Need some advice re: buying thru Disney vs resale

[pediatric-rnp]

I need some thoughts from those of you with experience. We just ret'd from WDW and while there, went to the DVC open house & tour. We have made our first decision in that this is definately something we want to do. If we decide by tomorrow to purchase through Disney, we will get a $1,500 discount off the price of SSR (150 pts/yr), which is a nice savings. Now, after reading the posts on this board, I'm wondering if it would be better to buy a resale at lower price, but with more points. We ususally stay at the Beach Club when we visit, but are not married to the idea of having to stay there or buy there. What are the pros/cons of BWV or OKW, and also pros/cons of purchasing a resale at lower price with more points vs a new purchase thru Disney. As we are in our 50's and our sons are 16 & 18, the 50 yr purchase isn't a huge selling point for us - what is the number of years of ownership on the others? Is is something like 42 yrs?
We ususally travel to WDW every 2 yrs, but I would like the extra points for possible cruise or w/e getaways, or to have a 2 BR in case we travel with family.


Thanks for your help.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Hi, we're in our 50's and just bought last year before SSR went on sale. We bought at BWV and a small add-on at VWL both from Disney, and we are in the process of buying a resale at VB. These memberships expire in 2042. We have points at the places we most want to stay, but that advice only "counts" if you can book before the 7 month window because at that point, all of the points will buy ressies where ever ressies are available. We have used our points at VB and this uppcoming ressie at BCV were both booked less than 7 months out.

BWV has the standard view for lower points and these are mostly available at the 11 month booking, but there have been lots of posts mentioning that people are surprised and pleased to have gotten the view closer to the vacation date. The standard view points and the location combined to make us buy our main contract at BWV.

More points are better! We had been upgraded at a Marriott to a 2 bedroom suite, and DH now says that our days in a studio are numbered, so it looks like we'll be trying for a 1 bedroom from here on out!

Good luck in making your decision!

Bobbi

 

[Doug Wolfe]

I purchased & financed through DVC. The thing I liked about the financing is DVC takes my payments directly out of my bank account, along with taxes & fee's. I don't have to do a thing.

Each year in January, when people have a pile of Christmas bills, the bill comes for fee's & taxes. My bill reads $0 because I have been paying all year long.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

The big benefit of buying through Disney is the financing. It is easy to get and they make it easy to pay. The benefit of buying resale is that you can buy at the resort that you want to stay at the most but you will have to arrange your own fianancing.

If you are able to do the financing on your own (cash, home equity) and you don't want SSR, then don't worry about buying resale. You get the same rights and privileges as any other DVC member.

HBC

 

[pediatric-rnp]

We plan to use our home equity loan to finance this transaction, as interest rate is lower and it's a tax deduction, so financing isn't an issue. But....

If you buy thru resale, do you still get the initial package paperwork, explanations of all the rules, and discounts? Is there anything you don't get thru resale that you would get thru Disney, or is everything exactly the same?

Are you able at that point to have Disney take the taxes, ins fees out of checking acct on a monthly basis thru automatic deduction, or do you have to pay once a year?

Does Disney exercise it's ROFR often - and is there anyplace to check on the average going rates for the resale points, so that we don't put an offer in that's too low?

Thanks for your help -we really appreciate it - this is such a big financial step for us (as I'm sure it was for most of you), and it's difficult to determine the best way to go. I really am not crazy about the SSR location - we don't do DTD often, preferring to be closer to EPCOT and MGM, so my heart is saying to wait until something in that area shows up for resale - but I'm so worried we'll end up with nothing.

 

[momtofour]

I just recently closed on a BWV resale. I am a new member, but based upon information gathered from this site, all members are treated the same. The only disadvantage I could come up with was the wait involved for resale. My seller was from England and we ran into long delays for various reasons. (didn't know if he really wanted to sell due to the currency fluctuations, couldn't find a fax machine, a notary etc. etc.) From start to finish for us it was about seven long, frustrating weeks. I saw my possibilities getting into Hilton Head diminish day by day and now I'll have to wait until next year. On the bright side, I did get a contract with a full year of banked points at $70.00 a point. When Disney exercises ROFR is anyone's guess. The only thing I've noticed is that they tend to be much more interested when the seller agrees to pay closing, maintenance etc. However, as mentioned in another post, someone recently bought into BWV at $65.00 per point. Good luck to you in your search!

 

[Beca]

Buying resale is SO easy!!!...okay, not as easy as buying from DVC, but still, it is a piece of cake!!!

As for availability, BCV, and BWV pop up on websites almost every day!!! Check the listings from the timeshare store (on this website), check www.atimeshare.com (there are 3 BWV up there right now), and contact Shontell at info@TimesharesByResale.com and asked to be put on her email list, and she will email you almost everyday with new listings. Seriously, you can get what you want/need very quickly.

We just bought resale (BWV), and we just got all of the books from DVC about our membership. We still do not have our member card, but neither do a lot of people who bought new at SSR. I think that just may be taking a while. We did make our first reservation about three days after closing.

When you purchase resale, you must pay a full year's main. fees at closing, but after that, you can sign up to have the money taken out of your checking account each month if you wish.

It is my understanding that DVC exercises it's RofR when a deal is too good to pass up. I heard from our real estate agent that they are NOT buying like they were a few months ago. I recently saw that someone passed RofR buying boardwalk with banked points at $65 per point!! That's a great deal!! We paid $72, and we were on the expensive end at the time. You will get through RofR easier if you pay the closing costs, and 2004 main. fees on any points left. It seems is DVC can get in without any "up front" costs, they are more likely to purchase the contract. Your real estate rep at the resale offices can help with this, too.

Hope this helps...and, good luck...keep the faith...you WILL get the listing your heart desires if you are diligent, and move quickly!!!

Beca

 

[Beca]

Sorry for all the duplicate info...momtofour and I must've been posting at the same time!!!

Beca

 

[pediatric-rnp]

I appreciate all of the info from everyone who took the time to answer my questions - thanks again!

Good to know you have to pay the annual fees up front at closing for the first year - I didn't realize that.

Sorry to hear about your difficulties with delays and waiting, momtofour. Waiting for something to come available isn't a problem for us fortunately - we just returned from the land/sea pkg on Sunday (sigh!) and probably won't be returning for approx 2 yrs, so we have time. But I would like to find something in the near future to start banking points.
Thanks Beca for your website info and I'm relieved to hear you actually did receive all the books, etc. from DVC. I tend to be a bit compulsive about those type of details! Also relieved to hear Disney may be letting up a bit on the ROFR.

Thanks again all - and I'd still love to read posts from anyone else who has had experience with resale - I think this may be the way for us to go.

 

[jmatias]

Found out that we just closed on a BWV contract. After two years of thinking about it ( I did most of the thinking...while DH would just shake his head ) DH finally said it was okay to make an offer on a contract. For him, it had to be a good "deal" to make sense since DVC is rather expensive, we already are Marriott owners, and we travel from the other side of the country!

Well, I found a great contract, 300 points at BWV, and sellers were asking only $65 per point!!!!! I honestly thought we would not pass ROFR...but we did!

We stayed at OKW 2 years ago and loved the spaciousness but we like to be in the midst of things so that meant BCV or BWV. We would have taken either one it was just a matter of waiting for a great price.

The actual resale process is easy...its just the waiting that's not fun...until you hear that you passed....then its a bit more waiting till you close....and then a bit more waiting till you are in the system.

If you have time and not in a rush I "test" the ROFR limit and offer from $65 to $68 and see what happens.

Good luck to you

 

[Beca]

jmatias


Ahaa!!! So, you're the "lucky" one I mentioned in my post!! I knew someone got a "smokin'" deal...congrats!!!



Beca

 

[jmatias]

Thanks Beca!

We got the news that we closed today and when I told the kids that we own a part of Disney they were jumping up and down and had the biggest smiles on their faces....and DH was smiling also..

 

[Guads6]

If I had to finance I would have gone through Disney. We purchased a resale and it went very smoothly. It was all said and done in 6 weeks. I think sometimes when there are problems other then Disneys first right of refusal you might run into a seller who is buisy and can't do the paper work fast or they just take their time for some reason. I don't think the broker will tell you that. But that would probably be the most frustrating! We bought from a owner in the UK and it went so smoothly they returned their paper work as fast as we did! I couldn't be happier! For the same amount of money I would have used through Disney I ended up owning 50 more points per year and a whole year of banked points. So our upcoming trip is ten days! And we will return in Jan. 05.

 

[Granny]

We have purchased both from Disney and through the resale market. Both were painless for us. And yes, the resale market did save us some money, but more importantly it allowed us to purchase at a resort that Disney no longer was selling.

We just ret'd from WDW and while there, went to the DVC open house & tour. We have made our first decision in that this is definately something we want to do. If we decide by tomorrow to purchase through Disney, we will get a $1,500 discount off the price of SSR (150 pts/yr), which is a nice savings. Now, after reading the posts on this board, I'm wondering if it would be better to buy a resale at lower price, but with more points.

Keep in mind that the biggest cost of DVC is not the purchase price, but the annual maintenance fees. So getting more points means committing to higher annual fees each year. Just wanted to point that out...though I'm with those who advise you to get enough points to make your plans work well for you without getting into heavy borrowing situations and having to skip a year of vacations!

 

[crisi]

Having only bought resale, I don't know what paperwork is received at closing. But you get a member handbook in the mail after closing, a membership card, and a copy of the deed. I didn't get a backpack or a resort lithograph or any of the "gifts." I'm also not sure I've ever seen the POS - in fact, I'm pretty sure I haven't.

Discounts and the member guidebook are listed on the membersite - you'll get your password once you are in the DVC system by calling member services. And we get treated like owners who bought through DVC. Our card has the contract date the contract was originally sold - making us members since 1999 instead of 2003.

 

[rmaiers]

After two different sellers decided not to sell after I made offers, we decided to purchase direct from Disney - and I'm glad it worked out that way. (As a matter of fact, my SSR Member Kit arrived yesterday - our first DVC interest!)

We did not need financing, but decided purchasing direct from Disney was better in the long run:

1 - It was only a $3000 difference between resale and direct from Disney - after you consider closing costs and up front Maintenance fees. For $3000, we got an extra 10-years of contract life which we felt was worth every penny as we plan on giving our contracts to our kids when they are older. Also, as time passes, the contracts with the furthest expiration date will no doubt be worth more money - important if you know you are not in this for the long run or don't know if you are in this long term.

2 - When you purchase from Disney, you can "customize" your contracts. We wanted 300 points, so we bought two 150-point contracts vs one large contract. This way, each of our children get one contract each, and should we decide to sell, based on my research, smaller contracts sell faster than larger contracts. Plus, we have the option of only selling one contract - you cannot sell part of a larger contract.

3 - We wanted to be near Downtown Disney. We like the resturants, the stores, etc. It's a place close to "home" that doesn't require a $50+ ticket to enjoy WDW for a while - all with in walking distance.

Hope this info helps... This board helped me alot, which is why I sent the Webmaster a donation.

 

[las3888]

We almost bought from Disney several times and in the end we bought resale 2 times now. The advantages for us to buy resale were:

- you can buy at any DVC resort (although you can be wait-listed by Disney for the 'sold out' resorts, our experience is that Disney isn't buying much back these days and you may really have to wait a long time). YOu may have to wait a while for the right resale package to come along as well, but at least you can do this online without having to call Disney all the time, and hope that they actually wait-listed you as they said they did.

-you can buy fewer than 150 points. We were still unsure about DVC, so we started with a resale package of 100 points. This was key to us. Another benefit of this was that if we ever wanted to sell, the smaller the package, the easier it is to sell

-you can buy a package that is loaded with points to use. With Disney, you either take the points, or take the magical beginnings discount and sell your points back for the first year. With resale, if you find the right package, you can buy at a good price (although you do pay closing costs), but your package may come with points to use right now, and then some.

We have not been treated any differently than if we had bought from Disney directly. The process of buying resale is really simple and easy. We have used both of the top resales companies that are out there. Both have been great. There is some time involved in the waiting process, but to us it just wasn't a big deal. We got a guidebook and member cards etc. Interestingly, our member cards say member since I think '95 or something - which must have been when the original owners bought, because we bought our resale just a year or so ago. Good luck with your decision!

PS - when buying, the best advice we got from the boards was to buy where you want to stay...this is key because it is difficult to get into some resorts after the 7 month window, or I should say it may be difficult to get the configuration and/or view you want.

 

[pediatric-rnp]

Thanks to all of you who have posted your experiences and thoughts re: buying direct from Disney vs resale. I want for us to be able to make the best decision with all the possible angles figured out so no regrets later. We really love the Boardwalk/Beach Club area , so I think we will be taking the advice to purchase where you want to stay, in order to be able to book 11 mos out. I am a planner ( I drive my poor family nuts!), and try to plan and book things as far in advance as possible, so this is important to me. I also wanted to try to find something with points already banked - this was the downside to purchasing from Disney with the magical beginnings discount. I feel like we will be behind from the beginning, but yet would need to take advantage of the discount to keep within our price range.( Thanks Granny for mentioning the maintainance fees being dependent upon number of points - that is definately something we have been considering. We're just hoping to get maybe something with 200 points rather than 150 if possible.)

Mainly I wanted to make sure that we wouldn't be treated any differently by DVC is we purchased resale, and I REALLYa appreciate all of you who have reassured me that this will not be the case.

I know the Timeshare Store is a recommended & reputable place to call for resales, but could anyone tell me others who are reputable, just so I can research as many options available as possible. That's the other thing that scares me a bit - buying from a company I am not familiar with in another state. As I mentioned earlier, time is not an issue for us - we just returned from WDW/Disney cruise on Sun, and won't be going back for another 18-24 months.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

Here's the links to the four main resale brokers:

http://www.dvcbyresale.com/
http://www.atimeshare.com/cgi-local/listd.cgi?disy
http://www.reid4florida.com/disney_hot_buys.htm#POINTS
http://www.wdwinfo.com/timeshare/dvclisting-R.cfm

You can also find FSBO's on sites like eBay, RedWeek, and TUG.

Check them all out and start making contact with everyone of them as many listings sell before they even get posted on the website.

Good Luck

 

[pediatric-rnp]

Thanks callypso*a*go-go! This is just what I was looking for.!!
Carol