What Are The Best Options For DVC Resale?

A DVC resale is when you purchase a DVC contract from the person who owns it, not DVC directly.

Resales offer an alternative to becoming a DVC member, without leaving home and sometimes at a significant savings. Once you have decided to own a “piece of the magic” the next decision is how to buy – resale or direct from Disney.

How do resales exist?

Resales exist from people just like you. Imagine you went to Disney, bought a DVC property, then went home and discovered you couldn’t keep it because maybe your child got accepted to Harvard, and you had a big tuition bill coming unexpectedly! For most, reasons included downsizing, divorce, or unexpected lifestyle change. Your first thought may be to contact Disney because you remember the sales guide saying something about the “Right of first refusal”. However, Disney doesn’t necessarily buy your contract back; they only retain the right to review any sale and buy it themselves -– if they “want” to…which doesn’t happen 95% of the time. You would be told you’ll need to sell your property on your own, or contact a broker who specializes in the resale of them. AllEars® recommends DVC By Resale.

When buying from DVC By Resale, absolutely. Designated as Real Property, the vacation club ownership can only be sold by someone with their real estate license or an individual owner. DVC By Resale communicates directly with Disney to verify the integrity of the listings they advertise. It has a system of checks and balances throughout the resale process to ensure the buyer gets the property they have agreed to buy.

Once you are ready to proceed, your Resale agent will go over all the costs involved, discuss your bottom line numbers for the purchase, and email a contract for execution. You’ll print, sign and return the contract to the broker, then forward the the initial deposit to the company in charge of handling the closing. The closing company is in charge of doing a title search, gathering estoppel information from Disney, holding and dispersing escrow funds, delivering closing documents, recording the new deed, etc. Basically, all items are important for the legal transfer of ownership from seller to buyer. Deposits vary, but 10-20% of the purchase price is typically customary. Credit cards aren’t usually accepted, but a credit card “purchase check” may be an option.

Once your broker receives both parties’ deposit and signed contracts, they contact Disney and submit it for the Right of First Refusal. Disney has 30 days to exercise their Right, but can take less time, and your Broker will notify you the day the waiver arrives. Closings average six weeks, depending on Disney and the Closing Agency.

About one week before your “scheduled” closing, you should receive your closing documents from the Closing Agency. It includes everything you need to sign, including the new deed and your final payment. (At this point, you can start to get excited because you are almost finished!) As soon as both you and the seller send everything back to the Closing Agency, they send the new deed to be recorded and fax a copy to Disney so their administration can begin putting you in the DVC Member database. It’s all that simple!

There are three costs to be aware of when buying a resale: Price, closing costs, and annual dues. The price includes your annual allocation of points times a price per point. 100 points X $60 per point equals $6,000, for example. Closing costs are set by the closing agency and generally include everything involved in legally transferring the property from the seller to the buyer, including items such as recording the new deed and the title insurance policy. They average $500; your agent will advise you of the specifics relative to any property. Annual dues on a resale are paid by the party receiving the current year’s points. Each resort has their own dues, so that it will vary accordingly. On a 100 point contract, for example, if the seller has used 25 points from the current allocation, they are responsible for those 25 points, and the buyer is responsible for the 75 points they are receiving. Keep in mind it is a real estate transaction, and sometimes sellers are negotiable on one or more of the above.

The resale process takes about 6-8 weeks to complete entirely. Closing is usually accomplished within 6-7 weeks, and then Disney adds the new Member to their system about one week later. The process may be shorter if Disney quickly waives their Right of First Refusal.

Yes, but despite the recent changes, you may decide resale is still the smarter option. Back on March 21, 2011, Disney said members who purchase their Ownership Interest in any DVC Resort from a person or entity other than directly from DVC shall not be able to use the Vacation Points associated with that Ownership Interest for reservations or stays through the Incidental Benefits known as the Adventurer Collection (Adventures by Disney Tours), Interval International (non-Disney resorts), or The Disney Collection (Disney Cruise Line and Galactic Starcruiser).

If you buy resale, you may still use ALL Disney Vacation Club resort properties (currently 11, with number 12 being built), which include Old Key West, Saratoga Springs, Boardwalk, Bay Lake Tower, Beach Club, Vero Beach, Hilton Head, Wilderness Lodge, Animal Kingdom, Grand Californian, Aulani, and Villas of Grand Floridian (when complete).

You may also participate in trading to all the resorts within the World Passport Collection. This collection includes over 500 resort locations worldwide.

If I don’t get all the benefits, why does it still make sense to buy resale?

For two reasons: The first, most people, after looking at the points charts for the collections that Disney has “restricted,” quickly discover it is cost prohibitive and wouldn’t use points to pay for those items anyway. Most of the time, the better choice would be to pay cash. The highest and best use of your points is to spend them at the Disney Vacation Club properties. The program was designed to help you save money at these locations over the lifetime of traveling.

The second reason, and more important to many people, resales cost less. The savings quickly promotes the choice of going the resale route when you start comparing numbers and then realize the “restrictions” don’t add up.

Do I have to come to Florida to purchase, or can everything be completed from home?