Podcast members push DVC resale but buy DVC direct???

Silly23

Disney Art Guy
Joined
Nov 10, 2019
We stayed at Poly King Kamehameha suite last year and subsequently got hooked on suites & bringing family with on our Dis adventures. Well that's not cheap and since then would've saved thousands from all our trips buying DVC contract/contracts.

So it's go time getting ready to pull the trigger. Ive done 10s of hrs of research and watched all the DIS podcast on the subject. (Which im now slightly addicted too). With that said the pod's have me convinced to buy resale with one exception and my elephant in the room. THE PANEL SEEM TO BUY DIRECT... If they the insiders are buying at least one contract or 1st contract direct, what am i missing???
 
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If they the insiders are buying at least one contract or 1st contract direct, what am i missing???

If you’ve watched all the DVC Show podcasts, why they buy direct really shouldn’t be a mystery. They’ve been open about the reasons why.

There are two tiers of DVC Membership. Buying direct gets you perks not available to resale owners.

These people are obviously ultra Disney fans and want everything Disney has to offer. You just need to decide if the extra perks (which can be changed or removed at any time by Disney) are worth paying a premium for.

 
Thank you for your replies and time regarding my concern about buying dvc direct or resale.

I get the perks thing and that eased my mind until, Shawn Falk (please forgive me if i spelled that wrong) bought direct on the cruise to or in Alaska. He mentionned that he is a local but bought Hawaii dvc because he is local. Hawaii dvc is way way cheaper via resale.

There seems to be an underlying fear or paranoia that Disney is going to stick it to the resale buyer/owner, by stripping them of as many options/rights as possible. I too am nervous about Disney doing who knows what and then im out 70k on a resale contract.
 


Shawn Falk... ...mentionned that he is a local but bought Hawaii dvc because he is local. Hawaii dvc is way way cheaper via resale.

There seems to be an underlying fear or paranoia that Disney is going to stick it to the resale buyer/owner, by stripping them of as many options/rights as possible. I too am nervous about Disney doing who knows what and then im out 70k on a resale contract.

Yeah, Shawn’s Hawaiian purchase didn’t make much sense to me either. I believe his logic was that (as a local) he will never book at WDW 11-months in advance. So, there was no point in buying a local resort. It definitely does not make sense to buy Hilton Head from Disney on a wait list, and that left Aulani.


Regarding your other point:
I think Disney has already pulled the rights that they can. For example, I heard on the show that the Bay Lake Tower lounge is paid by maintenance fees (rather than Disney Corp). As such, it belongs to the owners and can’t be rescinded. I assume free parking is fixed for the same reason.

They’ve already limited your use to the first 14 resorts and I don’t think they can pull that either.

So, the only other resale perk is free DVD rentals while on property. I don’t think you’ll miss that because you arguably shouldn’t be in your room watching DVDs while at Disney World. 😜
 
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Correct me if I'm wrong but most of the time the advice seems to be to buy direct for the initial minimum quantity and then buy resale after? And that is only if you care about the perks enough to pay the premium of buying direct.

Pete has a mix of direct and resale. Sean/Fiasco are still on their initial purchase. Not sure about the others.
 
Annual pass discounts and access to special member events like Moonlight Magic are the main reasons people will purchase direct points and once they have these qualified points will then purchase resale points to save money. The folks on the DVC Show have been pretty upfront about this strategy.
 


I definitely get the perks argument. And thank you for your information!!!

Im scared to mess this up.

1. Buy direct and way over spend for perks that my family will probably never use for the most part.

2. Save big with resale and then have Disney strip it down to the point that I regret not buying direct.
 
I definitely get the perks argument. And thank you for your information!!!

Im scared to mess this up.

1. Buy direct and way over spend for perks that my family will probably never use for the most part.

2. Save big with resale and then have Disney strip it down to the point that I regret not buying direct.
I also think for them because they’re local the perks are more useable. They can easily make it to moonlight magic events whereas us out of towners can’t. I have two trips planned next year and I don’t hit any moonlight magic dates and it would be too late too shift around my dates and get the low point room I have. So that made me feel a little better about being an only resale member.

And even the annual passes, it depends how often you go. Those guys know they will have an annual pass every year so they can add that to the list of savings. I have enough points for one trip a year. Yes sometimes I can arrange them so that I can get two trips out of a pass, but I won’t always be able to. Even still buying a pass every other year verses every year takes a lot longer for those savings to add up to a direct purchase being worth it.

I can understand why for them it’s worth the direct purchase, but for me it didn’t seem like I’d get enough use out of the benifits to justify the inflated rate (I have no interest in buying Rivera and any other property in WDW is super expensive at this point).
 
I also think for them because they’re local the perks are more useable. They can easily make it to moonlight magic events whereas us out of towners can’t. I have two trips planned next year and I don’t hit any moonlight magic dates and it would be too late too shift around my dates and get the low point room I have. So that made me feel a little better about being an only resale member.

And even the annual passes, it depends how often you go. Those guys know they will have an annual pass every year so they can add that to the list of savings. I have enough points for one trip a year. Yes sometimes I can arrange them so that I can get two trips out of a pass, but I won’t always be able to. Even still buying a pass every other year verses every year takes a lot longer for those savings to add up to a direct purchase being worth it.

I can understand why for them it’s worth the direct purchase, but for me it didn’t seem like I’d get enough use out of the benifits to justify the inflated rate (I have no interest in buying Rivera and any other property in WDW is super expensive at this point).
Best advice. If I were to buy dvc ..I would only buy from Disney and never ever from a third party.
 
Buying 1st contract, just got an accepted offer 500 pnts BWV front loaded with 1000 pnts March 2020. (Hope it gets through Disney, MM ears crossed)

Tough decision direct/resale..

Think next contract will be direct on MK side of WD. OR maybe resale on MK side (not cheap on MK side) and a VB direct minimum contract.
 
Buying from a 3rd party is perfectly safe and can save you $15k - $20k. This isnt like buying park tickets off some guy on craigslist
I guess it's a trust factor. Also I don't like prepaying for vacations that arevso far off into the future. Example the buy in cost of $15,000 to $20,000 and not owning anything other than paper.
 
Keep in mind the folks on the podcast are locals. So they go literally every week to the parks, and they are all AP passholders, it makes sense for them to get the discount. Also, their livelihood is vlogging and reporting on all the newest things so they go to media events, openings, Moonlight Magic etc. They are not the average person. Just food for thought. Also Pete W said straight out he wanted the "status" of direct membership. This is a hefty fee for what is essentially bragging rights. You have to weigh out if it makes sense for you.
 
Just an FYI - perks removed for resale buyers have not been retroactive - so whatever perks you get now with resale (such as they are) should still be there if DVC decides to add more limits in the future.
 
I guess it's a trust factor. Also I don't like prepaying for vacations that arevso far off into the future. Example the buy in cost of $15,000 to $20,000 and not owning anything other than paper.
I'm not suggesting buying DVC if its not entirely right for you. I'm just saying that buying from a resale broker is not sketchy. Its like saying you would never buy a house from a real estate agent. You only buy direct from the builder.
 
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It seems that more often than not, direct sales come with all the perks, and a special offer such as double points the first year, first year dues paid... that’s one of the other reasons why people buy direct.
 
It seems that more often than not, direct sales come with all the perks, and a special offer such as double points the first year, first year dues paid... that’s one of the other reasons why people buy direct.
Those aren’t ‘Special Offers’ - it all depends on Use Year And Month-of the points you are purchasing. For instance - if I bought points with Oct UY, I’d get 2019 points and pay prorated maintenance of 2 months...if I bought December UY, I’d get 2018 points at purchase and 2019 on Dec 1 - so it looks like double points but it really isn’t. The one
Special thing that DVC direct will do is bank those 2018 points for you - outside of the normal banking window.
 
I’ve bought both resale and direct - there are pros and cons to both...with direct, you get exactly the number of points and the UY you want in just a few days...but (Ugh)The Price!!! With resale, you may have to settle for more or less points than u really want, wait for ROFR and paperwork...etc - but (YEAH) The Price!!!
 
There seems to be an underlying fear or paranoia that Disney is going to stick it to the resale buyer/owner, by stripping them of as many options/rights as possible. I too am nervous about Disney doing who knows what and then im out 70k on a resale contract.
Fear or paranoia, nah, more like they are seeing the writing on the wall.

Correct me if I'm wrong but most of the time the advice seems to be to buy direct for the initial minimum quantity and then buy resale after? And that is only if you care about the perks enough to pay the premium of buying direct.
We took a different path in our DVC journey. Resistance was futile :) but the mr was still wiggling. We compromised on purchasing a small resale DVC contract to test the waters. Proviso, I had to pay cash. Pretty sure he didn’t think I’d be able to save up the ante, hahaha, joke on him.

One stay later & we added on directly thru DVC at our first resort & also bought into WLV.

When the youngest DS finished college, we bough our first AKV contract. A few years later our 2nd there. Again, both times following our cash only methodology.

I just can’t see going into debt for a vacation, which is what I consider ‘owning’ DVC. Legally, it may be considered an asset but IMO merely grants the right to use the points (if I am able to book lodgings that fit my needs). Any monies I’d gain if I found myself in a position needing/wanting to sell would be an unexpected bonus.

Appreciate the perks associated with buying direct but they are just that, perks. Enjoying them while they last.

1. Buy direct and way over spend for perks that my family will probably never use for the most part.

2. Save big with resale and then have Disney strip it down to the point that I regret not buying direct.

Re point 2, are you referencing only being able to stay where you do purchase? Riviera’s introduction as to restrictions may just be tip of the iceberg. So many complaints of buyers being told they could stay ‘anywhere’ at the 7 month window, then discovering that many of the popular resorts cheapest studios are a difficult grab even at the 11 month window.

If you feel the current perks don’t justify the cost of direct purchase, then I think you’ve answered your question.

Just an FYI - perks removed for resale buyers have not been retroactive - so whatever perks you get now with resale (such as they are) should still be there if DVC decides to add more limits in the future.
Thus far, who knows how it will pan out going forward? I’ve yet to drudge through all the paperwork. Head to the DVC board where it appears many of the DVC vets have dissected it and are a great source of information.
 

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