According to the American Resort Development Association, the timeshare industry experienced a decline in sales for the first time in ten years during 2020. Thanks to the ravages of the pandemic, sales declined by over 50%, to reach just $4.9 billion. At this time, many people also found themselves seriously out of pocket, resulting in widespread sales of vacation club memberships too. Are you among those people saddled with a DVC contract that you can no longer afford? Find out more about your Disney Vacation Club resale options here.
How to Sell Disney Vacation Club Timeshare
Unlike most timeshare products, DVC contracts have an expiry date. That’s because all DVC resorts are leasehold properties.
In short, you never own any share of these resorts, you simply lease it from the owner of the land, i.e. Disney Vacation Development, Inc.
Most of these leaseholds expire 50 years from the date DVD Inc. built your home resort.
You can’t get out of your DVC contract any other way apart from waiting for it to expire unless you manage to sell it to someone else.
One way to do this is to ask DVC if they want to buy your contract back from you. It’s unlikely they’ll do this unless you have an interest in a high-demand sold-out resort.
If DVC does agree to buy your membership from you, they’ll pay you a lot less than you paid for it.
That’s why most DVC members opt to sell their timeshare via a broker.
Selling Via a Disney Vacation Club Resale Broker
DVC resale brokers have a real estate license and a huge pool of willing buyers at their disposal. They sell your weeks according to a fixed table of values based on how desirable your points are.
Here’s how it works:
Contact the Broker
During this interaction, you give them the details about your contract. This includes the following information:
- Home resort
- Use year
- Number of points
You’ll also need to fill them in on the status of your points, i.e. banked, borrowed, available, etc.
Once they’ve got this information, they can tell you how much you can expect to sell your contract for.
Fill in the Listing Agreement
Once you’ve agreed on a price, the agent emails you a listing agreement. You fill it in and send it back to them via fax or email. When they receive this document, they confirm all your details with DVC and will discuss the finer details about pricing with you.
Remember, DVC has the first right of refusal on your points. So, they can offer to buy back your points at this stage.
Selling Your Weeks
After completing all these formalities, the broker lists your contract for sale on their website. It usually takes less than 30 days to find a buyer for DVC timeshare contracts.
When you reach an agreement with the prospective buyer, closing takes another six to eight weeks, and you’ll receive your check after that.
Usually, the broker deducts 8.5% from your earnings for their commission, and Disney charges $150 for the closing process.
The Benefits of Selling or Buying DVC Via a Broker
The average price for resales is currently around $154 per point. That’s about 27% less than you’d pay to buy those points from DVC now.
So, it’s easy to see how prospective Disney Vacation Club members prefer buying DVC resale vs direct.
For the seller, losing out on 27% of what they paid for their points isn’t altogether bad, since they’ve already enjoyed substantial savings by holidaying with DVC.
The process is simple and relatively quick thanks to this high demand.
There are a few other benefits associated with buying DVC points from a resales broker, namely:
Ongoing Savings
Since most people who buy DVC contracts on the resale market use financing to afford their purchase. That means they pay less interest than buying direct.
Plus, they save on a lifetime of vacations thanks to this innovative, flexible timeshare product. It’s a win-win situation.
More Chance of Finding Sold-Out Resorts
New members can’t buy points at popular DVC resorts like Grand Californian or Beach Club Villas direct from DVC anymore. Yet, prospective members might find them listed on DVC resales sites occasionally.
Maximizing DVC Membership
When members buy points from DVC resales, they lose out on certain points-based benefits that come with buying direct. Yet, there’s a way around this.
When members buy the minimum number of points direct, they still get these perks. So, they can buy the cheapest option from DVC direct and top up their points portfolio with cheaper resale points.
Drawbacks of Buying via DVC Resales
While the pros of buying resales weeks from a broker far outweigh the cons, it’s not the ideal solution for everyone. You can’t exchange into any of DVC’s new properties using resale points.
At present, this means only the new Riviera resort is off-limits. All the other prestigious DVC properties are still valid for resale points. You’ll also lose out on some member perks like:
- Discounts on annual passes
- Dining and merchandise discounts
- Points bookings for member cruises
- Some special member events
- The Disney Collection
- Adventures by Disney
- The Concierge Collection
As mentioned above, it’s easy to get around this if these elements are important to you.
Make Informed Decisions
Whether you’re buying or selling or cancel my timeshare contract, Disney Vacation Club resale brokers help streamline the process and ensure you receive the maximum benefit.
It’s vital to ensure you’re working with a reputable agent, though. Always check references and licenses before entering a financial arrangement with anyone.
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