Lower cost resale vs buying on property

[O'MalleytheAlleyCat]

I know the saying....."buy where you want to stay"! We own points at Animal Kingdom Villas and are considering purchasing more points. The resale prices for Vero Beach are very good...almost too good to pass up, however we would never stay at Vero Beach. We don't go to WDW during the most crowded times (Christmas, Easter, spring break...) but we do like to go during the Food and Wine Festival and maybe in the spring or late winter also. We really don't care where we stay on property...any of the DVC accomodations would be perfectly fine. That being said, does anyone have a good feel for how difficult it would be to find reservations anywhere on property at 7 months out? We typically like to stay in a 2 bedroom if that makes any difference. Thanks so much for any advice or opinions you have!!

[DizneyRox]

For those times, you will probably really benefit from the 11 month booking window.

Take a look at maintenance fees as well, they may be significantly higher than the on property resorts.

Finally, the asking price isn't necessarily the selling price of resale. It's like buying any other property and you can bid what you want. The worst thing they will say is no, and possibly Disney will ROFR the sale. Something tells me Disney is not doing much with ROFR these days. They just started offering one time use points to members, I think they have plenty of inventory on hand.

[MarkC]

I think your chances of booking at the 7 month window are pretty good if you are willing to stay anywhere on property. Sarasota Springs is huge and they usually have room unless its a Christmas/Easter/4th of July type time. We have a Beach Club membership and like to stay there. We tried to book a room in January for the 2nd week of July and were able to get into AK Villas. However, by March our waitlist came through for Beach Club. So my thought is that if you have some flexibilty on where to stay and can book 7 months out, you should be fine. We were surprised to get accomodations in summer only 4 months out, so for most times you will find something. Good luck.

[DVC2004]

You can get in at 7 months- most likely SSR or OKW, but it's possible to get other places too. Just be aware that the dues at both VB and HHI are much higher- they are both on the coast and both have storm damage in the past. Since this is the long term cost of the membership, I would factor that in to the decision.

[O'MalleytheAlleyCat]

Good point about the cost of annual dues. I know it's hard to figure in everything, like potential increases from year to year, but using a very rough estimate it appears it might actually be less expensive in the long run to buy at Saratoga Springs due to the lower (at least now) cost of dues. That way we'd at least be assured of home resort reservations on property prior to the 7 month booking window. Thanks for your thoughts!