How far ahead should one start the buying process?

[Future_WorldPhonencian]

My wife and I are considering DVC after having rented points and staying at several DVC resorts. We loved all the locations that we visited, but AKL was hands down the best hotel/resort experience we have ever had. All of us loved the animals, cultural representatives, the food, etc and AK is our favorite park. We definitely want to stay there again but the cash price coupled with the size of our family will make it difficult and expensive in the future.

My wife and I have decided to hold off on more Disney vacations until Nov-Dec of 2022 so that our 3 children are at a more manageable ages ( 2 Toddlers and 1 Infant are a handful right now). But would likely take a trip once a year or every other year after that.

What would be a good time to start looking at the resale market for an initial trip in that time range?

I have heard of people getting better deals on "Stripped Contracts" but obviously spending 15-20K on something you can't use for 2 years would be tough. Would it be worthwhile to buy now at a lower price and rent out the points or save for a few more years and hope that the price per point doesn't increase too much at AKL?

Any and all feedback is appreciated.

 

[ray3127]

My wife and I are considering DVC after having rented points and staying at several DVC resorts. We loved all the locations that we visited, but AKL was hands down the best hotel/resort experience we have ever had. All of us loved the animals, cultural representatives, the food, etc and AK is our favorite park. We definitely want to stay there again but the cash price coupled with the size of our family will make it difficult and expensive in the future.

My wife and I have decided to hold off on more Disney vacations until Nov-Dec of 2022 so that our 3 children are at a more manageable ages ( 2 Toddlers and 1 Infant are a handful right now). But would likely take a trip once a year or every other year after that.

What would be a good time to start looking at the resale market for an initial trip in that time range?

I have heard of people getting better deals on "Stripped Contracts" but obviously spending 15-20K on something you can't use for 2 years would be tough. Would it be worthwhile to buy now at a lower price and rent out the points or save for a few more years and hope that the price per point doesn't increase too much at AKL?

Any and all feedback is appreciated.

I don't think you can go wrong buying now and renting some points out in the meantime. That lowers your effective cost per point considerably.

I would also add that, in my experience, the best deals are loaded contracts. When you factor in the rental value of immediately available points, I don't see the value in stripped contracts. Sellers don't discount stripped contracts by the $14+/point per year compared to loaded ones. So if you're going to rent out some points anyway, I'd search for a loaded one.

Also +1 for waiting until the kids are a more manageable age! Good idea, and your long-term plan makes sense to me.

 

[skippytx]

The price difference between stripped contracts and full point contracts never seems large enough for me to consider the stripped contract. I also agree with the whole, spending 5 figures for something you can't use for 2 years... I can't get my head around that.

I stalked BLT contracts for about 4 months before I bought might a couple years ago. Keep an eye on what is out there, and when the right contract comes along jump on it. That's my advice anyway. I'm assuming you have a use year and point amount in mind.

Also don' t forget as the kids get older, AKV studios only sleep 4, not 5, so you'll be looking at 1 bedroom units at least for your future stays. Make sure you account for that in how many points you purchase.

I wouldn't worry about the initial point cost +or- like 7 dollars or so, it's a small fraction of overall DVC ownership costs. Don't let the perfect contract for you get away over 5 bucks a point. Which makes me think you probably don't need to rush to purchase right now. You definitely want to purchase about 15 months before your planned WDW trip. That'll give you 4 months to close and get your DVC account setup so you can plan your trip at the 11 month mark. If the perfect contract comes along sooner, and you have the funds, I'd jump on it though. Rent some points you aren't going to use, or bank them into a UY you will.

I always like to remind folks the most expensive part of owning DVC is actually using it. Park tickets, airfare (travel costs), annual dues, other costs associated with visiting the parks all quickly add up to more than the initial buy in costs of the points. It just doesn't hit all at once like the 5 figure initial point purchase. I can say we've probably spent almost the same amount using our DVC the last 3 years as it cost to buy into DVC.

 

[rg35]

If you are buying resale, start shopping around now. You never know how long it might take to find the right resale contract, combined with a buyer accepting an offer you are comfortable making, in addition to passing Disney's ROFR.

As others have said, you can rent the points you don't want to use until your next planned trip, and starting in 2021 you can bank those points for 2022 and take a longer trip for your first trip as a DVC member using both 2021 and 2022 points.

 

[Sandisw]

Nov and Dec are very, very busy DVC times so you would want to be an owner so that you can book right at the 11 month mark. That means by Dec/Jan 2021.

If that will be your normal time of travel, then you would want something like a Sept/Oct UY, so that you give yourself extra insurance for being able to use points that are borrowed or still bank points if you had to cancel or change a trip. Traveling at the beginning of your UY is always a good thing. No one UY will work for all travel times, but if you have set times you think would be your most likely time of travel, its always good to start with something that works well.

Since resale can take up to 2 months...sometimes less...than I would say the latest you would want to have found a contract and have it sent to Disney for ROFR would be around Aug, 2021.

I would say start looking about 6 months before that if you want to put it off till the latest you can. Of course, you can certainly start looking now, because the right contract may come along, have points you could rent out next year, and help offset the purchase price. In a year from now, prices may go up or down, and Disney could change the rules for resale buyers as well.

Right now, resale buyers are restricted to staying at only the L14 resorts. They can not stay at new ones like Rivera, Reflections and the new DVC in California (if that one gets approved to be built). I don't know if there is anything else they can really do since resale buyers also are not eligible for perks such as discounts, but you just never know. Also, the minimum for adding on or buying direct points to get the discounts is currently at 100 points. That could rise as well.

Good luck!

 

[sethschroeder]

Lets go through the timeline:

• November 2022 Stay
• 11 Month window for booking: December 2021
• 2 Month window from offer to points in account: October 2021
• X Months of failed offers: MM/20YY (depends how aggressive you will be - a good example is I got a loaded contract with an extra year of points which raised the upfront cost to a point where Disney hadn't exercised ROFR all year)

So what do you do between now and October 2021?

• Look for the perfect contract (# of points, $ per point, UY)
• Bank your points forward
• Rent out/transfer the contract points you won't be able to bank to your 2022 stay

Risks to timing of purchase

• Pricing could keep going up
• Changes to seasons, resale restrictions, or other could make it less appealing
• Economy issues (recession, Trump reelection, Democrats take control of government)

I think the "safest" is likely to purchase when you find a good contract and then look to rent out and bank the points. Since you have so long you could even "low ball" contracts to get an extra deal and hope it sneaks through ROFR. Thing is if you lowball for 2019 points at $130 its basically the same as finally getting a contract for 2020 points at $120-125. Every year you don't get of points is easily work $5 at least I would say upwards to $10 (after MFs and what not).

 

[Minniemoo15]

I would look for a loaded contract and rent out the extra points. We did that and after renting the extra our Poly points only cost us $120 per point. You can’t find a stripped contract anywhere near that low so it was definitely the better bang for our buck.

 

[SG131]

If you can find a good contract, renting the points would be a good option. Just make sure there is a long enough lead time between when you place the offer and when the points expire. If you end up with 4 months to get rid of banked points that could be a bit more difficult and you may end up having to make a lot of small reservations to get rid of all the points, which would be more of a hassle.

Also, take a look at this thread:
https://disboards.com/threads/rofr-...ost-for-instructions-formatting-tool.3784347/
to show you what contracts are currently passing through ROFR. On the first post of that page it also has a link to last quarter. You can negotiate the price as low as someone will accept, but if the price is too low Disney will buy it back. This has been especially true for AKL lately. So keep in mind that data when you make an offer.

 

[MICKIMINI]

I totally agree with other posters to start the process sooner than later. Now is the time to figure out what the ideal contract would be and write it down and have it handy as you scan resale sites. It is so easy to get overwhelmed with all the listings that having your perfect contract spelled out will give you more confidence when you do find a contract and make an offer. Have a bottom line amount determined as you will likely get a counter offer. Definitely go for a loaded contract, preferably two years plus current with plans to rent out excess points. Don't forget to negotiate for the MF's as you can usually get them for 50% or even pay nothing for past years which makes your rentals worthwhile. Good luck!

 

[jerseyduke]

Id be looking now. But only for the perfect contract. As the time frames above approach I would widen my parameters. If you are SET on Nov/Dec of 2022 as your first trip, I would probably want an offer in by July of 2021, assuming you get ROFRed once.

My personal theory is that stripped contracts get ROFRed more (though I have no data to back this), but when Disney ROFRs a stripped contract, even though it has no current points, it still counts toward their required 2% ownership interest (and then they can sell other points out of inventory - maintaining 2% ownership and avoiding dues)

If you find the right one early, go for it and rent. Prices could go up or down, but it seems like it has been a long time since they have gone down.

 

[plygph]

If you have already decided to purchase then by all means start now. When you find the DVC resort or contract that is right for your needs there is not guaranty that it will be there later. Also you come up with a loaded contract and your timeline could move forward for a WDW trip, Or maybe a trip for just an adults getaway, or even maybe a trip to Aulani. That's how I got there the first time had points I needed to use.

 

[MickeyMouse3!]

For what it's worth, and I hope this helps....We began looking at various contracts through many different resale brokers about 6 months before actually buying. Part of why it took so long was we debated on whether to finance or take the savings account hit up front. We opted for the latter. We eventually bought 150 points via resale at AKL in April, 2017. AKL was selling at around $85 (USD) per point at the time. Similar resale contracts are currently going for around $106 pp. Our resale purchase process took about 2 months from the first phone call to finalization. We purchased 75 points via direct purchase a year later at SSR. The direct purchase was finalized within a couple weeks. Both have the same March use year. In hindsight, I wish we would have purchased at least 175 points initially. I work for a school district in Michigan and can only travel during high season, which means we spend more points.

 

[Wakey]

You need to be looking back end of this year I think,

 

[poofyo101]

If you have the funds, just look for it now. IF the right one pops up buy it.

 

[Future_WorldPhonencian]

For what it's worth, and I hope this helps....We began looking at various contracts through many different resale brokers about 6 months before actually buying. Part of why it took so long was we debated on whether to finance or take the savings account hit up front. We opted for the latter. We eventually bought 150 points via resale at AKL in April, 2017. AKL was selling at around $85 (USD) per point at the time. Similar resale contracts are currently going for around $106 pp. Our resale purchase process took about 2 months from the first phone call to finalization. We purchased 75 points via direct purchase a year later at SSR. The direct purchase was finalized within a couple weeks. Both have the same March use year. In hindsight, I wish we would have purchased at least 175 points initially. I work for a school district in Michigan and can only travel during high season, which means we spend more points.

Also a teacher, so totally relate to the traveling at only peak or near peak times point wise. Really appreciate all the feedback.

For us, I think we would prefer to save another 12-18 months (even the the price per point will likely go up) that way we can buy more points at the outset. Originally I thought maybe 150 would suit our needs but based on what I'm seeing and reading I think we will look to buy 200 points.

Im thinking that should get us 5-7days in a 1 bedroom every year/ every other year for when we travel and AKL has a lot of different room categories that we can use irregular point totals at that 11month window. We also like split stays so hopefully we can snag some hard to get rooms every once in a while for 1-3 nights at places like Poly, Bay Lake, or Boardwalk.
Our travel times will always fall in Nov-Dec, April, or June-Aug.
Does this reasoning look sound or am I missing something?

 

[disney_kings]

We also like split stays so hopefully we can snag some hard to get rooms every once in a while for 1-3 nights at places like Poly, Bay Lake, or Boardwalk.
Our travel times will always fall in Nov-Dec, April, or June-Aug.
Does this reasoning look sound or am I missing something?

June-Aug availability is probably the easiest and you should be able to find some good choices at the 7 month mark. You can check out availability by searching for the thread on here titled "Predicted DVC Booking Patterns".

The other suggestion might be to buy 2 smaller 100-point contracts. One now and one in the future when you save up some more money. This would potentially allow for more flexibility as you could buy at 2 resorts and get 11-month priority. It also seems like 100 point contracts are the best for retaining value - the larger the contract the harder to sell. The downside is that it will cost you a bit more upfront as you will have to pay closing costs twice.

 

[Sandisw]

Also a teacher, so totally relate to the traveling at only peak or near peak times point wise. Really appreciate all the feedback.

For us, I think we would prefer to save another 12-18 months (even the the price per point will likely go up) that way we can buy more points at the outset. Originally I thought maybe 150 would suit our needs but based on what I'm seeing and reading I think we will look to buy 200 points.

Im thinking that should get us 5-7days in a 1 bedroom every year/ every other year for when we travel and AKL has a lot of different room categories that we can use irregular point totals at that 11month window. We also like split stays so hopefully we can snag some hard to get rooms every once in a while for 1-3 nights at places like Poly, Bay Lake, or Boardwalk.
Our travel times will always fall in Nov-Dec, April, or June-Aug.
Does this reasoning look sound or am I missing something?

With those travel times, I’d look for an April or June UY. That gives you the most flexibility if you had to change or cancel a trip in order to use up points

The summer and April you should be able to trade out to try different places. It’s the holiday times that will be most difficult.

Sounds like a great plan.

 

[Sandisw]

June-Aug availability is probably the easiest and you should be able to find some good choices at the 7 month mark. You can check out availability by searching for the thread on here titled "Predicted DVC Booking Patterns".

The other suggestion might be to buy 2 smaller 100-point contracts. One now and one in the future when you save up some more money. This would potentially allow for more flexibility as you could buy at 2 resorts and get 11-month priority. It also seems like 100 point contracts are the best for retaining value - the larger the contract the harder to sell. The downside is that it will cost you a bit more upfront as you will have to pay closing costs twice.

just to clarify for OP, if you buy different home resorts, you can not use them together until 7 months for the same resort. So 100 at AKV and 100 at Poly would allow you to book a spot stay right from the start.

Or, you banking and borrowing to alternate between each. But yes, if one knows they would be up for split stays, that is a great way to have some home resort advantage at each.

 

[miTnosnhoJ]

Time is your friend. With resale, you are trading time for money. With Direct, the points can be in your account today. With resale the process can take 3-6 months, but you can save up to 40%. So give yourself plenty of time and make this work in your favor.