disney or resale

[dazzamo]

What are the advantages / disadvantages of buying from DVC or a resale agent? Your advice is appreciated

dazzamo

[PumbaNY]

we purchased direct from disney because at the time they were selling the boardwalk and it was definatly the place we wanted to be at. THERE IS NO BETTER LOCATION, LOCATION THAN BOARDWALK/YACHT/BEACH CLUB IN ALL DISNEY! With that said at the time the beach club was a dream and not available. curretly the only direct offering is for Saratoga Springs, their OK but they are more independent individual buildings, we did not like that at all, and did I mention LOCATION IS IMPORTANT! there are many good deals from independent agents, some on these boards, but I do not know if any hidden charges can pop up. we are extremley happy dealing direct, I am concidering to add points & We might try a independent.

[ollie]

I have bought both of my contracts from a resale agent, I got the home bases I wanted at a lower price than Disney are selling SSR for. Win win situation for me! I would not have bought DVC if I had not had a choice of homes. BWV for Epcot our fave park and OKW for the atmosphere and the price $76 in our case. Ian

[Tinker]

I would definitely suggest,resale . You may be able to get a better home resort, that way .

[dcfromva]

What are the advantages / disadvantages of buying from DVC or a resale agent? Your advice is appreciated

dazzamo
dazzamo,
I agree with PumbaNY in that location is probably the most important criteria if you are able to book your reservations more than 7 months in advance and if you are particular about where you want to stay.

Some folks are not ever able to lock in their schedule more than 7 months in advance (I can think of a couple of reasons such as: boss won't publish the schedule or vacation leave is not selected that fair in advance.) Also, if you would be happy to stay at any of the WDW DVC locations, then buy where the combined maint. fees/cost per point are the lowest. Maint fees account for the majority of the cost of ownership. Maint. fees are a moving target--they generally increase a little bit each year. (Note, you can find Vero Beach resales for relatively low price per point, but the maint. fees are the highest, the maint fees could quickly erode any savings and actually end up costing more.)

If you are able to plan your vacations 11 months in advance and you have your heart set on staying at a particular DVC, then I would not recommend buying anything other than that particular DVC. Example, if you always want to stay at BWV standard view (and you can make ressies at the 11 month window), you should buy BWV. Getting a STD view ressie at BWV at 7months or less is already a rare event, I expect that it will be even trickier as more members join.

Right now, Disney does not charge for closing costs--but that is scheduled to change (I think in July). Another advantage if you go through Disney is you don't have to wait for the Right of First Refusal (ROFR). Disney has the first chance to buy back a DVC contract that is being offered for sale. So, if you go through the resale option, Disney could buy the contract from under you if they determine the price is not high enough. Another advantage to going through Disney is you can schedule your vacations points almost right away (you have to close before you can use them, though). If you go through the resale option, you have to wait until the contract is recorded before you are allowed to make a reservation. If you go through Disney, you have to purchase at least 150 points, but you can name the number of points above 150 that you want--so, say you wanted 173 points, Disney would write you up a contract for 173 points.... If you go through a resale, the Use Year and number of points is set and can't be changed. However, you can buy fewer points than 150 through a resale (you could become a DVC member with a resale contract that has 25 points in it.)

You can make a purchase of a sold out property through Disney, but for some properties (like Beach Club), you could end up waiting a while in order to make the purchase. Disney has to get the points from ROFR, and BCV points are selling at prices which would not make it cost effective for Disney to buy them back.

In general, the resale will cost less than through Disney (although I have seen BCV contracts through resale for as much as Disney charges--plus having to pay closing costs on top of it. This is because BCV is in demand right now). If you are patient and you find a contract with a lot of banked points, you could get a really sweet deal with a resale...

-DC :ears: