Renting and resale from Disney

[skoi]

We're in the very early stages of just thinking about buying into DVC. My husband has finally come around to the "I'll look at some information" stage. He had been planning to do all our vacations through Shades of Green, but even their prices are going up, and we do hope he'll get promoted out of the affordable price range someday!

We might have a lot of questions in the future, and have already found this board a great source of info, so thanks all for that.

Question: For those who rent points, is it hard to "get rid" of them? Are you usually successful, or do you find yourself unable to rent your points?

Question 2: If we want to buy into an "older" resort, can we do this through Disney, and do we have to buy the minimum 150 points if we buy through Disney?

Question 3: If you want to add on later and buy these additional points through Disney, can you buy points in any increments, or is there a set number you must purchase?

I hope questions 2 and 3 make sense.

Thanks,

Julie

 

[PamOKW]

Your questions make perfect sense.

Disney has very limited availability of the older resorts that have already sold-out. Sometimes points become available to sell either as add-ons or as new contracts. I'm not sure how many (if any) new contracts they sell. You would have to purchase a minimum of 150 points when buying through Disney as your initial purchase.

The minimum for an add-on when paying cash is 25 points. If you want to finance through Disney, you must purchase a minimum of 50 points. However, once you've met the minimum you can purchase any amount -- 26 if you are paying cash for example.

Sorry I can't provide insight into the renting question.

 

[lacool]

In the interest of strengthening your position in your discussions with your husband, I'd like to address a couple of questions you didn't ask -- Why would anyone with access to SoG want to buy DVC? and If we are interested in a resort that Disney isn't selling directly, is it safe to buy a resale?

We've stayed in SoG, and while the rooms are large by Disney standards, the theme and decor (at least pre-rennovation) pale in comparison to Disney's other offerings. Additionally, the availability of 1 and 2 bedroom units through DVC is heaven if you have to share the room with kids....and don't forget the Jacuzzi!

We were really interested in buying at the BW, but it was not available through Disney at the time. I was terrified to buy through a resale broker, because I hold so much trust in the Disney name. But researching these boards I discovered that plenty of folks have bought resale, and aside from having to wait some extra weeks for closing, have had very good experiences. We bought through Jaki at atimeshare.com and I can't say enough good things about the experience.

I'm sorry I can't answer your first question either. We've been members since December, and I have yet to have points that I don't want to use myself! Good Luck!

 

[JOC]

Question: For those who rent points, is it hard to "get rid" of them? Are you usually successful, or do you find yourself unable to rent your points?

If you know in advance that you won't be able to use your points for that year, or you just want to rent your points for whatever reason, you shouldn't have a problem renting. You can either post a "For Rent" thread, or respond to someone who's looking to rent points, as there are always people wanting to rent on the Rent/Trade forum.

If you wait until the last minute to rent your points though, you may have to have a "fire sale" in order to recoup at least a little bit of money.

I rented some points out to pay for our cruise because my resale came with banked points that I needed to use up. Renting points can be time consuming as people want you to check on availability for their dates, and sometimes when you get back to them they either say they changed their mind or they rented from someone else already. I was in no rush to rent though, and I eventually rented my points out, to some great people I might add!

 

[Cruelladeville]

I started with 170 pts which I purchased in 1997, thinking that I would have plenty of points for two adults. Then my kids decided that they would love to come with Mom and Dad since we bought into BWV. It wasn't enough points, and now we are at 700 points, which is enough for 3 good trips, which we don't always take, so we rent every other year. This year we had about 250 pts to rent, and we have rented about 400, all in about a week. I also had 2 people who were each looking for 300 pts, which I could not accommodate, so no, it's not hard to rent your points. The hardest part is spending so much time on your computer, which is worse than a root canal, sometimes.

 

[skoi]

Thanks to everyone for the responses!

We haven't actually used SOG yet-- just the CR through SOG so we have no idea what it's like. DH's biggest worry is that we won't "get our money's worth" because he doesn't want to go to Disney every year (we do), and from what I've read trading to other resorts is a waste of points, so the rental issue is key for us. If there were a decent chance of renting enough points to cover the fees in the years we didn't go, he'd be good to go, or at least halfway convinced that it's not a nutty thing to do.

He'd like to go with OKW because it's the cheapest. I thought that perhaps those points might be harder to trade, maybe less in demand than other places? My first choice would be BC. We're also looking to start out with a small number and adding on if we need them. I've been reading a lot about Disney buying back points on resale, and I figured they were turning around and reselling them to people like us who came late to the table

I've been wanting to buy DVC since we took our dd to DW in 1997, dh didn't even want to hear it back then, but he's warming up to the idea slowly but surely. Maybe we'll check it out on the way to our cruise (first ever) this fall. Poor guy, has been on Disney related vacations every year for the last three years.

Thanks again, any other thoughts/advice would still be welcome.

Julie