Never buying direct again

[BBG-BLT]

Seeing what's passing ROFR these days I'm never buying direct again. Now I just keep checking the Timeshare store for a 50 pt BLT for under 95/point.

In fact thoughts go to just renting points. I have a timeshare at a nice Mexican resort (Paradise Village) that I can't give away because the resort didn't protect the value of the timeshare.

But I love my DVC - no doubt about it

 

[rock_doctor]

Have you signed up for their emails? You may be able to get 100pts for as low as $93 but if you want to tempt fate... You may consider looking at Fidelity. They are more difficult to deal with (more difficult/questionable sellers) but their prices tend to be a little lower. They currently have several contracts at $87 and $88 but they are bigger then you wanted 210 and 160 points (respectively). With the reduction of usability of resale points the cost per point definitely has gone down. Before you were doing great if you could get BLT points in the $95 range. That is normal now... with some sales going as low at $82 (on one contract that passed ROFR)... Good luck and with patience you will find what you want.

 

[Kidanifan08]

If you are willing to wait, there is a stripped 50 pt BLT on TSS for $104 (no points until 9/13), but you could try putting in a bid in the low $90's. Even if they lose $10/pt, it is only a $500 sacrifice.

 

[sweetdana]

Check Ebay too.

Monday a bid ended on a BC 200 points contract that ended up selling at 75$ a point, (after adding in closing fee and MF for 2011).

Agreed, with recent changes and the fact they are expiring, resale is the way to go right now if you can.

I bid a little less.. but mostly cause I hadn't planned on it 3 months ago. Now I am saving a little more towards possibly buying an add on if I see something like this again.

 

[Mtnman44]

At the current prices, I agree that it makes very little sense to buy direct anymore. I'm somewhat baffled by DVCs desicion to continue raising prices. Their recent attempt to add value to direct sales by limiting trading options for reseller purchased contracts seems to indicate that things aren't going the way that they wanted.

 

[htmlkid]

At the current prices, I agree that it makes very little sense to buy direct anymore. I'm somewhat baffled by DVCs desicion to continue raising prices. Their recent attempt to add value to direct sales by limiting trading options for reseller purchased contracts seems to indicate that things aren't going the way that they wanted.

The problem is that there are still buyers purchasing direct which is evedent by that increased DVC sales figures for June 2011. The question is how much research people are doing on DVC prior to purchasing!!!

But you have to give Disney credit for taking a $60million dollar project like BLT and reselling just the "USE" of it for over $500 million and still retaining ownership and rights to rentals!!!!!!

 

[BBG-BLT]

You know I didn't even think you could put a bid in for less. I wasn't even thinking. I'll keep my eyes open.

 

[mdsd8700]

Agree with everyone, that Direct is definately hard to swallow now, I can't imagine doing anything but resale from this point on.

 

[nunzia]

To me the only reason to do direct is for a new property if you don't want to wait until resales start appearing or if it's very difficult to find the configuration of points needed for your family. For example, I only wanted to own at VGC and I wanted my contracts to be in several small chunks. I bought a small resale at OKW to get in the system and then bought VGC as soon as it came on line direct from Disney as add ons (at that time there were no closing costs direct). I was able to get exactly what I wanted and circumvent the DVC minimum (160 at the time), then sold OKW. There were incentives and I got VGC for under or right at 100 point. So I got my 4 contracts adding up to 225 points, over time but before VGC sold out (it now has a rather large waiting list, which VGC fans predicted, and it doesn't look like Disney is ROFR the resort much, which is surprising and leads me to give credit to the rumor of a DLH DVC tower). The resale market is pretty skimpy of VGC points and most are pretty large.

PS..Whoops..just saw a thread of a VGC (although it was called GCV) being ROFR'd.

 

[cheezNE1]

i was looking to add 50pt direct myself, but looking at the going rate, gonna have to check resale. Unfortunately the 50pts currently listed dont have any points till 2013. bummer.

 

[msabol01]

The restrictions on resale points may be another reason to buy direct from Disney. While we all know the best value of DVC is to stay in DVC properties, it's still nice to be able to Cruise or exchange points into other timeshares on occasion.

 

[Lorelei528]

Also, financing...

When we bought in, my credit was not good (still isn't) and DH had no credit history in this country, therefore, for us, the only option was to buy direct.

That being said, I also like the trade options (DCL etc.) even though they are known not to be the best use of points, for us, to save up enough cash to take a cruise or vacation in Jamaica etc. is almost impossible, but knowing we don't have to worry about saving for the accomodations makes the buying in direct, great for us.

We've added on direct since our original purchase and hopefully will do so again in the next year or so.

 

[csharpwv]

I really think DVC is going to make some big changes in the next year. With the recent move to become more aggressive in the ROFR process, I think we are going to start seeing direct purchase - 'sold out resort' contract extensions.

With the year ticking, and older resorts hitting the prime period for major renovations, it makes sense for Disney to be more aggressive in buying back low ball offered contracts. I don't understand why Disney hasn't been aggressive on ROFR all along - it certainly would have given them great control over product values - and at a time with resale values have hit an all time low, it provides a great incentive to buy resale for folks who plan to use DVC exclusively at DVC Resorts.

Disney has to think outside the box when it comes to reinventing the Vacation Club to target a whole new audience.

We own at 4 resorts, and we plan to trade out on occasion. We bought two contracts direct as it made more sense at the time to buy direct since we bought in 2008 and 2009 when the incentives were much much better (free 7 night cruise on DCL - for 4 people) That incentive made it worth paying a direct purchase premium on Bay Lake Tower.

However, we have bought two contracts on the resale market as well - and it definitely made more sense to buy them resale. $75 per point at Saratoga (for a small contract) and Hilton Head for less than $42.00 per point - when it would have been $89 per point to buy direct. More than 50% off? Yeah - I'll take that offer!

Disney has to introduce a game changer, and devaluing the resale market is likely to have the exact opposite effect. Wait, they did that already!

Yeah - and building at the Grand Floridian isn't going to do anything for resales!

 

[Pennyguy23]

The problem is that there are still buyers purchasing direct which is evedent by that increased DVC sales figures for June 2011. The question is how much research people are doing on DVC prior to purchasing!!!

But you have to give Disney credit for taking a $60million dollar project like BLT and reselling just the "USE" of it for over $500 million and still retaining ownership and rights to rentals!!!!!!

What does "use" mean? Selling it to dvc?

 

[chalee94]

What does "use" mean? Selling it to dvc?

i would guess it means that DVC owners don't own the building, we just have use of it till 2060 and then disney will own the 50-year-old building free and clear, paid for by DVC owners.

 

[tjkraz]

I really think DVC is going to make some big changes in the next year. With the recent move to become more aggressive in the ROFR process, I think we are going to start seeing direct purchase - 'sold out resort' contract extensions.

IF more contract extensions are offered--a huge "if" IMO--I doubt they will be limited to a small audience. The success of such an offering is tied to participation rates.

The OKW extension was generally regarded as a failure due to high administrative costs and low participation. DVD would only be hurting itself by withholding a contract extension from a certain audience.

I don't understand why Disney hasn't been aggressive on ROFR all along - it certainly would have given them great control over product values - and at a time with resale values have hit an all time low, it provides a great incentive to buy resale for folks who plan to use DVC exclusively at DVC Resorts.

They couldn't afford it--or at least their financials couldn't justify it.

All of this began in 2008 and 2009 when the economy was in very poor shape. DVD was sitting on literally millions of points at AKV and SSR which it could not sell "new." Even BLT had to be discounted to levels they never remotely anticipated.

Exercising ROFR on a 250-pt SSR contact at $80 per point would have cost DVC $20,000. Multiply that times literally hundreds of contracts sold in recent years. The points themselves would be added to the multi-million point surplus they already have available and were struggling to sell--points on which DVD also has to pay the annual dues until sold to members.

They simply couldn't justify spending the tens-of-millions of dollars it would have required to aggressively ROFR the volume of contracts which hit the resale market in the wake of double-digit unemployment.

Disney has to introduce a game changer, and devaluing the resale market is likely to have the exact opposite effect. Wait, they did that already!

The resale market devalued itself to a far greater degree than DVC's resale restrictions. In fact, other than the occasional contract going through ROFR at a ridiculously low level due to a desperate seller, I'm not sure that the resale restrictions have had much of a noticeable impact on prices. All of the TTS listings now have SSR in the $60s and AKV in the $70s. Those are the same asking prices I was seeing before March 20.

Regardless, DVC's focus is direct sales. Doesn't really matter if SSR is clearing ROFR in the $40s or VB in the $20s...as long as they can still get people to spend $140 on BLT points, they will be happy. Other timeshare developers have spent years riding the wave of uninformed impulse buyers for decades. It's the seedy underbelly of the timeshare industry.

Blanket ROFR isn't a cure for the entire system. Doesn't matter what threshold Disney sets...they resale buyers aren't going to pay prices comparable to BLT for the likes of HHI, VB, OKW, SSR, etc.

 

[dvcbrad]

I'm thinking about picking up a Marriott week resale. From what I've read in learning about Marriott in general, and more specifically their direct vs. resale, Marriott owners are as disappointed about the resale values as us DVC owners are. Bottomline, it's a good time to be a timeshare buyer rather than a seller, and overall I'm not convinced that buying direct adds any value other than retaining a few 'excluded' perks that most likely aren't going to be missed anyway.

 

[pinnocchiosdad]

The problem is that there are still buyers purchasing direct which is evedent by that increased DVC sales figures for June 2011. The question is how much research people are doing on DVC prior to purchasing!!!

Remember back to when you were a DVC newbie. The thought of buying a DVC membership from someone besides "The Company", never enterered our heads.

 

[lark]

Regardless, DVC's focus is direct sales. Doesn't really matter if SSR is clearing ROFR in the $40s or VB in the $20s...as long as they can still get people to spend $140 on BLT points, they will be happy. Other timeshare developers have spent years riding the wave of uninformed impulse buyers for decades. It's the seedy underbelly of the timeshare industry.

Yup.

That said, timeshare buyers are much more saavy now than even 5 years ago. Given the massive number of points they need to sell, I don't think DVC can hope that impulse buying alone will get them where they need to be. At some point, they will need either to stimulate resale prices to reduce the premium they are asking people to pay over resale, or they will need to enhance the desirability of developer purchases (either with something of actual modest value like the ability to use the points in extra ways or something that gives off the appearance of extra value, like so many other timeshare sellers attempt). Or, I suppose, they could try the model other timeshares have tried -- continue massively inflating developer prices so that your margins on the suckers are enormous. You may sell fewer points, but the ones you do sell are extra profitable.

 

[pinnocchiosdad]

As an owner, who wants to see their point value decline. But someone like me who has no intention of selling gives little attention to the current resale price. To put a positive spin on the surging resale market, I see things this way. When new contracts are sold, they go to new members. That means more members viing for reservations with you during peak vacation periods, that means more members ahead of you on waitlists, that means more members on hold ahead of you to member services. As for the resale market, the torch is being passed from one owner to a new owner which in turn keeps the membership pool the same.