In Wdw - Toured Today! Help!!!! Ssr!

[tinkertiff]

Two questions for my future neighbors

We are in WDW now and toured DVD this morning - WOW. We're in love with both SSR and AKL, but liked the lower MF of SSR..... DH and I have discussed and weighed advantages all day. TWO QUESTIONS:

1) What are the advantages of buying SSR new directly through Disney w/incentive at $94/pt OR through the resale market @ mid-$80/pt??

2) Everyone spends so much time deciding on a home resort. I asked my Guide if there was any difference. He said it was only the advantage of booking 7-11 months out and the MFs. Just double checking - is there anything I'm missing there? Is there any type of priority booking or other "perk" of your home resort???

We've spent this evening with crossed eyes reading the DIS, looking at resale listings on the Web, and thinking about options -- all while trying to focus on our vacation. We realize our best educators on the folks on the DIS! As we're in the World now, thanks for your quick responses!!

(Dreaming of DVC and a real "Welcome Home" one day!! )

Tiffany

 

[mjy]

Two questions for my future neighbors

We are in WDW now and toured DVD this morning - WOW. We're in love with both SSR and AKL, but liked the lower MF of SSR..... DH and I have discussed and weighed advantages all day. TWO QUESTIONS:

1) What are the advantages of buying SSR new directly through Disney w/incentive at $94/pt OR through the resale market @ mid-$80/pt??

2) Everyone spends so much time deciding on a home resort. I asked my Guide if there was any difference. He said it was only the advantage of booking 7-11 months out and the MFs. Just double checking - is there anything I'm missing there? Is there any type of priority booking or other "perk" of your home resort???

We've spent this evening with crossed eyes reading the DIS, looking at resale listings on the Web, and thinking about options -- all while trying to focus on our vacation. We realize our best educators on the folks on the DIS! As we're in the World now, thanks for your quick responses!!

(Dreaming of DVC and a real "Welcome Home" one day!! )

Tiffany

1. Depending upon the other costs, you might not make out ahead buying resale. You will end up paying your own closing costs, which can amount to a bit. You would have to ask what the entire cost to you would be. If it -is- cheaper than buying directly from Disney with all their incentives, you would be considered a new owner by Disney either way.

2. 11 month versus 7 months -- as well as maintenance fees -- are the two biggest things about where to buy your ownership, especially if you want to come down during the "high" seasons where you absolutely need the 11 month window.

I hope you get to hear that "Welcome Home" not just someday, but soon!

 

[Chuck S]

Depending upon your travel needs, some seasons can be difficult to book at the smaller DVC resorts, the EPCOT area resorts book up early for much of the fall because of EPCOT Food & Wine Fest, the Christmas holidays.

If you are happy staying at SSR for most trips, with the occasional stay at other DVC resorts, I would buy SSR.

If you feel that you would only be happy at, say, AKV or BCV, then you should purchase at your preferred resort.

 

[Amy5000]

1) What are the advantages of buying SSR new directly through Disney w/incentive at $94/pt OR through the resale market @ mid-$80/pt??

Disney Pros:

1. Both Disney and Resales have closing costs but Disney's is lower. (I think their closing cost for an initial purchase is $300). A resale for 150 pts at SSR could run you $475 (I just looked at a recent email listing...you might be able to close for less).

2. Many, many resale contracts are stripped, to some extent, of points. Since current points are the most valuable, they would easily cost $10 per point to replace. If you add the cost of those points to the resale contract you are typically talking very close to what it would cost you at Disney.

That said, there are contracts out there that are not stripped. But you have to talk to the brokers and wait. You can save money if you are buying a fully loaded contract.

I also want to point out that if you buy an April use year resale contract with all current points and no banked points, you would only be getting 2007 points. (That means you'll be getting 47 years worth of pts.) If it was stripped and you were waiting until 2008, you would only be getting 46 years worth of points.

Is Disney still offering you a December Use Year? If so, you would get 2006 points with your purchase. So you will get 48 years worth of points. (Ok...not a huge difference...but stripped pts really do lower the value of a contract).

3. You get a tote bag when you buy direct from Disney.

4. You don't have to go through ROFR.

5. If you need financing, I hear Disney offers decent rates for this type of purchase.

Resale Pros.

1. You can get contracts for less in resale transaction and the bigger the contract the lower the cost of the resale contract. So depending on your situation you might be able to save some $$ (especially if you are not buying a stripped contract).

2. You can buy less than the minimum required by Disney. I would have bought from Disney but only wanted 100pts. They wouldn't do it so I went resale.

Finally, you probably know this. But it's easier to sell smaller contracts than larger ones so if you are looking at a larger contracts and buy from Disney have them break into smaller ones. If you are in the resale market...you buy what you buy.

Good luck.

 

[U2FanHfx]

Hi There,

First, welcome home (in advance)!

1) We had to buy resale as they don't sell in our province (Nova Scotia) and wanted a smaller contract. However, we added on directly through Disney when we were on our cruise basically 4 mths later. If I had to do over again, I would probably waited until our next visit and buy direct. We ended up spending close to the same amount with all the fees and closing costs as we would have buying direct. It took nearly 2 months from start to finish and thankfully we were not ROFR by Disney or we would have had to start all over again. Buying direct you also get your points right away and I felt with our addon you had more 'magic' around the whole transaction. Another thing to consider is if you want to finance. Disney is EASY!

2) You listed the two big differences. The way we look at it is if we NEED to stay at a particular place, we would buy there to ensure we can get our booking at the 11-month window.

On another note, we are currently debating to buy a 100pt addon at Animal Kingdom or SSR. The MF's for Animal Kingdom have us a bit concerned and the possible increases in the future due to many things including animal care. However, we are torn because AKL is our favorite resort.

Whatever you choose, you will be happy! I could have paid for this thing three times over by now.

Regs,

Chad J.

 

[AKV707]

I think that Chuck has said it perfectly. Buy where you can see yourself staying. Your home resort gives you the ability to book at 11 months at that resort. All owners at other DVC resorts will have to wait until 7 months to book at your resort. So it comes down to which one suits you best. The lengths of the contracts at SSR (2054) and AKV (2057) may be considered an advantage over the other resorts which end in 2042.

 

[flyerron]

I would buy direct. You know exactly what you you are getting & what the costs are. Your purchase is immediate & you can book immediately. You can finanace thru DVC (they make it easy, & if you want you can have your MF paid monthly) or you can get financing at home. You can charge the purcahase on your credit card & get points then finance & pay it off, or whatever, DVC doesn't care.

 

[fwong]

Two questions for my future neighbors

2) Everyone spends so much time deciding on a home resort. I asked my Guide if there was any difference. He said it was only the advantage of booking 7-11 months out and the MFs. Just double checking - is there anything I'm missing there? Is there any type of priority booking or other "perk" of your home resort???

There is issue of the resale and rental market to consider also. Take a look at this link to see recent prices for closed DVC contracts by resort:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=720134&page=282

So all points are not created equal if you factor in resale/rental, you can see that some resorts have higher prices than SSR resale, even though their expiration dates are shorter

And the issue of supply/demand can come into play. For example...

VWL has 136 units
BCV has only 282 units
...
AKL has 458 units
SSR has 828 units

If / when it comes to rent or resell - there's more competition

But I also agree with several other posters about the ease of dealing with Disney. My recent resale purchase went through without a hitch, but it did take about 2 months start-to-finish.

 

[JimMIA]

I think most of the considerations have been covered by other posters, so I just want to highlight two things.

One is that - to me - the difference between buying direct vs. resale is saving money vs. time and uncertainty of the resale process. We bought our first contract resale through TTS and would not hesitate to do so again.

However, the process takes 8-12 weeks from start to finish, when you are actually able to make ressies. And, of course, there is the uncertainty of ROFR. That shouldn't be a big problem if you deal with a knowledgeable broker and pay the price you need to pay, but it does take time and it adds a bit of uncertainty.

The second concerns home resort advantage at AKV. AKV is going to be a pretty large resort, with more units than BWV. Therefore, one might think it would be similar to OKW and SSR in terms of getting ressies.

However, one thing I note about AKV is they have a wide range of accommodations -- it's not just studio, 1BR, 2BR, GV. In a way, I think AKV is going to book sorta like a bunch of small resorts, rather than a big resort. In other words, you may be able to get something at AKV easily, but not exactly the type of villa you want. To me -- if I wanted to stay at AKV most of the time, and would be disappointed if I couldn't get my preferred accommodation -- that would be a good reason to buy there.

Folks here who know me know I'm a person who thinks "buy where you want to stay" is often overrated...but if you are an AKV-lover, this may be one situation where it makes perfect sense.

 

[DVC Mary]

Are they offering you developer points + credit/dream $$? In Chicago for the "Doorway to Dreams Grand Opening", they are offering a $10 credit per Vacation Point for SSR & an $8 credit for AKL. That's the amount they deduct off the current price for the points.

Buy 110 points for $96 at AKL and receive 110 bonus points that have to be used in the 1st 12 months.

Buy 160 points for $96 at AKL & receive 240 bonus points

Buy 200 points for $96 at AKL & receive 400 bonus points


With these kind of bonuses, it seems worth it to buy direct from Disney.

If my logic is flawed, someone please help both of us. Because this is the same logic, I'm trying to use to buy additional points at AKL.

Re: your home resort question. We own at BWV & have only stayed their once since purchasing in 1999. We usually book our vacation at BWV at 11 months, SSR if it's the 7 month window & VWL or BCV aren't available & then sit on a waiting list until we get the resort we want. We've been lucky in the summer to usually get the resort we want, but for Columbus Day weekend we're at BWV b/c the waiting list has not allowed us to change.

What time of year will you vacation?

AKL has one big disadvantage---you are much farther away from the other parks especially the Magic Kingdom. I'm sure bus service will improve there once Kidani Village is complete. We found it difficult to get to early EMH parks early enough for our liking. We once found ourselves at AKL & we had missed the last bus to MK for a late EMH. We didn't know there was a last bus , and this was at 7:30 in the evening , so we had to pay for an expensive cab ride to MK.

If you usually have a car at Disney this won't bother you, but we only make one big trip a year usually & rely on Disney transportation.

Our plan is to stay elsewhere & end our vacation at AKL for 2-4 days of not going to the parks except AK and MK for our last evening (tradition). AKL is going to be an even greater resort to just relax & enjoy the resort. Kidani Village will have a whole water park play area for the kids to enjoy. AKL relaxes my DH before going back to the grind of work.

Good luck!

 

[ScottNBecky]

We own at SSR and just added on at AKV so that we could book at the 11 mo. mark. We like AKL around the holidays and since we are teachers we are limited to traveling during Peak times. So we needed to buy at AKV to insure the 11 mo. mark for Christmas ressies.

 

[Mtnman44]

You get EITHER the $ discount OR the bonus points but NOT both...right?

Buy 110 points for $96 at AKL and receive 110 bonus points that have to be used in the 1st 12 months.

Buy 160 points for $96 at AKL & receive 240 bonus points

Buy 200 points for $96 at AKL & receive 400 bonus points


With these kind of bonuses, it seems worth it to buy direct from Disney.

If my logic is flawed, someone please help both of us. Because this is the same logic, I'm trying to use to buy additional points at AKL.

 

[ScottNBecky]

In Chicago this weekend they offered BOTH the $ off AND the points. Not sure if that is the offer if you add-on through Disney in Florida.

 

[BevS97]

For me the advantage of buying though Disney is that is quicker, "safer" (in that I know who I'm dealing with), could pay by Credit Card and there's no ROFR.

The advantage of Resale for us was that it was cheaper (for us it was a lot cheaper, SSR was $110 and we paid $86, we still got a full quota of points for the current year ), and I could buy Boardwalk which is what I really wanted.


Just to clarify - we wanted to pay with a credit card, only so we could get points to put towards free flights, we weren't planning on financing on a card.

 

[Mtnman44]

Wow. Smoking Deal.

In Chicago this weekend they offered BOTH the $ off AND the points. Not sure if that is the offer if you add-on through Disney in Florida.

 

[ebenmax]

Wow. Smoking Deal.

Yes and no. If you are buying 110 pts. then the double developer point option that FL has is virtually the same when you break it down. The higher you go in points the better the Chicago deal is.

This is what we found. . .We were hoping to add on 100 points in Chicago

110 pts.minimum - OK - we could go 10 more points.
$10 off pp (for SSR which we wanted) - same as FL
110 - matching developer points total 110 - NOT in FL BUT FL was offering DOUBLE developer points (with no $10 off pp)
110 - 2006 points - same as FL
110 - 2006 points were bankable - same as FL (we have Dec. UY)
No closing costs - same as FL
MF pro-rated for 2006 pts. - same as FL
Automatic loan approval (which we did not need)

So we figured and planned. . .

Chicago

110 pts. at $94 pp = $10340.00
110 dev. points + 110 (2006 pts.) = 220 pts.


Florida

100 pts. at $104 pp = $10400.00
200 dev. points + 100 (2006 pts.) = 300 pts

 

[TiggerAlli]

Wow. Smoking Deal.

"In Chicago this weekend they offered BOTH the $ off AND the points. Not sure if that is the offer if you add-on through Disney in Florida."

We were not offered BOTH--you had to choose one or the other. I only know this because we just bought in today with the double points offer and we were asked multiple times which offer we wanted.

Allison

 

[Phedre]

If you are a current owner adding on in Chicago, you got both incentives. If you are not a current DVC member buying your first points, you got the choice between one or the other

 

[AKV707]

OK, so let me get this right. If I call my guide, I can purchase say 30 additional AKV points and recieve 60 that I have to use in the next 12 months? It seems to me that even though we just bought our 210 in early July, (and took the cash bonus) now would be an excellent time to find a way to add on. Do I have this right?

 

[Stevegriswold]

Resale vs buying at Disney

We looked into both resales and buying from Disney.

For us we wanted Beach Club Villas which currently Disney wants $104 a point and you are on a wait list, since it is sold out. We decided to buy resale, no wait list, and at $88 a point. Closing costs we had the seller pay, so it cost us nothing to close. Also you can find contracts with all the points avail., some with extra banked points, etc. Also the ROFR (process when Disney gets to see if they want to buy the contract instead of you getting it) took about two weeks until we heard we got the contract, so that was pretty quick. We also figured SSR is a very large resort and BCV is very small, so if we want to go to SSR at 7 months out it would be easier to do that instead of trying to get into BCV at 7 months out.

With resale you can decide what you want to offer. So if you want the seller to send you a pair of Mickey ears, pay closing costs, etc., just ask for it in the deal.

Plus once you are a DVC member you can now buy small amounts of points from Disney. So you don't have to buy 160 min. points. So you can get a 50 point resale contract and then add on smaller Disney contracts at AKL later since that resort is not avail. on resale yet.

Best,
Steve