Would this be too complicated? (Direct + Resale)

[seasalt81]

We are considering buying two contracts, one direct and one resale. We want the ability to stay at new resorts going forward, so we are thinking of buying 100 points at Riviera direct through Disney. If we bank/borrow, this contract should allow us to stay at Riviera or one of the new resorts every other year or so. For resale, we'd like to buy about 150 points, maybe at OKW, and use this to stay on the opposite years at the original 14 resorts. We'd try for the same use year, so we could combine contracts if we wanted a longer, larger stay at the older resorts.

In my head, this makes a lot of sense and would cost us about the same as if we bought "just" 200 points direct from Disney for Riviera, with the added bonus of being able to resell our resale contract if necessary without the Riviera restrictions. Of course we have never actually owned DVC so I don't know what I don't know and am not sure if this would end up being more complicated than it's worth.

We have lots of flexibility in when we travel, we avoid busy times -- races, festivals, holidays, and we tend to stay in one-bedrooms (though would probably do studios at Riviera) so I'm not sure how important the 11 month window would be to us. Though we do like OKW and are fine staying there.

Any feedback? Should we skip the direct purchase and just buy a bigger resale contract?

 

[zavandor]

It wouldn't be much complicated. You'd have two sets of points to track, but really, the effort would be minimal, especially if you buy the same UY, so you would have only one login and one set of banking and expiry deadlines.
However, you're spendind a premium now to buy 100 points direct in order to book resorts that maybe you might like in the future. Why don't you start just with the resale contract and see how it goes? If you try a different resort every year, it will take 10 years to try them all, if you just limit yourself to onsite WDW. Who knows, you might find a favorite in the meantime and the new resorts may not appeal you that much.

 

[Greyhound22]

We are considering the exact same thing, but smaller scale. I think it makes perfect sense. However, after reading zavandor's reply.... that's a great choice too. You (we) can always make the decision to buy the smallest contract Disney will allow direct to have the choice to stay in one of the newer resort in the future. But, unless you are staying way more than I can, it will take several years to stay at the original 14 anyway. By that time, your situation might have changed... Always great advice on the disboards!!!

 

[The Jackal]

RIV is a very point hungry resort. For me personally I would stick with resale. I think RIV with it's resale restriction and high maintenance fees s too much of a gamble. But if you do not intend to sell it any time soon, but no one ever does, you should be fine. Are you also interested in the benefits of direct? Your plan sounds good but make sure you get the same use year and title them the same so keeping track of them is easy. Good luck.

 

[katandmouse]

It sounds like a good plan to me. I think different home resorts work well if you plan to use them for different trips like you’re saying, and I agree to get the same UY. If you buy resale first Disney will match it up for you when you add on, but if you buy direct first it’s up to you to find the matching resale contract.

If you love Riviera and can accept the resale restrictions/risk, then it would be good to buy there. You aren’t limited to just buying Riviera direct, though. You can buy any DVC resort direct and if they don’t have the points available right away you can be put on a waitlist. Some of the resorts (like OKW) have a lower purchase price than Riviera, and just about all have lower dues right now. And any points you purchase direct will be able to book future resorts too. This way you could have all your points at just one resort if you really wanted. I say this just in case you weren’t aware. But again if you love Riviera, buy where you want to stay.
https://dvcnews.com/index.php/dvc-program/financial/pricing-a-promotions
The other suggestion I would add is to start off with just one contract for awhile so you have some time to play around with it and see what you like about DVC and which resort would be best to add on. That’s actually what our plan is now. We bought BCV resale earlier this year and it’s so perfect for us, but then I found I’ve been really missing not being a blue card member eligible for perks (FOMO, I know). I was all set to buy a small contract direct, but DH convinced me to pump the brakes for a bit. BCV is just too expensive direct now, and for a second home resort I’d really want enough points to be able to use on its own. So while I have ideas for other resorts, it’d really be better to try some out first and make sure. It’s a big purchase and it’s not going anywhere, so no need to rush.

 

[ELMC]

Agree with what's been said above. To add, owning DVC over the long term is all about keeping your options open. If you buy a resale contract and find out that it does not fit your needs, it's fairly easy to get out with minimal financial downside. If you buy a Riviera contract direct and find that it doesn't meet your needs, you're either stuck with it or will be facing a fairly significant loss.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

We have lots of flexibility in when we travel, we avoid busy times -- races, festivals, holidays

I will just point out that many people think Adventure Season, with low points, is not a busy time. It is, particularly for DVC. There have not been any signs of Disney trying to realign to bring spring/summer points costs down and make the low points section of fall and January higher. Do not look at those points charts and expect a lot of flexibility at 7 months if seeking studios, and sometimes even 1BRs can be rough.

 

[disney11fan]

We are considering buying two contracts, one direct and one resale. We want the ability to stay at new resorts going forward, so we are thinking of buying 100 points at Riviera direct through Disney. If we bank/borrow, this contract should allow us to stay at Riviera or one of the new resorts every other year or so. For resale, we'd like to buy about 150 points, maybe at OKW, and use this to stay on the opposite years at the original 14 resorts. We'd try for the same use year, so we could combine contracts if we wanted a longer, larger stay at the older resorts.

In my head, this makes a lot of sense and would cost us about the same as if we bought "just" 200 points direct from Disney for Riviera, with the added bonus of being able to resell our resale contract if necessary without the Riviera restrictions. Of course we have never actually owned DVC so I don't know what I don't know and am not sure if this would end up being more complicated than it's worth.

We have lots of flexibility in when we travel, we avoid busy times -- races, festivals, holidays, and we tend to stay in one-bedrooms (though would probably do studios at Riviera) so I'm not sure how important the 11 month window would be to us. Though we do like OKW and are fine staying there.

Any feedback? Should we skip the direct purchase and just buy a bigger resale contract?

my advice, don't buy anything. Your words ...Lots of flexibility. Reading these posts someone is always selling points on a short term . You can always get what you want and at a better price.

 

[jerseyduke]

Do you have an affinity for Riviera?
One of the bigger benefits of Direct is the discounted Gold APs (which sounds like they would work for you - IF you buy APs)
If you buy 100 DRR points, I would consider doing it as 2 50 pointers.
If you are looking to go with the same UY, it would also be easier to get the resale contract first.

I do not think what you are thinking is too complicated at all.

 

[seasalt81]

my advice, don't buy anything. Your words ...Lots of flexibility. Reading these posts someone is always selling points on a short term . You can always get what you want and at a better price.

Are you saying to just rent points/reservations instead of buying our own contract?

 

[seasalt81]

It wouldn't be much complicated. You'd have two sets of points to track, but really, the effort would be minimal, especially if you buy the same UY, so you would have only one login and one set of banking and expiry deadlines.
However, you're spendind a premium now to buy 100 points direct in order to book resorts that maybe you might like in the future. Why don't you start just with the resale contract and see how it goes? If you try a different resort every year, it will take 10 years to try them all, if you just limit yourself to onsite WDW. Who knows, you might find a favorite in the meantime and the new resorts may not appeal you that much.

That's a good point. It's primary my husband who feels restricted by not being able to book at new resorts... but if we buy resale, we could always buy direct in the future if that actually becomes an issue. Thanks for the perspective!

 

[seasalt81]

Are you also interested in the benefits of direct?

I think the only benefits we're really interested in are the ability to use our points at any resort and maybe the annual pass discount, but typically only one of us gets an annual pass if we get it at all.

 

[seasalt81]

Do you have an affinity for Riviera?
One of the bigger benefits of Direct is the discounted Gold APs (which sounds like they would work for you - IF you buy APs)
If you buy 100 DRR points, I would consider doing it as 2 50 pointers.
If you are looking to go with the same UY, it would also be easier to get the resale contract first.

I do not think what you are thinking is too complicated at all.

We toured the models and liked them quite a bit. The salesperson was kind of pushy though and hesitant to offer information about other resorts available direct from Disney, so we didn't come away with a feel for anything but Riviera in terms of a direct contract.

 

[kboo]

It wouldn't be much complicated. You'd have two sets of points to track, but really, the effort would be minimal, especially if you buy the same UY, so you would have only one login and one set of banking and expiry deadlines.
However, you're spendind a premium now to buy 100 points direct in order to book resorts that maybe you might like in the future. Why don't you start just with the resale contract and see how it goes? If you try a different resort every year, it will take 10 years to try them all, if you just limit yourself to onsite WDW. Who knows, you might find a favorite in the meantime and the new resorts may not appeal you that much.

I agree with the sentiment here to start with a smallish resale contract and see how you like it, and how you use it, and whether the planning restrictions (book early!) work for you. You will lose less (if you lose at all) selling a resale contract after a short time as compared to a direct contract at any home resort.

We own multiple home resorts over 2 UY - the 2 UY was actually a choice because we plan to use the contracts separately. it's still only 1 log in if they are titled the same, and just a toggle on the booking site on which points you want to use.

 

[disney11fan]

Are you saying to just rent points/reservations instead of buying our own contract?

Yes. I see no benefit in dvc. Now let the daggers fly. I feel you can do better by investing in what a buy in contract cost. I heard it varies but figure around $17,000. Now add maintenance fees. Now life happens. I didn't plan on getting cancer but I did. I survived but for 6 months it was hell.

Now as we both are people are always buying and selling and if you just look at something that someone has to unload you could do much better.

Now back to investing that initial money. I bet you you could find some good investments and easily make 12% on that money. I'm low balling it. Now you have your investments and can travel on your time with no worries.

 

[mustinjourney]

I agree with the sentiment here to start with a smallish resale contract and see how you like it, and how you use it, and whether the planning restrictions (book early!) work for you. You will lose less (if you lose at all) selling a resale contract after a short time as compared to a direct contract at any home resort.

We own multiple home resorts over 2 UY - the 2 UY was actually a choice because we plan to use the contracts separately. it's still only 1 log in if they are titled the same, and just a toggle on the booking site on which points you want to use.

Just an FYI -(not specifically for you -- but the board in general) - I have 4 contracts all titled the same (1 with APR and 3 with DEC UY) as well as 4 contracts for RIV/BWV titled another way (all same UY). My RIV/BWV contracts still show up using my regular login -- I just can't easily use points at the 7 month time...but I can easily transfer points from one to the other and they haven't yet restricted me to one per year.

I'm only saying this to mention that having different titles is practically the same as having different UYs...which was quite surprising to me.

 

[mustinjourney]

Yes. I see no benefit in dvc. Now let the daggers fly. I feel you can do better by investing in what a buy in contract cost. I heard it varies but figure around $17,000. Now add maintenance fees. Now life happens. I didn't plan on getting cancer but I did. I survived but for 6 months it was hell.

Now as we both are people are always buying and selling and if you just look at something that someone has to unload you could do much better.

Now back to investing that initial money. I bet you you could find some good investments and easily make 12% on that money. I'm low balling it. Now you have your investments and can travel on your time with no worries.

you can't "easily" expect to make 12% AFTER TAXES on that money. Can it happen for a couple years in a row? Sure. Will it happen next year? who knows. Will it happen every year for the next 6 years? Highly unlikely.

And do you only use the gains for your vacation fund? If so -- good luck staying in a deluxe resort for a week for $2000. A week at VGF is going to run you easily $3500-$5500 with hotel taxes thrown in.

And you're also failing to factor in the residual value of the resale contract if you decide to sell.

 

[disney11fan]

you can't "easily" expect to make 12% AFTER TAXES on that money. Can it happen for a couple years in a row? Sure. Will it happen next year? who knows. Will it happen every year for the next 6 years? Highly unlikely.

And do you only use the gains for your vacation fund? If so -- good luck staying in a deluxe resort for a week for $2000. A week at VGF is going to run you easily $3500-$5500 with hotel taxes thrown in.

And you're also failing to factor in the residual value of the resale contract if you decide to sell.

well going to akl for 7 days . 6 days tickets with park hop and disney dining plan with table service.... Oh for 3 adults. Cost $4700

 

[disney11fan]

On i did real well last year and made a heck of a lot more. I retired at 55 because I knew how to save and invest. Retired now 10 years. Pension, social security and 401k helps.

 

[Jdella27229]

I will just point out that many people think Adventure Season, with low points, is not a busy time. It is, particularly for DVC. There have not been any signs of Disney trying to realign to bring spring/summer points costs down and make the low points section of fall and January higher. Do not look at those points charts and expect a lot of flexibility at 7 months if seeking studios, and sometimes even 1BRs can be rough.

I agree. You really just have to come to terms with the fact that it’s Disney, and it’s ALWAYS going to be busy. Once you accept it, you’ll have a much better time.