To buy from Disney or resale

[Chasin' Tail]

Ok I'm looking into buying into the DVC. I've talked the the sales people at Disney and they explained most of the limitations if I buy a resale. I don't plan on traveling around the world plus I was told the points lose their value if used out side of DVC. From what I've read it is better to rent points and pay cash for travel outside Disney. I really want to stay at the BCV or BWV so would it make any sense to buy from Disney? This is a big purchase and I'm afraid I might be missing something.
I could buy a resale at either but the deed is for only 27 years.
For example I can by points at SSR for for almost half the price and still have 40 years on my deed.
I vacation in Jan-early Feb.
So I guess my main question is what will I gain if I buy Points direct from Disney?
Thanks!

 

[dreamfinder]

Buying direct you just get the ability to use your points in the Concierge Collection, the Disney Collection, and the Adventurer Collection. Outside of that it is pretty much the same. Even if you don't rent your points, simply banking the saved money can easily pay for several trips. IE buying 100 points resale at $80 per point vs $160 direct means you save roughly $8,000. Sticking that in a bank account and using it in 2 years to pay for a cruise, or stay at a non timeshare property.
Direct does also give you a bit more flexibility in what you buy. Resale you are limited to what is available. So if you wanted to buy 183 points (for some strange reason) DVD would sell you 183 no questions asked, but resale you may end up needing to buy a 185 or 200 point deed, or sitting around waiting for a 183 point contract to come on market (which might be a long wait). Sometimes buying direct you might get last years point for free (usually the currently promoted property only) or bonus points for free, but those are relatively rare promotions.

There should be a bunch of older threads that ask the same questions, I'm pretty sure at least one of them contains a detailed price breakdown difference between the two.

 

[GoofGoof]

Like @dreamfinder said the only difference between buying direct vs resale is the restriction on trading in through those 3 collections. Basically you can't trade in for a (non-DVC) Disney hotel room or a Disney Cruise. You actually can trade in still through RCI with a resale contract to thousands of places around the world. I've never done it and don't plan to, but it's available if I change my mind.

The one other difference I've heard people talk about is financing. If you decide to finance instead of buying outright the options available will differ between resale and direct. There are also some closing costs associated with resale and it takes a little longer to close since you have to wait for Disney's response on right of first refusal and also wait for both parties to sign all of the paperwork.

The overwhelming benefit of buying resale is pricing. Disney recently raised direct prices on BCV and BWV to $155. SSR was kept at $135. If you look at the resale market you can still get in at BWV in the low $80s and BCV may be closer to $90 and SSR in the high $70s. If you are thinking of buying 200 points at BWV or BCV you would be saving $13,000 to $15,000 buying resale (less closing costs which are probably around $500 or less). Unless you really think you are going to use that trade in benefit a lot it's hard to justify the difference. I've heard a lot of people talk about trading in for cruises. You could pay for a few cruises outright with your money saved without even using any of your points.

On the issue of SSR vs BCV/BWV it's both an economic question and a practical one as well. SSR is the best value of any DVC resort right now. It combines a lower buy-in price with a lower maintenance fee. Where BLT has low MFs, but higher buy in and OKW or Vero Beach may be lower buy in they have higher MFs. SSR is a combo of lower MFs and buy-in. It also has a longer deed compared to BCV and BWV. The practical issue comes in to play on where you actually want to stay. If you really want to be at one of the EPCOT resorts then you will always be hoping to trade in at the 7 month mark. It's not terribly hard to do, but not guaranteed either. Certain times of year like food and wine will be nearly impossible. In Jan/Feb it may not be a problem except maybe marathon weekend or Presidents weekend in February either since crowds do pick up.

 

[ParentsOf4]

So I guess my main question is what will I gain if I buy Points direct from Disney?

Advantages of buying direct:

• Convenience - Disney makes the process just about as easy as possible. It's much easier than buying resale, where the process tends to drag out a couple of months.
• Flexibility - Points bought directly from Disney can be used for other Disney vacations. Resale points cannot. For example, DVC points can be used to book DCL cruises or the Disney Collection (i.e. non-DVC Disney hotels). However, the exchange rate Disney offers you to trade your points for one of these isn't particularly good and the DVC rental market is very strong. Financially, you're better off using an intermediary like David's DVC Rental to rent your points and then use the resulting funds to pay cash for your DCL cruise or Disney hotel stay. It's extra effort but financially wiser. For this reason, I put little value in this particular benefit although some DVC members swear by it.
• Financing - If you cannot pay cash, Disney makes financing easy. I understand most DVC resellers can recommend financing options, but I have no idea how these compare against Disney's financing.

Advantages of buying resale:

• Cost - As you've already seen, a resale can be half the price of a direct purchase.
• Availability - When the market was weak, Disney had points readily available at all the DVC resorts. A couple of years ago, there was a run on several DVC resorts. Waiting lists actually developed for resorts like BCV and BWV. People were waiting 6 months or longer. Disney was in no rush. Remember, Disney would rather have you purchase at resorts it's actively selling than buy at a resort that's "sold out". The reason is simple: Disney's margins are much higher.

Over the last few years, there's been a huge run-up in Disney's direct prices. At current prices, a direct-from-Disney DVC purchase makes financial sense for only for people who fit very specific profiles. Be very careful to make sure you fit this profile before buying directly. (PM if you want to discuss your particular details.)

Since you are interested mostly in BCV or BWV, there are a few things to keep in mind.

First, both resorts are very popular, especially during Food & Wine Festival. If booking during F&WF is important to you, I strongly advise that you buy at one of these resorts.

Second, BCV is small. As a result, it can be a challenge for non-BCV members to book a Studio there year-round.

Third, BWV's "Standard View" rooms (these look out over the Boardwalk parking lot) are arguably the best bargain in all of DVC. For example, a Standard View Studio during F&WF costs 78 points. A Studio at BCV costs 107 points while a Standard View Studio at PVB costs 130 points for those same days. BWV Standard View rooms are among the first to get booked. If you are OK looking at a parking lot, BWV's Standard Views can't be beat. Your best bet to book one of these is to own at BWV.

Fourth, BWV's Water View rooms are more plentiful. It's often possible to book these right at the 7 month window even if you don't own at BWV.

Fifth, DVC members are allowed to pool-hop to most pools. However, BCV's Stormalong Bay is restricted to those staying at the Yacht & Beach Club. You'll have to stay at BCV if you want to use this pool. BWV's pool has no such restriction for DVC members.

Sixth, the resale purchase price of SSR isn't much lower than BWV right now. However, SSR's annual Maintenance Fee (MF) is much less; $5.17/point vs. $6.07/point. Conversely, a BWV Standard View room requires fewer points-per-night than a SSR room. That 78 points at BWV I mentioned earlier is 104 points at SSR. Doing the math, that's $68/night at a BWV Standard View Studio vs. $77/night at SSR. Again, if you want a BWV Standard View room, it's best to own there.

Seventh, BWV and BCV memberships expire in 2042. SSR expires in 2054. The extra years are important but, in 2015, I'm not too worried about where I'm going to vacation in 2043.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[Chasin' Tail]

Thank you for all of your replies. This has all been very helpful.
I guess my last concern is. If I buy small can I add points later to my same deed or do I have to find another resale? That and can I combine points from 2 different deeds? I notice some people have 2 or more DVC deeds.

 

[GoofGoof]

Thank you for all of your replies. This has all been very helpful.
I guess my last concern is. If I buy small can I add points later to my same deed or do I have to find another resale? That and can I combine points from 2 different deeds? I notice some people have 2 or more DVC deeds.

You can't combine deeds into one deed, but you can own multiple contracts and use all of the points for one reservation. One thing to consider is the use year. If you own 2 contracts at the same resort it helps if they both have the same month for the start of their use year. If not you may need to keep track multiple start months and deadlines for banking and borrowing. For instance, if you own 2 100 point contracts at BWV and you want to book a 1 bedroom at BWV for a week you can combine and use the points from both contracts at the 11 month window.

If you decide to buy 2 small contracts at 2 different resorts and you want to combine the points for 1 reservation you will need to wait until the 7 month mark since you can only use points to book your home resort at 11 months. For instance, if you own 100 points at BWV and 100 points at SSR and you want to book a 1 bedroom at BWV for a week that costs more than 100 points you can still do it, but you will need to wait until the 7 month mark to use some of the SSR points.

One option I've seen people suggest is using banking and borrowing if you own at 2 different resorts. For example, if you own 100 points at BWV and 100 points at BLT and you plan on booking rooms that cost 200 points each year you can use banking and borrowing to book at either home resort at the 11 month window. Here's how it would work. In 2015 you use 200 points at BWV so you use your 100 BWV 2015 points and borrow your 100 BWV 2016 points. Now you have 200 points that can be used at BWV at 11 months. You bank your 100 BLT points into 2016. In 2016 you now have 0 BWV points to use and 200 BLT points (100 2016 points and 100 banked from 2015). You can now book using 200 points at BLT in 2016 at the 11 month mark. If you continue this pattern you will always have an option to book at 1 of your 2 home resorts at 11 months.

 

[216bruce]

If you plan on staying at WDW or venturing to Aulani or DL and staying exclusively at a DVC resort then it's a no-brainer- RESALE. You save a lot of cash. Period.

You can still get great deals on out-of-the-country hotels (really nice ones) by shopping around anyway. Ditto for great places in the US too. Yep, better than a DVC use of points. It just takes time.
Again- resale. Especially if you want places that are long sold out. There's some solid deals there.

 

[Chasin' Tail]

Thanks again for all of your replies. I've decided to go the resale route. I even talk to a couple of sales agencies yesterday.
I've done a lot of research into the DVC and still learned a few things talking to them. Glad I made the calls.
Thanks again and hopefully I will soon be a DVC owner!

 

[JAG107]

Having bought direct first (rookie mistake, didn't know about resale market...) then finding great sites like this and MO, and buying a second contract resale, I would insist that you go resale. From your initial post, it doesn't sound like you're interested in using points for DCL or ABD (both poor use of points), so it's a no brainer buying your points at half price. We bought 200 SSR points for just a little more than what we paid for our 100 BLT points direct, and they all work the same at 7 months! We use our BLT points at BLT 11 months out, and use the SSR points for trying other resorts out or making some rental income to offset our dues. Good luck with your purchase!