Direct Purchase benefits announced!

[Jason@dvcstore]

It certainly could make someone who was buying resale consider going direct.

I hope it doesn't simply prevent them from buying at all. Now when buying direct it appears you are making a huge commitment. If something changes in your life down the road and you need to sell it probably means your property won't sell as high as in the past on the resale market. Of course, time will tell what happens with resale prices.

I also wonder if DVC will declare this to buyers when buying directly from Disney. I don't mean just put it in the paperwork but I mean tell them verbally so they understand the differences should they need to sell.

Jason

 

[Brian Noble]

I can't predict what prices will do in the long run with this news, but they will most certainly go up from now until around mid-February due to the frenzy of folks wanting to get in before the March 20 closing deadline.

Doubtful.

Honestly, in this instance, DVC has done resale purchasers a favor. These point-use options are rarely if ever cost effective. You are almost always better off renting out the use of your points, and using the proceeds to book the hotel, tour, or cruise you prefer. The cruises can sometimes be okay, but even then, it's close to a push.

This also helps DVCMC get a handle on a real problem. As the size of the system has grown, the number of units that have to be monetized to pay for these Disney-internal uses has grown as well, and it has been harder and harder to move the underlying units to generate enough revenue to make it work.

Usually, the broad resale market prices these sorts of things rationally. There might be a slight bump up now, and a slight dip down afterwards. But, most resale purchasers understand the product well and know what it is good for and what it is not. They will see this as a non-event.

I also wonder if DVC will declare this to buyers when buying directly from Disney.

Of course not. At least, not routinely. It is not a sales rep's job to tell the buyer why they should not buy. It will only be used as a way to deflect "but resale is so much less expensive" observations, and sold as a positive. Other timeshare companies play this game all the time. Amazingly, few buyers manage to connect the dots..."Well, what happens if I sell then?"

 

[LouisianaDisneyFan]

Doubtful.

You apparently have a lot more faith than I do in folks analyzing it out rather than acting on impulse to beat the deadline. It will be interesting to watch how it all plays out!

 

[nolanboys]

Nothing on the member site yet. Will still probably go resale if I want to add on. I've been looking into cruises and trying to see how using points makes sense, and I just don't see it. Only planned on using points for DVC options anyways. I think we'll just stick with the 200 points we have for a while, although I did look into to resales just to see if we should do an add on before the deadline.

 

[FindingFigment]

As a prospective buyer who plans to only use my points at DVC resorts, I'm relieved! I was really worried the change would affect the booking window. And while I wouldn't be losing anything by the benefits they are taking away, I know now will certainly never buy Direct since I feel the value of those points depreciates the minute you drive them off the lot. On a selfish note, I won't be sad if this move causes the market to get flooded with a lot of contracts for me to choose from, right at the time that I am shopping.

 

[Brian Noble]

You apparently have a lot more faith than I do in folks analyzing it out rather than acting on impulse to beat the deadline.

I have faith in the rationality of my fellow man. That's probably misplaced. As H. L. Mencken put it, "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public."

But, even if there is a burst of irrationality, it could cut both ways---people who have been thinking about unloading may well dump trying to beat the March deadline, etc.

Either way, once the transient settles down, within about four to six months or so, we'll be back to "normal," however that will be defined by the economy at the time.

 

[gillep]

DH and I have been talking about our first add on for a while now and we both were certain that we would do it via resale unless the game changed drastically, and this announcement did not change that thinking. We have tried to price things out and we just don't see the value in using our points for those things that will be taken away anyway. We will probably spend the next year closely watching the resale market to see what this may do and then make our purchase if it still looks like a good decision. I just feel like it could have been much worse!

 

[LouisianaDisneyFan]

Either way, once the transient settles down, within about four to six months or so, we'll be back to "normal," however that will be defined by the economy at the time.

I agree completely with this prediction.

 

[wdrl]

I wonder how this will affect a family transfer. If I leave my DVC points to the kids in my will, would that be considered a resale?

Currently, Disney is able to distinguish between family transfers and resales. Disney uses two different notices when it waives its Right of First Refusal. On those transactions in which the owner is selling his or her points, the Notice of Waiver of ROFR states that owning is selling points to a new buyer. A different Notice is used on gratuitous transfers. The second type of Notice states it is a gratuitous transfer of ownership and that the owner is not receiving any money for the transfer.

 

[Mai Ku Tiki]

I THINK I agree that this will be another change that will just be absorbed over time.

 

[quinnc19]

I just made an offer, and I did knock it down a few dollars a point based on this info. I also am going to buy more points than I originally intended (150 instead of 100).

 

[Dziactor]

This has me tempted to purchase a resale quick(my wife would kill me). I do think this brings down the value of any resale and thus it should be a factor in any purchasing decision. Only time will tell.

 

[LouisianaDisneyFan]

I wonder how this will affect a family transfer. If I leave my DVC points to the kids in my will, would that be considered a resale?

I just spoke with Sue in Member Administration to get clarification regarding how the changes will affect gratuitous transfers to family members. Before giving me an answer, she conferred with a manager to verify her information. She said that the change will apply only to those contracts that go through the resale ROFR process and that gratuitous transfers will not be affected by this change. As an earlier poster stated, the form sent for the Waiver of ROFR is different for these two transactions, so DVC already tracks them separately. That's good news. I would have felt I received reduced value for my direct purchases if the contract benefits decreased when they were passed to my children. I think I'll outlive our BWV contracts, but it's pretty unlikely I can outlast our BLT expiration!

 

[LouisianaDisneyFan]

Heads-Up: The policy is now posted to DVCMember.com... front page under news.

New Policy Announced for Re-sale Purchases

Disney Vacation Club® has announced a new policy that limits access to certain Member Getaways exchanges for Ownership Interests purchased on the secondary market (also known as the re-sale market).

Under the new policy, Members who purchase from anyone other than Disney Vacation Development, Inc., on or after March 21, 2011, will not be eligible to use those Vacation Points to make reservations within the Concierge Collection, the Disney Collection or the Adventurer Collection. Those Vacation Points will instead be valid only for reservations at Disney Vacation Club resorts, as well as for RCI® exchanges, Club Cordial and Club Intrawest.

The affected collections are special Member benefits programs offered by Disney Vacation Development, Inc., and are not part of Members' Ownership Interests. That said, Members who purchased on the secondary market prior to March 21, 2011, may use those Vacation Points for all Member Getaways.

Note that the policy doesn't impact banking, borrowing or transferring Vacation Points. All Members will continue to have the ability make such transactions, regardless of where they purchased their Ownership Interests. Complete rules about these transactions are available in the Home Resort Rules and Regulations section of this website.

 

[psac]

In the process of buying Resale now, passed ROFR, waiting on the seller to return their docs so we can close. I'm glad we're getting grandfathered "just in case", but this wouldn't prevent me from adding on more resale. Agreed with the others that these "benefits" actually cost more using points than buying out of pocket. I guess the difference in many cases that maybe those points would just not get used at all instead of being used for these exchanges. (I'm sure part of the DVC planning is an expectation of a certain percentage of points never being used.)

 

[dzorn]

The article says that more info will be posted to DVCmember.com, but you can only access that if you are a current DVC member. Will someone post the info here when it goes up over there?

New Policy Announced for Re-sale Purchases

Disney Vacation Club® has announced a new policy that limits access to certain Member Getaways exchanges for Ownership Interests purchased on the secondary market (also known as the re-sale market).

Under the new policy, Members who purchase from anyone other than Disney Vacation Development, Inc., on or after March 21, 2011, will not be eligible to use those Vacation Points to make reservations within the Concierge Collection, the Disney Collection or the Adventurer Collection. Those Vacation Points will instead be valid only for reservations at Disney Vacation Club resorts, as well as for RCI® exchanges, Club Cordial and Club Intrawest.

The affected collections are special Member benefits programs offered by Disney Vacation Development, Inc., and are not part of Members' Ownership Interests. That said, Members who purchased on the secondary market prior to March 21, 2011, may use those Vacation Points for all Member Getaways.

Note that the policy doesn't impact banking, borrowing or transferring Vacation Points. All Members will continue to have the ability make such transactions, regardless of where they purchased their Ownership Interests. Complete rules about these transactions are available in the Home Resort Rules and Regulations section of this website.

From the members site.

It will be a consideration for us if we decide to add on. Not so much for the loss in places to go but if it effects the resale value if we needed to sell the points.

We have used our points for a cruise once only because we had double developer points. Cannot see us using any of the other options very often if ever.

Denise in MI

 

[JimMIA]

The affected collections are special Member benefits programs offered by Disney Vacation Development, Inc., and are not part of Members' Ownership Interests.

Prospective buyers who purchase direct to get this "benefit" had better really understand the importance of this statement!

These "benefits" are not part of THEIR ownership interests either -- they are only perks which could be changed at any moment with a stroke of the Mouse's pen.

 

[kwdw]

Gotta say - I am breathing a sign of relief - these changes don't influence why I am about to buy into DVC (resale) anyway!

Just throws a wrench into my timing to buy. Rush to try to get the current benefits (which I likely would never use) or wait to see if prices drop after you can't make closing by the March date? Decisions, decisions. Luckily I can't think about it much until tomorrow!

 

[moericus]

At least Disney is giving plenty of notice. I wonder what prompted this move. I didn't think many people used their points that way.

I hope this doesn't hurt re-sellers.

 

[WRWDisney]

A lot of folks have posted in the vein of, "well it won't really effect me, so..." and while I generally agree, I guess my one question would relate to the member cruise. Does this mean that those who have bought re-sale exclusively do not have the necessary points to book a members cruise? Just wondering