, some point out that even the ability to reserve at other DVC resorts is not guaranteed. While true that Disney could cease that, I personally don't think they will. I don't see how that would benefit them, as the cost of running the DVC system is borne by the members.

 

[crisi]

Reference crisi & Granny ... I am planning to go and visit as many of the resorts as I can, to see if one does give me that "Welcome Home" feeling... I have studied the pictures on line of the resort rooms, which all seem roughly the same, except for themeing...

There are two major differences and a lot of minor ones.

The two major ones are that OKW has significantly bigger one and two bedroom units than the other resorts - and a bigger jacuzzi. And that SOME of the one and two bedrooms at VAKL (the ones in the new building) will have an extra bathroom.

The rest of the differences are minor in my opinion, but some people think they are important. The table layout at some of the resorts is different (some have a round table and a few chairs, others have a more oblong eating area). The closet at BWV is reported to be bigger. There is a desk in the bedroom at SSR that I don't think any of the other resorts have. The kitchen is turned at AKL. A "missing" coffee table in BWV Studios. There are probably plenty of others.

 

[Granny]

Another major difference is that two DVC resorts are stand-alone....SSR and OKW. All the other WDW DVC resorts are attached to an existing Disney Resort. Some people like the "hotel feel", others like the "condo feel".