Understanding Resale Ads

[Family-of-4]

Hello All,

I'm viewing resale ads on The Timeshare Store website and want to make sure I'm understanding what I'm seeing (We're brand new to all this just having purchased on a cruise a few days ago). An example is an ad for the following:

BCV-$95/pt for $4,750.00
50 points
Use Year December
Banked Points 0
Borrowed Points 0
Notes: 50 points coming on 12/1/2010 and 50 points coming on 12/1/2011. Can close on 2/26/09

1) So, does this mean that this person will get 50 points on 12/1/2008, is going to borrow the 50 points from 12/1/2009 and will use the 100 points for a vacation that ends on 2/26/2009? Would the buyer not have any points until 12/1/2010, but could borrow 50 points for use in 2009?

2) Who pays closing costs? Is it negotiable?

3) How do the maintenance fees work? Does the buyer start paying them upon closing even if no points are transferred at that time. I've read where others have had the seller pay some or all of maintenance fees - would this be just for a certain amount of time? Certainly the seller wouldn't want to pay the maintenance fee for a long time, right?

4) How do you fully evaluate an offer to figure out if this is a good deal versus others with the same points at the same resort?

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[CarolA]

1. You have it right! What this one means is that the reason there are NO banked or borrowed points is that the owner is USING the points on a vaction that end around 2/26/09. He/she is using the points they got on 12/1/08 AND the points the new owner WOULD have received on 12/1/09. So if you buy it you don't get points to use until 12/1/10. You can borrow 59 points to use in 09, but that's it.

2. Closing is open for negoiation. If they get to use all the points I would ask them to pay closing.

3. Fees are open for negoiation. If I were buying they would pay dues for 2008 and pay me a predetermined amount for 2009 dues since they used the points!

And I am pretty sure $95 is the "top dollar" right now for BCV (haven't been following it TOO closely) but I would be hard pressed to pay that for a contract I can't use for two years!!! (Or will be borrowing from almost immediately!)

 

[RobDoc]

I'd take it a step further. As CarolA already confirmed, there are zero 2007 Use Year points banked, there will be no 2008 Use Year points coming on 12/01/08 and no 2009 Use Year points coming on 12/01/09. The buyer will go 11 months into 2010 before they get any points to use.

The buyer will have annual fees due on January 15, 2009 (even though there are no points available) and will also pay annual dues due on January 15, 2010 (even though there are no points available until the following January).

If I were interested in this resale, the asking price is a little high, but I'd ask the seller to pay for the 2009 and 2010 maintenance fees.

If you were to purchase the same number of points thru DVC (I know that would need to be as an add-on) the dues would be prorated based on when you'd have them in your accout (12/01/2010).

If someone were really interested in 50 points at BCV, I'd suggest buying a small resale contract at ANY other resort and then buying an add-on thru DVC at BCV. Even though you'd pay a little more for the original purchase, you would have all current points available immediately, woud pay no cloising costs on the add-on and would likely come out ahead in total costs and end up with more points total than with this one purchase.

I'd run (not walk) away from this resale as quickly as possible.

 

[Anal Annie]

Hello All,

I'm viewing resale ads on The Timeshare Store website and want to make sure I'm understanding what I'm seeing (We're brand new to all this just having purchased on a cruise a few days ago). An example is an ad for the following:

BCV-$95/pt for $4,750.00
50 points
Use Year December
Banked Points 0
Borrowed Points 0
Notes: 50 points coming on 12/1/2010 and 50 points coming on 12/1/2011. Can close on 2/26/09

1) So, does this mean that this person will get 50 points on 12/1/2008, is going to borrow the 50 points from 12/1/2009 and will use the 100 points for a vacation that ends on 2/26/2009? Would the buyer not have any points until 12/1/2010, but could borrow 50 points for use in 2009?

2) Who pays closing costs? Is it negotiable?

3) How do the maintenance fees work? Does the buyer start paying them upon closing even if no points are transferred at that time. I've read where others have had the seller pay some or all of maintenance fees - would this be just for a certain amount of time? Certainly the seller wouldn't want to pay the maintenance fee for a long time, right?

4) How do you fully evaluate an offer to figure out if this is a good deal versus others with the same points at the same resort?
Thanks,
Jeff

This resale is what they often call a "stripped" contract. The owner booked everything they possibly could on it before listing it for sale. IMO it's of no value any time soon and therefore I would say it's a really bad deal.

When you read these resale ads look closely for how soon it says there will be points coming because otherwise if you're anxious to book a vacation you will have to borrow ahead and then you will always be trying to dig out of a hole and your points will always be at a negative. To me, that would be very unsatisfying.

If it were me, I would gladly pay a couple dollars more per point to find a contract of the right size for my needs that either has current points available or that has a UY that will be getting points within say 3-4 months. I just would not want to have to wait too long for the points to replenish.

(Note that closing costs can and do vary from state to state and when purchasing directly thru Disney they are often a little less than thru the resale market for some reason.)

 

[Family-of-4]

This resale is what they often call a "stripped" contract. The owner booked everything they possibly could on it before listing it for sale. IMO it's of no value any time soon and therefore I would say it's a really bad deal.

When you read these resale ads look closely for how soon it says there will be points coming because otherwise if you're anxious to book a vacation you will have to borrow ahead and then you will always be trying to dig out of a hole and your points will always be at a negative. To me, that would be very unsatisfying.

If it were me, I would gladly pay a couple dollars more per point to find a contract of the right size for my needs that either has current points available or that has a UY that will be getting points within say 3-4 months. I just would not want to have to wait too long for the points to replenish.

(Note that closing costs can and do vary from state to state and when purchasing directly thru Disney they are often a little less than thru the resale market for some reason.)

Thanks for your help. Is it generally a better deal just to do an add-on through Disney instead of a resale?

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[Anal Annie]

Thanks for your help. Is it generally a better deal just to do an add-on through Disney instead of a resale?

Thanks,
Jeff

It all depends. I know that's not the answer you're looking for.

If you buy directly thru Disney you generally can close within about 4-6 weeks. You are in the system immediately (as soon as you sign & return your docs) and you can make reservations immediately. I have not done a resale but I think they take more like 3 months to pass thru Disney's ROFR and close. If you do an add-on thru Disney there are no closing costs at all. They're covered. NOW, you MAY well be able to find a lower price for a resale...but you will need more patience and time for the process.

 

[JulieWent]

I know it's hard to be patient, but you can find much better contracts than this one. I just purchased a BoardWalk Villas contract for $90 per point. (That's actually high for what things are going for right now, but it was the contract I wanted, and I needed a specific use year to go with a contract I already had.) It had ALL of the 2007 points, ALL of the 2008 points, and ALL of the 2009 points available for my use. (It was a 150 point contract.) So, you can see, it was worth waiting for. In the time since I have closed on it, I have seen several others come through that were similar (though not with 2007 points because they are virtually useless now).

We bought our first 150 point contract from Disney years ago, but we just felt that given the price difference between what was available on the resale market and what Disney was offering, we would go with the resale market when we were ready to buy more points recently. The points are the same, they function exactly the same. The only difference was that I had to be more patient when purchasing through resale. (It took about six weeks for everything to close after I found the contract I wanted. It took about two weeks to find the contract I wanted.)

Good luck. Your purchase at AKL sounded nice, but if you don't want to stay there, you might want to rescind and purchase where you want to stay. (We have not had much luck getting the Beach Club, for instance, at the 7 month window. On the other hand, we like BWV so much that we rarely want to stay anywhere else.)

Julie

 

[CarolA]

I have done both a Disney purchase and resale.

I think the pros and cons have been well spelled out with ONE exception. How are you paying for this? IF you finance Disneys is MUCH better then that offered by the resale companies. (I put my first DVC resale contaract on a finance plan because I found what I wanted a few months before I was ready to cash in some investments. The interest rate was HIGH and it is a personal loan not a real estate loan which has tax implication).