how long to find the right contract?

[rpk113]

Just wanted to take a straw poll... how long did it take you to find the right contract?

 

[bwvBound]

We were in active search for the "perfect resale contract" (200pts, BWV, Dec-UY) for about 6 months before caving into our purchase of 150pts, SSR, OCT-UY direct from Disney. It took about 2 years beyond our purchase to discover that OCT was a far more "perfect" UY for us than DEC ... and that we have no complaints owning SSR. We've even added-on with more of the same (SSR/Oct) instead of branching out to other properties or UY.

Having said that ... we are keeping a casual eye on resales for a Grand California Villas, APR UY. I think the Apr-UY will be a better match for our CA/HI travel patterns.

Bottom line, today's "perfect contract" is different than what we first considered 12 years ago (BWV) or purchased 6 years ago (SSR).

 

[nolanboys]

We had been looking off and on, but when we were finally ready, there were a few to choose from. I'm sure we had an easier time because we were looking for SSR and there are many of those available. We also originally wanted a Dec UY, but ended up with an Oct, which is actually better for us. It allows us Christmas Break and Spring Break with the kids, and fall trips for DH and I when our kids get older. We were able to find a loaded contract with banked points. I think what resort you want matters a lot in how long it will take you to find that perfect contract.

 

[rpk113]

maybe my problem is that I don't need fully loaded contracts.. I'm looking for a contract in HHI, that assures me summer availability (i.e. feb-June UY) 170ish pts. But I don't need it till 2012 (2011 vaca's are already planned), I would like to get in at a low price though..

 

[RobDoc]

maybe my problem is that I don't need fully loaded contracts.. I'm looking for a contract in HHI, that assures me summer availability (i.e. feb-June UY) 170ish pts. But I don't need it till 2012 (2011 vaca's are already planned), I would like to get in at a low price though..

You don't need a Feb-June Use Year. While those UYs might give you the best protection if you are likely to cancel summer reservations often, it has no affect on when you can make reservations or travel. You will have the same ability to make HH reservations 11 months in advance regardless what UY you have. Perhaps you can find the "right" contract more easily if you don't restrict the UY you would accept.

There is no Use Year that will assure summer availability. Even at 11 months, there are times when reservations might not be available just due to the demand and low number of specific villas (GVs, Studios, 1BRs) at the HH resort. Owning there certainly greatly increases the chance for success though.

Good luck!

 

[johnsbelt]

Just wanted to take a straw poll... how long did it take you to find the right contract?

I'd say I was looking seriously for about 5 months. But what I wanted was very specific. A non-stripped, small (50-75 points) at BLT (DW said that if we were buying she wanted to be on the monorail!).

We wanted to own in time to go down in early Dec 2011. We've talked about going down when all of the decorations were up and DW really wanted to go down on the 40th anniv of MK. Since we wanted to start out small, plan on going down every other year for about 5-6 nights in the fall, and DW said she would be happy in a studio, I figured the 50-75 points would be sufficient. After seeing all of the stripped contracts (no pts until 2012), I was ready to rent for next December (okay everyone stop laughing ). All of a sudden, 2 contracts were listed in an email received Thur evening. I checked on Fri and one was already "Sale Pending". After finally getting in touch with DW, a verbal offer was made, and accepted. The seller had their paperwork in before I did and it took me 2 days! Disney waived ROFR a week after it was submitted. This day ironically was the last day to back out (10th day). We are now at day 24 and will probably be closing this week. From offer to close in less than 30 days! I just hope the seller is as happy with this as we are.

Bottom line advice. Know what you want, what you feel a reasonable price is for it, and keep looking. Get on emails from the different brokers. Be patient but ready to pounce when you see one you want.

Hope this helps,
John

 

[DizGirl20]

Honestly I think it took us longer to figure out which resort to add-on at than it did to find a contract. We bought direct @ AKV Dec 09. In May, we were debating whether to add-on at AKV or BCV. Once we decided to stick with AKV, it took us about 6 weeks to find our perfect contract. I also was not looking for a loaded contract. Didn't need the points until 2012. Found a stripped contract at a great price.


Good Luck!

 

[WeLoveAriel0505]

1 month.........Jaki was awesome!

 

[tinkertastic]

I'm currently looking for an add on at SS. We've been searching for two months and the right contract has yet to come along. I hope to find one SOON!

 

[cbnsoul]

I finally gave up after looking for a few months thinking I wouldn't find what I wanted any time soon. I was looking for 50 points at VWL, Dec UY, preferably loaded. I knew that even if it came up, I'd have to be all over it otherwise someone would get it before I did. I decided to buy through Disney and got the 2009 "extra" points.

 

[Coach81]

We were.. anxious to get in.. so we grabbed the first 150 pt contract we could (Dec UY) from resale (we found it right away as soon as we started looking), and have loved it ever since. Over the next year or so, we will be looking to add another 150 or so.. also from resale when we find the right one...

 

[bobbiwoz]

2 months for us to find a 50point VB contract and have our offer accepted. We found one for 50 pts. and are waiting for ROFR. I wasn't waiting to find "loaded" but did want points for next year and our same UY.

Bobbi

 

[arthur06]

I found an AWESOME contract for 100 points SSR, with 86 banked and in our UY. Only problem was, I found the contract before I had the $7,000 to pay for it! I know another one will come along, just don't want to wait!

 

[kendzee94]

4 months lurking looking almost daily at the resale postings. I called ****, and he had exactly what I wanted/needed, and we added on immediately. We have April UY and that seemed the most difficult to find resale (or just my perception because it seemed like all of the other months had what I needed!)

 

[Simba's Mom]

Everyone's so much more fortunate than us. We've been looking for about 7 months so far and still no luck. We want about 100 points at HHI, and although we have an August UY for what we've got, we're willing to bid on any UY. I even called TTS the other day about one with a December UY, even though December probably isn't good since we vacation at Thanksgiving. But we're getting desperate! I really wanted to bid on a 200 point contract there recently, but DH had this crazy idea that we needed to pay bills, buy groceries, put gas in the car, stupid stuff like that.

 

[Lost in Neverland]

We kept looking and "wishing" for about 4 months beofre we seriously started looking for the perfect contract. it then took another 5 months to find our 220 point contract.In that time we had one contract that did not pass ROFR. We got cold feet and backed off for a few weeks. We are happy with our contract and did a small add on direct from Disney this year. As my DH says I would research a dead horse.

 

[wdwfan1]

Before we bought our first contract we toured SSR and knew that was not the resort we wanted. Our guide did not offer any other options so we bought the first contract that met our requirements. We thought we got exactly what we wanted, but didnt really understand use year. We havent really had any problem with our use year (June), but realized October would have been the right choice for us.

When we wanted to add on a small contract at BWV, we kept scouring the listings and called the popular timeshare stores. Neither had what we needed (we wanted to stay with June because we only wanted to deal with one use year). We finally gave up and bought direct from Disney. That wasnt really bad since we got exactly what we wanted and got the points for the current year.

 

[walkdmc]

When I was ready to buy, it took less than a week to find the resale I wanted. When I decided to add on , it also took less than a week to find that contract.

However, I wanted a February UY and they're pretty common. If you want something in a less common UY, you might have to wait.