Losing Battle

[Needs Motivation]

We attended a DVC Open House at the end of our WDW trip last year and I thought I had DW (and Chief Financial Officer) somewhat interested. Since then I've lost a lot of ground to her "voice of reason". One question she always comes up with is, "If it's such a good deal, why do people sell?" (This is brought up when I mention DVC resales as a possibility. Can anyone help me answer this one please? Thanks.

 

[disney queen]

one thought could be they no longer go to wdw as often as before. or maybe health reasons. moving out of the country for work related issues. need the money to be spent elsewhere. do these help?

 

[Richyams]

Death, divorce, lay off, stock market losses, etc.

Actually, not very many do sell. Look at the number of members and the number of resales. You can actually see the exact number of resales with a little bit of research.

If you go on the major resales sites, how many are available? Remember, there are 75,000 members, this makes for some 200-300,000 family members. Things happen in life, luxuries must sometimes be sold.

 

[Michelemouse]

I would guess that the number of members who do sell is a very small percentage of owners. Sometimes a financial setback or personal issues (divorce, etc.) cause members to sell.

Personally, we bough in '97 and have had 6 years of great DVC vacations (WDW, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland) so far. We paid about $65 per point and could get that now, and probably more, if we sold...which we never would (I'd sell a kidney before I sold my DVC!).

Good luck persuading your wife. DVC was, hands down, the best thing we ever did. I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

 

[Granny]

Lot of reasons to sell.

Divorce
Loss of job
Other change in financial circumstance that adds burden.
Lose interest in Disney (yes, I suppose it's possible!)

People sell things every day. Just because they're selling doesn't mean they're dissatisfied. In fact, I think most reasons that people sell is that their marital/family/financial status has changed. I would bet that it's a pretty small minority that sells due to dissatisfaction with DVC.

 

[Needs Motivation]

You guys are great. Thanks for the good/practical answers. Anyone up for a little arm-twisting ?

 

[JimC]

Twist away

Another reason to sell: There are also some who bought in early, raised their families and then cashed in at a profit.

You might also mention that if it were not a good deal membership would not be growing and DVC would not be building additional resorts. Clearly by opening DVC II (SSR), Disney realizes that it has something that works.

I doubt if you will get a better deal than the current discount offer with no return of first year's points. Good luck with the twisting.

 

[Mouse Ears]

Look at EBay!!! People sell everything, and its not just the undesirables of life.

Maybe you can start using that line for anything she wants to buy: "Well, I just looked and someone is selling that exact same watch on Ebay. Must be a piece of junk." Surely she will quickly see that this doesn't make any sense.

Another tact is to point out how quickly the sellers find buyers. Most of the listings don't last long. IF you want one of the better deals, you need to be on the broker's call list.

Whatever you do, make it quick. The prices aren't getting any cheaper. In fact, that's another counterargument.

Good luck!

 

[burnsoc]

It sounds to me like her reasons for not buying in are getting pretty thin if her concern is why people sell. If you're a big wdw fan and visit frequently then DVC is for you. I'm sure every argument she has against DVC can be shot down by the people on this board, so keep asking questions. If you're in a financial position to do it, DVC is great. If you buy in now, you can avoid that moment when you're on your seventh trip in ten years and your DW turns to you and says "remember when we were thinking of buying that DVC membership? We should have done it." and you have fleeting murderous visions. Seriously, my DW was also very hesitant and she has no regrets. And nobody is as big a financial worrywart as my DW. Just tell her you're the man and you're going to buy it, that usually works for me!
-Chris

 

[Needs Motivation]

Maybe you can start using that line for anything she wants to buy: "Well, I just looked and someone is selling that exact same watch on Ebay. Must be a piece of junk." Surely she will quickly see that this doesn't make any sense.

Mouse Ears

I never thought of it in those terms before, Mouse Ears. This covers a lot of things.

Just tell her you're the man and you're going to buy it, that usually works for me!

burnsoc

This is your world and I'm just living in it . I think if I used this line as the basis of my argument, the conversation would be more like, "Remember that time 10 years ago when you said "I do?""LOL

 

[tiggerguy2000]

Just like anything else people get caught up in the emotion and buy.They loss the passion of going and it becomes old to them.They see the monthly payment and things change except for those who could just buy it outright and want to get the money back after a few trips.Sometimes I think my kids are sick of going but that changes when others who want to go get excited and tell them how lucky they are to have parents that take them to Disney and the Orlando other parks.other parents don't go on vacations or go without the kids so they see this and the excitement is back.

 

[timC]

Yes there are sellers, but look at the prices. You can't keep prices that high, without poeple willing to buy.

The fact that there's a market for DVC resales is a good thing, not bad. If you ever have to sell, you know you can.

 

[Caskbill]

This question comes up again every so often. Several months ago I did a comparison of DVC resales vs the number of houses for sale in our home town. Out of 75,000 DVC memberships I could only find a few dozen listed for sale on the internet at the main DVC reseller sites.

Our small town, population 5000, only has 2 real estate agencies in it. It was easy to see how many houses in town were for sale. As a percentage of the total number of houses in town, the number for sale was much higher than DVC resales.

Basically there were just as many houses out of about 3000 homes in town, (a few dozen) for sale, as there were DVC resales for sale out of about 75,000 memberships.

On an unscientific basis, that equates to DVC resales being only 1/25th as much as the regular housing market in our town.

You might find something similar in your town. How many houses are there for sale in your town and compare that percentage to how many DVC resales there are. You'll find it eye-opening.

 

[tjkraz]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it could also be that people are only selling part of their interest in DVC. Let's say someone joined 5 yrs ago at OKW (or HH or VB), and then purchased a substantial add-on at BCV. Perhaps their travel practices only necessitate keeping the BCV investment. Or, perhaps they decided that they like BCV the best.

Unless there's some regulation I'm not aware of, some resales could represent only a portion of an individual's total ownership.

 

[Bayshore36]

Oh how I know how you feel! I have begged my hubby to join for three years!! We have 4 children so HELLO it would save us money!! I finally have gotten him to buy!! We were able to get Boardwalk from Disney with buy back promo for 74.00 a point! The person whom we purchased from said that alot of people are starting to sell so that they can buy into Saratoga Springs which expires later then the others! Good luck! My husband is still huffing and puffing about the maintenence fees!

 

[DebbieB]

If you can't get her to budge, I'd suggest renting points for a 1 or 2 bedroom on your next trip. That's what pushed me over the edge - a long weekend in an OKW 2 bedroom with friends! After that, there was no looking back!

 

[rsschneck]

I purchased a resale in November and the person I purchased from now lived in Florida. They actually had two different contracts up for sale.

I felt VERY lucky because we were able to purchase @ OKW which is where we thought we would be happiest and the ONLY way to get OKW was through a resale.

Now we are thinking about adding on at HHI and again the only way would be through resale.

 

[CaptainMidnight]

You can also look at the ability to sell at a preatty reasonable retunr rate as some comfort. Should something arise and cash be needed, the market is there and DVC does hold it's value for a timeshare, you can liquidate if needed.

 

[Disney Doll]

I don't think there are a large number of DVC owners who sell due to dissatisfaction. I am sure there are a few who, once they have stayed there, may decide "this is not for us", but my guess is that the reasons for selling are probably related to change in financial or family situation, change in the amount of points required to vacation they way you want(empty nesters may not need the large block of points anymore, if they don't need as large of a unit size to accomodate their family any longer), and other stuff along those lines.