And this is why we bought direct. In a nutshell. If you have time to look at the sites on a crazy basis, stalk the brokers, then maybe you can find what you want. I know I didn't. Small contracts are hard enough to find period. Small, not stripped and not gone immediately....proved beyond me. Was I too picky? Maybe. Maybe not. I looked off and on for a very long time. It ultimately came down to a need basis, I ran out of time to keep looking at resale with its closing timeline. I was either going to drop a huge chunk of change on room reservations for my trip, be unlikely to even be able to book on cash at one of the locations (Vero) or go ahead and buy direct, have my points immediately and be able to book accordingly.
Yes. I paid more. 16-32% more depending on which contract it is., when I bought and the resale price at the time. That first differential is about what that cash booking would have cost. Apples to apples, room cost only. A trip we were taking regardless, money I'd have spent either way and while it may take longer to "break even"I was able to stay where I wanted, when and how I wanted. It was a magical trip. Since then I've looked at add on's via resale and have had the same issue. A few that might work, but stripped, and again, small, and gone before you could blink. For me that just didn't work. To a large degree I've quit looking and certainly right now, pickings are far more slim than ever, depending on what it is you want.
What I paid more for upfront in point cost, is money I'm not spending on MF on points I didn't want by having to buy too many, in the wrong UY or the wrong resort just to get a better price via resale. Didn't make much sense to me to give up a vacation so I could buy a stripped contract and then...not take that vacation. If I looked at what I saved in MF alone, by waiting on that 2nd contract until I actually needed more points, and having 2 smaller versus one larger ones well, then the differential shrinks that much more. Plus I wanted more than one home resort, a larger contract to start didn't work for that at all.
I do have to admit that the recent increase in resale prices does make my differential seem a lot smaller.
I am currently on a waiting list for another direct add on at BWV. With the (before the price increase) incentives, it comes out to about $99/pt. With BWV resales now showing in the $80's, frankly, I don't feel bad about my direct add on at all and yes, I do like knowing they are unrestricted points.