Stripped Contracts the norm?

[frabjous]

I am seriously regretting that I originally bought in with an every other year VGF setup, after doing that for a few years, and am considering adding a lot more (300-500+) to go more often. Unfortunately there is no wait list for direct, so i was scoping out resale and the inventory seems pretty poor, in particular if I try to match my UY - Oct. It looks like everything has most of the points emptied, many even including partial inventories for 2018. So it looks like if I would need to buy lots of contracts up over time, and wait a few years before I can really take advantage of them. Is that pretty common? Or is it more typical to wait for contracts which have more points available.

My guide mentioned that he could try to individually monitor for points, even though there isn't a wait list, but he said it would require extraordinary patience.

I am also considering getting a second home resort, but like the certainty of 11 month at a home resort we already love.

Thanks!

 

[supersnoop]

Just be patient. Loaded contracts show up frequently. Be prepared to act quickly when you see the one you want.

 

[Cyberc1978]

I second that.

The loaded contracts appear frequently. You could sign up with the major resale companies and get their weekly or bi-weekly mail with the newest inventory. That way you know when the right contract is there.

 

[sndral]

There are 8 use year months, and points are not distributed evenly among the months. October has only 10.5% of the VGF points (April and June both have almost 18%) thus matching your Oct. use year will be more challenging than say trying to match a June or April use year @ VGF.
I glanced at the VGF listings and although at the moment all of the Oct. listings are stripped, that's not the case for a lot of the VGF listings w/ other use years, so I think it's a fluke.
Get on the email alerts for the brokers and search regularly. Act fast when a contract that works for you is listed. People tend to list in the winter when MF bills come due, so listings should start to increase this fall.
Good luck.

 

[buzzrelly]

There are 8 use year months, and points are not distributed evenly among the months. October has only 10.5% of the VGF points (April and June both have almost 18%) thus matching your Oct. use year will be more challenging than say trying to match a June or April use year @ VGF.
I glanced at the VGF listings and although at the moment all of the Oct. listings are stripped, that's not the case for a lot of the VGF listings w/ other use years, so I think it's a fluke.
Get on the email alerts for the brokers and search regularly. Act fast when a contract that works for you is listed. People tend to list in the winter when MF bills come due, so listings should start to increase this fall.
Good luck.

That's interesting. Would you happen to know what percentage have September use year at the Poly? Or December use year at BLT? Or could you point me in the direction to look this up myself? Thanks

 

[Marionnette]

That's interesting. Would you happen to know what percentage have September use year at the Poly? Or December use year at BLT? Or could you point me in the direction to look this up myself? Thanks

http://dvcnews.com/index.php/dvc-pr...ar-distribution-charts-updated-september-2015

The data is a couple of years old and doesn't include all of the Poly inventory because not all of it had been declared at the time of writing. So, it won't be of much help to you but will show the OP how VGF UY are distributed.

 

[Matty B13]

I bet that your guide calls you up within 2 months with plenty of points.

 

[Neytiri411]

I second what the posters above said. There are still contracts posted with plenty of points but I think they get snatched up quickly. If you sign up for first alert emails from the resale companies, this will help you. If you learn what time each company sends the email and check it right away, you'll be able to find and GET that perfect contract. Just be aware that the really attractive ones can go within minutes of an email (which those emails go out sometimes a day before the contracts are listed online, but it depends on the company). So be prepared, know what you want and what you want to offer, and be fast! If you are okay with a stripped contract, you can be more easy going and take your time. But it sounds like you want a particular use year and prefer not to have a stripped contract, so you'll have to be more savvy to get what you want.

 

[disneynutz]

You already own an MK resort, consider an Epcot/DHS resort for every other year or split stays.

Bill

 

[buzzrelly]

http://dvcnews.com/index.php/dvc-pr...ar-distribution-charts-updated-september-2015

The data is a couple of years old and doesn't include all of the Poly inventory because not all of it had been declared at the time of writing. So, it won't be of much help to you but will show the OP how VGF UY are distributed.

Thanks!

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Unless you need to use the points together to get your home resort, it is just a bit of admin to have a different UY or even different resort.

 

[miTnosnhoJ]

When I added on at VGF I followed about 4 of the major resale brokers for about 2-3 months to get a feel for the market, and I followed the ROFR thread. It is important to get on their daily mailing lists, because some properties sell so fast, they don't hit the website. However, the larger contracts tend to last longer.
Also, a prime season for resales seems to be early in the year when people get their dues bill and re-assess whether they still want it. This time of year, a lot of people still have vacations planned. There should be plenty of inventory then if you can wait that long.

I am up to 436 VGF points, and I could use a few more!

 

[frabjous]

Unless you need to use the points together to get your home resort, it is just a bit of admin to have a different UY or even different resort.

Thanks for the suggestion. This is a big reason why I was asking about stripping being a common practice, as I was weighing going with a separate use year. We ended up with October since June-Sept are the least likely months we travel to WDW (summer due to crowds, and Sept due to hurricane season). Early May is our preferred travel time, and before or after thanksgiving is our second likely time (trying AK this year on the DVC cash discount, which is a cool feature to take advantage since I am out of points!) We have gone in Feb once and that was nice (although I think we lucked out with awesome weather) There were some contracts in Dec that were tempting but thats probably not great if we do late fall. I guess maybe April might be the second best UY for late fall and may? Checking it does look like there is loaded contracts available, although part of my concern here is if I chasing multiple contracts on a different UY, and find myself back to square one.

 

[frabjous]

I bet that your guide calls you up within 2 months with plenty of points.

Thanks, I saw a comment from you in one of my searches that you had this experience. Did your guide explain how they go about that? Mine was sort of discouraging about it that he has to manually check inventory every day and keep an eye whats available without the wait list. We ended up talking about other resort options, which I suspect he wants me to completely rule out first before he puts in the effort. Although this could just be salesmanship

 

[Dean]

I am seriously regretting that I originally bought in with an every other year VGF setup, after doing that for a few years, and am considering adding a lot more (300-500+) to go more often. Unfortunately there is no wait list for direct, so i was scoping out resale and the inventory seems pretty poor, in particular if I try to match my UY - Oct. It looks like everything has most of the points emptied, many even including partial inventories for 2018. So it looks like if I would need to buy lots of contracts up over time, and wait a few years before I can really take advantage of them. Is that pretty common? Or is it more typical to wait for contracts which have more points available.

My guide mentioned that he could try to individually monitor for points, even though there isn't a wait list, but he said it would require extraordinary patience.

I am also considering getting a second home resort, but like the certainty of 11 month at a home resort we already love.

Thanks!

I wouldn't buy that many as a single contract anyway unless it were part of a fixed week purchase. Would you consider owning a second home resort either for a points cow or a second 11 month priority? You can get the points if you want but either way it'll likely take a few months. I'd suggest telling your guide you'll take smaller chunks if you're set on retail.

 

[frabjous]

When I added on at VGF I followed about 4 of the major resale brokers for about 2-3 months to get a feel for the market, and I followed the ROFR thread. It is important to get on their daily mailing lists, because some properties sell so fast, they don't hit the website. However, the larger contracts tend to last longer.
Also, a prime season for resales seems to be early in the year when people get their dues bill and re-assess whether they still want it. This time of year, a lot of people still have vacations planned. There should be plenty of inventory then if you can wait that long.

I am up to 436 VGF points, and I could use a few more!

Awesome! It's good to hear its possible!

 

[frabjous]

Just be patient. Loaded contracts show up frequently. Be prepared to act quickly when you see the one you want.

I second that.

The loaded contracts appear frequently. You could sign up with the major resale companies and get their weekly or bi-weekly mail with the newest inventory. That way you know when the right contract is there.

Get on the email alerts for the brokers and search regularly. Act fast when a contract that works for you is listed. People tend to list in the winter when MF bills come due, so listings should start to increase this fall.
Good luck.

I second what the posters above said. There are still contracts posted with plenty of points but I think they get snatched up quickly. If you sign up for first alert emails from the resale companies, this will help you. If you learn what time each company sends the email and check it right away, you'll be able to find and GET that perfect contract. Just be aware that the really attractive ones can go within minutes of an email (which those emails go out sometimes a day before the contracts are listed online, but it depends on the company). So be prepared, know what you want and what you want to offer, and be fast! If you are okay with a stripped contract, you can be more easy going and take your time. But it sounds like you want a particular use year and prefer not to have a stripped contract, so you'll have to be more savvy to get what you want.

Thanks for the tips everyone! I just signed up.

 

[beourguest2009]

www.dvcsales.com is a site that does not always come up when using a google search for resale. We just closed with them and are very happy with our experience. They have some large and very large VGF contracts for sale but not October. One that is 906 pts!!! And one that is an April use year with double points for FY17. Good luck!

 

[frabjous]

I wouldn't buy that many as a single contract anyway unless it were part of a fixed week purchase. Would you consider owning a second home resort either for a points cow or a second 11 month priority?

Yes. In fact, I really like the idea of getting enough points at the Polynesian to do the bungalows. However, I am slightly hesitant since we have never actually stayed at the poly before, and there is no 1BR/2BR alternative in case we decide to stretch our points or maybe the ferry noise bothers us (I saw a few noting that in their reviews, but also many saying the opposite). The nice thing about VGF is we know we love it, so we could book at 11 months, and switch to the other resorts at 7months. It would be cool to be able to experience a GV at some point at the GF, not sure how important 11 months is to be able to try that.

I was also interested in Animal Kingdom, but it looks like availability is great 7 months out, so not sure there is much advantage to making it a home resort, vs GF or Poly which seems harder to get rooms at.

Copper creek looks really cool, has incentives, and has the Cabins AND the 1BR/2BR units, so I had considered that. However, the lodge theme is very common where I live (granted Wilderness looks like a step above), and its hard to imagine using hot tubs and fire places much in Florida. I definitely want to visit it though.

I'm probably over thinking it

You can get the points if you want but either way it'll likely take a few months. I'd suggest telling your guide you'll take smaller chunks if you're set on retail.

Yeah I did that on my initial purchase in case I had to sale, I figured it would be easier. On resale I guess its all just about whats available.

I am definitely not set on retail, and saving 40 a point on VGF would be awesome, and since I already have direct points, I am not sure there is any negative, since I am not really interested in using the points on anything other than DVC since the exchange value isn't great.

 

[Dean]

Yes. In fact, I really like the idea of getting enough points at the Polynesian to do the bungalows. However, I am slightly hesitant since we have never actually stayed at the poly before, and there is no 1BR/2BR alternative in case we decide to stretch our points or maybe the ferry noise bothers us (I saw a few noting that in their reviews, but also many saying the opposite). The nice thing about VGF is we know we love it, so we could book at 11 months, and switch to the other resorts at 7months. It would be cool to be able to experience a GV at some point at the GF, not sure how important 11 months is to be able to try that.

I was also interested in Animal Kingdom, but it looks like availability is great 7 months out, so not sure there is much advantage to making it a home resort, vs GF or Poly which seems harder to get rooms at.

Copper creek looks really cool, has incentives, and has the Cabins AND the 1BR/2BR units, so I had considered that. However, the lodge theme is very common where I live (granted Wilderness looks like a step above), and its hard to imagine using hot tubs and fire places much in Florida. I definitely want to visit it though.

I'm probably over thinking it

I would ONLY buy VGF points if you plan to stay there almost every time and I would never buy Poly points unless you plan to stay there basically every time. It doesn't sound like you know you want Poly, you just want to try it and like the idea. I don't think I've seen a single post for one who bought Poly and plan to stay in a Bungalow routinely though I might have missed it. It's an EXTREMELY expensive way to get DVC points or to cover the needs for a 2 BR. There are too many variables for us to tell you what's best in your situation but it's much easier to say choices that are not good choices in certain situations. If you have enough points to cover VGF you may want to consider either cheaper points or to give yourself a type of option you don't have now. AKV does that with value and concierge rooms and with cheaper points than some of the ones you've noted. SSR is the cheapest but BLT is likely next but is somewhat parallel to the types of options you now have. BWV/BCV gives you something different and BWV gives you the chance to save $$$ compared to BCV both on the buy in and the standard view options. But given the volume you're looking at you could easily do 2 or even 3 different options besides VGF depending on how much you now have at VGF and how much you judge you need there. It sounds like you're overall DVC experience is limited, if so, you might want to either try other or at least to spend a couple of days exploring resorts.

Yeah I did that on my initial purchase in case I had to sale, I figured it would be easier. On resale I guess its all just about whats available.

I am definitely not set on retail, and saving 40 a point on VGF would be awesome, and since I already have direct points, I am not sure there is any negative, since I am not really interested in using the points on anything other than DVC since the exchange value isn't great.

Just look at the overall process. Using your numbers, is a stripped contract at $40 a point less for VGF worth waiting, it may not be because the real value difference might be more in the $20 per point range or even less. Just run the real numbers including points you may not get.