# DVC Resale During COVID



## Kevin248 (Apr 25, 2021)

Hello!
My Wife and I were looking into DVC before COVID hit. I was set on buying direct but now with the costs of resale contracts dropping, it seems to make more sense to buy one of those existing contracts. We would be first time buyers.
If you buy resale, what are the restrictions regarding Riviera? Can you still stay there if you buy a resale contract with another home resort?
Also, besides the resale prices being lower, is now a good time to purchase DVC? We plan on going to Disney in November 2021 and we’d like it to be our first DVC stay. 
Any input/tips would be helpful!
Thanks!


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## bnoble (Apr 25, 2021)

Current resale purchases at resorts other than Riviera cannot be used at Riviera (nor presumably any future resorts.) Riviera resale purchases can only be used there.


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## presley (Apr 25, 2021)

My experience is that all the resale prices have been going up along with the direct prices. I think many people were expecting the resales to slow down due to covid shutdowns, but they never did. In fact, I thought they increased. If you are serious about buying DVC, it is a good time to buy, but that's only because the prices are always going up. When you sit down and do projections for how much you are actually going to pay over the next 10 years or so vs. renting, you may find that it isn't worth buying DVC.

Riviera and all new resorts after that have much stricter booking rules. If you buy resale Riviera, you can stay there. If you buy resale anywhere else, you may never be able to use those points for the Riviera and anything new after that. There are a lot of people who love that resort and only want to stay at that resort. So, buying there makes sense. Otherwise, you might be better off just renting from another owner.


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## HudsHut (Apr 25, 2021)

Welcome @Kevin248
Have you stayed at any of the DVC resorts? If not, you should rent (or, possibly, exchange if you are a current timeshare owner with membership in RCI) prior to buying. At a minimum, go to the resorts that interest you, and ask to see the units.

(Since this was your first post here, I am unsure if you are a timeshare owner. What is drawing you to DVC?)


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## elaine (Apr 25, 2021)

Resale pricing for many DVCs has gone up. For ex, in July 2020, the going rate for 160 AKV was about $105, now it's $120+. SSR has also gone up. Riviera resale is limited to staying at R and possibly other resorts to be built. For other resales, you cannot use those resale points to stay at R, but can use them at all other resorts currently built. IMHO, I'd rather have the ability to book 14 resorts vs. 1 currently.


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## frank808 (Apr 25, 2021)

It is written in the T&C that Riviera resales are limited to booking only at Riviera. Unless you are fine with staying at Riviera only until contract expiration, might want to buy your resale contract at another resort. Buying resale elsewhere you will not be able to book Riviera direct. 

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## AnnaS (Apr 25, 2021)

Are you planning on booking a DVC stay for November 2021 if you purchase now/soon?  Just wanted to mention if you buy resale, by the time you make an offer, accepted, close, points in account, etc. - doubt there will be much/if any availability for November 2021.  Have not checked recently - we made our reservations back in December 2020 for November 2021.

Good luck whatever you decide.  Let us know how you make out.


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## ljmiii (Apr 26, 2021)

First, resale prices for DVC vary by resort but broadly speaking the COVID dip if any happened last summer and prices have been rising since. Second, as others have said, if you buy resale anywhere but Riviera you can't stay there. Worse, if you buy at resale at Riviera you can't stay anywhere else. Third as @AnnaS said, it's too late to buy for November 2021.

All that said, I encourage you to look at the bigger picture - buying DVC (or any timeshare) is something of a long term commitment. When people ask me if they should buy DVC I ask three questions in return, "Do you plan on visiting WDW at least once every two years for at least the next 10 years?", "Can you plan at least 7 and ideally 11 months in advance", and "Do you really want to pay a premium to stay 'on property'?" Only if the answer to all of these questions is 'Yes' should you buy.


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## ljmiii (Apr 26, 2021)

All that said, unfortunately I can't recommend any EPCOT/HS resort - BWV and BCV have 2042 expirations and Riviera has painful resale restrictions, high dues, and expensive point charts. Even if you buy direct at Riviera you still face the problem of competing for reservations against an ever increasing share of owners who can *only* book there and nowhere else.

Of the MK resorts, BLT, VGF, Poly, and CCV all have their advantages. BLT has an easy walk to MK, low dues, 2060 expiration, 'extra' bathroom in 1BR and 2BR villas, and great dining options in the Contemporary, the other monorail resorts, and Fort Wilderness. But the studios are comparatively small. Poly has the opposite problem - it only has wonderful studios and no 1BR or 2BR units (aside from the very expensive bungalows). CCV has great theming but it's hard to book studios and suffers from only having boat access. Lastly, now that VGF is walkable to the MK it is more or less on par with BLT.

Which leaves AKV, SSR, and OKW as the 'value' DVC resorts. Do you like animals, Disney Springs, or large villas?


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## dioxide45 (Apr 26, 2021)

presley said:


> My experience is that all the resale prices have been going up along with the direct prices. I think many people were expecting the resales to slow down due to covid shutdowns, but they never did.


^^This^^

Resale prices are indeed up. THere was a short slump right after the pandemic hit, but it wasn't long before prices rebounded and are higher now than before March 2020.


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## cbyrne1174 (Apr 27, 2021)

IMO, You're honestly better off just using Bonnet Creek over owning at the "value" DVC resorts. It's the same distance from the parks, the annual MF on a 2 bedroom villa is as low as $600/week if you have a good deed, not CWA, and book during the value season. Food and Wine and December is mostly in the value season. I booked a SSR exchange through RCI first week of June for $1050 in total and also booked a 1 bedroom Presidential at Bonnet Creek for the 5 days prior to the SSR exchange (for a total of $640). So it's 5 nights in a presidential suite at Bonnet Creek and 7 nights at SSR for  a total of $1690 for both stays. My resale Club Wyndham ownership only costed me a few hundred bucks. The price of resale DVC is just getting ridiculous compared to just buying Club Wyndham resale and using Bonnet Creek/Reunion and RCI. 

As a side note, Wyndham ALSO has a really nice beach resort that's an hour and a half drive from WDW with REALLY nice rooms. WAY nicer than Vero Beach. I was just there last week and took a video of my Presidential suite. as a local, I'd pick this room over a DVC STUDIO any day. They essentially cost the same when you factor in buy in costs + dues. The room in this video costed me $220/night (weeknights) for reference of value. DVC doesn't have "value" resorts anymore. At this point, none of them are a good "value" if you didn't buy into DVC before prices skyrocketed.


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## TheHolleys87 (Apr 27, 2021)

As a longtime DVC owner, I have to agree - you can get a lot more for your money buying Wyndham or other TS than buying DVC. A DVC studio will cost the same as or more than a 2BR elsewhere, both to purchase and to pay ongoing MFs. Not worth it - with the $$ you save buying resale other TS, you can buy a lot of tickets to the parks! And if APs come back, which I believe they will, you can buy one to get free parking.


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## CPNY (Apr 28, 2021)

TheHolleys87 said:


> As a longtime DVC owner, I have to agree - you can get a lot more for your money buying Wyndham or other TS than buying DVC. A DVC studio will cost the same as or more than a 2BR elsewhere, both to purchase and to pay ongoing MFs. Not worth it - with the $$ you save buying resale other TS, you can buy a lot of tickets to the parks! And if APs come back, which I believe they will, you can buy one to get free parking.


I’d have to agree, I’d rather stay off site. I’ve had better accommodations in Marriott timeshares than in a DVC. My last trip, it took 15 minutes to drive to Disney Springs from AKL. Same amount of time it took me to get there from the Vistana Villages. Of course this was without traffic because of the pandemic.


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## TheHolleys87 (Apr 29, 2021)

CPNY said:


> I’d have to agree, I’d rather stay off site. I’ve had better accommodations in Marriott timeshares than in a DVC. My last trip, it took 15 minutes to drive to Disney Springs from AKL. Same amount of time it took me to get there from the Vistana Villages. Of course this was without traffic because of the pandemic.


It’s about the same in normal times with traffic! We’ve stayed at the Marriott TS resorts at the World Center several times when my parents owned Marriott as well as on an II AC when Shell still traded in II, and we loved the quick commute to WDW.  I’m really sorry that my dad gave his Marriott back to them (for $$) when they were creating their trust, but we couldn’t afford to take them over at that time. We’ve also stayed at the Vistana Resort, Grand Beach and the Bluegreen Fountains and found the commute from them wasn’t bad either. We have no problem staying offsite when we’re out of DVC points, and as I said above, we wouldn’t buy into DVC now.


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## CPNY (Apr 29, 2021)

TheHolleys87 said:


> It’s about the same in normal times with traffic! We’ve stayed at the Marriott TS resorts at the World Center several times when my parents owned Marriott as well as on an II AC when Shell still traded in II, and we loved the quick commute to WDW.  I’m really sorry that my dad gave his Marriott back to them (for $$) when they were creating their trust, but we couldn’t afford to take them over at that time. We’ve also stayed at the Vistana Resort, Grand Beach and the Bluegreen Fountains and found the commute from them wasn’t bad either. We have no problem staying offsite when we’re out of DVC points, and as I said above, we wouldn’t buy into DVC now.


I’ve been going back and forth on picking up DVC. I’m just not sure it’s worth it. I’ll take whatever exchange in RCI I can get. I’m fine with SSR


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## TheHolleys87 (Apr 29, 2021)

CPNY said:


> I’ve been going back and forth on picking up DVC. I’m just not sure it’s worth it. I’ll take whatever exchange in RCI I can get. I’m fine with SSR


Obviously, we'd rather stay at our home resort BWV when we can but have been happy with our offsite RCI exchanges too.  We love WBC when we can get it at reasonable cost, but Silver Lake is almost always available, for a lot fewer TPUs as well.  Our first stay at SSR will be in June - an RCI exchange!


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## ljmiii (Apr 29, 2021)

OP seems to have left us so I'm not sure how useful we are anymore. To me the $64,000 question regarding the value of DVC vs staying off-property is when will fastpasses return and what form will they take. If you can just buy top-tier FPs for a semi-nominal charge then the value of DVC declines. If not, not.


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## cbyrne1174 (Apr 29, 2021)

ljmiii said:


> OP seems to have left us so I'm not sure how useful we are anymore. To me the $64,000 question regarding the value of DVC vs staying off-property is when will fastpasses return and what form will they take. If you can just buy top-tier FPs for a semi-nominal charge then the value of DVC declines. If not, not.



You can always do an exchange into SSR for fastpasses though. Every ride is doable from rope drop under normal circumstances too. Plenty of Youtube vloggers get on the harder to get rides and are local.


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## ljmiii (Apr 29, 2021)

cbyrne1174 said:


> You can always do an exchange into SSR for fastpasses though. Every ride is doable from rope drop under normal circumstances too. Plenty of Youtube vloggers get on the harder to get rides and are local.


For better or worse, we're still in the needing 2BRs during school holidays camp. Once the kids fly the coop 1BRs...and 'normal' crowds...become a possibility.


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## frank808 (Apr 29, 2021)

CPNY said:


> I’ve been going back and forth on picking up DVC. I’m just not sure it’s worth it. I’ll take whatever exchange in RCI I can get. I’m fine with SSR


If trading has been working fine and you are happy at ssr, I would not buy into DVC. Just keep on trading and save the buy in and MF.

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## CPNY (Apr 30, 2021)

frank808 said:


> If trading has been working fine and you are happy at ssr, I would not buy into DVC. Just keep on trading and save the buy in and MF.
> 
> Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk


If I bought, I’d buy at SSR so I can book tree houses. Something about the privacy and tranquility in a Disney resort is very appealing.


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## Deb & Bill (May 1, 2021)

CPNY said:


> If I bought, I’d buy at SSR so I can book tree houses. Something about the privacy and tranquility in a Disney resort is very appealing.


But they have zero king sized beds, only queens and a set of bunks.  Plus only two bathrooms.


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## CPNY (May 1, 2021)

Deb & Bill said:


> But they have zero king sized beds, only queens and a set of bunks.  Plus only two bathrooms.


They have 2 queens and bunks? I didn’t realize only 2 bathrooms..... do they get booked quickly? Also, 2 queens and bunks is more than enough space for me lol


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## Jo Jo (May 1, 2021)

cbyrne1174 said:


> IMO, You're honestly better off just using Bonnet Creek over owning at the "value" DVC resorts. It's the same distance from the parks, the annual MF on a 2 bedroom villa is as low as $600/week if you have a good deed, not CWA, and book during the value season. Food and Wine and December is mostly in the value season. I booked a SSR exchange through RCI first week of June for $1050 in total and also booked a 1 bedroom Presidential at Bonnet Creek for the 5 days prior to the SSR exchange (for a total of $640). So it's 5 nights in a presidential suite at Bonnet Creek and 7 nights at SSR for  a total of $1690 for both stays. My resale Club Wyndham ownership only costed me a few hundred bucks. The price of resale DVC is just getting ridiculous compared to just buying Club Wyndham resale and using Bonnet Creek/Reunion and RCI.
> 
> As a side note, Wyndham ALSO has a really nice beach resort that's an hour and a half drive from WDW with REALLY nice rooms. WAY nicer than Vero Beach. I was just there last week and took a video of my Presidential suite. as a local, I'd pick this room over a DVC STUDIO any day. They essentially cost the same when you factor in buy in costs + dues. The room in this video costed me $220/night (weeknights) for reference of value. DVC doesn't have "value" resorts anymore. At this point, none of them are a good "value" if you didn't buy into DVC before prices skyrocketed.



If I am reading correctly, a one bedroom Bonnet Creek resale for $1,500 on RedWeek is showing a MF of $1,053.  Is there a better way of getting at lower MF’s than what I am seeing?

Thx.


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## Dean (May 1, 2021)

Jo Jo said:


> If I am reading correctly, a one bedroom Bonnet Creek resale for $1,500 on RedWeek is showing a MF of $1,053.  Is there a better way of getting at lower MF’s than what I am seeing?
> 
> Thx.


Wyndham maintenance fees vary by resort.  Buying points at a resort with lower fees is the best way to control the fees short and long term.  Just investigate the ones that have the best fees but they my be slightly higher up front for this reason.


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## bnoble (May 1, 2021)

Jo Jo said:


> Is there a better way of getting at lower MF’s than what I am seeing?


A peak-season 1BR costs 166K points. An "average" $/K deed might be about $6.50/K, give or take, including the program fee. So, it's going to run right around that for most people. You can find deeds less than that---my average is a good-but-not-outstanding $5.60. There are plenty that are more, too.

Even at an average ratio, that's an ongoing cost of about $150/night, which is a pretty good deal for a 1BR with that quality/location.


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## cbyrne1174 (May 1, 2021)

Jo Jo said:


> If I am reading correctly, a one bedroom Bonnet Creek resale for $1,500 on RedWeek is showing a MF of $1,053.  Is there a better way of getting at lower MF’s than what I am seeing?
> 
> Thx.



I was doing Grand Desert maintenance fees using the Bonnet Creek value season for a 2 bedroom (112,000 points at $5.61 per thousand). You almost never actually need Bonnet Creek ARP. The only rooms at Bonnet Creek I don't have access to easily year round are 3 and 4 bedroom presidential units.


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## Pathways (May 3, 2021)

CPNY said:


> They have 2 queens and bunks? I didn’t realize only 2 bathrooms..... do they get booked quickly? Also, 2 queens and bunks is more than enough space for me lol



Love them or hate them - Just spent a few days there.  DW could not wait to leave as she got VERY little sleep.  The Q beds in both br's squeaked LOUDLY with every slight change of position.  Real pain to get anywhere in a hurry from the treehouses unless you have a car.  When the boats start running again it will help.  Otherwise, utilize the bell staff to pick up and return to unit.


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## grupp (May 4, 2021)

Getting back to the original question on this tread, although I does not appear they are still around. As others have pointed out prices are indeed not down due to pandemic and the market is extremely active. With the prices up as much as they are I decided to list a couple of my contracts for sale and had acceptable offers in just a few days. On my 300 point Aulani contract, the first buyer backed out when he found out he would not get the points until the contract closed and apparently thought he would get them before that (have no idea why he would think that). However, within 3 days I received a new offer for $4 more per point than the original offer. So worked out in my favor


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## elaine (May 4, 2021)

Prices are certainly up at akv and limited supply.


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## Kevin248 (May 12, 2021)

Kevin248 said:


> Hello!
> My Wife and I were looking into DVC before COVID hit. I was set on buying direct but now with the costs of resale contracts dropping, it seems to make more sense to buy one of those existing contracts. We would be first time buyers.
> If you buy resale, what are the restrictions regarding Riviera? Can you still stay there if you buy a resale contract with another home resort?
> Also, besides the resale prices being lower, is now a good time to purchase DVC? We plan on going to Disney in November 2021 and we’d like it to be our first DVC stay.
> ...


Thank you all for your responses and help.


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