Purchasing new vs resale

[HolRae]

what are the perks that you lose by purchasing resale instead of direct thru Disney?

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Perks shouldn't be your first question. Aside from the real estate interest, no perks are contractually guaranteed life of contract.

First question: is there a time of year you typically travel?
Second question: what is your typical travel party? How big a unit will you book?
Third question: is there a specific resort you want to stay at more often than others?

If, for instance, your answers are fall/2BR/BLT, buying direct is a terrible idea even if you care about the present perks, because you would need to be buying an all-studios resort (Poly), and your chances of swapping at 7 months in fall to BLT are not good. And buying BLT direct would cost you at least 30% more than resale, which is considerable when buying 2BR-class points.

The workaround is to buy the bulk of points resale, and after you have purchased and closed resale, add 25 points direct.

Current "direct" perks are access to AP Gold, member events, the member cruise and the Epcot Lounge. Resale points cannot be used for non-DVC Disney properties (a terrible value) or cruises (a terrible value), but can be exchanged for RCI. All owners have access to the Top of The World Lounge at Bay Lake Tower.

 

[HolRae]

We generally do a week in sept/oct for food and wine and/or a week in early February. For the fall week we like to stay Epcot resort. Looking at BW as home resort. Buying resale I could get a lot more points for the same price. I was just wondering if the perks were worth buying direct. Do the merchandise and food discounts apply to both options?

 

[Denise W]

We generally do a week in sept/oct for food and wine and/or a week in early February. For the fall week we like to stay Epcot resort. Looking at BW as home resort. Buying resale I could get a lot more points for the same price. I was just wondering if the perks were worth buying direct. Do the merchandise and food discounts apply to both options?

Have you done a search on these boards? There have been many, many threads discussing what benefits are available. You should be able to find your information easily.
Denise

 

[_auroraborealis_]

We generally do a week in sept/oct for food and wine and/or a week in early February. For the fall week we like to stay Epcot resort. Looking at BW as home resort. Buying resale I could get a lot more points for the same price. I was just wondering if the perks were worth buying direct. Do the merchandise and food discounts apply to both options?

It is very hard to make the discounts worth $40-80 per point. Very hard indeed.

 

[ziravan]

edited below with updated info.

 

[CMNJ]

I think BWV is up to at least $160 pp direct

 

[_auroraborealis_]

$165 for BWV direct. It is insane. It is also why I say it is very hard to make the "member benefits!!!" worth it. $60+ per point? For every 100 points, that is $6k or more. That is a lot of needed discount, or a lot of value placed on Cheez-Its.

 

[CMNJ]

It's crazy-it went from $130 pp direct to $165 pp in just over 2 yrs

 

[ziravan]

Wow. $160 as of 1/27/17 seems ... excessive.

Numbers rerun:

Let's say you want 150 BWV points that can be found for $95/pt resale and I believe now $160 direct,

I'm going to stipulate $300 per closing cost. YMMV.

150 direct BWV points: (150x$160 + $300 closing): $24,300

150 resale BWV points: (150x$95 + $300 closing): 14,550

125 resale BWV points (125x$95 + 300) plus 25 direct for perks (25x$160 plus 300): $16,475

So, if perks interest you, they can be had for about $2000 more instead of $10,000 more.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Wow. $160 as of 1/27/17 seems ... excessive.

Numbers rerun:

Let's say you want 150 BWV points that can be found for $95/pt resale and I believe now $160 direct,

I'm going to stipulate $300 per closing cost. YMMV.

150 direct BWV points: (150x$160 + $300 closing): $24,300

150 resale BWV points: (150x$95 + $300 closing): 14,550

125 resale BWV points (125x$95 + 300) plus 25 direct for perks (25x$160 plus 300): $16,475

So, if perks interest you, they can be had for about $2000 more instead of $10,000 more.

I know. It is INSANE.

 

[disneynutz]

DVD has to charge more to pay for the free gummy bears in the member lounge and renting out the parks for private parities.

Bill

 

[ScubaCat]

DVD has to charge more to pay for the free gummy bears in the member lounge and renting out the parks for private parities.

Bill

But they use actual fairy dust in the gummy bears. (...as I trip over the carpet coming up where there should have been a t-molding in my renovated villa.)

 

[DenLo]

When buying resale after 4/4/16, currently you lose, any DVC discounts related to purchases at Disney owned shops and dining, annual passes, eligibility to attend Moonlight Magic events and use DVC member lounge in Epcot. There is a large list of them.

However, the advice above is quite true. Your savings by purchasing resale would pay for years of annual dues depending on how many points you purchase, it could be a significant number of years--10 to 15.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

And at a resort like BWV, with only 25 years left, paying dues for 10-15 years is a significant piece of that contract.

 

[Wakey]

And looking at the comptrollers' website many of these direct contracts are being bought with large percentage mortgages from Disney. At the interest rate charged this is another huge money spinner for them. So many people have to borrow the cash and buy direct at these prices, probably oblivious to there even being a resale market. I'm struggling to see how they could hope to make a return on investment at these prices and paying all that interest, but we will see.......

 

[disneynutz]

We don't expect to get any return on our DVC ownership. Some contracts we make money on but some we lose. In the past the market has been up and down. It won't take much for the economy to reset to the days where Disney was giving free cruises if you bought direct.

Bill

 

[Wakey]

We don't expect to get any return on our DVC ownership. Some contracts we make money on but some we lose. In the past the market has been up and down. It won't take much for the economy to reset to the days where Disney was giving free cruises if you bought direct.

Bill

I just bought myself but resale. When I say return, I mean save money compared to renting points.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I just bought myself but resale. When I say return, I mean save money compared to renting points.

While, arguably, there is value to controlling your own points and not relying on finding a renter with the right resort and number of points when you need them, the direct pricing for the 2042 resorts is beginning to flirt with current rental pricing using simple cost-per-point-per-year calculation.

BWV has 25 years. At $165, that's $6.60 per point per year. Current dues are $6.4725, so present cost per point per year is $13.07. Renting OUT those points in home resort via a broker recoups that, before paying taxes on the income. Renting those same points is $15-16.50 per point.

As the contract gets shorter, it will be cheaper to rent.

 

[Dean]

what are the perks that you lose by purchasing resale instead of direct thru Disney?

You lose the ability to trade for cash type exchanges like DCL, other Disney hotels, concierge and ABD. You also lose the discounts like on the AP & Gold passes. None of those are worth buying direct for. ASAMOF, the cash exchanges will cost you more than buying less points and paying cash in essentially every instance. The other discounts are nice but not worth buying retail for the full contract if that's the only motivation. For small (50 or less) retail is often worth considering, otherwise it depends on the spread. For resorts you can buy at a significant discount, buying resale plus 25 retail is often the best call and can be planned up front if one is aware. For those that are not available at a significant discount, one has to ask themselves whether they are worth it. They are only for those that can afford to simply pay more for those options and will use the points almost exclusively at the home resort.