If you were close to buying in on a resale contract, go ahead and do it. As long as you have an extra $4K to buy a 25 point add-on direct, problem solved. But I'd do it fast before they find a way to close that loophole!
Honestly, as much as it annoys me, I think that this policy makes a lot of sense on Disney's part. There are more and more potential resale contracts every time they make a new direct sale. Those resales are on constant competition with the direct sales. Thanks to the internet, almost everyone who is considering a DVC purchase knows about the resale market. The previous distinction of not being able to use your points on cruises and other things if you bought resale was really just silly. It's such a poor value to exchange points for the other available options that it hardly even made a difference.
The benefits and discounts (especially the AP) are awesome, but even on it's own, a DVC resale contract is still a great value. Even worst case scenario, you buy the points direct from Disney, which is like $165/pt, right? On a 50 year contract, each point has cost you $3.30. Let's say that your current annual dues is $5.50/pt (some are even less). That's $8.80/point cost of ownership. You can't come close to renting points for that. Old Key West has studios for 10pts./night for many nights during the year. That means that for $88 in real cost, you can still stay at Old Key West (or Boardwalk), a deluxe and a beautiful one at that, for less per night than you can stay at the All-Stars. Most properties run around 15-22 points for a studio. That still puts your deluxe room rate at $132-194/night for a deluxe. That's Beach Club, Wilderness Lodge, BLT, Poly, SSR, AKL...I think there are even a few times of year when you can get into Grand Floridian at that rate.
I know it's just one more piece of bad news to come out of Florida this year, but DVC is still an incredible deal if you can figure out how to handle the initial investment. I am curious--with the announcement of Tom Staggs's resignation yesterday, did he resign because he's been forced to make cut and after cut and he can't take it anymore or was he asked to resign? Was any part of that pressure in relation to public outcry to Disney treating their guests like ATM's? I did see an article that said it was a "mutual separation". That rings to me that Staggs didn't necessarily go willingly...
