Negotiating a resale - where to start?

[IllinoisMommy]

I ended up buying Vero Beach even though it had never entered my mind to do so before. I got 100 points, with 2011 and 2012 points available, for a grand total of $4125. I couldn't have gotten that anywhere else. There are downsides to buying off site and especially at VB, but my intent is not to keep it more than 5-7 years. At that point, it will have completely paid for itself and if I gave it away then, I'd lose nothing. But this choice isn't for everyone. The competition is nil, though, so it's happy hunting. You just can't overpay for VB like I've seen some do recently.

Glad you found what you were looking for. Hope you are enjoying the trips with your little one

 

[princessaloha]

Hello I know that it was very helpful for me to read actual experiences and thought processes when I first started reading here so thought I would share mine now.

First, I found the 5 main Resale Companies and subbed to them. When I narrowed down the three resorts we were interested in, I updated my subs to narrow down the listings being sent to me and started focusing on the prices. Some of the sites actually list "pending" sales so you can see what the offer/accepted price was.

Then an OKW contract came up that I liked. It was more points than I wanted for a single contract (I wanted two smaller contracts) but had enough banked points to get us 2 weeks in a 2 bedroom this year. So I called the agent for details. I was going to pay full asking price, then...

I accidentally found the RORF thread by Donaldis#1 and realized after reading that you could offer lower than asking. So after reading all the offer/accepted, who paid MFs, banked points and more importantly what PASSED ROFR I determined a price range I was happy with along with the extras (mf, banked points, etc) AND that I thought would pass ROFR.

I called the agent for details and to put in an offer that was about $12 below asking. I also asked if there had been other offers to which the reply was yes at the same price I was offering and was rejected by Sellers. So I decided to up my offer to just $7 under. The agent explained that she was pretty sure the Sellers would accept however as of that week no OKW contract under $53 was passing ROFR. I confirmed this with two other agencies. So I decided to go with asking, which was above $53. About an hour later we received an email that there was an issue with the contract and they were researching it and would get back to us. Later we found out that a few days before, the Sellers decided to use most of the points for a last minute vacay and didn't bother to tell anyone. We ended the negotiations.

After a few weeks of obsessing about that silly contract I decided to put in a low offer in consideration of the missing banked points. If it was ROFR, I was ok with that but at least I could move on to another contract. I offered the $7 under asking, Sellers accepted and surprisingly it passed ROFR.

IMHO I would start with a loosely based general my dream plan that included 1. how many points you want 2. which resort(s) you want 3. price range 4. Use Year (I wanted an AUG uy which eliminated about 90% of the contracts at the time. Saved me so much time) 5. do you need banked points 6. who should pay current MF's, closing, etc. 7. how fast do you want to close (the lower the price the more likely it will get ROFR and you'll have to start over) Then I would focus on contracts that were close to the plan. Remember there will be very very few "perfect" contracts that fit all your criteria. Then establish a relationship with your agent, ask questions (worst they could say is that they can't give you the answer to that question) Then I would make a reasonable offer slightly lower then asking for negotiating room.

Good luck and enjoy the process!

 

[Bonnie151]

We bought 275 points at VWL nearly a year ago. It was listed at $62pp but had clearly been on the market for a while. I looked through the ROFR thread and most VWL contracts seemed to be going for $58-60ish so we offered $54pp (based on it having been on the market for a while) which was accepted. We were able to rent out the 2011 points and will be taking our first holiday using points in Sept!