Hubby finally ready to buy...direct or resale?

[Lumpy1106]

If you aren't going to take advantage of the 7-11 month out window, buy SSR, resale if you can live without staying at RIV. It's the best value when you consider both price/point and Maintenance Fees. Don't overlook Maintenance Fees. It doesn't take long before that'syour primary cost. SSR also has the best availability < 7 months out, but really once you hit that date you can use your points anywhere - so might as well have gotten the best deal on those points.

Get the app, "DVC Calculator" for your phone. That's the best tool for running quick "what ifs" when deciding on resort and travel dates.

 

[NVDISFamily]

DH and I are in our mid/late 30s. Our kids are 7 and 10, so hopefully 30+ years of WDW trips to look forward to. We're not set on any resort in particular. I would honestly rather go with larger units (1 or 2 bedrooms) with lower point charts so we can spread out, take parents or siblings along, etc.

We look forward to holding many family trips/reunions at SSR over the years but I would not want to lock in there as my "primary" place to stay. We stayed there on rented points for our first family trip to WDW and loved it. It had some downside, but I think the lower charts and lots of availability make up for it. Using SSR as a base for our family trips when we bring friends/other will be something to consider for sure. For example we could get two Grand Villas for 4 nights in SSR standard for LESS points than 4 nights in a Grand Villa and a 2BR at CCR/BRV.

You could always lock in at a more premium (but cheaper to buy per point) resort that you would love to stay at and "gamble" at 7 months to extend or upgrade your room size. The only downside is running the risk of not using your points if you aren't careful.

 

[havoc315]

RIV is at ~$130-140 resale. Obviously it has the intense restriction you can only book at Riviera, but $50-60 a point starts to factor in more. It gets us to Disney World, with a skyliner stop, 2070 contract, and our favorite resort for way less.

I get your math, just another equation that works if you have different priorities.

Riviera is a fantastic deal re-sale if you’re looking for a single resort. It’s by far my favorite WDW resort. But the restrictions certainly reduce the benefit a bit.

 

[sndral]

Riviera is a fantastic deal re-sale if you’re looking for a single resort. It’s by far my favorite WDW resort. But the restrictions certainly reduce the benefit a bit.

I wouldn’t buy Riv resale unless I planned to book at 11 months - in a couple of years when it sells out & the % of points in resale contracts that can only book there goes up, it seems to me there’s a risk that if you wait until 7 months there’ll be few if any options - especially at higher demand times & since Riv resale can’t book anywhere else, they’ll be out of luck.

 

[aka Charles]

Budget is probably $30K-ish. We could spend more, but I would rather buy less to start and add on if we find we need more. We travel a lot, so we don't want to feel like we have to go to Disney for all our vacations, but we do find ourselves at Disney every 18-months (give or take) so we're sure we'll use the points. We've spent anywhere from 2 nights to a week at WDW in the past, so I think 3-7 nights most trips. Thinking about 150ish points to start.

From everything you have said so far, a resale contract at Saratoga Springs might be the best way to start. Currently they have good availability, pricing (about $5 per point less than AKV on average), and point charts. Deed expiration is 2054, so a good 31 years left. And low annual dues (almost $1 less per point than AKV). A 2-bedroom standard villa at Saratoga Springs will run from 200 to 300 points for a 7 night stay most of the year, so a 150 point contract would work for a week long stay every 18-24 months. At current asking prices, 150-200 point Saratoga contracts will cost $18,000-$25,000, so well within your budget. An October, or even a September use year would work well for your travel plans. Once you are members, you can keep an eye out for bargains to add on, both in resale and direct. As others have said, now is a good time to be looking for a resale contract as sellers tend to be more open to negotiating a deal before the first of the year.

 

[Sandisw]

I wouldn’t buy Riv resale unless I planned to book at 11 months - in a couple of years when it sells out & the % of points in resale contracts that can only book there goes up, it seems to me there’s a risk that if you wait until 7 months there’ll be few if any options - especially at higher demand times & since Riv resale can’t book anywhere else, they’ll be out of luck.

We own resale RIV and I agree that those buying need to be booking during the home resort period.

We book at 11 months with those points but they are not are only points either.

But anyone who does wait until 7 months would need to have a lot of flexibility and understand they may end up with a different room size.

My guess is that many will be like me and have other points, but if not, will learn quickly to book early.

 

[havoc315]

I wouldn’t buy Riv resale unless I planned to book at 11 months - in a couple of years when it sells out & the % of points in resale contracts that can only book there goes up, it seems to me there’s a risk that if you wait until 7 months there’ll be few if any options - especially at higher demand times & since Riv resale can’t book anywhere else, they’ll be out of luck.

That’s true at every resort in the 7 month window. But it should actually be a little better at Riviera than other resorts. Yes, a few hundred owners can’t trade out of Riviera at 7 months. But there will be thousands of DVC owners who can’t trade in to Riviera at 7 months.
Should make Riviera booking within the 7 month window a slight bit easier than other resorts. (But I never recommend waiting that long for any home resort).

 

[defrogger]

Might be repeating some things others have said

For direct, i would go Grand Floridian. Point charts are high but the best Sleep around Points for direct purchase, especially since they have low dues. Plus you have the option of GF at the 11 month window if you end up loving it there.

Resale, i would go Poly or Saratoga for SAP. I did see someone make the point that a resort like Poly at $168 - $175 gets close to direct pricing, so at that point you might want to consider getting direct. Where Saratoga has low upfront cost.

Opinion - Avoid Resorts that are expiring in 2042 unless your plan is to stay there a majority of the time, they have terrible value unless your only staying there.

Just be aware of a couple things if booking around the 7 month window.
Studios are hard to get at 7 months except at Saratoga, AK, OKW and sometimes Poly. Summer is the exception to this, summer theres lots of availability at 7 months.
So if your looking at Studios, you might only have the option of 3 to 4 resorts without having a Home Resort you like.
1 Bedrooms are pretty open at 7 months most times of year, the exception might be Oct/Nov, maybe Dec.

Its a tough decision, but in the end there all great resorts, just a question of, if your more into getting allot of value out of your points or just want to stay at certain resorts.

Not sure if this factors in or not - Direct purchase is allot easier. Ive done direct and Resale. Resale cant take time and patience. I tried to get Saratoga a year ago and got RoRF which stunk. Also added another 6 weeks to the process of resale.
Resale if it goes through RoRF take 4 to 8 weeks to get your points.
Direct takes 1 day.

 

[sndral]

That’s true at every resort in the 7 month window. But it should actually be a little better at Riviera than other resorts. Yes, a few hundred owners can’t trade out of Riviera at 7 months. But there will be thousands of DVC owners who can’t trade in to Riviera at 7 months.
Should make Riviera booking within the 7 month window a slight bit easier than other resorts. (But I never recommend waiting that long for any home resort).

While there may be thousands who’ve bought resale since 2019 who can’t trade into Riviera, the elephant in the room is the millions who bought resale before 2019 who can - because resale restrictions weren’t retroactive. Right now there are roughly 673 million DVC points across all resorts (excluding Riviera,) if we assume a conservative 20% of those points are resale that’s 134.6 million points & if we assume 10% of those resale points were purchased in the last 3 years (-13.46) you still have 121.4 million grandfathered resale points that can book Riviera. Riviera has 6.7 million points.
Or, we can compare choices - assuming 30% of a resort is available at 7 months if I own resale at a legacy resort I can book any legacy resort at 7 months - that’s 201.9 million available booking points. If I own resale at Riviera I can only book there - that’s 2 million available booking points.
Although I’m just guessing on my numbers, I can’t think of any realistic scenario where it’s not riskier to buy resale Riviera unless you can book at 11 months .
In time more legacy resort resale points will not be grandfathered & thus unable to book Riviera, but that may take a long time. However, even after other resort resale bookers are removed from the equation, once the 7 month window opens, resale Riviera buyers will always be competing with the millions of direct points from other resorts who can book Riviera at 7 months.

 

[Her Dotness]

If you have not visited the resorts in person, you must before you buy. We recently visited Riviera and GF. Going into it, my wife was Gaga about Riviera. After seeing it, she said she would only consider buying GF of the two. She said Riviera can be found anywhere, GF was truly special and very distinct and Disney, and worth buying into.

I heartily agree with your wife but had guessed as much from watching video tours of RIV.

I say this to say, you have to see the place before you make a decision.

Two reasons I disagree that a person must see the resort in person:

1) As a pp said, buy where you love which presumably will be a resort where you've stayed even though not necessarily in the DVC portion. That gets you enough familiarity, IMO, to make a reasonable decision. Worked well for us, anyway.

2) There are numerous DVC resort and villa tours on YouTube anymore. Watch bunches of them. Those by 4K WDW are particularly helpful, imo, because those have only ambient sounds, not a running commentary of what the filmer's opinion is.

Thing is, if you happen to buy into a resort you find you dislike upon staying there, you can always use the points to try other candidates, find a better home, and then sell the contract you dislike.

 

[DonMacGregor]

Two reasons I disagree that a person must see the resort in person:

1) As a pp said, buy where you love which presumably will be a resort where you've stayed even though not necessarily in the DVC portion. That gets you enough familiarity, IMO, to make a reasonable decision. Worked well for us, anyway.

2) There are numerous DVC resort and villa tours on YouTube anymore. Watch bunches of them. Those by 4K WDW are particularly helpful, imo, because those have only ambient sounds, not a running commentary of what the filmer's opinion is.

We purchased at BRV (a 2042 resort, no less!) before ever having even been to the Lodge. We had stayed at other resorts, and were DVC members (direct at SSR). The decision was based on the location, the theming, and a TON of YouTube videos and reviews. We even bought in spite of the numerous reports of poor room conditions and the oft-delayed refurb (although we HAD stayed in the refurbed rooms at SSR and knew what potential existed).

 

[DVCsloth]

Buy direct or resale, as long as you know the pros and cons to each and know what resort you want.

 

[Nursemanit]

I would not count on the AP returning, that does not seem to be where the wind is blowing. If you want Epcot area, buy RR direct, if you are not interested in the Epcot area - buy resale at your favorite monorail resort.

 

[Nursemanit]

True, but at least someone needs to be aware that takes 3 WDW options off the table for trades.

For someone who is more of a 7 month planner it could make a difference. And it does mean no Epcot area options will be available.

It only takes 1 resort off the table unless you have some future knowledge we dont.

 

[havoc315]

While there may be thousands who’ve bought resale since 2019 who can’t trade into Riviera, the elephant in the room is the millions who bought resale before 2019 who can - because resale restrictions weren’t retroactive. Right now there are roughly 673 million DVC points across all resorts (excluding Riviera,) if we assume a conservative 20% of those points are resale that’s 134.6 million points & if we assume 10% of those resale points were purchased in the last 3 years (-13.46) you still have 121.4 million grandfathered resale points that can book Riviera. Riviera has 6.7 million points.
Or, we can compare choices - assuming 30% of a resort is available at 7 months if I own resale at a legacy resort I can book any legacy resort at 7 months - that’s 201.9 million available booking points. If I own resale at Riviera I can only book there - that’s 2 million available booking points.
Although I’m just guessing on my numbers, I can’t think of any realistic scenario where it’s not riskier to buy resale Riviera unless you can book at 11 months .
In time more legacy resort resale points will not be grandfathered & thus unable to book Riviera, but that may take a long time. However, even after other resort resale bookers are removed from the equation, once the 7 month window opens, resale Riviera buyers will always be competing with the millions of direct points from other resorts who can book Riviera at 7 months.

You’re missing how few Riviera re-sale owners there are. Right now, there may be less than 200 resale contracts in existence for Riviera, maybe far less.

Yes… it will increase in the future. But so will restrictions at other resorts. The number of resale owners entirely ineligible for Riviera will increase faster than the number of Riviera resale owners.

 

[Sandisw]

It only takes 1 resort off the table unless you have some future knowledge we dont.

BWV, BCV and BRV are all off the table in 2042 at WDW as they expire., along with losing VB and HH..though I didn’t count those since they are not DVC.

None of us know if those will continue to be DVC so one has to to plan that those won’t be an option.

And if they do decide to rebuild them and continue down the restrictions path, then only direct points will be eligible.

Regardless none of us should assume those are going to be part of DVC come Feb 2042.

 

[MamaBear12]

I did some math. Leaning towards 200pts Grand FL direct now. Spoke with DVC and we'll receive an additional price/point discount and $1K off on a 200 point contract for GF or Riviera since we just took a Disney Cruise. It brings the lifetime points cost difference between resale and direct to like $0.54 (give or take), which while not insignificant, I think long-term is worth having the flexibility and benefits that come with a direct purchase. Anything I'm not considering? I realize the point chart for Grand FL is higher, but since we will likely use the points for other resorts as well, I think we can make 200 points work for our travel needs. And we wouldn't mind splurging for a GF villa if we travel at a high demand time and need to book in the 11-month window.

 

[MamaBear12]

I’m not sure October is the only or even best use year for you. If you buy direct right now December will give you 2021 points which they’ll bank for you (except VGF direct.)

Plot twist. I asked DVC about purchasing a Dec UY and getting 2021 points and she said they aren't doing that right now because of the pandemic. I could receive and bank 2022 points with prorated dues for April, June, August, or September UY, but if I purchase a Dec UY, it will start with Dec 2022 points. Guess I'm back to an October UY. Maybe Sept. April banking window wouldn't work for winter and spring travel.

 

[RoseGold]

Plot twist. I asked DVC about purchasing a Dec UY and getting 2021 points and she said they aren't doing that right now because of the pandemic. I could receive and bank 2022 points with prorated dues for April, June, August, or September UY, but if I purchase a Dec UY, it will start with Dec 2022 points. Guess I'm back to an October UY. Maybe Sept. April banking window wouldn't work for winter and spring travel.

I'd ask another guide. They aren't always great with truthiness. This is still a timeshare.

It makes no sense to single you out from normal policy since VGF went for sale. Ridiculous.

 

[MamaBear12]

I'd ask another guide. They aren't always great with truthiness. This is still a timeshare.

It makes no sense to single you out from normal policy since VGF went for sale. Ridiculous.

How do I talk to another guide? When I spoke with this guide she made a point of checking to see if the guide we spoke with a 3 years ago was still with DVC (which she’s not), so it sounds like guide I spoke to is our guide now and point of contact. Should I ask her to double check and make it clear that’s the UY we want with current 2021 points?