For me the dealbreaker with direct is that you now have to buy 150 points minimum. With resale, I can buy a 35 or 50 point contract, try it out for a few years and if I sell it because I don’t like it, I am only down closing costs, maintenance fees and might even break even with appreciation. But buying 150 at one home resort is high risk. And if I decide I don’t like it, I am losing thousands or tens of thousands of dollars. But I will also add that the initial difference in price shrinks in importance over the lifetime of the contract. There is little price difference between direct and resale over 40 years of a contract. So if you are fairly sure you are buying for 20-30 years and can afford the 150 points, then I think it makes sense.
I agree the minimum buy in was a deal breaker. I always planned on adding on 75-100 points direct after my initial purchase, now this would be pointless if it didn’t give me full membership. Also, in the most recent rehash of Annual Passes resale members now qualify for Sorcerers Pass APs, so that’s another incentive gone. For me the only thing that would make me buy direct is wanting to stay at new resorts. For now that is only Riviera, and I’ve made peace with that, but as new resorts are added I might change my mind…
Also, a benefit of direct is that you can choose your use year and number of points if it’s at least 25. So if you know when and where you want to go, you can maximize the ease of use. For example, say you like to spend 5 days at AKL (resort days and for the food) , 2 days at BLT (park days at Magic Kingdom and Epcot) and a week at Riviera (Skyliner to Epcot snd Hollywood studios), you can buy exactly the points you want all with the same use year. It would be almost impossible to do that resale.
Thanks Lucy, this is such a great starter video for explaining DVC!
For me the dealbreaker with direct is that you now have to buy 150 points minimum. With resale, I can buy a 35 or 50 point contract, try it out for a few years and if I sell it because I don’t like it, I am only down closing costs, maintenance fees and might even break even with appreciation.
But buying 150 at one home resort is high risk. And if I decide I don’t like it, I am losing thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.
But I will also add that the initial difference in price shrinks in importance over the lifetime of the contract. There is little price difference between direct and resale over 40 years of a contract.
So if you are fairly sure you are buying for 20-30 years and can afford the 150 points, then I think it makes sense.
I agree the minimum buy in was a deal breaker. I always planned on adding on 75-100 points direct after my initial purchase, now this would be pointless if it didn’t give me full membership. Also, in the most recent rehash of Annual Passes resale members now qualify for Sorcerers Pass APs, so that’s another incentive gone.
For me the only thing that would make me buy direct is wanting to stay at new resorts. For now that is only Riviera, and I’ve made peace with that, but as new resorts are added I might change my mind…
Also, a benefit of direct is that you can choose your use year and number of points if it’s at least 25. So if you know when and where you want to go, you can maximize the ease of use. For example, say you like to spend 5 days at AKL (resort days and for the food) , 2 days at BLT (park days at Magic Kingdom and Epcot) and a week at Riviera (Skyliner to Epcot snd Hollywood studios), you can buy exactly the points you want all with the same use year. It would be almost impossible to do that resale.
Excellent dvc show you really nailed it 👍
Thanks so much Lucie! Super interesting!!!! Wish DLP would do something similar.
i just found your page and added you! i have 2 resale contracts from DVC :) great info, where are you from?
Hi Tony! Welcome to the madhouse!! We're in Dewsbury/Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England.