*Want to Own Badly - Lots of Questions!

[DisneyaHolic23]

I have wanted to own at Disney for years. I have several other timeshares (originally I bought only with Interval International resorts so that I could trade to Disney World - naive me!). My husband just casually said last night that we should look into buying (there is a strategy, which I need feedback on, below).

Here are my questions - I so appreciate your wisdom!!
1. We want to go to the Food & Wine Festival October 8-15. My husband thought that if we bought tomorrow, for example, with the caveat that we must get a room at Boardwalk or Beach Club Villas for our week, we may have a chance... Any feedback?
2. If we buy from resale, is there any way to see if we could book for that October week prior to buying?
3. I'm sure this has been debated before, and I did look through the Discussion Boards for my answer - What are the pros and cons of resale vs. buying direct?
4. What other advice can you give me?

Thanks much - I'm sure many of my questions are naive, but I figure if I don't ask, I'll never know!

 

[CarolMN]

I have wanted to own at Disney for years. I have several other timeshares (originally I bought only with Interval International resorts so that I could trade to Disney World - naive me!). My husband just casually said last night that we should look into buying (there is a strategy, which I need feedback on, below).

Here are my questions - I so appreciate your wisdom!!
1. We want to go to the Food & Wine Festival October 8-15. My husband thought that if we bought tomorrow, for example, with the caveat that we must get a room at Boardwalk or Beach Club Villas for our week, we may have a chance... Any feedback?
2. If we buy from resale, is there any way to see if we could book for that October week prior to buying?...(snip).....:

Both those resorts are booked solid for the last 3 months of 2005. There may be a few openings here and there, but not a whole week. There are undoubtedly already waitlists for most days. IMHO, the chances of getting a room there for your dates are virtually zero. The sales guides can't really help you get a reservation at the BCV or BWV since availability is so limited and they are more interested in getting you to buy SSR anyway.

Both the BCV & BWV are sold out DVC resorts. While you may be able to buy them directly from Disney, Disney will be strongly encouraging you to buy SSR. To get points directly from Disney for either BCV or BWV, it is very possible that you will have to go on a waitlist. Sometimes, when Disney exercises its ROFR and buys back contracts from existing owners, it makes those points available for new owners to buy. Usually, they make them available to existing members who want to add on to their original contracts.

If you start looking for a resale contract right now, it is very unlikley that you will be able to close before October. Disney can take up to 30 days just to decide if it wants to exercise its Right of First Refusal.

Anyway, I don't think you will be able pay for your October trip with points - but that may be a good thing. Better to do all your homework (without being rushed) and thus to be sure DVC is right for you.

Good luck with the process!

Best wishes-

 

[spiceycat]

BCV and BWV are sold out for the food/wine festavial for most days.

that say - this is your chance on your next visit. to visit each and every one of the DVC resorts.

go around 11:00am and ask the front desk about seeing a room. check out time is 11:00am - so they might have you come back later when a room is ready - or if they have any availability now (some people like to check out early) - they will let you see it now.

you can definitely see all the public areas now.

 

[tamu91]

1. We want to go to the Food & Wine Festival October 8-15. My husband thought that if we bought tomorrow, for example, with the caveat that we must get a room at Boardwalk or Beach Club Villas for our week, we may have a chance... Any feedback?

If you MUST stay at BWV/BCV villas during F&W Festival, having the home resort advantage at either villas will be VERY important. There are no reservation guarantees with DVC but 11 month advantage is a must IMO if you're looking for a very specific set of dates.

2. If we buy from resale, is there any way to see if we could book for that October week prior to buying?

No, any reservation made before closing will be deleted during transfer. I think you might be already too late to book anything for this year and next year should not be an issue if you purchase before November.

3. I'm sure this has been debated before, and I did look through the Discussion Boards for my answer - What are the pros and cons of resale vs. buying direct?

Benefit of resale is cheaper contracts. Resale process can take 6-8 weeks and you have to pass ROFR. Pros about buying direct would be no ROFR , no closing cost, make reservation within 24-48 hrs. and financing assistance. These goodies come with a price tag so do your homework and see which makes sense. You can buy a sold out resort from Disney as long as they have points available. I believe there are points available at BWV from Disney but none at BCV.

Read the thread on recent ROFRs to get an idea what Disney is letting through. Give a call to one of the reputable resale agents and put 'em to work Very lucrative contracts (ones with banked points, low point contracts, etc.) do not make it onto the resale listings.
Good luck on your decision!

 

[JimMIA]

I agree with everything Carol said above. As a suggestion, you might try to rent points on the Rent/Trade board. Sometimes owners make reservations they can't use, and others make reservations on speculation. You might get lucky.

Resale vs. Direct - The big difference, of course, is price. There are a number of negatives to buying resale, so you should get a good price to compensate. If you buy one of the sold out resorts direct from Disney, you will pay $92 per point with no incentives. With resale, everything is negotiable, but generally you pay the per point price + closing costs ($350 up) + the maintenance fees for any current year points that are available.

If you were looking at OKW, or VB/HH, I'd say resale is a no-brainer. However, with BCV and BWV prices running more than $85 per point, you really have to do the math on those contracts. If you have to pay $85 + $4 per point maintenance + $400-600 in closing costs, you're probably not saving any money...and you have to face ROFR.

The negatives of resale are time, and the uncertainty of the process. Once you agree with a seller on price, the deal goes to Disney for ROFR. Disney has the option of buying the contract for themselves at the same terms you and the seller agreed on. ROFR sometimes goes quickly, but it can take a month, occasionally longer. If they take the contract, obviously you have to start all over. Once you pass ROFR, you still have 3-4 weeks for closing, and another 10 working days or so to "get in the system" so you can actually use your points. The whole process usually takes 8-10 weeks, although some deals go through quicker.

Another benefit of resale, other than price, is that sometimes you can find a contract with extra points that you don't have to pay for. Examples would be contracts that have a lot of points already banked, or one with all the points available and within the banking deadlines, so you have the full banking options.

Conversely, the benefits of buying direct from Disney are speed and certainty. If you want BCV or BWV, you need to tell your guide those are all you are interested in, and if they don't help you, you are going to buy resale. It may not hurt to talk to a sales supervisor if your guide is not interested in helping. If Disney has the points, you will get them. You have to buy a minimum contract of 150 points. (Buying resale, you can sometimes get a smaller initial contract than 150).

The other advantage (?) of buying direct is that you have the availability of Disney financing.

 

[AFMom]

On the other hand.......
We purchased our dvc resale last August, closed by September5th. We then were able to get a reservation at OKW for 8 nights, and that included the first 3 days of F & W at EPCOT. We were offered for that 8 night stay BWV, WVL, OKW and SSR. Our contract came with enough points that we could go immediately, use points, and have a great time right away. While you may not be able to get BCV at all, and maybe only BWV if you only scratch the surface of F&W like we did, you may be able to get part of your stay with F&W going on, and the rest before when it's not as busy at the resort.

I've looked at resales recently, and there are a lot of 'Stripped' contrcts out there (Stripped meaning no points available for use right now) - if you want to use it now - make sure they have enough points avainlable on the contract.

It was risky for us - we couldn't call to check availability at a resort until we closed on our resale - 3 weeks before our trip was planned! But we had a room reserved as back-up (with a 72 hour cancelation, I think ) at a Disney moderate so that we could go either way.

Just remember, you'll have your DVC for a long time, and you can always try for F&W next year at BWV or BCV if you can't get in this time. We stayed at OKW, and still had a wonderful time at F& W - those busses take you everywhere!

This is getting long - sorry....
As far as resale vs Disney ----- well - you'd get your points right away and be able to book right away with Disney. The points would be at SSR and wouldn't expire until 2054. However - they'd be more expensive.
Resale - you can buy at a sold out reosrt, some have banked points you can use. You should be able to get a good price (keep in mind the closing costs, though) but don't go too low or Disney will ROFR you. The sold out resorts expire in 2042.
Thats the short of it! Good luck!

 

[JimMIA]

One quick clarification - you can buy EITHER SSR, or any of the other resorts, directly from Disney. A guide may not WANT to help you, but they can do it. A lot of people think you can only buy sold-out resorts via resale, but that is not true.

Another suggestion for resale - I would call TTS (the sponsor of this board) and discuss the alternatives with them. Even if they don't have a contract that meets your needs, they can put you on a wait list and call you before a new listing gets advertised. If you are looking for something specific, or something difficult, that would be the thing to do.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

. . . when we bought last April. We wanted to go in October, 2005 and wanted to use points for that trip. Our guide checked availability for us before we went on the "waitlist" and about 8 days later we were members and the next business day we had a reservation using points!

If you usually like to visit in October, this may be a perfect itme to think seriously about buying points to use in Oct, 2006. You could try to find a good resale contract and still have the chance to close before the 11 month window opens this November. If you don't find a good resale in the next few months, you would still have time to buy directly and reserve early.

On the other hand, if you think you will always be booking in July for an October trip, you may want to re-think whether DVC is right for you. As other have already stated, this time fills up pretty quickly.

Good luck-- Suzanne

 

[TammyAlphabet]

It amazes me how many DVCers think you can't buy a sold out resort through Disney. What do they think happens to the ROFR properties? I guess it is the "sold-out" part of the name that would lead one to believe that but it has been posted numberous times that you CAN buy any resort through disney, they just have to have the inventory. If not, go on the waitlist. There, that is it. I am going ! Maybe we should start calling them legacy properties or some other name.

Sorry to hijack the thread! Please continue.

 

[joepoe]

It amazes me how many DVCers think you can't buy a sold out resort through Disney. What do they think happens to the ROFR properties? I guess it is the "sold-out" part of the name that would lead one to believe that but it has been posted numberous times that you CAN buy any resort through disney, they just have to have the inventory. If not, go on the waitlist. There, that is it. I am going ! Maybe we should start calling them legacy properties or some other name.

Sorry to hijack the thread! Please continue.

Well you could buy a sold out resort through DVC but that would be paying top dollar.

 

[Cruelladeville]

You might want to check out Jaki's resale board. Two of us on this board just bought contracts from her recently, and both of us passed ROFR in a week's time, and had our contract in one month from start to finish. It's not Disney's speed, but on the other hand, it's alot cheaper than Disney, too. Also, she is open to negotiating with the seller, some resale places are not. Both of us bought OKW, and that may have something to do with how quickly we passed ROFR, but it's worth a try.

 

[T.E. Yeary]

The Timeshare Store, Inc. had 7 contracts to go through ROFR in the past week for people on this board.

We also are happy to negotiate.

We also sponsor this board, which enables people to talk freely,
whether it's mean-spirited or whatever.

Thomas E. Yeary (Tom)
Owner/Broker

 

[pumpkinboy]

While most of your questions have been addressed already on this post, another wrinkle may be your State of residence. There are quite a few States where DVC is not authorized to do business.
If I recall correctly, DVC is not authorized to sell to Washington State residents (this may be wrong or may have changed). If this is indeed the case, a guide will not even be allowed to send you the info or sell to you in any way when you are at home in WA. This leaves you with two other options. If you are dying to buy direct thru DVC, then you would need to go to Orlando and buy there. The other option is to buy resale, which is probably preferable anyway.

Just a thought.

 

[CarolA]

Personally if I was not buying SSR I would go for a resale. The cost from Disney is just so much higher!!!! Financing is nice, but if it costs you a lot more per point you are going to have to have some good rates to save that money back on the financing.

Not sure what the rates are with the outside company, but....(maybe Tom can tell us?) I am trying to buy "little" resales so I can just pay cash! LOL!

 

[WDW LOVR]

I think you need to look at the resale price and add the closing costs (which with WDW are zero) and see which is the cheapest. Individuals may also consider whether the stress of ROFR is worth the extra $$. We just added on BWV points (just sent the paper work today) thru Disney. Did it cost a few $$ more? Probably, but not having to worry about ROFR and buying exactly the # of points we wanted was worth the extra $$ to us. Like I said, it's a completely personal decision.

 

[TammyAlphabet]

Well you could buy a sold out resort through DVC but that would be paying top dollar.

I don't think that is necessarily always true. For some properties like VB, HH, OKW you will save money. For BWV (where I purchased) or BCV and to some degree, VWL, buying through Disney is as cheap and in some cases cheaper than resale when you add the closing costs and so forth.

Of course, i am assuming that the points you get on day one, a full allotment, are worth 10 dollars apiece. So, if you buy the BWV, today, for 92 dollars a point, and then rent out the current allotment (or use them) and value them at 10 per point, then the net cost would be 82. With no closing costs. That is pretty close to the price on the resale board and no ROFR. So that is how I would support buying direct from Disney.

With an add-on of fewer than 100 points, even VB, HH and the others are less expensive than resale. The closing costs really drive the price up. With large contracts, resale can be a real steal!!

Maybe my reasoning is flawed, I have not meant to be mean-spirited, (if that comment was directed towards me). If I have been, I am sorry, I am just surprised that this myth has such staying power, after, the attempts by several people, not just myself, attempting to set the record straight. I really do think it has to do with the term "sold-out" and the fact that most guides don't seem to want to sell points from those resorts for some reason,

I hope to purchase a big ole HH contract next year and TSS will be the very first place I start looking!! And the reason is precisely because they sponsor this board!! I think this board is wonderful and I congratulate them for supporting it.

 

[vascubaguy]

While most of your questions have been addressed already on this post, another wrinkle may be your State of residence. There are quite a few States where DVC is not authorized to do business.
If I recall correctly, DVC is not authorized to sell to Washington State residents (this may be wrong or may have changed). If this is indeed the case, a guide will not even be allowed to send you the info or sell to you in any way when you are at home in WA. This leaves you with two other options. If you are dying to buy direct thru DVC, then you would need to go to Orlando and buy there. The other option is to buy resale, which is probably preferable anyway.

Just a thought.

For those in Washington, they could also visit the DVC locations in California...

As another note... some folks have mentioned being able to get resale contracts with "banked" points. In some cases, when you buy thru DVC you can also get previous year points. They might even let you bank those. So if you got a 150 point contract with a Feb UY, you could have the Feb 05 points now and wouldn't have to wait until Feb 2006 to get points. If you factor that into the cost of the $90 per point with DVC, it can actually make the cost comparable to resale.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

Pumpkinboy is absolutely correct about Washington State. We bought our contract via resale as we could not deal directly with DVC (plus we saved a whole bunch of money!).

As for F&W...I think you might need to shoot for 2006.

 

[T.E. Yeary]

Carol- I'm glad you asked the question. We have consistently used a company called Tammac Financial Corp. in our 11 years of doing business. We handle the paperwork for our customers. To my knowledge, we have had no complaints from any of our customers who have financed through them. A person does have to be what they consider "credit worthy" to qualify. Applicant MUST reside in the US. Tammac just sent a new flyer to the office informing us of their new rates. The flyer says:

Rates as low as 10.99% A.P.R. (They were at 9.9%, the prime rate has gone up)
Minimum loan amount $2,000
Maximum loan amount $25,000
In most cases, approval granted within 24 to 48 hours
This is an open-ended mortgage with NO prepayment penalty(a GOOD thing)
____________________________________________________________
www.tammacfinancial.com

Tammac Financial Corp.
12995 S. Cleveland Ave., Suite 256
Fort Myers, Fl. 33907
Toll-free 800-640-6753
Phone 239-278-7974
Fax 239-278-7978