Any Help/Advice is Much Appreciated on Re-Sale Purchase

[deltadisney]

I would sincerely appreciate any help, tips, or advice because, to say the least, this is a bit overwhelming and I have read so much about it. I am strongly considering purchasing a WL DVC membership with 50 points per year through DVC -Resale. We have two young children and really enjoy trying to go to disney once a year, typically for 3 nights/4 days (we live 10 hours away, so we have driven and we are hoping to be able to fly now with some of the savings).

As I understand it, the costs are the purchase price (which has to be approved by disney) and the yearlyt fees (which are typically $5-6 per point per year)? Are these all the fees? Also, with 50 points per year, there could be some years where we go during a value time to be able to stay 3 nights, and other years, we could skip a yearly trip and and bank points toward a trip the following year and be able to stay longer or in a nicer room (but you can only bank 2 years worth of points) - is this correct? Also, going all in on the direct side or even puchasing in excess of 50 points, is more than I am willing to invest at this point -would you look at buying in at just 50 points, given the above or just continue booking without DVC?. I know there are disadvantages and advantages, but for a family who will try to go to disney at least once every other year, I would appreciate any thoughts or advice - I know this is a very broad question, but any help is greatly appreciated.

[tigergrad]

We just purchased a resale SSR contract after years of toying with the idea of DVC. We have a large family so we needed enough points to secure a 2 bedroom villa at least every other year for 5-7 nights. You will have to pay for the points, closing costs and maintenance fees. If you find that you want to vacation longer or need a larger villa in the future you could add another contract. In that case you would want to purchase the same use year.

[lovin'fl]

50 points won't get you far. If you can be flexible with when, where and what room type...you may be able to make it work somewhat. Here's how resale works:
-you make an offer
-once offer is accepted you and seller sign contract and send to broker with a deposit.
-once broker gets signed papers from buyer and seller and buyer's deposit, they send the contract to Disney for ROFR
-Disney takes up to 30 days to decide if they want to buy the contract at the price that it's being sold at...if they want it then it gets ROFRd and buyer is out and back to square 1
-if Disney doesn't want it they notify the broker and then closing is set up
-closing takes a few weeks and you will pay the final payment at closing (with certified check or wire...no credit card).
-Disney will then get your points in the system and that takes a couple weeks too...all in all it takes about 60 days (some longer and some shorter).

After the contract is yours, you will pay annual maintenance fees (around $5/point...varies by resort). Those fees can and do go up every year (not too terribly much). You will pay for park tickets and dining plan as needed/wanted.

Some options for you are to buy cheaper resale points. At WDW those are OKW and SSR...HH and VB are THE cheapest, but if you know you want to go to WDW nearly every time then it wouldn't be good to buy HH or VB. You also want to look at what studios you can book for the least points...AKV value are the least and you'd need to get AKV points to book those and then OKW and standard view at BWV...BLT is the very most and then BCV and VWL and SSR is close behind. OKW would be your best- all around- bang for your buck...you can get a huge studio that costs the least number of points and the resale price per point is low too. But, you should be happy with staying at OKW. While you seem prepared to go in the off seasons, you should always be prepared that you may not be able to get any other options at the 7 month mark.

[disneynutz]

Buying a DVC ownership isn't the big cost, going to Disney is what will cost you. The dues, food, tickets, travel, and extras is where the big money is. As a owner you have to do something with your points each year or sell to stop your Disney obligation.

Bill

[Missyrose]

Couple of things to note here.

1)Everything is negotiable in resale contracts (purchase price, who pays closing costs and MFs).

2)Small contracts like the 50-pointer you desire are few and far between, so they go FAST once they come on the market. This also means there tends to be a premium in terms of price when it comes to those small contracts. For instance, if you were to pay $55 to $60 per point for Boardwalk contracts of 100 points or higher, you'll likely pay $70+ per point for a 50-point BWV contract.

3) Because of the premium you'd pay for such a small contract, have you looked into the possibility of renting points for your trips? If you aren't sure if you'd go every year, renting would give you the savings without all the responsibility of being an owner. If after a few years of renting you want to go more often or decide you'd rather have complete control, you can revisit the idea of buying a DVC contract (prices will continue to fall between now and then).

4) As far as usage goes, you can always use three years' worth of points for one trip. Let's say you want to take a trip in your 2014 UY, you can bank your 2013 points and borrow your 2015 points to add to your 2014 points for a total of 150 points to use for that trip. There is a way to have trips span to UYs that would allow for the use of four years' worth of points, but that is a bit complicated for someone just contemplating a purchase.

Hope this helps!

[deltadisney]

Thanks for all of the responses so far. In reference to purchasing through a more economical resort, such as OKW - if I were to purchase 100 points, the only limitation on being able to book at another dvc resort is obviously availability and I could not book until 7 months out when the owners of that resort get to book 11 months out - so basically you would have to pick from leftovers for anything outside of your home resort?

[lovin'fl]

Originally Posted by deltadisney

Thanks for all of the responses so far. In reference to purchasing through a more economical resort, such as OKW - if I were to purchase 100 points, the only limitation on being able to book at another dvc resort is obviously availability and I could not book until 7 months out when the owners of that resort get to book 11 months out - so basically you would have to pick from leftovers for anything outside of your home resort?

That is correct. In off times, we have not had trouble doing this (and even during peak times we've been lucky)...we own OKW and HH yet we've stayed at VB, SSR, BWV, VWL as well and we have BCV booked for this month. If you go online right at the 7 month mark, you will have the best shot. But, we tried for BCV in the past and could not get it...though we haven't been sticklers about going online or calling at 8am the 1st day of the 7 month mark. We got the coveted VB for the summer last year...I did go online the day of the 7 month mark (just not at 8am). We got HH for the summer a couple years ago...before we owned there. We got BWV and VWL for a split stay over July 4th week one year. It does get harder and harder as more people buy into DVC, but they do keep building resorts too so the choices are also growing.

[disneybass]

Originally Posted by deltadisney

I would sincerely appreciate any help, tips, or advice because, to say the least, this is a bit overwhelming and I have read so much about it. I am strongly considering purchasing a WL DVC membership with 50 points per year through DVC -Resale. We have two young children and really enjoy trying to go to disney once a year, typically for 3 nights/4 days (we live 10 hours away, so we have driven and we are hoping to be able to fly now with some of the savings).

As I understand it, the costs are the purchase price (which has to be approved by disney) and the yearlyt fees (which are typically $5-6 per point per year)? Are these all the fees? Also, with 50 points per year, there could be some years where we go during a value time to be able to stay 3 nights, and other years, we could skip a yearly trip and and bank points toward a trip the following year and be able to stay longer or in a nicer room (but you can only bank 2 years worth of points) - is this correct? Also, going all in on the direct side or even puchasing in excess of 50 points, is more than I am willing to invest at this point -would you look at buying in at just 50 points, given the above or just continue booking without DVC?. I know there are disadvantages and advantages, but for a family who will try to go to disney at least once every other year, I would appreciate any thoughts or advice - I know this is a very broad question, but any help is greatly appreciated.

We started with a 50 point resale contract in 2006 at OKW just to see if DVC
was for us. As it turns out we do enjoy DVC and have added 3 more small contracts over the years. I think it is a good choice for your family. If you decide that it is not for you the small contracts are very easy to sell. Good luck!

[johnsbelt]

Originally Posted by disneybass

We started with a 50 point resale contract in 2006 at OKW just to see if DVC
was for us. As it turns out we do enjoy DVC and have added 3 more small contracts over the years. I think it is a good choice for your family. If you decide that it is not for you the small contracts are very easy to sell. Good luck!

This is the route we've taken so far. Purchased a small 50 point resale contract at BLT (DW wish). Since we only go every 2-3 years, I figured that a small contract to start would be a nice way to find out if we liked it as much as we thought we would. So far so good.

Another twist to the own/rent discussion, is that our DD and boyfriend approached me if I could get them a room after they graduated. I ended up having points transferred to my account from another member and they were able to go using our membership. The advantage of this was that I controlled the reservation like they were my points but without the potential rental issues (being able to add ME and dining myself). I have also gotten an additional transfer to suprise my wife with a nicer room when we go down in Oct for our 25th anniv.

Bottom line, you aren't painting yourself into a corner with a small contract. You can obtain additional points from other members. The only down side is that you may have to plan a little farther in advance because you want to have the points in your account when you make the reservations at the 11 month window.

Just my 0.02 and worth everything you paid for it. ;-)

John

[a742246]

There are some other small advantages of becoming a member such as:

Some discounts at a few rest. mainly for lunch.
Disc on season passes.
Ability to have other members transfer points to you.
Knowing that you are going back (your vacation tends to be more relaxing).
Pool Hopping if you want to.
Free parking or free Magical exp.

[deltadisney]

Thank you all so much - this has been such help and I appreciate all the thoughts and insignt. One more question - if I did purchase a 50 point OKW contract and down the road, decided to purchase another smaler, 50 point or less, contract, but not OKW. Under this scenerio, can you combine the points from the 2 different resorts? I understand that you would not have a true "home" resort for all the points, but could you combine them and book at the 7 month window for a non-owned DVC resort?

[chalee94]

Originally Posted by a742246

There are some other small advantages of becoming a member such as:

Free parking or free Magical exp.

this is not actually a DVC member perk. free parking and free ME are onsite perks - you get them when you stay onsite, either with pts or cash. if you are a DVC member staying offsite or with a friend/family, there is no free parking or ME option.

a lot of perks can come and go over the course of your membership, though. don't count on them...

Originally Posted by deltadisney

One more question - if I did purchase a 50 point OKW contract and down the road, decided to purchase another smaler, 50 point or less, contract, but not OKW. Under this scenerio, can you combine the points from the 2 different resorts? I understand that you would not have a true "home" resort for all the points, but could you combine them and book at the 7 month window for a non-owned DVC resort?

you would have 50 OKW pts with home resort priority at OKW and a smaller contract (say 40 SSR pts) with home resort priority at SSR. at 11 months out, they would be separate. but at 7 months out, you could combine them* to book whatever is available.

*they need to be under the same membership number - in other words, they have to be titled the same and have the same UY month. you could pick up the second contract directly or by resale.

[maburke]

Originally Posted by deltadisney

Thanks for all of the responses so far. In reference to purchasing through a more economical resort, such as OKW - if I were to purchase 100 points, the only limitation on being able to book at another dvc resort is obviously availability and I could not book until 7 months out when the owners of that resort get to book 11 months out - so basically you would have to pick from leftovers for anything outside of your home resort?

Note that OKW is currently a big target for ROFR right now, so you might not get as good a deal as you think, and it might take you longer to get it. Choose a resort where you would not be disappointed to stay, because in the long run, $5-10 difference in the purchase price won't make up for that.

[hilljim]

I started out with a 50 pnt resale to get into DVC. It paid for it self. And we had a great time with it, depending on when you go, you can get a week every three years or so... Watch where you buy your resale. I look for a couple things when considering resale. Do you want to stay during hot weeks? If so, buy resale where you want to stay. If you are planning to go on off-weeks then buy @ the cheapest MF rates. This will be with you the longest. Also, make sure you get a contract with banked points!

But a 50 pt contract gives you all the benefits and perks of DVC membership. You can always look to rent pts and transfer in points in for longer term stay.

I have sense, purchased additional contracts from the initial 50pts contract. Now up to over 500 total points.

Do your research on what the going rates are for resale! and pray for ROFR!

Good Luck!

[Tunseeker1]

I am going to lay my head in the block and bring up the most hated word on this board.

DIRECT.

If you are looking at a small contract which goes for a premium especially at OKW you should run the numbers for direct. Most OKW are 2042 contracts and the 2057 contracts go for a premium.
The closing fees are usually pretty standard no matter how many points you are getting. $350 in closing on 350 points isnt too bad but on 50 points it is $7 a point.
2057 contracts are in the high 60 low 70 dollar range according to the ROFR thread and the closing will take it up to high 70 low 80 range.

Direct is $100 for 2057 with cheaper closing costs. It might only be a few hundred to a thousand dollars more to buy 50 points direct.

Or you could get a cheaper resort with a larger contract.

Oh and you can buy up to 24 single use points if you are short on points for a trip from disney.