Benefit of buying DVC resale before buying direct, other than the cost savings?

You will get a better discount on your future direct purchase if you purchase resale first. The upside too is you get to pick your use year when you go resale and when you go to buy direct they will match the use year you bought resale. Compare this to buying direct first and then being limited in which resale contracts you can buy. You're also correct about the threshold for add ons being a minimum of 25 points currently compared to being a brand new member buying direct where at minimum one of your contracts must be 100 points.

The current member incentives are always better than the incentives for a brand new member. Now, none of us can say if you will actually end up paying less if you wait to buy direct down the line compared to now as the incentives and discounts change regularly but at the very least you will be eligible for current member add on incentives at the time when you decide to buy direct.

This was exactly what I was looking for. Thanks.

Something to consider is that there haven't been any incentives for purchases of just 25 points. I'm not sure they have offered incentives for those buying under 100 points either. So if you are thinking of buying small direct contracts, plan to pay full price for each point, even as a current owner.

Good thought. Thanks.

Another thing is DVC can match whatever UY your resale contract is in. Sometimes it's harder to find a resale contract in the same UY as your direct contract.

Discounts on direct points are pretty much always better for existing DVC members, so buying a small resale contract first can definitely help with that. There are also periodic "flash sales" on sold out resorts that you can typically only qualify for if you are an existing DVC member.

Many throw out the UY matching too. In practice, I think it means you won't face any resistance to getting the the same UY as your resale contract. I purchased direct first, told my guide why I wanted the UY I wanted (which was not what they were currently selling), and it was done - no issues at all. I have never heard of a guide refusing to sell points because of the purchaser's desired UY. If you tell them you're ready to sign the contract and pay your deposit, but you want a certain UY, you'll probably have those points in your account with that UY within a couple hours.

I know you're not saying this but for the benefit of anyone reading this in the future.. it's not a requirement that all of your contracts be in the same UY, it's just that most people just prefer it that way (as do I).

Not at all, just pointing out a benefit of going resale before direct besides the better incentives. I prefer having the ease of the same UY as well, but you can always get whatever UY you want direct.