Would you buy a contract that has points you couldn’t use before expiration

[mommy2twingles]

Looking at our first purchase via resale. We are eyeing a contract with a fall use year that has over 100 points for 2024 left. We already have a cruise booked for this fall so the most we would be able to use is 2 nights precruise. Not sure the sale would complete before we could bank the points. Would you still consider this contract since everything else looks good or keep looking?

 

[thanxfornoticin]

If the points are still bankable now, include in the offer to the owner that you want them to bank the points for your transaction before you buy. Many resale contracts are sold with banked points. If those points are not bankable, you just have to decide if losing year of points is worth it (it might be!).

 

[davidhr]

Why not? If the contract is good for me even without those points (assuming they expire and can’t be banked), it doesn’t matter.

 

[airjay75]

Just needs to be appropriately factored into the price. If they’re basically worthless (e.g. a September or October UY with 2024 points), I would factor that in to my offer price accordingly. A December UY, I’d make my offer contingent on them banking them if they’re bankable - if not bankable, I’d honestly still consider them pretty worthless at this point - maybe a small value if you have a lot of flexibility with an October or November stay.

 

[Chili327]

Yes, but wouldn’t pay for them.

 

[juliebee]

Only December use years can still bank 2024 points, so if this is a fall use year then those points are stuck expiring. If the rest of the contract matches up with what you are looking for, then sure, make an offer, but don't add any money for those likely useless points. It takes months to close and get your points on a resale contract, so by then you may not find any availability before the points expire.

 

[sndral]

Actually I bought my first contract late in the use year & it had a years worth of unbanked points & it was past the banking deadline, so I knew going in there was only a remote chance I’d have access to those points in time let alone be able to use them. My offer was based on the assumption that those points were worth zero to me & I didn’t reimburse for MFs on the points at risk or the new points I’d get shortly after we closed. I finally had access to the points a couple of days before they expired, so they were indeed ‘lost,’ but since I’d offered assuming that’d be the case I was ok w/ it.

 

[juliebee]

Actually I bought my first contract late in the use year & it had a years worth of unbanked points & it was past the banking deadline, so I knew going in there was only a remote chance I’d have access to those points in time let alone be able to use them. My offer was based on the assumption that those points were worth zero to me & I didn’t reimburse for MFs on the points at risk or the new points I’d get shortly after we closed. I finally had access to the points a couple of days before they expired, so they were indeed ‘lost,’ but since I’d offered assuming that’d be the case I was ok w/ it.

very smart to not pay for the maintenance fees on those expiring points! Great advice for the OP.

 

[sndral]

very smart to not pay for the maintenance fees on those expiring points! Great advice for the OP.

The whole MFs on resale contracts w/ fall/Dec. use years is interesting, on direct contracts DVC bills MFs based on a calendar year & prorates them accordingly, whereas many resale listings want full reimbursement for ‘current’ year’s points -which ‘feels’ odd if you’re buying a Dec. or fall use year contract late in the calendar year like I was - & can add several dollars per point to the price. I didn’t reimburse for MFs for the expiring points or for the ‘current’ years points, so I basically got a year’s worth of points MF free. That was an era when I was seeing a lot of stripped contracts for sale, so while it wasn’t a loaded contract, it wasn’t stripped either.

 

[juliebee]

The whole MFs on resale contracts w/ fall/Dec. use years is interesting, on direct contracts DVC bills MFs based on a calendar year & prorates them accordingly, whereas many resale listings want full reimbursement for ‘current’ year’s points -which ‘feels’ odd if you’re buying a Dec. or fall use year contract late in the calendar year like I was - & can add several dollars per point to the price. I didn’t reimburse for MFs for the expiring points or for the ‘current’ years points, so I basically got a year’s worth of points MF free. That was an era when I was seeing a lot of stripped contracts for sale, so while it wasn’t a loaded contract, it wasn’t stripped either.

I was misled (by the agent) to believe that my Dec use year resale contract required me to pay for the MF for that year. My purchase was mid-year, but I didn't understand then that it is a point of negotiation, not a requirement. I probably would have handled that differently.