Howdy! Looking for answers from pros!

[Tamubarbie]

Hi there,
I am currently on a flight home from WDW. We took the DVC tour on our stay. They quoted us $135 per point for wilderness lodge. We came back to our cabin to read the fine print and talk about it. We visit DL in the spring and WDW sometime in the two weeks after thanksgiving every year with our three kids under 6. So, seemingly, it appears this would be a smart investment for us.

We did some googling. We found resale contracts for as little as $47 per point. Ummm, that seems like a no brainer. Here's where I need your help, wisdom, experience and advice.

A) It is my understanding that if you purchase a resale, you can only stay at DVC properties. Is it hard to get the grand Californian in spring if you can only book out 7 months?

B) if you purchase the smallest contract possible directly from DVC, and then purchase resale points - can you combine them? Meaning would the resale points then have the direct benefits or no? For those that purchased the first time direct and then purchased resale, can you please explain the best way of going about this?

C) what are the restrictions people are talking about for resale other than only staying at DVC properties? I saw somewhere something about a March restriction, something about it taking over 70 days to close (why is that?) are the any other downfalls to the purchase and closing of a resale?

D) if you were me, and I decide to go strictly resale, we go to California and Orlando every year, would you make your home villa in california or Florida? If Florida, would you pick based on lowest point price or location? Is there one location that is the very best?

E) if you purchase a resale at grand Californian AND a resale at wilderness lodge, do you have the 11 month window on both resorts?

F) is there a benefit to purchasing several small investments vs. one that is the amount you think you will use? Is one more cost effective?

G) I promise I won't get through all the ABC's. What is the hardest DVC to secure 7 months out?

H) what stops disney from changing the rules again once you've bought a resale that you can ONLY use the points at that resort?

I) the reason we are hesitant to purchase direct is because we feel if we needed to sell for one reason or another, they've made it nearly impossible to recoup costs due to their restrictions!

J) why are some people saying if you buy direct, the points aren't worth using on the cruises or adventure vacations anyway?

K) if you were going to purchase resale, which company would you go with, what would you look for? Which companies are rip offs or scammers?

I truly appreciate any insight or help you might give me to help aide my decision! Thanks so much!!'

[Mike2023]

Originally Posted by Tamubarbie

Hi there,
I am currently on a flight home from WDW. We took the DVC tour on our stay. They quoted us $135 per point for wilderness lodge. We came back to our cabin to read the fine print and talk about it. We visit DL in the spring and WDW sometime in the two weeks after thanksgiving every year with our three kids under 6. So, seemingly, it appears this would be a smart investment for us.

We did some googling. We found resale contracts for as little as $47 per point. Ummm, that seems like a no brainer. Here's where I need your help, wisdom, experience and advice.

A) It is my understanding that if you purchase a resale, you can only stay at DVC properties. Is it hard to get the grand Californian in spring if you can only book out 7 months? I don't know the details but some restrictions do apply to the resorts you can stay at. But no matter what you can stay at all DVC resorts in a DVC room

B) if you purchase the smallest contract possible directly from DVC, and then purchase resale points - can you combine them? Meaning would the resale points then have the direct benefits or no? For those that purchased the first time direct and then purchased resale, can you please explain the best way of going about this? The points you buy from DVC will have the direct benefits, and the points you buy from resale wont. They will be separate contracts.

C) what are the restrictions people are talking about for resale other than only staying at DVC properties? I saw somewhere something about a March restriction, something about it taking over 70 days to close (why is that?) are the any other downfalls to the purchase and closing of a resale?
not sure on this one

D) if you were me, and I decide to go strictly resale, we go to California and Orlando every year, would you make your home villa in california or Florida? If Florida, would you pick based on lowest point price or location? Is there one location that is the very best? If I were you and I would pick California as my home resort because I assume its harder to get at 7 months out. You should almost always be able to get something at WDW at 7 months because there are more options for you.

E) if you purchase a resale at grand Californian AND a resale at wilderness lodge, do you have the 11 month window on both resorts? Yes, but only for the amount of point you own at each.

F) is there a benefit to purchasing several small investments vs. one that is the amount you think you will use? Is one more cost effective? I would not say its more cost effective but it would be easier to sell in the future as small contracts tend to sell faster. I own 2 100 point contracts so if I decide to change things up or add at a new resort I can always sell half.

G) I promise I won't get through all the ABC's. What is the hardest DVC to secure 7 months out? Depends on time of year. I would say any of the epcot resorts around food and wine. BLT is popular. I can always count on a booking at AKL at 7 months. I own at BLT but our resort of choice is AKL and it never fails us.

H) what stops disney from changing the rules again once you've bought a resale that you can ONLY use the points at that resort? Big point here. NOTHING! The only thing your guaranteed is your home resort. Buying direct from disney does not safeguard you from this

I) the reason we are hesitant to purchase direct is because we feel if we needed to sell for one reason or another, they've made it nearly impossible to recoup costs due to their restrictions! I would not bet on the fact that you will recoup your costs if you had to sell. In fact I would bet on losing money. Don't buy if you intend to sell. If you think this is something your going to use for the rest of your life, or the life of the contract it can be a great "investment".

J) why are some people saying if you buy direct, the points aren't worth using on the cruises or adventure vacations anyway? Because the amount of points that a cruise would cost are inflated over the value of your points. In most cases it would be better for you to pay cash and bank the points for another year, or even rent your points and come out ahead.

K) if you were going to purchase resale, which company would you go with, what would you look for? Which companies are rip offs or scammers? No help here

I truly appreciate any insight or help you might give me to help aide my decision! Thanks so much!!'

Im in no way an "expert" but I tossed my 2 cents out there. Hope it helped

[Sandisw]

The time after Thanksgiving and into December is very popular at Wdw so that might push me In the direction of buying there. I'd you buy resale points, it tidally takes two months to close because of the Rofr process, etc. That is why you see that reference.

If you buy some points from Disney and then get points from resale, the resale points will still be restricted points. You can combine the, for use at DVC--I own both kind of points-- but not for the options that are available for direct bought points. Those options are the Disney collection which includes cruises, Adventures by Disney, and the Conceirge collection.

Owning at more than one resort would allow you to use those points at the 11 month window but they can't be combined until 7. So if you own 100 VWL and 100 GVC the, you can use the 100 at each at 11 months. Of curse , with banking and borrowing, you could end up with up to 3 years to use.

In terms of where to buy, it depends. We bought BLT and BWV because we are particular in where we stay and wanted to know we could be at the resort of choice. However, if you'd be okay anywhere, then buying for the lowest price is a good strategy. IMO, buy a place you would not mind staying.

Good luck!

[com_op_2000]

Buying points at the lowest cost resorts HHI/VB result in having the highest MFs.
The normal recommendation of most DISers is to buy where you will always be happy staying.
Certain resorts such as BC/WL/VGC are small compared to the other DVC resorts and they can be hard to book at 7 months. So if you really like those smaller resorts, make one of those your home resort.

[ToddyLu]

A one week trip to Ireland with ABD is 400 points per person. I can get get 2 one week trips out of my 210 ponts at WDW. I think 3 day curises are like 130 points per person. I haven't looked these numbers up but you get the point. Mostly people rent the points and then use that money to pay cash for the cruise or other vacation. There is no way I am using 2 years worth of points to do the other options---but I am glad that other people have the opportunity.

We purchased direct, we will add-on resale. We only stay at DVC resorts.

[KAT4DISNEY]

That's new if VWL is $135/pt direct. Last I knew it was $102/pt. AKV and Aulani were both $135 base price but the resorts ending in 2042 were lower.

Originally Posted by Tamubarbie

Hi there,
I am currently on a flight home from WDW. We took the DVC tour on our stay. They quoted us $135 per point for wilderness lodge. We came back to our cabin to read the fine print and talk about it. We visit DL in the spring and WDW sometime in the two weeks after thanksgiving every year with our three kids under 6. So, seemingly, it appears this would be a smart investment for us.

We did some googling. We found resale contracts for as little as $47 per point. Ummm, that seems like a no brainer. Here's where I need your help, wisdom, experience and advice.

A) It is my understanding that if you purchase a resale, you can only stay at DVC properties. Is it hard to get the grand Californian in spring if you can only book out 7 months? With resale points purchased after March 21, 2011 you can stay at DVC resorts, RCI, Club Cordial and Club Intrawest. VGC has been possible at 7 month but you wouldn't want to miss that date. And flexibility would help. Going forward it's impossible to say but I wouldn't see it getting easier, only more difficult.

B) if you purchase the smallest contract possible directly from DVC, and then purchase resale points - can you combine them? Meaning would the resale points then have the direct benefits or no? For those that purchased the first time direct and then purchased resale, can you please explain the best way of going about this? No, resale points will not regain benefits.

C) what are the restrictions people are talking about for resale other than only staying at DVC properties? I saw somewhere something about a March restriction, something about it taking over 70 days to close (why is that?) are the any other downfalls to the purchase and closing of a resale? See above for the March date and ROFR was explained in another post.


D) if you were me, and I decide to go strictly resale, we go to California and Orlando every year, would you make your home villa in california or Florida? If Florida, would you pick based on lowest point price or location? Is there one location that is the very best? I'd probably buy either just VGC points or else a combination of the amount of VGC points you need and a second contract at WDW. There are more option at WDW so it's easier to get a room at 7 months. DL only has VGC so if you can't get in there at 7 months you're out of luck. But - you must also be able to book in your home resort priority period. If you can't book at 11-7 months out then you might as well buy the lowest cost points at WDW. (I wouldn't recommend HHI or VB unless you really wanted to stay there because of the higher MF's).

E) if you purchase a resale at grand Californian AND a resale at wilderness lodge, do you have the 11 month window on both resorts? As was mentioned - you'll have the home resort priority at each only for the points that are at each resort. So - buy 100 points at VWL and 50 points at VGC and you'll have home resort priority for 100 points at VWL and 50 at VGC. At 7 months a point becomes a point and it doesn't matter where it's home resort is.


F) is there a benefit to purchasing several small investments vs. one that is the amount you think you will use? Is one more cost effective? Easier to sell, allows you to downsize. Not really more cost effective though - if you buy resale you'll most likely pay more for a small contract and be able to sell it for a little more. And there are closing costs on each contract so that will cost you a little more too.

G) I promise I won't get through all the ABC's. What is the hardest DVC to secure 7 months out? That varies with time of year and room category. For the 2 resorts you have talked about VGC would be more difficult than VWL but VWL in Dec can be difficult.

H) what stops disney from changing the rules again once you've bought a resale that you can ONLY use the points at that resort? Nothing. It should be your base assumption that the only thing you'll have with DVC is the ability to book at your home resort. And that is whether you purchase resale or direct.

I) the reason we are hesitant to purchase direct is because we feel if we needed to sell for one reason or another, they've made it nearly impossible to recoup costs due to their restrictions! One of the reasons why the resale restrictions made buying direct much less appealing. Sign on the line and if you needed to sell 30 days later you'd get 30 to 60% less.

J) why are some people saying if you buy direct, the points aren't worth using on the cruises or adventure vacations anyway? Some people apparently aren't comfortable with the resale process. Others think it takes too long etc. etc.

K) if you were going to purchase resale, which company would you go with, what would you look for? Which companies are rip offs or scammers? There are 4 that are most used and recommended around here: http://www.dvc-resales.com, http://www.dvcbyresale.com, http://www.*************** and http://www.fidelityresales.com/

I truly appreciate any insight or help you might give me to help aide my decision! Thanks so much!!'

[Tamubarbie]

Thank you all for your replies! It looks like I will more than likely be purchasing resale. I just can't justify purchasing direct any way I look at it. Especially after hearing they jacked the points up from what they were when we talked to them this week...I do have a question about renting the points. How do you rent them? If we had close friends who wanted to use our points during a year that we weren't going to use them, could we book our points for them and have them pay us directly or do you have to go through some kind of agent? Thanks again!

[CarolMN]

Originally Posted by Tamubarbie

Thank you all for your replies! It looks like I will more than likely be purchasing resale. I just can't justify purchasing direct any way I look at it. Especially after hearing they jacked the points up from what they were when we talked to them this week...I do have a question about renting the points. How do you rent them? If we had close friends who wanted to use our points during a year that we weren't going to use them, could we book our points for them and have them pay us directly or do you have to go through some kind of agent? Thanks again!

There are two ways to "rent" your points:

One is to make a reservation in the other person's name. DVC members are actually renting reservations, not points. (Points have no value to non-members). Payment terms are between you and the other party. You may also use a broker. Many do if they do not want to bother looking for a renter or just don't have the time to work with non-members. One of the DIS DVC sponsors (aka Daddio) offers this service. More info on his website - look for his ads on the DIS Rent/Trade Forum.

Another way to rent your points is to transfer them to another member.

You can read more about both ways to rent points (as well as the process) in more detail in the STICKY threads at the top of the DIS Rent/Trade Forum.

[KAT4DISNEY]

Originally Posted by CarolMN

Another way to rent your points is to transfer them to another member.

It is done but collecting money for transfers is prohibited by the POS. But renting for money is allowed per the POS and can be done by the individual owner or thru a broker. The POS does also require a contract between individuals for a rental although that isn't always done either.

[Tamubarbie]

Thank you both for your help! I appreciate it!

[JimMIA]

I'll take a stab at a couple of your questions.

Originally Posted by Tamubarbie

A) It is my understanding that if you purchase a resale, you can only stay at DVC properties.

NOT Correct.

KAT4DISNEY's answer above is 100% correct.

D) if you were me, and I decide to go strictly resale, we go to California and Orlando every year, would you make your home villa in california or Florida?

There is a huge onsite advantage at WDW in Florida. In California, not so much, and there are many, many good places to stay in and around Anaheim. I would probably not buy any timeshare in CA, or if I did, it would be Wyndham or Worldmark. Both have good choices in SoCal, and many other locations not covered by DVC.

If Florida, would you pick based on lowest point price or location? Is there one location that is the very best?

Sure, there is one best location. Problem is, it's different for every family and may change as your kids get older. Whether location or price is most important depends greatly on your preferences. If you can confidently plan 11 months in advance and ABSOLUTELY MUST be in a certain resort at a particular time of year, buy that resort.

If you can't reliably plan more than 7 months in advance, or would be happy in any DVC resort, cost may be the only thing that really matters. In considering cost, though, keep in mind that the annual dues will eventually add up to more than the purchase price -- so a low purchase price at a resort with high MFs might not really be cheapest after all.

H) what stops disney from changing the rules again once you've bought a resale that you can ONLY use the points at that resort?

Nothing, and it is important to understand that. They could impose that restriction on ANY buyer, whether you purchase direct or resale. But most don't think that will ever happen -- the ability to use points at other resorts is a key feature of every timeshare system.

I) the reason we are hesitant to purchase direct is because we feel if we needed to sell for one reason or another, they've made it nearly impossible to recoup costs due to their restrictions!

Not impossible to sell, but understand that you would be selling at the same price as people who purchased resale, and with the same restrictions on the points you were offering for sale. The comment above that your direct purchase is worth 30-60% less as soon as you sign on the dotted line is quite accurate.

J) why are some people saying if you buy direct, the points aren't worth using on the cruises or adventure vacations anyway?

In anybody's timeshare system, the best value comes from using that timeshare within the company's internal system. Using points outside the system rarely gives good value and can often be extraordinarily expensive.

I personally go even farther than that with DVC. My personal opinion is that DVC is best at WDW in Florida. In each of the other locations they have, I believe there are better, less-expensive options.

K) if you were going to purchase resale, which company would you go with, what would you look for? Which companies are rip offs or scammers?

Anyone who asks for a fee up front is a scammer. There are some in the timeshare industry, although I have not heard of any scams with DVC resales.

I have both bought and sold (twice each) through The Timeshare Store, the sponsor of this forum. They have been extremely helpful and professional to work with, and many of us recommend them highly.

[sechelt]

I'm going to comment on California only.

If you're used to staying off site when at DL, continue to do so and make your home resort in WDW. It's the better value.

If you're used to staying onsite in California, you may want to make VGC your home resort. It's really, really difficult to book VGC at the 7 month window so being able to book before everyone else is the huge onsite advantage. WDW will generally always have a room somewhere at the 7 month mark.

If you buy resale, I don't think you'll be able to book hotel rooms at PP, DLH, or GC so if the villas are booked, you're looking at paying for a room somewhere. I know someone will correct me if I'm wrong but I think the hotel rooms are one of the perks for the direct buy folks only.