Tell me the problems (if any) you have had buying resale and would you buy direct or resale for initial purchase?

[DVCSunDevil]

I guess I'm just getting old but "access to 14 amazing resort for 21 more years" made me laugh. That's well worth resale savings. In 2 decades who knows what Disney parks will even look like. If you focus on the 2042 resorts until then you still have 9 amazing resorts to explore for years after that. Most places I go I realize that I tend to stay at the same hotel anyway if it's available.

Jinx! That's exactly what I was going to say. We looked at all the options before we bought and considered buying into a resort with a longer "shelf life", including Riviera. But we will be in our mid/late 60's when those 2042 resorts expire. We will have gotten our moneys worth out of our contract and will, in all likelihood, be ready to reduce the number of visits we are taking to WDW. And the way things are going right now with the decisions being made by Disney, who knows if we will even want to keep going five years from now. 21 years is a long time.

 

[Lorana]

Jinx! That's exactly what I was going to say. We looked at all the options before we bought and considered buying into a resort with a longer "shelf life", including Riviera. But we will be in our mid/late 60's when those 2042 resorts expire. We will have gotten our moneys worth out of our contract and will, in all likelihood, be ready to reduce the number of visits we are taking to WDW. And the way things are going right now with the decisions being made by Disney, who knows if we will even want to keep going five years from now. 21 years is a long time.

I’d like to think I’ll be going well into my 80s/90s. Part of why we did buy some with longer shelf life is to pass on to kids — or be able to sell for money in retirement.

That said, if Disney doesn’t price us out first, my honest concern is not whether I want to visit Disney (though whether even the holidays become untenable from a heat perspective in 20’years), but whether transportation/airfare costs make it unreasonable for us to continue to visit.

 

[wilkydelts]

I think some missed my point. I bought 300 SSR resale points and saved like 15,000 so I have no regrets. But my expense math to decide whether to buy into DVC was based on 32 years. So I will gladly take my savings but those last 11 years of my contract (assuming I still have it) may stink a bit while anyone who bought direct may have more value (since they will be still using the newly minted 2042 hotels) left in those 11 years to be worth that $15,000 depending on their view.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

I think some missed my point. I bought 300 SSR resale points and saved like 15,000 so I have no regrets. But my expense math to decide whether to buy into DVC was based on 32 years. So I will gladly take my savings but those last 11 years of my contract (assuming I still have it) may stink a bit while anyone who bought direct may have more value (since they will be still using the newly minted 2042 hotels) left in those 11 years to be worth that $15,000 depending on their view.

I completely understood what you were saying, and it’s a valid point. It comes down to what you are looking for. Again, we bought into BCV because 22 years (when we bought in last year) was the perfect amount of time to be DVC members. Then we will bow out and use that time/money on other vacations/adventures. But if we were looking to be DVC members for the entirety of our lives then I would have considered direct more heavily because of what you are saying. The dynamic will most certainly change after 2042 and it’s obvious DVC is trying everything they can to make a resale more punitive. Still, the amount of money you save buying resale is really hard to pass up. And like KAT4DISNEY mentioned, being restricted to “only” 9 resorts those last 11 years doesn’t reduce the value of your contract if you plan on keeping it. You will still be going to WDW and staying in one of nine fantastic resorts.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

I’d like to think I’ll be going well into my 80s/90s. Part of why we did buy some with longer shelf life is to pass on to kids — or be able to sell for money in retirement.

That said, if Disney doesn’t price us out first, my honest concern is not whether I want to visit Disney (though whether even the holidays become untenable from a heat perspective in 20’years), but whether transportation/airfare costs make it unreasonable for us to continue to visit.

Oh, we still plan on going to Disney well after our contract expires and we are no longer DVC members. Like you, we will probably keep going to WDW into our 90s (hopefully). But I doubt we will be going every year like we do now. At that point, I am betting will be going more like once every three or four years. And that sort of trip frequency isn’t ideal for being a DVC owner.

We also considered passing our contract down to our kids as a possible “benefit” to buying into a resort with a later expiration date. But then we considered the cost implications in yearly dues and decided we didn’t want to saddle our kids with a responsibility like that. Who’s to say they will even want to keep going to WDW every year or two when they are older? “Here kids, here’s our DVC membership as a gift. It will only cost you $1500-$2000 a year in dues plus the $5000 in other costs associated with a WDW vacation.” And those are todays dollars. Who knows that those costs will be 15 years from now and beyond.

 

[Ssplashhmtn]

Oh, we still plan on going to Disney well after our contract expires and we are no longer DVC members. Like you, we will probably keep going to WDW into our 90s (hopefully). But I doubt we will be going every year like we do now. At that point, I am betting will be going more like once every three or four years. And that sort of trip frequency isn’t ideal for being a DVC owner.

We also considered passing our contract down to our kids as a possible “benefit” to buying into a resort with a later expiration date. But then we considered the cost implications in yearly dues and decided we didn’t want to saddle our kids with a responsibility like that. Who’s to say they will even want to keep going to WDW every year or two when they are older? “Here kids, here’s our DVC membership as a gift. It will only cost you $1500-$2000 a year in dues plus the $5000 in other costs associated with a WDW vacation.” And those are todays dollars. Who knows that those costs will be 15 years from now and beyond.

Couldn’t your kids just sell the contract and enjoy the proceeds? Not sure why they would be forced to pay dues for something they don’t want in that scenario.

 

[Lorana]

We also considered passing our contract down to our kids as a possible “benefit” to buying into a resort with a later expiration date. But then we considered the cost implications in yearly dues and decided we didn’t want to saddle our kids with a responsibility like that. Who’s to say they will even want to keep going to WDW every year or two when they are older? “Here kids, here’s our DVC membership as a gift. It will only cost you $1500-$2000 a year in dues plus the $5000 in other costs associated with a WDW vacation.” And those are todays dollars. Who knows that those costs will be 15 years from now and beyond.

If our kids don’t want it, then we’ll sell it - either for retirement money (or, more likely, long term care expenses!), or to gift them the money instead. We aren’t going to force gift it to them. Likewise they can always take it and then sell it themselves.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

Couldn’t your kids just sell the contract and enjoy the proceeds? Not sure why they would be forced to pay dues for something they don’t want in that scenario.

Sure they could. But is that the intent for getting a resort with a longer expiration? So that I can give it to my kids for them to sell? I have enough other savings and investments for my kids. And upon gifting it to them, if they said they were going to sell it I would just sell it myself. We bought into DVC for the vacation aspect of it...a prepaid guarantee for future, less expensive Disney deluxe accommodations. By the time our contract expires, my kids (and possibly young grandkids, yikes!), would have enjoyed years of DVC. They will be in their mid 30s at that point (yikes, again!) and if they want to keep the DVC magic going they can buy a contract. But again, who knows what DVC or Disney will even look like by then. Factoring in "gifting" a DVC contract to our kids wasn't something we thought made sense to put a lot of consideration into, because the future is very much unknown.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

If our kids don’t want it, then we’ll sell it - either for retirement money (or, more likely, long term care expenses!), or to gift them the money instead. We aren’t going to force gift it to them. Likewise they can always take it and then sell it themselves.

Exactly! That’s the point. Our kids could want it, or they could not want it. Who knows what the future holds? That’s why gifting it to our kids did not factor into the decision. It was all about what we wanted to do and what we thought we would want to keep doing into the future.

 

[Lorana]

Exactly! That’s the point. Our kids could want it, or they could not want it. Who knows what the future holds? That’s why gifting it to our kids did not factor into the decision. It was all about what we wanted to do and what we thought we would want to keep doing into the future.

Certainly. But in addition to wanting to be able to pass them along to the kids if they want them, we also wanted a long life of the contract so that (a) we could continue to use and (b) sell it (rather than just having it expire) and use that money for other travels or needs in retirement. Now, we do also own 2 2042 resorts (BRV, HHI) but we wanted those options for the future. To each his own, of course!

 

[DVCSunDevil]

Certainly. But in addition to wanting to be able to pass them along to the kids if they want them, we also wanted a long life of the contract so that (a) we could continue to use and (b) sell it (rather than just having it expire) and use that money for other travels or needs in retirement. Now, we do also own 2 2042 resorts (BRV, HHI) but we wanted those options for the future. To each his own, of course!

Bingo! Everyone has different criteria. For us, the most important thing was the resort. We really love BCV and wanted to own there. It just so happened that the 2042 expiration worked perfect for what we were looking for. If we loved a resort that has a longer expiration we would have bought into that resort, and then we either would have sold the contract in around 25 years or given it to our kids if they wanted it. It all comes down to what each individual owner wants. We just didn't include giving the contract to our kids years from now as a deciding factor.

I have read threads on here where some people said giving it to their kids down the road was a major deciding factor of a longer contract. That's where I totally disagree. Again, no one knows what the future will hold. Heck, down the road the resale value of DVC could drop too...which is why we didn't look at it as something we could sell later in life and use those proceeds for other things. We have enough retirement investments that will (hopefully) cover future wants/needs. But if someone bought into a longer expiration resort and down the road they gift it to their kids (who also agree to receiving it), then great! Or if the kids don't want it and the owner sells it, then great! That stuff, IMO, is all gravy. We looked at DVC as a a prepaid guarantee for future, much less expensive Disney deluxe accommodations (especially with the rate of room price inflation). Anything that happens beyond that is great, but didn't factor into our decision making.

The most important thing is that everyone is happy and enjoys their membership! Happy Holidays and stay well

 

[Sandisw]

Couldn’t your kids just sell the contract and enjoy the proceeds? Not sure why they would be forced to pay dues for something they don’t want in that scenario.

In our case, we discussed it and the kids can sell if they want. But we also built in 10 years worth of dues as part of our estate planning so no one has actual costs.

If the kids decide to sell before then because all 3 agree, that’s up to them, but at least for 10 years they can all enjoy it if they want.

 

[Alicia22]

I would buy resale again. This was my first purchase, and everyone involved was great. However, Disney has made a couple of missteps along the way that were frustrating, and I suspect their end would have been much smoother had I gone direct.

 

[davidl81]

Resale all the way. You save so much money compared to direct. Or put another way, you could spend the same money and get way more points (more nights at more hotels for years to come) compared to direct.

We've made 1 direct purchase and 13 resale purchases via two different brokers. The three main downsides of resale are (1) not getting the blue card perks (which ain't much these days), (2) not getting to stay in Rivieria and other future DVC resorts (easily remedied by trading points with someone), and (3) the process takes longer. None of those are close to significant enough to justify the smaller number of points you'd get for going direct.

Don't listen to the FUD about resale--all of our deals have gone very smoothly. I'd totally recommend DVC Resale Market. They have the biggest selection and make everything easy for both parties.

Good luck!

Normally I do agree and resale has a huge monetary advantage over direct, but with resale prices raising so much faster than direct has been that delta in cost is not quite as huge as it has been.
Let's take AKV at 150 points as our example. Just running through listing looks like the low end is $135 and up to $145. Direct is $178 so cash difference is ballpark $5700. Not a small amount of money to be sure, but about a 21% premium. So what do you get for that $5700 and is it worth it? Well that is where it can get complicated. Direct will give you full points which is something fairly hard to get buying resale. If OP were to buy say Feb points they would give them a courtesy bank and get basically double points (with no MFs) where very few resale contracts will have those fully banked points. SO let's just say OP gets the loaded points and rents them for $14pp that is $2100 that they could get that potentially you can't get resale (yes you may be able to find a fully banked resale contract and get it at a good price, but it takes some work). And then you get blue card benefits which we while not great right now are something (10-15% off various food and stores, AP discounts assuming they ever go back on sale). I think AP's will go back to how they were and only for direct, but hopefully I am wrong on that. Then the options to book RIV, DL, and what ever may come next.

Once again I generally prefer resale to direct, but on a 150 point contract and with the increases seen in resale cost, you can make a decent argument on just buying direct.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Normally I do agree and resale has a huge monetary advantage over direct, but with resale prices raising so much faster than direct has been that delta in cost is not quite as huge as it has been.
Let's take AKV at 150 points as our example. Just running through listing looks like the low end is $135 and up to $145. Direct is $178 so cash difference is ballpark $5700. Not a small amount of money to be sure, but about a 21% premium. So what do you get for that $5700 and is it worth it? Well that is where it can get complicated. Direct will give you full points which is something fairly hard to get buying resale. If OP were to buy say Feb points they would give them a courtesy bank and get basically double points (with no MFs) where very few resale contracts will have those fully banked points. SO let's just say OP gets the loaded points and rents them for $14pp that is $2100 that they could get that potentially you can't get resale (yes you may be able to find a fully banked resale contract and get it at a good price, but it takes some work). And then you get blue card benefits which we while not great right now are something (10-15% off various food and stores, AP discounts assuming they ever go back on sale). I think AP's will go back to how they were and only for direct, but hopefully I am wrong on that. Then the options to book RIV, DL, and what ever may come next.

Once again I generally prefer resale to direct, but on a 150 point contract and with the increases seen in resale cost, you can make a decent argument on just buying direct.

It's always been about the numbers and every time you need to compare.

I do have to disagree it's difficult to get resale with current points which is all that DVC offers and resale is the only way to get a fully loaded contract that comes with actual BANKED points, current and future. You just have to look and maybe wait a bit vs pick up the phone and order but most of my resale had all 3 types. To match direct you only need to find a contract with all current points and enough time to bank. And if you purchase towards the end of the year the brokers apparently often stop recommending asking for dues reimbursement for that year. Of course that's always negotiable.

 

[sethschroeder]

You are asking two different questions:

1. BRV vs AKV
2. Resale vs Direct

People like BRV but has the downside of the 2042 expiration so while its "cheaper" upfront long term it doesn't have the contract length and if you do want to sell it off in 15 years the value will have taken a hit since it will be about to expire compared to AKV.

With Direct vs Resale you just need to crunch the numbers and then determine if that price difference is worth not having to deal with Disney games down the road of qualified vs not-qualified points.

 

[sethschroeder]

We really love BCV and wanted to own there.

Its the only way someone should ever buy BCV based on the current pricing. None of the math works in favor of buying there otherwise.

The Direct vs Resale discussion is also completely different from resorts with incentives on it like RIV, CCV, or AKV.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

Its the only way someone should ever buy BCV based on the current pricing. None of the math works in favor of buying there otherwise.

The Direct vs Resale discussion is also completely different from resorts with incentives on it like RIV, CCV, or AKV.

That's why you buy where you want to stay. IMO, no one should buy into ANY resort if it isn't someplace they want to stay. You don't buy into a resort just because it has a longer expiration.

And actually, the math does work out to buy at BCV. Quite favorably, actually. That is comparing BCV as a DVC member to staying at BCV without DVC. Again, buy at the resort you really love and want to stay at. The math works out great if that was the resort you wanted to stay at.

 

[sethschroeder]

And actually, the math does work out to buy at BCV. Quite favorably, actually.

I don't think you are understand what I am saying. BCV and VGC are the two resorts where you are most likely to come out ahead by just renting instead of buying (although you lose the benefit of flexibility of owning).

You are coming out between $15-$16/point at BCV. Comparatively you are going to be more around $11-$12/point at various other resorts.

So yes buy where you want to stay but many people have 2 or 3 different places they prefer to stay so its not a simple math equation. Even the OP was talking about both BRV and AKV which are fairly different resorts. When we have purchased we really have landed on any of the Epcot resorts and some others land on SAP or MK resorts or cheapest rooms.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

I don't think you are understand what I am saying. BCV and VGC are the two resorts where you are most likely to come out ahead by just renting instead of buying (although you lose the benefit of flexibility of owning).

You are coming out between $15-$16/point at BCV. Comparatively you are going to be more around $11-$12/point at various other resorts.

So yes buy where you want to stay but many people have 2 or 3 different places they prefer to stay so its not a simple math equation. Even the OP was talking about both BRV and AKV which are fairly different resorts. When we have purchased we really have landed on any of the Epcot resorts and some others land on SAP or MK resorts or cheapest rooms.

Yeah, we compared renting to buying to make sure it made sense. It obviously all depends on the contract. The cost of our BCV points is right around $12.50, so owning made a lot of sense compared to renting. I agree with your point that there are other less expensive resorts that spread the cost out, but those resorts are not where we wanted to own. We wanted to be in the Epcot/HS area because of the proximity to two resorts, and because we love the World Showcase as park hopping destination in the evening. We are not fans of Boardwalk and we thought Riviera was "meh". We LOVE BCV, though. The math made sense and it was the obvious choice.

Everyone's situation is different, though. Everyone has their own likes and dislikes. And everyone has different contract situations (price, financing, etc.), so the math can vary from situation to situation. Still, my thought and recommendation is always to go for your #1 resort. It's more important to me and family to get an 11 month reservation at our favorite resort than getting a longer contract. If we had bought into our 2nd favorite resort (Poly) because it has a longer expiration, we would have always kicked ourselves when we tried to book at BCV and there was no availability.