Riviera Resale Values

[princesscinderella]

My neighbor offer to sign over her mother’s festiva timeshare when her father passed away. I looked it up and it seemed like a hot mess. It’s saying something with some of these timeshare companies when your kids don’t want it and you can’t give it away. She ended up just surrendering it back to them.

 

[kboo]

Thanks for your input. My favorites are GF and BLT! With GF having fewer rooms, I worry about obtaining a room. Also, in terms of status, I was wondering if the value of having a blue vs non blue card should factor into my decision. BTW, RIV is beautiful! My thinking was buy RIV - get the blue card at that entry point, then I could use the points to stay at BLT or GF or RIV. Is this thinking flawed? Thanks..

VGF and BLT and RIV are our home resorts! Until the pandemic, we had always talked about using our points to "sleep around" but never did, until a few last minute trips (<7 mo) made us look around because our home resorts were no longer available - during the pandemic we booked, BWV, BCV, AKV. we have two later trips we booked at 11 months at our home resorts, and even though there's availability elsewhere, we are not planning to move.

I will add that:
VGF standard studios are a hot mess no matter the time of year you are trying to book. And Christmas 2021 was an absolute bloodbath in January - perhaps because a lot of people had banked points to burn. Christmas 2019 was challenging but I could have booked a 1br standard until around 11am on the 11mo-to-the-day. This year, not so much, everything (including preferred views) was booked at 8am on the day of, lots of stuff appeared to be being walked. It took about a week of stalking and waitlisting to get exactly what I wanted, but I managed to do it. So yes, even owners can get shut out of booking right at 11 months, but I have managed, with some persistence, to get everything I wanted, even if it's taken a day-by-day process. If you only want to stay VGF once in a while, you could get a preferred view or a 1br at other times of year within 7 months (e.g. mid-August, 5 mo out, you can get a few nights in a standard studio, and 1br and 2br standards have some decent availability).

BLT has the cheapest points and standard rooms cost the least points of all the MK resorts (except BRV), which make it a good value. BUT - studios are small so I'd want enough points to get a 1BR at least... (200-225). If you got BLT resale, you could still use those points to switch to VGF but it costs a lot of points.

With either BLT or VGF resale, if you wanted to stay at RIV you'd have to rent points or pay cash. When we bought RIV direct in the spring 2019, I was making the case to DH that we should get more BLT points so we could stay in 2br there when we brought family, but then RIV wasn't that much more per point, we didn't have to go through ROFR, and we got another home resort, so it worked for us. And in terms of ## of points, we could still use them at 7mo for BLT (still a good deal for near-park extended family trips). (VGF points are for VGF only! LOL)

 

[Brian Noble]

It’s saying something with some of these timeshare companies when your kids don’t want it and you can’t give it away.

Timeshare isn't for everyone, even if owning it gives you a great deal. It is an ongoing, regular commitment to paying for vacation lodging, and that's not something everyone wants. What's more, the lodging is only part of the story--and the only part for which owning delivers savings. You still have to get there, you still have to eat while you are there, and any entertainment expenses get added on as well.

This is one of the reasons I consistently advise people not to make purchase decisions based on passing it down to their kids. There's a good chance the kids won't want it, no matter what it is.

On the broader question about DVC vs. other timeshare systems, and how (and to whom) they are marketed: From where I sit, they have a lot more in common than they have differences. For starters, most timeshares are sold, not bought. Usually, it is an aspirational lifestyle purchase. It is wrapped in the guise of "saving money" but that's largely to give the buyer justification to make this aspirational purchase that they want because of the way it makes them feel.

DVC likes to position itself as very different from other timeshares. That itself is part of the brilliance of the sales pitch---"We know timeshare has a bad reputation, but we aren't like all those other things!" But, when you look under the hood, it really is just another timeshare.

 

[kboo]

My neighbor offer to sign over her mother’s festiva timeshare when her father passed away. I looked it up and it seemed like a hot mess. It’s saying something with some of these timeshare companies when your kids don’t want it and you can’t give it away. She ended up just surrendering it back to them.

My parents had some RCI timeshares that we used since the mid-80s and at the end we just let them go because it wasn't worth the MFs. But, we did get many years of happy family vacations. (I think they paid $25k back in 1983)

ETA: @Brian Noble, my sister, who lives in CA and has a more flexible work schedule, used my parents' RCI for short trips in CA for the last few years before we all decided it was more trouble than it was worth. I *think* MFs were around $2000 a year, and it was probably not worth that much by then.

 

[DougEMG]

Timeshare isn't for everyone, even if owning it gives you a great deal. It is an ongoing, regular commitment to paying for vacation lodging, and that's not something everyone wants. What's more, the lodging is only part of the story--and the only part for which owning delivers savings. You still have to get there, you still have to eat while you are there, and any entertainment expenses get added on as well.

This is one of the reasons I consistently advise people not to make purchase decisions based on passing it down to their kids. There's a good chance the kids won't want it, no matter what it is.

On the broader question about DVC vs. other timeshare systems, and how (and to whom) they are marketed: From where I sit, they have a lot more in common than they have differences. For starters, most timeshares are sold, not bought. Usually, it is an aspirational lifestyle purchase. It is wrapped in the guise of "saving money" but that's largely to give the buyer justification to make this aspirational purchase that they want because of the way it makes them feel.

DVC likes to position itself as very different from other timeshares. That itself is part of the brilliance of the sales pitch---"We know timeshare has a bad reputation, but we aren't like all those other things!" But, when you look under the hood, it really is just another timeshare.

Other than the higher resale value and 50 year contract.

 

[bmcd1998]

Hi all,

Given the resale restrictions, but taking into account the increasing purchase costs, what’s the view of the resale values at Riviera in 10, 15, 20 or 25 years time?

Just bought a 250 point June use year for $132/pt. Market is about $140 or so right now March 2021.

 

[CP3uhoh]

 

[Sandisw]

I think we are seeing the impact of the resort itself and people willing to have points to stay exclusively there!

It still does amaze me!

 

[bmcd1998]

Breaks my heart to hear this, but I have accepted offers on a 300 and a 250 point contract at RR and the closing on one is slightly delayed because “the seller needs to send in funds to close”.

 

[princesscinderella]

Breaks my heart to hear this, but I have accepted offers on a 300 and a 250 point contract at RR and the closing on one is slightly delayed because “the seller needs to send in funds to close”.

That’s sad to hear. I feel like any contracts that are listed for RIV right now are most likely underwater and they are just looking to get out. There’s definitely going to be a loss on selling for a while the question is how big, especially if it was financed.

 

[Bjaiken77]

Yeah, I feel like Riviera resale right now is double sad. The person who stands to benefit the most from the direct purchase is out within a year. That can’t feel good to take such a hit. And the buyer has a 49-50 resort where they can only book at Riviera.

I guess the bright side is the people selling right now aren’t taking as big of a bath as many thought. And the buyer, as long as they are able to book at Riviera, are getting a really nice resort.

 

[Mkaiser1]

I guess that 50 point one selling at $159 is a very small contract which will lift the value.

For us, I know how much it would’ve cost to book our Christmas holiday in Riviera and if we had to sell our contract for any reason and managed to achieve $140/point, we’d have still saved money after just one holiday. We’d been looking at DVC for years and given COVID, we decided to book a once in a lifetime holiday in Riv, at Christmas, for almost 2 weeks, in a GV. That would’ve cost us more than buying into DVC and then selling should we have to, but we won’t sell (unless/until something unforeseen happens in our lives).

I’m so glad we made the decision to buy into DVC regardless of the resort.

And you guys on DisBoards, Jen Leforge, Pete Warner and co etc etc all make it feel like such a lovely community to be a part of. We know we are lucky and fortunate to be in a position to do it and don’t take for granted and intend to make the absolute most of it for years to come.

 

[Spark65]

I have been extremely busy with work and missed out on all the latest goings on. I am curious what happened to all the naysayers with respect to RIV saying it would never be worth over $100 for resale and what a bad decision to buy it direct was. Did any of them ever acquiescence to the data?

They seem to be pretty quiet now? Asking for a friend!

 

[Sandisw]

I have been extremely busy with work and missed out on all the latest goings on. I am curious what happened to all the naysayers with respect to RIV saying it would never be worth over $100 for resale and what a bad decision to buy it direct was. Did any of them ever acquiescence to the data?

They seem to be pretty quiet now? Asking for a friend!

I have raised my hand quite a bit and have no problem saying how wrong I was!

I went from no way, never, even at $50/point to buying 175 direct and even paid $152/pt resale for another 125!

I know I paid on the high side but it was exactly what I was getting ready to purchase direct, so took the $6k savings,

It has done so much better than most of us predicted. The resort sells itself!

 

[RivShore]

I have been extremely busy with work and missed out on all the latest goings on. I am curious what happened to all the naysayers with respect to RIV saying it would never be worth over $100 for resale and what a bad decision to buy it direct was. Did any of them ever acquiescence to the data?

They seem to be pretty quiet now? Asking for a friend!

I too have been less active on the site but wondered the same.

I suspect the hardcore Never Riviera's would say that there still are not enough resale data points and that the market, in general, is just crazy now and their dire predictions will come true some day.

 

[mrsclark]

Does Disney disclose in large print the resale restrictions or is it buried in the legal documents? In other words if you are on vacation, go take a tour of RIV not really knowing anything (or much) about DVC would you be informed about the resale restriction during the process of purchasing? Or would you just be told that your purchase entitles YOU to book at RIV plus the legacy properties? Sorry if this has already been asked and answered before!

 

[RamblinWreck]

I too have been less active on the site but wondered the same.

I suspect the hardcore Never Riviera's would say that there still are not enough resale data points and that the market, in general, is just crazy now and their dire predictions will come true some day.

I would think at this point it appears as if the opposite is true.

If purchasers of these super restricted resale contracts are willing to shell out $151 per point on Riviera on average (https://www.dvcresalemarket.com/blog/dvc-resale-average-sales-prices-for-june-2021/), even while competing with direct sales that had incentives running at that time which drove direct prices well below $200 per point.... how much are people going to be willing to pay when the resort sells out and direct Riviera points are listed at $250 per point?

 

[rubybutt]

Does Disney disclose in large print the resale restrictions or is it buried in the legal documents? In other words if you are on vacation, go take a tour of RIV not really knowing anything (or much) about DVC would you be informed about the resale restriction during the process of purchasing? Or would you just be told that your purchase entitles YOU to book at RIV plus the legacy properties? Sorry if this has already been asked and answered before!

It was bolded and made clear in the contract if you even did a little reading. I don't know about the local sales people, but there is no way to not see it in the contract.

 

[kboo]

I have raised my hand quite a bit and have no problem saying how wrong I was!

I went from no way, never, even at $50/point to buying 175 direct and even paid $152/pt resale for another 125!

I know I paid on the high side but it was exactly what I was getting ready to purchase direct, so took the $6k savings,

It has done so much better than most of us predicted. The resort sells itself!

I went from "I could pick up a resale contract at ~$100/pp to use for RIV only stays, if I see availability issues at 7mo" to trying to persuade my DH that buying ~200 points RIV direct was worth the $5000+ more than buying restricted BLT resale, to my DH upping our buy to 250 points. Then we toured the RIV GV on our last trip and now I wish I'd bought more RIV points... I'm also really glad we didn't wait for RIV resale...

Knowing what we all know now, if you could turn back time and buy RIV (more) direct at $165 or less, would you?

 

[RamblinWreck]

It was bolded and made clear in the contract if you even did a little reading. I don't know about the local sales people, but there is no way to not see it in the contract.

There's no way they are telling anyone about it.

They don't want you to know that these things can be resold or that a resale market even exists.