Sell one resort and Buy another?

[hag7]

We are currently Saratoga members and typically go to DVC resort every Christmas (actually 10 days prior). It appears we will never get in to VWL and some of the other resorts due to the time of travel and size of resort. Has anyone sold in one resort and bought in to another? I am weighing the idea of selling STS and buying 100 VWL points and 50 OKW (our 2 favorites). Wondering if anyone has done this and what the trade-offs are. How much are closing costs? Through Disney or Timeshare resale? Obviously I have 2054 vs. 2042 to grapple with. It appears that I could sell STS for $80-$85 a point on resale and buy the others for the same or less. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[3DisneyKids]

We have similar thoughts. I absolutely LOVE SSR, but there is almost no need to have the 11-month advantage there. With it being so huge, we feel that we can likely stay there whenever we choose, so home court advantage there is meaningless. (We have yet to need a GV, though.)

We already own at AKV...so the decision would be to buy more AKV points or pick up some BCV points. We bought SSR for about $75 pp, so we would be selling it at a profit...though the BCV points would still cost more. Also, there is the issue of expiration. BCV (unless an extension is offered similar to OKW) will start to flatten out in a couple years (from a financial standpoint) due to the shorter contract.

 

[DisneyKidds]

I had run some figures on possibly selling our BWV contract to pick up a BCV contract......and the numbers didn't work out so well. Between paying a commission on the sale, incremental cost for the points (BCV points cost more than BWV points on the resale market), and paying closing costs on the purchase I figured we'd be throwing close to $3,000 down the drain. I'd rather take that $3,000 and put it toward an add on. We might spend a little more money that way, but at least we'd be getting something for it and not throwing it away on commissions and such.

 

[johde]

Right now, I think Disney is selling OKW contracts with the new 2057 expiration. If you want the extra years on at least some of your points you could buy your OKW points from them.

 

[crisi]

I wouldn't bother for OKW - like SSR it is a fairly large resort - unless you are looking towards using it for Grand Villas. Try your luck with OKW in December - I suspect that won't be an issue.

You may wish to pick up enough VWL points (or rent points from a VWL, then rent out your SSR points) to do the occational early December trip if that is important to you - that will be a much more difficult reservation to secure at seven months - although if you call right at seven months, day by day, and use the waitlist - you may luck out. You could pick up all 150 as VWL points - if the OKW thing does pan out and there is seven month availability - that would keep you from needing to manage two contracts.

 

[Stitch 03]

I am in the process of selling a small OKW contract and picking up a larger BWV contract. An increase in 40 points will cost me about $4,750 or about $119 per point. Hardly cost effective.

The reason I decided to do it was that there were some intangibles:

1) I get home resort advantage at BWV which is one of my favorite resorts.
2) The exchange simplifys my DVC membership as the OKW contract that I am selling has a different use year then my other contracts. The BWV contract has the same use year thereby consolidating my memberships from 2 to 1.

Note - my costs may be slightly higher as I am subject to 10% withholding taxes on the sale of my OKW contract.

 

[hag7]

We have similar thoughts. I absolutely LOVE SSR, but there is almost no need to have the 11-month advantage there. With it being so huge, we feel that we can likely stay there whenever we choose, so home court advantage there is meaningless. (We have yet to need a GV, though.)

We already own at AKV...so the decision would be to buy more AKV points or pick up some BCV points. We bought SSR for about $75 pp, so we would be selling it at a profit...though the BCV points would still cost more. Also, there is the issue of expiration. BCV (unless an extension is offered similar to OKW) will start to flatten out in a couple years (from a financial standpoint) due to the shorter contract.

I agree- based on what I saw you could get $80-$85 pp. Just don' know the costs of closing, commission, etc.

 

[hag7]

I had run some figures on possibly selling our BWV contract to pick up a BCV contract......and the numbers didn't work out so well. Between paying a commission on the sale, incremental cost for the points (BCV points cost more than BWV points on the resale market), and paying closing costs on the purchase I figured we'd be throwing close to $3,000 down the drain. I'd rather take that $3,000 and put it toward an add on. We might spend a little more money that way, but at least we'd be getting something for it and not throwing it away on commissions and such.

Thanks for the input. I am trying to crunch numbers too, but don't know enough about it. Is commission a %? Do you know how much? Does it vary b/w Disney and Timeshare store or others? How much are closing costs? A %?

 

[hag7]

I wouldn't bother for OKW - like SSR it is a fairly large resort - unless you are looking towards using it for Grand Villas. Try your luck with OKW in December - I suspect that won't be an issue.

You may wish to pick up enough VWL points (or rent points from a VWL, then rent out your SSR points) to do the occational early December trip if that is important to you - that will be a much more difficult reservation to secure at seven months - although if you call right at seven months, day by day, and use the waitlist - you may luck out. You could pick up all 150 as VWL points - if the OKW thing does pan out and there is seven month availability - that would keep you from needing to manage two contracts.

Good point. Thanks. We have stayed at OKW two other times at pre-Christmas and it was no problem. Just love the extra space and grown up landscaping. Not sure I want to get into renting management--makes me a little nervous. 2042 vs. 2054 is the only con for the VWL points right now, plus we will be staying there for first time in May and want to make sure it is a fit. It looks great online for Mom/Dad, but the 3 kids would love BCV probably. We all loved OKW. I guess I could split VWL / BCV 2/3 , 1/3.....

 

[hag7]

I am in the process of selling a small OKW contract and picking up a larger BWV contract. An increase in 40 points will cost me about $4,750 or about $119 per point. Hardly cost effective.

The reason I decided to do it was that there were some intangibles:

1) I get home resort advantage at BWV which is one of my favorite resorts.
2) The exchange simplifys my DVC membership as the OKW contract that I am selling has a different use year then my other contracts. The BWV contract has the same use year thereby consolidating my memberships from 2 to 1.

Note - my costs may be slightly higher as I am subject to 10% withholding taxes on the sale of my OKW contract.

I understand your thought process. Our main priority is that after trying OKW, STS, BCV and touring VWL (first stay in May), STS would be last of the bunch and since we always go at Christmas our choices will be limited. When we bought STS we were never made aware I could buy a) smaller contracts and b) other resorts (at least I don't recall, and I don't blame DVC for not highlighting). Just out of curiousity what does it cost out of pocket to sell and re-buy (closing, commission etc.), and why the witholding tax? How did you find out on that?

Thanks

 

[bbangel]

and why the witholding tax? How did you find out on that?

Thanks

The withholding tax is charged to people who are not US residents. You will not be charged this tax.

 

[Stitch 03]

Closing costs are about $400 and commission is about 10%. The 10% withholding is for 'foreign investment withholding tax' that is assessed on non-US citizens.

The other hidden cost, which I have not put a value to, is the cashflow impact. This impact arises from purchasing one contract, but having to wait an undetermined amount of time for the other contract to sell. It is a small contract so I am hoping it will sell in a month or two.

 

[Fellowship9798]

I understand your thought process. Our main priority is that after trying OKW, STS, BCV and touring VWL (first stay in May), STS would be last of the bunch and since we always go at Christmas our choices will be limited. When we bought STS we were never made aware I could buy a) smaller contracts and b) other resorts (at least I don't recall, and I don't blame DVC for not highlighting). Just out of curiousity what does it cost out of pocket to sell and re-buy (closing, commission etc.), and why the witholding tax? How did you find out on that?

Thanks

The witholding tax is because he/she is Canadian. When we Canadians sell DVC, the US Government keeps 10% of the sale price unless we can prove that we lost money on the total ownership. It's not a concern if you're in the US.

 

[DisneyKidds]

Thanks for the input. I am trying to crunch numbers too, but don't know enough about it. Is commission a %? Do you know how much? Does it vary b/w Disney and Timeshare store or others? How much are closing costs? A %?

When I had asked on the DVC boards people indicated the commission could be as high as 12%. You are looking at between $300 and $500 in closing costs. Those two items alone can put you close to $2,000.

 

[starbox]

I notice from your signature that you have only stayed at SSR and OKW - I'd highly suggest actually trying to stay everywhere before deciding if you want to try to sell and buy a different resort. 10 days before Christmas is actually probably not an impossible time to get at another resort if you are willing to waitlist - most kids are just finishing a semester with finals and etc and points are EXPENSIVE right before Christmas.

Pre-DVC I "thought" VWL was going to be my favorite resort - although I had only eaten there and never actually stayed. After actually staying there, it was not my favorite - and it is actually not a reservation I'd try to get again. It was beautiful, but just did not fit well with our personal touring/vacation style. In fact, my "predictions" about the DVCs I'd prefer were almost completely the opposite of what my preferences ended up being once I tried them. I was very glad that I tried evverything before deciding where and how to add-on.

 

[Simba's Mom]

We are currently Saratoga members and typically go to DVC resort every Christmas (actually 10 days prior). It appears we will never get in to VWL and some of the other resorts due to the time of travel and size of resort. Has anyone sold in one resort and bought in to another? I am weighing the idea of selling STS and buying 100 VWL points and 50 OKW (our 2 favorites). Wondering if anyone has done this and what the trade-offs are. How much are closing costs? Through Disney or Timeshare resale? Obviously I have 2054 vs. 2042 to grapple with. It appears that I could sell STS for $80-$85 a point on resale and buy the others for the same or less. Any advice would be appreciated.

Yup, we did it. We owned VWL points, which we sold so that we could become OKW owners. I know there probably wasn't any need for us to do it-VWL is fairly small, popular, and OKW is large, almost always available at 7 months or even much less. We didn't run the numbers on the financial loss/benefit (mostly we didn't dare!), but we paid about $350 in closing costs on our OKW contract. I don't know what your dues would do-be more or less if you changed-our main advantage was that OKW has lower dues, so I justified to DH that we could buy more points than we sold-a built in add-on!
And there's something to be said about owning where you love-priceless!

 

[hag7]

I notice from your signature that you have only stayed at SSR and OKW - I'd highly suggest actually trying to stay everywhere before deciding if you want to try to sell and buy a different resort. 10 days before Christmas is actually probably not an impossible time to get at another resort if you are willing to waitlist - most kids are just finishing a semester with finals and etc and points are EXPENSIVE right before Christmas.

Pre-DVC I "thought" VWL was going to be my favorite resort - although I had only eaten there and never actually stayed. After actually staying there, it was not my favorite - and it is actually not a reservation I'd try to get again. It was beautiful, but just did not fit well with our personal touring/vacation style. In fact, my "predictions" about the DVCs I'd prefer were almost completely the opposite of what my preferences ended up being once I tried them. I was very glad that I tried evverything before deciding where and how to add-on.

Good thought. We are actually staying at VWL and VB in May so will have OKW, STS, and BCV under our belts.

 

[3DisneyKids]

I notice from your signature that you have only stayed at SSR and OKW - I'd highly suggest actually trying to stay everywhere before deciding if you want to try to sell and buy a different resort. 10 days before Christmas is actually probably not an impossible time to get at another resort if you are willing to waitlist - most kids are just finishing a semester with finals and etc and points are EXPENSIVE right before Christmas.

Pre-DVC I "thought" VWL was going to be my favorite resort - although I had only eaten there and never actually stayed. After actually staying there, it was not my favorite - and it is actually not a reservation I'd try to get again. It was beautiful, but just did not fit well with our personal touring/vacation style. In fact, my "predictions" about the DVCs I'd prefer were almost completely the opposite of what my preferences ended up being once I tried them. I was very glad that I tried evverything before deciding where and how to add-on.

This is a great point. When I was researching our first DVC purchase (here on these boards), SSR was the only thing being sold...and the bashing was at its height. Based on these boards alone, I was sure I should go with a resale at either BWV or BCV. Mind you, this would have been more expensive for a lesser contract length.

Finally, we rented points for an SSR stay. Fell in love with the resort, and the rest is history!