Question about buying direct

[Dreaming of Main St]

Seeing all of the stripped BLT contracts for resale has made me start to think a little more about buying direct. We want to travel next spring so we'd want to have points available for that trip. If we bought direct with a Feb use year, I know we would receive 2011 points, but would we also receive 2010 points? I keep seeing references to that, but I'm not sure. Also, would we pay maintenance fees on those points?

Also, is it best to call the 800 number to get assigned a guide? Should I request someone? I think the guide we talked to 3 years ago has since left. We may be going to Doorway to Dreams in NY for a tour. Would it be best to call them directly?

Thank you!!!

 

[River Country]

I just became a DVC member a few days agao and we bought direct on WDW. They were selling BLT SSR and AKL. I bought 160 at SSR direct and with a December use year and they gave me 2010 points and pr rated the maintenance. Pays to buuy direct IMO

 

[RachaelA]

I don't think you would receive 2010 points with a February use year because its already over. We bought with a December use year and got December 2010 points because the use year for them isn't over yet. We were given the option of June, September, October, and December (I think it was just the 4) if we wanted 2010 points.

You pay prorated maintenance fees for 2011.

We just bought on Saturday from Doorway to Dreams in IL.

 

[vicki_c]

I don't think you would receive 2010 points with a February use year because its already over. We bought with a December use year and got December 2010 points because the use year for them isn't over yet. We were given the option of June, September, October, and December (I think it was just the 4) if we wanted 2010 points.

This is correct - you only get those points if the use year is still on-going.

 

[chalee94]

I bought 160 at SSR direct and with a December use year and they gave me 2010 points and pr rated the maintenance.

you could have bought a similar contract resale for around $55-$65 per point, including the full complement of 2010 pts with maintenance fees being negotiable...

you would lose the ability to trade out for disney hotels and cruises but those trades are usually a poor value to begin with.

 

[palaemon]

you could have bought a similar contract resale for around $55-$65 per point, including the full complement of 2010 pts with maintenance fees being negotiable...

you would lose the ability to trade out for disney hotels and cruises but those trades are usually a poor value to begin with.

Not to mention there is a $95 fee just for making the "trade out." If you change anything about the reservation - another $95. Once you use points this way, they become "reservation points." If you cancel - even within your banking period, the points remain "reservation points."

Once points are in the "Reservation" pool, they cannot be banked. Also, if a reservation is cancelled which uses Reservation points, they do not return to the Active pool and thus can only be used for non-DVC reservations, and can no longer be used for RCI exchanges. They expire at the end of the Use Year. Cancellations within a certain time period may result in other penalties, like point forfeiture.

Bad Joo Joo

 

[NatashaDisneyCM]

I just became a DVC member a few days agao and we bought direct on WDW. They were selling BLT SSR and AKL. I bought 160 at SSR direct and with a December use year and they gave me 2010 points and pr rated the maintenance. Pays to buuy direct IMO

I just bought the same thing!! only difference, I am a CM...discount!

 

[Dreaming of Main St]

Thank you for the info. I may consider a December use year. Still not really sure what will work best for us.

Thanks!

 

[JimMIA]

Just keep in mind that whatever points you receive purchasing direct are NOT gifts! You get 2010 points if you are buying during the 2010 UY for that contract.

So, for example, if you bought an October UY, you would be buying the Oct 2010 points, and you would have those to use or bank. DVC is not giving you anything, unless you are past your banking deadline and they give you an extension.

Maintenance fees (dues) have nothing to do with Use Year. They are the costs of operating your home resort for the CALENDAR year. You will pay those pro-rated from the date you close through 12/31 of that year...if you buy direct. With resales, dues are negotiable.

 

[mjc2003]

I just became a DVC member a few days agao and we bought direct on WDW. They were selling BLT SSR and AKL. I bought 160 at SSR direct and with a December use year and they gave me 2010 points and pr rated the maintenance. Pays to buuy direct IMO

They didn't give you the 2010 points, you are halfway through your 2010 UY. Whether or not it pays to buy direct is subject to debate; I bought a resale and closed after April first but the contract was an April UY. The previous owner banked the points, so I was "given" the 2010 points. If I had bought direct, I would not have gotten those points. So those 200 points got me an extra week vacation and my cost was $7200 less than buying direct. In my case, it paid to NOT buy direct. Many resale contracts include banked points and if these are UY's that have flipped into 2011, you will get points via resale that you would not get direct; and for less money. So, it's really an individual decision. To me, the only "benefit" of buying direct is simply that you don't have to wait two months to access the points.

Just keep in mind that whatever points you receive purchasing direct are NOT gifts! You get 2010 points if you are buying during the 2010 UY for that contract.

So, for example, if you bought an October UY, you would be buying the Oct 2010 points, and you would have those to use or bank. DVC is not giving you anything, unless you are past your banking deadline and they give you an extension.

Amazes me how many people think they are being given something under these scenarios. I guess there is a lot to be said for smooth selling.

 

[Dreaming of Main St]

I do realize that 2010 points wouldn't be a "gift." I'm just trying to weigh the benefits of buying a stripped resale contract vs. buying direct. Having 2010 and 2011 points would allow me to take our next vacation using points alone rather than paying cash for half of it. Buying direct would also allow me to book at 11 months for this trip and be more likely to be able to book what we want at BLT so that's another small benefit to me. And, yes, I know I'm buying into many years, not just my next trip. I'm undecided which is best, still need to do the math and look at all of the positives/negatives.

If I was buying SSR, I wouldn't even be thinking about buying direct. But, with BLT the cost savings gap is a bit smaller so I'm just looking at all of my options.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Kidanifan08]

Buying direct from DVC for BLT does not seem to be as big of a difference from resale as the other resorts. If you desire points immediately, this is definitely the way to go. Based on another unofficial DVC website, the current incentive is $10 per point discount for 160 - 219 points ($140 - $10 = $130). There is an additional $10 off per point with a referral from a current DVC member. So, compared to resale, you could be paying as low as $20 per point more by buying direct, and you don't have to go through the average 60 day waiting process of resale. Of course, on a 160 point contract, thats at least a $3200 difference, but then you get all the benefits of buying direct.

If you were thinking of any other resort, then resale would be the way to go, but the margin with BLT is much smaller.

Good luck with you decision!

Disclaimer: I do not work for DVC and my most recent purchase was a resale. I am currently waiting on a ROFR decision on another resale. Our original purchase was direct.

 

[RachaelA]

I do realize that 2010 points wouldn't be a "gift." I'm just trying to weigh the benefits of buying a stripped resale contract vs. buying direct. Having 2010 and 2011 points would allow me to take our next vacation using points alone rather than paying cash for half of it. Buying direct would also allow me to book at 11 months for this trip and be more likely to be able to book what we want at BLT so that's another small benefit to me. And, yes, I know I'm buying into many years, not just my next trip. I'm undecided which is best, still need to do the math and look at all of the positives/negatives.

If I was buying SSR, I wouldn't even be thinking about buying direct. But, with BLT the cost savings gap is a bit smaller so I'm just looking at all of my options.

Thanks for the advice.

We had to make the same decision last week and ultimately decided to buy BLT direct from Disney. I didn't want to deal with resale and I wanted 2010 points (most contracts we saw were stripped). I know some people have no problems with resale, but I wasn't going to risk it. So I totally understand where you are coming from!

ETA: Plus we bought 220 which gave us an even bigger discount incentive so the gap between direct and resale got even smaller.

 

[dbs1228]

I don't blame you with BLT, do the math and weigh out your options. We added on direct vs. resale (BLT) about a year ago because we were able to split the contract into 2 smaller contracts, no closing cost from DVD at the time and the price difference was about 300.00 oh yea and I got my Aug UY. With that being said I did buy 2 resale SSR contracts. The contract we just closed on was 5500.00 less then direct and came with 2009, 2010 and 2011 points! We only paid MF for the remainder of 2011.



Good luck

 

[dbs1228]

We had to make the same decision last week and ultimately decided to buy BLT direct from Disney. I didn't want to deal with resale and I wanted 2010 points (most contracts we saw were stripped). I know some people have no problems with resale, but I wasn't going to risk it. So I totally understand where you are coming from!

ETA: Plus we bought 220 which gave us an even bigger discount incentive so the gap between direct and resale got even smaller.

If you have not closed on this contract I would consider breaking the 220 points into 2 - 110 point contracts. Down the road you may decide it is more then you need or you like a different resort , whatever, 110 points will sell quicker, and for a slightly higher price.

 

[mjc2003]

One other thing to consider with the Feb UY is, even if you had the 2010 points they would not work for a trip next spring. They'd expire Jan 31, 2012.

I noticed a Fidelity resale contract, Feb UY with 160 points and 160 banked, for 320 current, and thought that would be a good fit (at $93 per point!), but you'd lose the banked points if your trip is in the spring of 2012.

That's still a nice looking contract.

 

[Chowmainia]

ETA: Plus we bought 220 which gave us an even bigger discount incentive so the gap between direct and resale got even smaller.

I myself am interested in purchasing approx 220 points from BLT and up until now, I was pretty sure I was going to purchase resale. I am surprised to read that the difference between direct and resale may not be that substantial. I recently looked at a 2011 BLT financing chart which is selling BLT at $140/point via direct but a quick look at resales show BLT is selling from anywhere between $93-100/point (and as i understand it, much of that can be negotiated down). So from first glance, it looks like there is at minimum $40/point difference between resale vs direct and hence a difference of at least $8800 for a 220 point purchase. I realize "substantial" is a subjective term, however, $8800 seems like a significant amount of money to me.

Are there other discount incentives that I am not aware of which can offset this $8800 difference even more?

 

[mdsd8700]

I myself am interested in purchasing approx 220 points from BLT and up until now, I was pretty sure I was going to purchase resale. I am surprised to read that the difference between direct and resale may not be that substantial. I recently looked at a 2011 BLT financing chart which is selling BLT at $140/point via direct but a quick look at resales show BLT is selling from anywhere between $93-100/point (and as i understand it, much of that can be negotiated down). So from first glance, it looks like there is at minimum $40/point difference between resale vs direct and hence a difference of at least $8800 for a 220 point purchase. I realize "substantial" is a subjective term, however, $8800 seems like a significant amount of money to me.

Are there other discount incentives that I am not aware of which can offset this $8800 difference even more?

DVC News generally has he best up to date promotions going on. This is the link:

http://dvcnews.com/index.php/dvc-program/financial/pricing-a-promotions

You can currently get still get the $130 per point price with some additional savings depedning on the number of points you purchase. There is also the "bonus" trip being offered, but it really isn't much of a bonus and the cash offer is better.

Promotions do change so it is always best to check with a guide to see if anything has been updated or revised.

Good Luck!

 

[dbs1228]

I myself am interested in purchasing approx 220 points from BLT and up until now, I was pretty sure I was going to purchase resale. I am surprised to read that the difference between direct and resale may not be that substantial. I recently looked at a 2011 BLT financing chart which is selling BLT at $140/point via direct but a quick look at resales show BLT is selling from anywhere between $93-100/point (and as i understand it, much of that can be negotiated down). So from first glance, it looks like there is at minimum $40/point difference between resale vs direct and hence a difference of at least $8800 for a 220 point purchase. I realize "substantial" is a subjective term, however, $8800 seems like a significant amount of money to me.

Are there other discount incentives that I am not aware of which can offset this $8800 difference even more?

I agree and do your math incentives come and go! When I added on 1 year ago I got a discount for doing a webcast and got BLT points for 108.00pp no closing cost, resale for same contract was 101.00pp plus 450.00 closing cost
which was more like 105.50 pp, so for me direct was the way to go. If I could get a resale BLT in the high 80.00's low 90.00's with at least current year points that is the way to go!

 

[dbs1228]

One other thing to consider with the Feb UY is, even if you had the 2010 points they would not work for a trip next spring. They'd expire Jan 31, 2012.

I noticed a Fidelity resale contract, Feb UY with 160 points and 160 banked, for 320 current, and thought that would be a good fit (at $93 per point!), but you'd lose the banked points if your trip is in the spring of 2012.

That's still a nice looking contract.

The nice thing about this contract is you could rent the banked points and have 1600.00 - 1900.00 to put against the price of the contract, bringing the price point down to 83.00pp plus closing. BLT points rent from 10.00 - 12.00pp.