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Lou: We interviewed Shontell Crawford, owner of DVCByResale.com, during MouseFest 2005.

Nathan: Yes, we did, a long time ago. That seems like eons ago.

Lou: It does seem like a long time ago, but this is really what I think a very, very not only entertaining interview but really something that is informative.The Disney Vacation Club is a great idea, and it is something that people get very confused about especially when you talk about buying and reselling through resale, but she really explains in detail how you can become a part of the DVC how you can do it by resale, and how she and her company can help you.They’ve been doing this for some time now they are the best at what they do.So without further ado let’s hear from Shontell Crawford, owner of DVCByResale.com.

Nathan: Take it away Shontell...

Lou: Okay, we are sitting here at The Tubbi’s Buffeteria over here at Walt Disney World Dolphin, and we are sitting with Shontell Crawford, owner of DVCByResale.com.

Shontell: Hi guys,

Lou: Shontell, Welcome

Shontell: Thank you

Lou: Thank you very much for agreeing to do the MouseTunes interview.

Shontell: My pleasure, I’m happy to be here

Lou: Great, Shontell why don’t you tell us a little bit about your background.

Shontell: Sure, I’ve came from the Carolinas, was born and raised in South Carolina, moved to Florida about 14-15 years ago and immediately went to work for Mickey Mouse. I was a cast member for five years and decided I had to grow up and get a real job, and eventually ended up in real estate and now of course specialize in the Disney Vacation Club and the re-sales thereof.

Lou: Okay, well if you are still working doing the Disney related stuff; you couldn’t have grown up too much. What did you do as a cast member?

Shontell: A little bit of everything, started off at the Lake Buena Vista Golf Course.I was pretty much always in a serving tips type position.I use to wait on, I remember waiting on Dick Nunis back in the day when he was there, which was fun.We then went to Fort Wilderness, I worked out there. I worked at the HoopDee Do Review, which was fun.I can actually

Lou: You performed?

Shontell: No, no, but I can that song. I could probably sing the song

Lou: What will it take to get

Shontell: No, no let me take those words back. I really don’t know the song at all.I helped open the Beach Club, which was fun. Then I worked at the Jazz Company at Pleasure Island, which was by far one of my favorite position as a cast member because I was introduced to Jazz and the genre, just loved it, it was a lot of fun.

Lou: You grew up as you said and started doing real estate.How did you evolve into doing DVC Resales?

Shontell: Well, I got my license to specifically do resale timeshare and started of selling all time shares, but naturally having a background in Disney, I was drawn to that, and it just shortly evolved into what I specialized in. And truly I loved Disney I love the product, the Disney Vacation Club.

Lou: Are you a DVC owner?

Shontell: I am. I am an owner since '99. I got my license in '97 and became an owner myself in '99.I’m certainly one who doesn’t believe, I couldn’t sell something I didn’t believe in. So, I had to be able to experience it. Now I’m probably up to more points than I need to mention.

Lou: Why don’t you tell us a little bit about DVC by Resale, and specifically buying Disney Vacation Club through re-sale?

Shontell: Okay, the program itself, as far as The Disney Vacation Club is concerned is pretty standard. It doesn’t matter whether you buy DVC by Resale or whether you by from them directly, you get the exact same product.You’re buying real estate, which is broken up into points if you will, which you then distribute.You get an annual allocation of points, if we say 100 points, then you decide how you want to spend those points. Maybe eight points a night in a studio at Old Key West. Maybe 20 points a night in a Grand Villa over at Vero beach, which is actually called a beach cottage. So there’s all kinds of way to use spend your vacation point dollars, if you will.As a family you sit down, you chose how many points you're gonna need, you then contact me, hopefully, at DVC by Resale, and say “Shontell this is what we are looking for. We really prefer the boardwalk because of the location, per say. And we are looking at 350 points. Would you let us know when something like that comes in?” We work with you from beginning to end. Answer any questions, we do have to go through Disney’s right of first refusal, which is a commonly asked question. Once we get passed that, it’s sort of smooth sailing from there and you can be in the Disney system and making reservations about seven weeks from the day we start.

Nathan: Actually, quick question.When it comes to Disney’s right of refusal, what do you mean when you say that? What exactly is the whole process Disney has to do this writer refusal?

Shontell: Sure, good question. Basically, Disney did themselves and us as owners a favor in establishing the right of first refusal.It means that you as an owner, if you decide to sell your property, you must find a ready, willing and able buyer. Then that contract, which is signed, goes to them and they review before their board of directors, and the board says, “At this price, we’d like to buy it ourselves”, or “at this price we chose not to buy it ourselves.” They have 30 days from the day we present the contract to them to decide if they would like to buy it themselves, and again, same terms and conditions. It doesn’t happen often, it’s usually only when somebody has really gotten a good buy. That changes, it has changed over the years.Back in the day, when I first started selling, you could get a good buy for $50.00 per point. You are lucky if you see $75.00 per point now a days.But once they say, “no thank you, we don’t want to buy it” we get to move forward with the closing. In the event they step in and say, “we would like to buy this,” then the buyer doesn’t lose anything, they get their deposit back and we try to find them something else.

Nathan: Okay, but basically as a seller, you still, if Disney buys it or a buyer buys it your still covered and you will get your DVC sold somehow if you want to get rid of it.

Shontell: Exactly, exactly, the seller is going to get his money regardless of the route that is taken whether it’s by Disney or by Mr. & Mrs. Buyer.

Nathan: Okay, and actually I had one more quick question before I hand this back over to Lou.

Shontell: . Sure,

Nathan: One thing I am always asked is, what happens after this, I don’t know how many years it is down to now.When I bought my DVC, I think I had 50 years on my DVC, I know it’s now decreased a little bit, and I know Saratoga Springs has a little longer I think that most of them.What exactly happens at the end?I’ve gotten a lot of emails on Magical Mountain about that and what happens to people’s time share afterwards.

Shontell: Good question, and to kind of backup a little bit.All the properties except Saratoga Springs expire in 2042, Saratoga expires in 2054.So there is a twelve year difference, you are exactly right about that.And then as far as what’s going to happen that is one of the rumor mills that we will leave for Lou to kind of go crazy with, because nobody knows for sure. My theory is that Disney will continue to maintain the same Vacation Club program, and they’ll probably start marketing to our children probably five years or so before these leases are due to expire. I just don’t see them letting this go based on the success they’ve had so far.

Nathan: Now as far though as, would existing DVC owners have discount to purchase new ownership and property they already own. That’s all up in the air right now.

Shontell: That’s it. Nobody knows for sure. We’ve got to get somebody on the inside over there at DVC Development

Nathan: Well, if anyone over at DVC is listening to this Podcast, go ahead and write Lou or I at info@mousetunes.com.Let us know.

Shontell: We would like to know. All of us would

Nathan: So many times I get that question asked to me.I don’t know what to tell them.

Shontell: Well, nobody knows it all goes back to Disney so, legally we know that it is going to go back to Disney.

Nathan: Right

Shontell: It’s just whether they decide if they want to further it at that point or not.

Nathan: Okay.

Lou: I had a quick question.It is one that confused me for a long time.Something that people asked me a lot. You mentioned using points at certain resorts, can you explain how the home resort works?

Shontell: Sure. The home resort is important to a lot of people for a lot of reasons. If you travel during peak seasons, this will make a difference.Disney allows you to make reservations at your home resort 11 months in advance. At your non home resort, you are only allowed to make them seven months in advance. Typically you think well that’s not really a big deal, seven months is plenty of time to make a reservation, and truly for the most part, in my opinion it is.But the exception would be if you are coming during Christmas, New Year, Fourth of July, Easter, or when the kids are on Spring Break. Those seasons are such high demand that you really need that 11 month reservation window or you may not be able to get in where your first choice, maybe even second choice, you just kind of have to wait and see if something comes through.So that’s the main difference as far as the home resort concerned.Another consideration is going to be maintenance and taxes.Each resort has different maintenance and taxes. Those are set by Disney, and you can pretty much rest assured that they are going to go up each year. The newer resorts typically have a lower one, for example Saratoga’s is the lowest this year, and it will go up next year and they usually level off. Old Key West and Hilton Head in the years I’ve been reselling have stayed consistently lower. So those two factors can make a difference if there’s a dollars difference in a 200 point ownership, I think I did the math and it worked out to be $8,000 over the life of the property. Don’t hold me to that. Some mathematician is going to hear that and go "not even close Shontell!", but it can really make a difference over the lifetime of the property.

Nathan: I agree. Actually I had a wonderful advisor when I bought. I would have bought from you, if I knew you back then, but I bought my points back in 2001 and they basically went ahead and told us at that time Hilton Head had the lowest maintenance fees so we went ahead and purchased our points in Hilton Head. I’ve never actually seen Hilton Head, I don’t know if I ever will. I use everything down here.

Shontell: We are in the same boat. I did the same thing. The first points were bought 150 at Hilton Head, and I have yet to get there.

Nathan: Yep, but one thing I do want to add that is really nice I’m sure that there are some first time, people not familiar with the Vacation Club, listening to the podcast. One thing that is wonderful even with just the seven months out is, you can actually be put on a wait list, and they will call you if property comes available.For instance, about four or five months ago I decided I wanted to come here for New Year’s, and my first choice was Fort Wilderness, my favorite, The Wilderness Lodge, it wasn’t available.Saratoga was, Saratoga’s going to be huge once it’s done hopefully there will always be room there, but I just, put me on a wait list. I asked and sure enough a few weeks later there was an opening. So, that’s one advantage that is really nice, is you can put yourself on a wait list and not worry about it, and they will eventually call you if something opens up. Hopefully they will keep that once it keeps on growing, but I just wanted to add that’s a really nice feature they do have on there.

Shontell: That’s a great point, and it makes such a difference in the long run.That’s probably one of my most frequently asked questions. Does it really matter can I make a reservation at the last minute, and I have had such success making last minute reservations. I’m lucky if I make plans three months in advance, but then again I don’t have children in school.I always encourage clients to look at what your family travel habits are.But ultimately I think everybody ends up going to all the resorts.They’re so much fun the all have a different feel. In the Winter, The Wilderness Lodge is my favorite, in Summer, Old Key West is my favorite, and if I’ve got friends in town, and they’ve only got two days to go to the parks. Well, we stay at the Boardwalk or Beach Club because we want to be close to Epcot and walk on over. They all have a different feel, and you end up seeing all of them, but that’s a great point.That wait list is wonderful and I’ve seen it pay off time and time again.

Lou: You said right now the only thing available is Sartatoga Springs

Shontell: From Disney directly, yes, that is correct.

Lou: But from you

Shontell: Any and all.

Lou: Are there certain home resorts that are better either, the size of a family or how often somebody comes down a year, or is it just a personal preference.

Shontell: It is a personal preference because the resorts cater to pretty much any size.I believe The Wilderness Lodge doesn’t have a Grand Villa. So if you plan on traveling and need accommodations for 12 and you all want to be in the same room, then, that probably wouldn’t be your first choice. But overall they just, any size from the smallest family to the largest is going to be accommodated. I don’t think that is a question anybody’s ever asked me to be honest with you.You stumped me there

Lou: What is your personal favorite Disney resort?

Shontell: I’d have to say that, there’s two, The Wilderness Lodge in the winter, because I like to go sit in front of a big fire and drink cocoa. Old Key West in the summer because, when I’m out in the parks all day long surrounded by crowds, and it’s hot, when I’m done at the end of the day, I want to feel like I’m away from everything, and Old Key West gives me that luxury to just relax and unwind.

Nathan: I think your fiancé was very happy when you said that. (laughs) Actually one more question that I have, and I’ll turn this over to Lou. I keep on thinking more things in my head as we are going on here.

Shontell: It’s fun with three of us, four now that Joe’s involved.

Nathan: You should have seen it folks.He just did the biggest cheer when Old Key West was mentioned.

Shontell: That’s his favorite and one of the reasons we connected when we did was because his sister owns quite a few Old Key West points so he’s been coming to Disney with her and her family for a number of years.

Nathan: Okay, now that we have totally embarrassed him

Shontell: By the way if you have any technical questions about the website, or any issues that come up, you can address those to joe@dvcbyresale because he is in charge of all the technical stuff.

Nathan: I can attest, he knows his stuff. One thing that even confuses me a little bit. I still don’t have it down pat. I don’t need to because I use all my points.The whole banking and the use year and all that. How well does all that work and is there a clear way without getting to technical. Whenever I ask people about it, they always get to technical in the borrowing and use year and all that.Is there a clear cut quick answer on how that works?

Shontell: I’ll try to give you one but I’ll preface it by saying go to our website and then to our frequently asked questions, dvcbyresale.com, frequently asked questions you can see exactly how the whole banking thing works because I’ve laid it out in a question for you.But in a nut shell, there’s kind of two questions that comes with that.A lot of people want to know does my use year matter. Not really if you travel different times of the year, but if you know for sure your family is going to come same time of year, there’s no doubt about it, then I would encourage you to take that month and back up six months. Any month that falls within those six months would be a good for you to have as your use year because if you needed to cancel you would still be within your banking window.Disney’s rules say that you must, if you're going to not use your points that year, you must bank them within the first six months of your use year. So that’s why take six months from the month you travel, back up six months, if you have to cancel you’ll be covered. Does that help?

Nathan: I think so. For instance my use year is December so that means I would have to get all my points banked by June.

Shontell: Correct, I think

Nathan: Somewhere in there.June, July

Shontell: December, January, February, March, April, May.End of May, by June 1^st, you got it.

Nathan: Alright, I don’t ever get that far, cuz by the end of the year they’re going, “Oh, you need to borrow points for staying here right now.”

Shontell: You’re not alone, you’re not alone, but in the event that ever did happen, and you missed your deadline, the good news is they will still allow you to bank 50% of your annual allocation.

Nathan: Okay,

Shontell: Up until the ninth month and you can bank 25% of your annual allocation during the tenth month. Worst case scenario, if you haven’t used them by then, your gonna either use them or loose them.

Nathan: Well, and then also it’s a "forcification", as my wife likes to put it.So if we ever got in this situation, which I don’t think we would, it would just be a reason to come to Disney World.

Shontell: There you go.

Lou: You mention your website DVCbyResale.com.Do you have current listings of the properties you have available and the points that are available there?

Shontell: We do we’re always going to have a list of what we have available, but what I encourage folks to do is send us an email.You can send it to info@DVCByResale.com. What we will do is add you to our newsletter, we send out updates whenever we have new listings. A lot of folks will contact us and they are specifically looking for something.I have kind of made it a promise that I’ll them to let them know before it goes to our general website as a courtesy, and in doing so you kind of have the first dibs on the quote unquote good properties that come in. So, I always encourage folks to just touch base with us prior to that.

Lou: If someone else has any other questions, they can go to your website. You said you have frequently asked questions.Can they also give you a call, if some people are more comfortable to get you on the phone?

Shontell: Absolutely, that’s what I’m there for and I love to hear from folks.You can call us at 1-800-844-4099 and that’s specially, a lot of folks concerned, they say I’ve got questions, and I don’t want to take up your time, but I encourage them to call that’s exactly what I am there for. If I can’t put that human touch on what I do then I’m kind of bored, and Joe’s doing all the technical stuff, I feel useless.

Lou: Well, you are definitely very friendly and personable to talk to so nobody should have any fears of calling and you dually know the DVC better than anybody else.Again the website is DVCByResale.com . This has been Shontell Crawford, the owner. Shontell, Nathan and I want to thank you very much for coming on the MouseTunes show.

Shontell: My pleasure, thanks for inviting me guys. I’ve enjoyed getting to know both of you. It’s been a pleasure being invited and I’m honored and look forward to… anytime you would to have me as a guest it would be my pleasure to be here.

Nathan: And also don’t forget we’ll be putting up Shontell’s bio and a link to her DVCByResale.com website on the MouseTunes pod cast crew page so, if you forget what the address is of her website after you here the podcast just head on over to mousetunes.com and get all the information you need.

Shontell: Thanks guys.

Lou: That was a great interview, again for more information you can go to Shontell’s website at www.DVCByResale.com or call her directly at 1-800-844-4099. She is a wonderful very friendly person and can answer all your questions, and make sure you tell her that Lou and Nathan sent you.

Nathan: Yes, I can’t speak highly enough of Shontell.Basically, if you want to buy Disney Vacation Club property and you’re a little leery about going through Disney and want to get a re-sale one, she’s the only person I would ever trust.

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