Thinking of buying in, advice?

Make sure the direct perks are really worth it to you. As the price of APs increases, it may make more sense just to buy length of stay tickets. In our twenty years, we've had APs maybe twice - I know I had one once because in addition to our regular trip that year, I had a business trip. And I think my husband did the same once. It can take a lot of days to make the AP worthwhile - and there isn't any guarantee that - or any other perk - will be available - Disney can pull them at any time. We have perks, and I've probably saved at most $1000 over twenty years - most of that through the Tables in Wonderland card - which may (or may not) be available to resale buyers. We were there for one MM - which was a bust - and used the Epcot lounge once for 20 minutes. I've used it for souvenirs a few times. Since we almost always stay at home - being able to stay at future DVC resorts isn't a huge draw.
 
With the age of your children, and the years of owning DVC ahead of you, I imagine you would want to stay in Riveria with its location and views sometimes. I would definitely buy into Riveria if I were your age, looking at DVC now. I can stay there with what I have, and we are retired.
 
We're thinking of buying into our first contract sometime this year and I've been doing my research, and it's a bit overwhelming all the decisions to make, so I thought I'd throw my thoughts out there for some feedback.

It's myself (37), wife (36), son (almost 2), and we'll have our 2nd and final kid probably in a couple years. We've been going pretty consistently since 2009, always staying value, but finances have changed and we plan to stay deluxe going forward so I thought DVC would be the way to go. We will likely try to visit for a week at least once a year, often twice. This would be a cash purchase.

I think we'd like to at least get the minimum amount of points direct, to have access to benefits. Will they only sell us Riv direct or will they sell older resorts too? I was thinking of 2 possible options:

1- Buy all the points direct. If it's Riviera, the price per point seems reasonable. I know about the resale restrictions, but I think we plan to hang onto this for life. I'd probably like 300-350 points, to make 3 trips every 2 years rotating between Riv studio, VGF 1BR, and a studio at some other resort. Is it reasonable to expect to be able to get a VGF 1BR or a studio somewhere other than SSR/OKW at 7 months consistently? Also, we'll be visiting in May staying at Poly, does it make sense to look to buy in person rather than over the phone at all?

2- Buy direct for the minimum amount to get benefits, then purchase resale contracts. Still looking at the same approximate number of points, hopefully at VGF.

Thanks for any help in advance.

I would recommend buying a minimum contract directly and then buy a resell contract to save you money.

At the 7th month reservation window, studios will be harder to get at most resorts, but 1 BR will have more options. However, VGF will be hard to get anything at the 7th month reservation window.
 

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