The last few months have been very enlightening as I went through the resale process for the first time. And the second. And the third (don’t judge).
My first resale contract was for 250 points at Boulder Ridge at an unbelievable $89 a point. I thought for sure Disney was going to take that contract. For those who may not be aware, Disney reserves the right of first refusal on any DVC contract that’s being sold. Once a buyer and seller come together on a price, and the paperwork is signed all nice and legal, Disney has 30 days to quash your DVC dreams like a bug. Now, I’ll be honest – I’m fond of the saying “instant gratification takes too long” because it describes me perfectly. I’m not a patient guy and it has been said that the most dangerous place in the world is between me and something I want 🙂
Every day I watched my email for something from my agent Jerry Sydow at The DVC Store. He did a good job of managing my expectations – saying that Disney would likely take that contract because the price was so low. He also told me that, on average, it takes about 60 days from the time you make your offer to the time when points actually show up in your account, and that was pretty much what happened.
It took about 2 1/2 weeks (2 1/2 weeks of rocking back and forth in front of my computer like a heroin addict) when the word came that the contract had passed!!
As excited as I was about it, my ‘wait’ wasn’t over…
The next part of the process was going through closing. That’s when you send in your money – wire transfer or certified check (I went the certified check route since my bank will not do wire transfers over the phone). Once they received my signed and notarized documents (I’ve become friends with the notary at the local UPS store btw), and once they receive the closing documents from the seller, the transaction is considered closed and the paperwork sent to Disney (and to the county to record the deed).
And, as excited as I was that everything had closed, the wait still wasn’t over…
Now I had to wait for Disney. They received my documents on April 2nd – and to make a long story short, the points didn’t show up in my account until April 18th – just shy of the two months that Jerry had predicted.
While it’s true that if I had gone direct through Disney, I would have had the points in my account the next day, I had to consider just how much money I saved. Disney charges $176 a point (or, in this case, $44,000) for a direct purchase at Boulder Ridge (you can still buy direct from Disney for ‘sold out’ resorts. You might have to waitlist for them, but they do sell directly). Instead of the $176 per point however, I paid $89 (or $22,250). That’s literally about half the price. It took 54 days to get the points, but I saved over $20k by going resale. Now, in all fairness, this is a bit of an unusual situation because of how inexpensive the points were. However, on average, the price per point at Boulder Ridge on the resale market is about $95 a point (which would have ended up being about $1500 more than I paid). Still an amazing deal and one of many reasons that I’m sticking with resale!
Pete,
Great write up and what a deal, we are trying Saratoga for 250 points at 94 dollars and are after Disney ROFR at the moment, the wait is so hard.
I watch your videos and see you also brought direct to get the Blue card and extras, we are thinking of doing the same.
So, the question is:
Do you think the points are worth the value you paid given that they are now so restricted?
1. You don’t get any of the member extras (unless you have also bought direct at some point)
2. You can’t exchange the points for much of anything, they can only be used at the DVC resorts or RCI
3. Resales can’t reserve at Riviera or newer resorts and Riviera and newer resort resales can only reserve at their home resort.
Given this, I personally see resale contracts as having dramatically reduced value at this point.
Well, I guess it all depends on the person. The annual pass discount available to DVC members doesn’t help me, the pass I buy isn’t offered for a discount. Using points on cruises and other hotels is an incredibly bad use of points (much better to do cash). The member events are enjoyable, but I’m not sure they’re worth the price difference. I purchased a small direct contract to get the perks, then have the rest of my points in resale. As for Riviera, I’ll reserve judgment on that until I actually see the property. Given that I can use the resale points at 14 locations (including Hawaii) is a good deal to me.
‘Rocking back and forth like a heroin addict…’ Luv your writing style Pete!
Pete, I really enjoy all of your sites and podcasts on WDW.
Now… you have me excited and wanting buy DVC. I wonder, though, if you could answer this – how did you get the rate of $89? Was it on the market, or did you manage to snag a private sale somehow?
I’m writing from Canada and as you know… the exchange rate is brutal right now. I could seriously look at a DVC for around $89 per point… but not $100 or over at this time. (and I want on WDW Florida property – not Vero etc.)
Any tips would be greatly appreciated!
Liz
Hi Liz,
No, this was not a pocket listing – it was available on the DVCStore.com web site. It was just a really good deal – right place, right time. You’ll find that Boulder Ridge contracts tend to run cheaper ($90-$95 per point) than other properties.
If you buy Vero, you can use the points at WDW properties…you just wouldn’t have the 11 month booking window. You’d have to book 7 months out or less
My wife and I are a big fan of the Dis Unpkugged and I was wondering, aside from money saved, are there any benefits to buying direct through Disney over resale?
1. Already have the extras from direct OKW points bought years ago.
2. Bought resale to have more points to stay at Disney World ($72/pt OKW in 2017) and Aulani ($85/pt AUL in 2019). I don’t want to exchange anywhere else, so it doesn’t affect me.
3. Riveria doesn’t really interest me, but if it did I have plenty of grandfathered points.
It might change in the future… but for me, resale is the best choice.
Pete, I am loving your DVC posts. They are informative and I think it brings such a great perspective from someone we have grown to trust. My extended family and I are looking into DVC points. From my calculations, we need about 300 points. I know all of the advantages from buying direct and honestly, I think we will go resale. My question to you is what made you decide on where to buy? I don’t have a huge preference on where we would stay. Right now I am leaning towards Saratoga or AKL based on value and I just love AKL. Are there other factors I should be considering? One major downfall is that the system doesn’t allow a non member to see what’s available at random times. So I don’t know what typically sells out months in advance, etc. I would hate to buy into Saratoga and never be able to use the points. So what factors did you consider in your decisions. Thanks Pete! Jeff
Jeff, I’ve had points at Saratoga for about 10 years, Love them. We often use them at AKL too, as I also enjoy staying there if we are having a lazy stay near the room most of the time trip (its a pain to get out to the parks other than animal kindgom from AKL, in my opinion). Those two resorts seem to be the last to sell out most of the time, and thus the easiest to get into, so I would say either of those you will be able to get most of the time in the 7 month booking window. If you have plan to travel the high demand weeks, buy where you will book for those weeks – – because they are often booked up by owners before the 7 month window for non-members in my experience, although, with careful planning and booking AS SOON as you are able in the 7 month window, I’ve always been able to get some permutation of what I wanted – – it’s not always super clean, but it has ALWAYS worked. I have 225 Saratoga points. Every 2-3 years we get an annual pass and go 3-5 times and use up a couple years worth of points. We live on the West Coast and the off year we tend to go to Hawaii because it’s nearly impossible to get into California as a non-owner, I’ve had good luck getting into Hawaii as a non-owner, but I tend to be flexible with my travel dates and I book 7 months out. If you are like my dad and can’t plan ahead, (for anything…, but especially trips) then Disney Timeshare isn’t for you unless you are SUPER flexible on your dates – once you get within 4 months of the travel date, options are limited most of the year.
Thank you so much for the reply! I really appreciate your perspective. 🙂
Pete, thanks for the tidbits about your Disney resales experience. I have looked this situation over for years and come to the conclusion that Disney is not overly concerned about their existing timeshares, only new sales. What they miss the boat on is that they are going to have an interested owner who will continue to pay the ownership fees, who will most likely continue to visit the parks regularly and spend their vacation dollars there. What Disney also misses the boat on, is that with their first right of refusal, they could snatch up all the resales, and then sell them as new and pocket the difference. Really, Disney has gotten full pmt on any resale from the original owner, so they aren’t out anything by any resale, other than the sales staff doesn’t get their cut!! Also, the added parking fees at some resorts may be applied to owners fees if not already done. Remember, if they can take away benefits, they can add such fees just as quickly.
The continuation of the resort timeshares at Disney destinations depends on ownership and operating fees being paid on time. Resales to a new owner have no more negative impact than inheritance transfer of the timeshare. I wonder when Disney will start restricting those?
As I said We looked at Disney timeshares initially and found that they were nice but overpriced for what you get. We then looked at other brands and found that Marriott offers the best deals on initial sales and resales. That is why I bought my first Marriott timeshare as a new sale and the next 2 as resales. We are perfectly satisfied with the Marriott brand, resorts are well maintained, close to all parks, and fun to stay at, and no appreciable loss of benefits by using aftermarket acquired timeshares.
Do yourself a favor, look around, and you may decide a Disney timeshare isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. We love Walt Disneyworld, but are not married to them or their money grubbing from every angle. Treating aftermarket owners as the red headed stepchild is just plain wrong, and Disney should focus on the aftermarket sales as a benefit to continued good business and move ahead.
Thanks,
Beerad
Beerad, you make fair points. A couple things:
1. We purchased in 2001, and what was immediately clear and still holds true today is that over the life of DVC ownership, the initial price paid for the points is not as “impactful” as the amount paid for annual fees/dues. With point prices as well as annual fees higher today, I believe it is still the case.
2. As far as Marriott and others, certainly you can find good deals. However there are numerous perks you do not get which may outweigh the price differential.
– With DVC you are on property and get associated benefits like Magical Express from the airport, extra magic hours, DVC member perks and discounts.
– With DVC there is always a liquid resale market and Disney does provide a floor under the resale prices. You will never see a DVC timeshare being given away by an owner simply to get rid of it.
– You get a “full” Disney experience start to finish.
If we were purchasing more points today, we would certainly go resale with DVC. Being veterans, we do not view the new limitations as being of any significance. Points made in other comments are spot on as to the reasoning.
With the higher priced resales, such as, Bay Lake, Beach Club, and Boardwalk do the prices of buying through Disney go up as well? If not it could make more sense to spend a few more dollars to buy direct.
Here are the current prices for buying directly through Disney for all resorts. As you can see, the resale prices are significantly lower across the board.
Vero Beach – $110 per point
Hilton Head – $125 per point
Old Key West – $155 per point
Saratoga Springs – $160 per point
Boulder Ridge – $176 per point
Boardwalk – $190 per point
Beach Club Villas – $225 per point
Animal Kingdom Villas – $176 per point
Grand Californian – $260 per point
Aulani – $188 per point
Bay Lake Tower – $225 per point
Grand Floridian – $245 per point
Polynesian – $235 per point
Copper Creek – $188
Wow – and I thought the prices for some of the other resorts were crazy on the resale market! Where is this information available, in case someone wants to keep track of what Disney is selling points for?
Thx for all you do for the Disney community Pete. Been a fan of the boards and podcast for over a decade.
Folks interested in DVC need to understand resale pricing is very much in step with the vacation home market meaning that when the country is in a recession, prices will drop (and so will Disney’s ROFR rebuy price). Conversely in a good economy (like now) the prices will be strong.
During the last recession / credit crisis (in 2007-9 ish) I was debating about buying a home in central Florida (which would’ve been a great investment) when I stumbled upon the concept of DVC resales. I decided I would be in no rush so I tested the bottom of the market at Saratoga Springs. I would make offers in the low $60s/pt on any August use year contract (remember, DVC is real estate and prices are as negotiable as in any real estate deal). I had some take my Bid and lost several to ROFR. Eventually one got thru at $64. This was was before first round of restrictions- so I am a full member.
A year later the economy was not recovering at all, and I decided to drop more bids. This time in the low-$50s. Lost some more to ROFR, but eventually got one thru at $53! This was after the first restriction was put in place.
DVC (especially at the prices I paid) were one of the best things I ever bought. Have used it to stay in accommodations that I would never pay cash for. They room sizes are amazing. We’ve stayed at every DVC resort in US theme parks and love them all.
So if a recession hits. Look to it as a buyers market!