I had a very lucky day today when I was able to both get my new member ID as a resale member, and add a 25 point add on at BLT, making me a full-fledged DVC member. While I know that I was amazingly lucky to get this all done in a 40 day timeframe, much of the credit for how I was able to go about doing this goes to contributors to the disboards forum. I wanted to share 5 things that I read over the past months that helped me the most along the way, just in case there are any other prospective buyers out there reading these forums like I am.
1. Rent points at a resort you are interested in before jumping in for a full purchase. Before our vacation this summer, my wife and I thought it would be crazy to commit tens of thousands of dollars to just staying at deluxe resorts at Disney World, but after spending just 3 nights at Bay Lake Towers, we knew that we would want it no other way. This might not be the case for other prospective buyers.
2. Buy resale. We met with a guide when we were at Disney World and he tried to convince us that buying direct was such a better deal due to all of its extra offerings. If I had not read advice found on this board, I may have fallen for what he was selling. I ended up saving over $10,000 by going resale, and the process was really painless for me. I know I got lucky, but even a little bit of a hassle is probably worth it for most people when $10,000 or more is on the line.
3. Check the ROFR thread. When I made an offer, I knew it was both a good one and one that had a pretty good chance of passing ROFR because I was able to look at the historic data on the ROFR thread and compare my offer to it. Disney tries to make it impressible to guess what the ‘right’ price is, but this thread at least gives you a decent idea of what you should expect to pay.
4. Follow the ‘Closing Time’ thread. While it may not help you much to see how long people take to close their deals, it is a bit of a comfort to know that other people are squirming just as much, if not more, than you. Even more importantly, you can find useful information like the number to the direct line to member administration at DVC, as well as a timeline of when to call them, allowing you to get your membership ID much sooner than those who do not follow the thread and have to wait for their information to come in the mail.
5. Buy a 25 point add on. The cost is a few thousand dollars, and as long as you have a decent sized family, the annual pass discounts will most likely offset the cost within a few years.
Hopefully you agree with these five important rules that I learned by reading this thread. I really feel like they have saved me a ton of time and stress, and I am now excited to move over (mostly) to the ‘member services’ thread.
1. Rent points at a resort you are interested in before jumping in for a full purchase. Before our vacation this summer, my wife and I thought it would be crazy to commit tens of thousands of dollars to just staying at deluxe resorts at Disney World, but after spending just 3 nights at Bay Lake Towers, we knew that we would want it no other way. This might not be the case for other prospective buyers.
2. Buy resale. We met with a guide when we were at Disney World and he tried to convince us that buying direct was such a better deal due to all of its extra offerings. If I had not read advice found on this board, I may have fallen for what he was selling. I ended up saving over $10,000 by going resale, and the process was really painless for me. I know I got lucky, but even a little bit of a hassle is probably worth it for most people when $10,000 or more is on the line.
3. Check the ROFR thread. When I made an offer, I knew it was both a good one and one that had a pretty good chance of passing ROFR because I was able to look at the historic data on the ROFR thread and compare my offer to it. Disney tries to make it impressible to guess what the ‘right’ price is, but this thread at least gives you a decent idea of what you should expect to pay.
4. Follow the ‘Closing Time’ thread. While it may not help you much to see how long people take to close their deals, it is a bit of a comfort to know that other people are squirming just as much, if not more, than you. Even more importantly, you can find useful information like the number to the direct line to member administration at DVC, as well as a timeline of when to call them, allowing you to get your membership ID much sooner than those who do not follow the thread and have to wait for their information to come in the mail.
5. Buy a 25 point add on. The cost is a few thousand dollars, and as long as you have a decent sized family, the annual pass discounts will most likely offset the cost within a few years.
Hopefully you agree with these five important rules that I learned by reading this thread. I really feel like they have saved me a ton of time and stress, and I am now excited to move over (mostly) to the ‘member services’ thread.
