DVC Polynesian Purchase

[cplderry]

Good morning everyone,

I'm in the process of purchasing a contract directly from Disney for the Poly. I noticed that the closing costs include a charge of roughly $190.00 for title insurance paid to "Vista Title Insurance Agency", which is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Company. To be clear, I fully understand what title insurance is and what it covers. However, this seems like an unjustified expense. We're buying direct from Disney, not re-sale. If we were buying re-sale I would want the coverage. In the contract there is a specific building, floor, and unit associated that we are buying a percentage of from Disney. Frankly, I have zero doubt that Disney is the true owner of this property and don't feel insuring against the potential that Disney is hiding issues in their ownership of this property they're selling me is necessary. Has anyone else ever considered this issue and/or discussed taking the charge off and passing on the coverage? After all, that $190 will possibly cover a danish or muffin on our next trip.

Any thoughts, experiences to share? Thanks in advance.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

I believe it's Florida law.

 

[cplderry]

Not law - The "Quality Assurance Dept" already said I can have it removed from the purchase, but it would require a separate form for declining the insurance. Plus, in the literature they provided (as required by FL law) it specifically says that I can't be forced as a buyer to purchase the insurance.

I'm not wondering if it's possible, I'm just wondering if anyone else has done it? It seems like a waste of money since the property has never been owned by someone else besides Disney.

 

[ToTBellHop]

It does seem odd.

 

[sxeensweet]

We just paid for it as it was not worth all the trouble to remove it etc. We finally joined in 2013 buying direct at AKV/Kidani. Now if it was $1900 then maybe I would have bothered! Haha. But In all seriousness that is something that is a pure personal choice and hey $190 is still a nice amount to save if you feel like doing so. Do whatever makes you happy when it is all said and done. You are the one making the large and expensive purchase.

 

[Seanual757]

We asked about it and honestly for the amount of money we were spending and the time already spent it was not worth the hassle. Our sales person gave us some other freebies (well not really free we just spent a ton of cash) but it offset the $190 cost.

 

[toolsnspools]

I think you've sniffed out one of the "little" money makers they've cooked into the deal. According the the DVCNews.com report, they sold 1,690 deeds in April. At $190/deed that's over $320,000/mo or $3.8M/year of revenue for the "Vista Title Insurance Agency". I can't imagine that it takes more than a minute or two per title to validate that they were the only owners of the new deeds...

 

[cplderry]

We ended up declining the coverage on the final paperwork. $190 for a $30k + purchase is, of course, a small percentage. However, $190 is still $190 and I can't find any value in the coverage. I look at it as a couple meals for us while we're on vacation . It was a simple re-print of the purchase docs and signing a declination of insurance page, nothing more. Taking 5 seconds to sign an extra page for a savings of $190 seemed like a good use of my time.