Be Careful Buying a DVC Resale, You Won’t Get All the Perks

Almost daily I get a phone call from someone asking me to tell them what they DON’T get when they buy a Disney Vacation Club through the resale market. 

Some internet “helper” (you know why that’s in quotes right?)  has told them to be careful because you don’t get everything when you buy resale.  Gasp.  Wait…it’s true?  Yes.  But does that mean you shouldn’t buy resale?  No way!    So let’s break down a few things to consider about buying Disney Vacation Club directly versus buying Disney Vacation Club by Resale.

Point Conversion – Cruises, Hotels, and Tours

Let’s start by talking about the “perk” (again, not all things are literal) of point conversion. Disney allows it’s DVC Members to convert their DVC points to another type of point that can be used for cruises, hotels, and guided tour trips when they buy direct.  Wait, what? We convert points to other points?  Yeah, it can get a little confusing.   The easiest way I can explain it is to say that a DVC point refers to a point you can use at one of the DVC Resorts also known as the properties that have the word Disney Vacation Club in front of, or around their name.  Notice they do not say DVC hotel, DVC cruise, DVC adventure or any other thing besides the word RESORT.   To make it easy, here’s a current list: 

• Saratoga Springs
• Grand Californian
• Bay Lake Tower
• Grand Floridian
• Polynesian
• Beach Club
• Boardwalk
• Old Key West
• Animal Kingdom
• Wilderness Lodge – Boulder Ridge
• Wilderness Lodge –  Copper Creek
• Aulani
• Hilton Head
• Vero Beach

A Disney conversion point refers to taking a DVC point and converting it to be used for ANYTHING that isn’t a DVC Resort.   Got it?  Now, let’s look at their value.

To begin, we need to establish the real life value of a DVC point after the initial investment price is paid.  This amount can be argued just like inflation and our economy but I’m not going to splice hairs.  You’ll have to trust me that these are reasonable for today’s economy since I’ve been in this industry for 21 years: A point can easily be rented through established DVC rental companies for $10-$20 per point. To be fair, I’ll use the average for the purposes of this article and go with $15 per point.

A Perfect Example

For 2018, a standard inside stateroom costs 279 points on the 4 night Bahamas Members cruise in July.  If I were to rent my points at $15 per point I would have $4,185 in my pocket.  Well, the cash price for that exact same room is $2,079.  Which means I would save $2,069 if I paid with cash! Which, by the way, I could use towards paying my annual dues for the year and STILL have money left over since they would be around $1,674 at an average of $6 per point.

The opposite way to look at it (and perhaps easier) is to take the cash rate of $2,079 and divide it by 279 points which equals $7.45 per point.  Get it?  You can rent points for $15 but you’re only getting credit for half!

Cruise point cash value = $7.45 per point | Real life point rental cash value  = $15 per point!

Points vs. Cash

The bottom line, it would be crazy to use points to pay for a cruise.  Instead, rent your points, pay cash and use the extra money for that new Mickey watch you’ve been eyeballing!  My point being, even if you buy resale, you can take a cruise by renting your points, paying the cash price and you’ll be coming out with savings. That’s a perk nobody can deny. 

Similarly, the cash benefit stretches across the board for the hotel conversions, the guided tour conversions, etc. DVC administration is just banking on your not doing the math or being too lazy to rent your points.  

Don’t do either!

The Annual Pass Discount, Let’s Do the Math

What other perks aren’t you getting when you buy resale?  Let’s address the annual pass discount.  Currently, the Platinum pass without a discount is $779 according to Disney’s website. With the DVC Member discount it’s $729, so you are saving $50.  For a family of 4, that’s $200, nothing to sneeze at I will quickly concede.  Now, keep in mind with the annual pass you’re going to get all the discounts on food and merchandise that DVC Members get so I’ll go along with the theory that the annual pass perk is kind of a big deal. But does the savings make up the difference?  Let’s do the math on actually buying your DVC direct versus resale…

According to DVCnews.com the current direct price for Animal Kingdom is $171 per point.   We recently closed on an Animal Kingdom Resale that sold for $103 per point.

That savings, per POINT, is $69! That means if you buy 100 points, you’ve just saved $6,900. Which means it would take 34 YEARS in annual pass savings to make up what you saved on your resale purchase. Since an average family of four is more likely to buy 200 points, that means you’ve saved $13,800 which means it would take 69 years to make up the difference.  At some resorts the savings is even more!

Do you suddenly see why resales STILL make sense? 

Think that’s a fluke?  Let’s do another:

The current price for Saratoga Springs is $151 per point. DVC by Resale closed on a Saratoga Springs that sold for $95 per point.
The savings, per point, is $56. On 100 points that is $5,600 which equals 28 years of annual pass savings! On 200 points that equals $11,200 which is 56 years of annual pass savings!

Third times a charm so let’s do one more just for giggles:

The current price for the Polynesian Villas is $220 per point. I sold one at $146 per point.  That is a $74 per point difference. On 100 points that is $7,400 which equals 37 years of annual pass savings.  On 200 points that is $14,800 which is 74 years of annual pass savings for a family of four!

Need I say more?

The Other Stuff

Now we are left with the other perks – Members lounge in the parks, an invitation to a random magical event every few months at a park which may or may not be timed to your personal vacation, occasional DVC “exclusive” trips that can be bought any other time with non-DVC people around you.  The value? Well, that’s debatable based on your family, so I’ll leave that one alone and let Disney have it as a plus for their side of the argument since the others are well, coming up a little like Tinker Bell.  As in, short.

Aulani’s Stitch Photo credit: Len Yokoyama

So, the next time someone brings up the be careful with resales point (no pun intended) be sure to send them this link.  Perhaps you’ll help their family save a few thousand dollars which they might feel so grateful about they buy you a new Mickey Mouse watch! Personally, I’m hoping for a Stitch necklace.

Thanks so much for reading.

*All calculations are before closing costs from direct or resale, referenced resales occurred within the past 3 months, direct prices reflect those published on referenced source as of 6/19/18.