Love that! I'm gonna go teach my 45 year-old wife that!
Seriously though, I'm also new to DVC and bought DRR direct in July. I am with the consensus that the new resale restrictions are, in general, a liability for the DRR owner if/when they need to sell. Through research, and realization of how I would use DVC, I concluded that DRR would be the first contract I would buy and the last contract I would sell. Yup, I knew that and I knew it wouldn't be the only one.
So I bought Aulani first! Makes sense, I was in Hawaii, stayed there for 1 night and a day in June. Paid over $600 for a standard view hotel room with capacity of 4 (we are a party of 5). My wife and I were always DVC-curious and after a long morning at the pool, we left the kids and took an impromptu tour through a model 1-BR Villa while cutting to the elevators. We set up a visit with a DVC Guide for later that afternoon. Our guide, Don, was a low-pressure type of guy, with an easy way about him even when we talked about the resale market (he actually clued ME in on its existence!). Dear Wife (DW) and I then went to our next lodging nearby to think about it, and that's when I started researching. Don eventually "guided" us into buying 150 points in Aulani ($188/pt) mainly by stressing the free 2018 points and 20 perpetual incentive points. When I returned to the mainland, and after more research and discussion with DW, I rescinded on day 9 out of 10. Don was cool with that, happy that I was changing over to DRR but sad that I ignored similar incentive points for DRR to buy only 75.
I changed to DRR because I observed in my research that contracts can be categorized as exclusive-use points (EUP) and sleep-around points (SAP). My rationale for DRR was essentially a process of elimination. As a newbie to DVC, I only had two choices in front of me...Aulani v DRR. I knew through research that I
could hold out for minimal 75 points at SSR, but I decided I
wouldn't. I was determined to go the hybrid route of minimum threshold for direct ownership + resale points. Being in SoCal and within 50 miles to
Disneyland, put me in a position to min/max DVC. I read members like
@skier_pete espouse using his small BWV contract for BWV only during Food and Wine festival at EPCOT. I thought that was wise because using a contract that way maximizes its value. So I adopted a personal strategy to have strict EUP and SAP. DRR (which one could only get direct) would be my EUP in Florida. I then purchased a 160 pt Grand Cal (VGC) contract to use as my EUP in California. Then I searched for a Saratoga Springs (SSR) contract (widely viewed as the most "economical" resort in DVC, with the exception of the super-rare subsidized Aulani contract) to use as SAP anywhere. The value of this 200 pt. SSR contract would be maximized by picking up the last minute cancellations of 1 and 2-BR VGC that I see every so often. Cherry on top: I stumbled upon a SUBSIDIZED Aulani contract and pulled the trigger because...no brainer!
Is there a difference among EUP contracts? If I had a BWV contract, I would only use it for BWV at 11 months. I have a VGC contract, and I would only use it at 11 months. I have a SRR contract, I would mostly use it within 7 mo at other resorts because the more I use it elsewhere, the more added value I get. I have a subsidized Aulani contract, and the more I use it at VGF, or VGC within the 7-mo window, the better!
