Purchasing more points via resale

[MK032197]

We are considering adding on more points via resale. Having never done this we are looking for pros/cons and information on just how this process works!

 

[silmarg]

there are good deals on the resale market - exp for SSR and OKW contracts.

BLT and VGC dont have many resale contracts available, and the prices are just OK.

Buying resale is an interesting process. Everything is negotiable... price per point, current year maintenance fees and closing costs (there will be closing costs of a few hundred $s that you need to account for). Its still a buyers market out there (my opinion).

There are 4 major resellers... They are all fairly reputable, I can personally recommend 3 of the 4. Timeshare Store (sponsor of this thread), DVCbyResale and **********. The 4th player is Fidelity, but they charge an $195 administrative fee to buy, which the others dont charge.

Call any of the 3. They are all professional... and not high pressure sales - really.

The main cons with buying resale is time... it takes time to close as every deal must go thru DVCs right of first refusal (ROFR) (meaning DVC can step in the buyers shoes and buy the contract... leaving you - the buyer - having to start all over and find another contract to buy). ROFR can take upto 30 days. I was ROFRd twice in a row before I got a contract passed... so that chewed up a couple of months. Then again I was bidding aggressively, so I knew I was close to the line.

Read this thread to see what had been ROFRd and what has been passing: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1960185

There is closing costs to consider. They can be a few hundred dollars.

That said, you can save thousands going resale. I paid $67/pt at SSR vs approx $100 direct from DVC. Granted I had to wait 3 months to get my contract, but I was not in a rush, and it was worth the wait in my opinion.

Read these boards as you will get a good feel of the resale market here..

 

[DenLo]

You should always compare the cost of purchasing direct with buying resale. Sometimes Disney has great incentives and you don't have to wait so long to get your points. And when you add on direct there are no closing costs, so you are ahead a few hundred to start with. However, most of the time buying resale will save you money.

As silmarg stated in the above post, when you bid on a contract many things are negotiable. However, like us Disney wants a bargain too. If you check the ROFR thread, http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35806806&postcount=2272, you'll see that when the seller pays both the MF's and closing costs and the price per point is low then Disney usually ROFRs the contract. Sometimes buyers get the seller to pay either the closing cost or the MF's for last year's points and then sometimes Disney will waive ROFR. Problem is that we don't really know when and why Disney ROFRs a contract.

On our resale AKV contract through the TimeShare Store, it took us 54 days from initial bid until the points were in our DVC account. The length it takes to process a resale varies mainly because Disney has 30 days to ROFR and sometimes they take the 30 days and other times less. On our contract they waived ROFR on day 29.

I will say the waiting was agonizing. Everyday we asked is Disney going to ROFR us today?

Good luck.

 

[MK032197]

Time is not a major issue for us at this time. Was considering going through Timeshare Store. Will they advise if the selling price per point will amke it through ROFR and whether or not to try to negotiate who pays closing costs etc? Just seems like th ecost per paoint on many of these contracts is far less than going through Disney even with closing costs being added in.

 

[RobDoc]

If you want to have all of the points under the same membership, you will need to purchase a contract with the same Use Year as your original contract (the resort does not matter) and make sure the deed is titled exactly the same as your original contract. You should also inform DVC before closing that you want the contracts combined. There are certainly some benefits of having them all under one membership.

If you find a good resale contract with a different Use Year, I would not let that deter me from purchasing even though the contracts won't be combined. There are also benefits to having multiple Use Years especially if you travel during different times of the year.

Yes, the Timeshare Store will advise about what current ROFR levels might be.

Enjoy the process ... and Good luck!

 

[MK032197]

What is the difference if they are all as you say under 1 contract or if they are under 2 with different use years ie: pros and cons?

 

[RobDoc]

What is the difference if they are all as you say under 1 contract or if they are under 2 with different use years ie: pros and cons?

If they are all under one contract the points can be combined to reserve a single night - if they are from different memberships you would need to reserve a whole night from one contract - unless you transfer points between the memberships.

For example with multiple memberships, if you have 2 points remaining from membership "A" - you would not be able to reserve anything using those points unless they are combined with other points - either by borrowing or a transfer. If your contracts are combined under a single membership, the same 2 points can simply be combined with points from contract "B" to reserve a night.

We often have reservations made using points from 3 different memberships. These reservations will have at least 3 different confirmation numbers but MS will link them all together into one reservation/one check-in/one set of room keys.

Multiple memberships are very workable, but do add some additional accounting to track banking deadlines and to maximize the use of the points.

We currently have 3 different memberships - with 3 different Use Years - at 2 different resorts and have never had to transfer points between them and have never (knock-on-wood) lost any points. We usually just borrow points from the next UY when we have a few stranded points remaining in one membership. Until last year, we had 4 different memberships with 4 different Use Years.

 

[Connears]

We added on twice since original OKW 210 purchase in 1994. HHI in 2002(50pts) thru dvcbyresale and HHI last month via TSS(60pts). All have same use year so the contracts just have .something after the add ons. Both dompanies were wuick efficient and set out theprocess clearly and answere emails/calls quickly.

Connears