What should I buy?

[Gatorlaw230]

I am posting this here instead of 'New to Timesharing' section because I'm mainly interested in buying Vistana timeshare.

1) Where do you want your home resort to be?
- Orlando or Scottsdale

2) Do you want to visit your home resort at least half the time, or do you want to trade more than half the time?
- Trade

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations?
- Atlantis (Bahama), Hawaii, San Diego, Las Vegas, Orlando

4) How many people do you usually travel with?
- 4

5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule?
- We have the same vacation schedule every year - Week 10, 32, 33.

6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance?
- Yes

7) Can you vacation for a full week at a time?
- Yes

8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars?
- 4-5

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing?
- Flexible, but want to start with low first. (maybe about $1500-2000)

10) How much can you afford to spend every year for a maintenance fee that will come due right after Christmas, and increase each year?
- $2000

11) Are you a detail oriented planner?
- Very

12) Do you understand that once you buy a timeshare, it may be very difficult to sell or give away, and you are responsible for all fees, until you do?
- Yes
________________

We usually travel to go following locations:
Cancun (EOY), Atlantis (EOY), Orlando (EOY), Vegas (EY) and San Diego (EY). Hawaii is our favorite place too although it is too far to go often. (We are in TX.)

I am still figuring out whether timeshare is beneficial for us because I see high MF on all desired properties (& it is going up every year w/o knowing how much it will be) and I think we spend similar amount of money compare with MF for places we usually go without worrying about getting rid of timeshare later.

1.
I am considering to buy 1 Vistana mandatory resort for Star option trade to Atlantis or Hawaii + 1 popular voluntary resort (i.e. SDO?) to trade to Orlando/Vegas or even Hawaii.

Should I just get Harborside if we go there at least EOY?
If it is not hard to trade with Staroption, I rather buy WKV or SVV Bella/Key to go Harborside.

How much Staroption is good to have for realistic Harborside SVN trade for our available weeks? (10, 32, 33) Are these weeks tough to get? Does 67,100 Staroption too little for Haborside 1 BR and should I aim for higher Staroption? (doesn't have to be 1BR premium)

2. I consider to buy SVV Bella or Key only for trade purposes.

I noticed that 1 BR villa is very affordable to get @ SVV Bella/Key with not too bad MF while 2 BR or 2 BR LO is hard to get or costly. Does 2 BR LO worth to get it to split the rooms?

Thanks!!

 

[okwiater]

It looks like you've done due diligence and have pretty much answered your own questions. If you only want to spend $1500-2000 up front, your only option is Vistana Villages Bella or Key West. You should be able to trade using StarOptions to the locations on your list if you are diligent about reserving 8 months out. I personally would not buy a voluntary unit with the intent of trading in II nowadays -- inventory seems to be deposited much more haphazardly and in lower quantities.

But most importantly, if you only spend a similar amount of money to your budgeted MFs, and that already gets you to the locations you want, why are you considering buying a timeshare at all?

 

[Gatorlaw230]

It looks like you've done due diligence and have pretty much answered your own questions. If you only want to spend $1500-2000 up front, your only option is Vistana Villages Bella or Key West. You should be able to trade using StarOptions to the locations on your list if you are diligent about reserving 8 months out. I personally would not buy a voluntary unit with the intent of trading in II nowadays -- inventory seems to be deposited much more haphazardly and in lower quantities.

But most importantly, if you only spend a similar amount of money to your budgeted MFs, and that already gets you to the locations you want, why are you considering buying a timeshare at all?

Thanks for your reply. I spent time to read lots of postings here to get familiar with timeshare, but still lots of things to learn...

The benefit I try to get from timeshare in my situation is pay SVV or WKV MF for Hawaii or Harborside.

With SVV Bella/Key MF, I can find similar other Orlando hotel for lower amount of money (than MF - military discount helps a lot sometimes) and same for Scottsdale. Even for Harborside, their MF for 1BR is $1600-1800 range and I get similar or even cheaper rate from Atlantis with Casino points/promotion..
However, I see that MF for WKV 1BR premium is about $900, so I will be happy paying it if I can trade it into Harborside or decent Hawaii property. I see some savings there because we normally spend about twice as much money ($1500-2000) at Atlantis and Hawaii for a week. Am I missing something? (i.e. WKV 1BR can't get us Harborside or Hawaii most of time?)

Thanks!

 

[Gatorlaw230]

I just reviewed the Staroption chart and found that week 10 requires highest point on almost all Vistana properties. For the other options for us (week 32-33), we need at least 44,000 for Harborside, 67,100 for Hawaii...!
That means that I need at least 2 BR for SVV Bella/Key or Plat plus for 1BR at WKV. (even 2BR low season does not meet 67,100)

In sum, WKV is out of my budget and I see the realistic bet for me is getting Bella/Key 2BR. (I see that I can get those for around $1000-1500)
I think my homework was solved by posting this by myself, but I would appreciate if anyone can add or comment. Thanks!

 

[PamMo]

There are SVV owners in this forum who like their 2BR lockoffs in Bella and Key West (mandatory phases). Hopefully they will chime in. The 95,700 StarOptions would enable you to book a 2BD lockoff summer week in Harborside (tough to get, but late August is a bit easier than mid-summer weeks). Also, 95,700 StarOptions can get you a guaranteed oceanfront 1BR in the Maui resorts if view is important to you. Take a look again at the StarOption chart to see if you would use the extra 14,100 StarOptions. Maybe add on an extra day?

I like owning lockoffs so I can deposit two units into Interval and get two trades out of one maintenance fee. BUT, exchange fees are $179 per trade (plus $99 per upgrade step if you want to exchange into larger units), so you'd have to decide for yourself if the cost of owning a lockoff is worth it to you. MF's on a lockoff are more than a straight 2BR.

 

[Gatorlaw230]

There are SVV owners in this forum who like their 2BR lockoffs in Bella and Key West (mandatory phases). Hopefully they will chime in. The 95,700 StarOptions would enable you to book a 2BD lockoff summer week in Harborside (tough to get, but late August is a bit easier than mid-summer weeks). Also, 95,700 StarOptions can get you a guaranteed oceanfront 1BR in the Maui resorts if view is important to you. Take a look again at the StarOption chart to see if you would use the extra 14,100 StarOptions. Maybe add on an extra day?

I like owning lockoffs so I can deposit two units into Interval and get two trades out of one maintenance fee. BUT, exchange fees are $179 per trade (plus $99 per upgrade step if you want to exchange into larger units), so you'd have to decide for yourself if the cost of owning a lockoff is worth it to you. MF's on a lockoff are more than a straight 2BR.

Oceanfront 1BR in Maui is truly attractive! Need 2BR LO Platinum to get 95,700. lol Thanks for your input.

 

[dioxide45]

If you have settled on SVV Bella due to the upfront cost, then you really need to look for the lowest MF per SO. Frustratingly, finding MF numbers for all the units isn't as easy as it seems. The database doesn't have complete data for any single year to really compare. The MF documentation that I have for our 2017 Bella MF statement doesn't include property tax numbers. However, all that said, to get the best MF per SO you need to buy a prime week over high season. Both High and Prime season have the same MF amount (though slightly different tax amounts) but the amount of SOs are lower for High season. So the better value of MF per SO comes from Prime season.

I looked at our dedicated 2BR Bella and the MF per SO works out to $14.61 per 1000 StarOptions for 2017 and 81,000 SOs. Comparing to WKV, where the MF to SO is $11.33 for the 1BR Premium that gets 81,000 SOs. The 1BR Deluxe at WKV has MF per SO at $8.60 for 67,100 SOs. This is why WKV is more coveted, it also rents better. Though you do have the premium upfront cost as you have noticed.

I don't have full numbers to compare the 148,000 SO 2BR Bella lock off to the 2BR dedicated; however, looking at just the MF+Reserve Fee, it looks like the 2BR lock off is about 30% cheaper on a MF per SO basis. So if you can afford the higher MF each year and can use the additional SOs, then the 2BR lock off is perhaps the better way to go.I also think that Vistana sold the smaller and larger side of the 2BR lock off as individual units. There are also 1BR dedicated units. Generally I think the small 1BR has a better MF to SO ratio. I am not aware that Vistana ever sold 3BR units at SVV Bella or Key West.

 

[VacationForever]

Dioxide - I think you meant 95,700 SO 2BR Bella Lock off as opposed to 148,000 SO 2BR Bella Lock off... Based on that it would not be 30% cheaper on MF per SO.

 

[dioxide45]

Dioxide - I think you meant 95,700 SO 2BR Bella Lock off as opposed to 148,000 SO 2BR Bella Lock off... Based on that it would not be 30% cheaper on MF per SO.

Thanks for catching that, you are right, I was looking at the 3BR number when I mentioned that. I have fixed my post to remove mention of the 3BR unit. I just struck through the entire last paragraph. Want to try to confirm the small and large sides of the 2BR lock off as well.

 

[Gatorlaw230]

Thanks Dioxide45 & Sptung. It looks like WKV 1 BR Plat+ is way to go in terms of getting highest SO for MF. The issue is that it seems very hard to find 1BR Plat+ on resale market...

 

[dioxide45]

Dioxide - I think you meant 95,700 SO 2BR Bella Lock off as opposed to 148,000 SO 2BR Bella Lock off... Based on that it would not be 30% cheaper on MF per SO.

I reran the numbers and it actually looks like the 2BR lock off is about 10% higher MF per SO than the standard 2BR.

 

[PamMo]

Dioxide45, I haven't seen the MF's for a 2BR lock off at SVV lately, but 10% sounds about right. Can you post the numbers, please?

For those that have the money to spend up front, I think that Kierland is always a solid purchase. Kierland costs more to buy, but the resale value is good, so you should be able to recoup most of your purchase price when you sell. For some people who want to "try out" timesharing in the Vistana network, a lower buy in with higher MF's is appealing.

(Full disclosure, I own OF Maui and Harborside VOI's, so my costs per StarOptions are crazy high. But, I use what I own, so it makes sense to me.)

 

[dioxide45]

Dioxide45, I haven't seen the MF's for a 2BR lock off at SVV lately, but 10% sounds about right. Can you post the numbers, please?

I have sent an email to the homeowners association for Bella to see if they can provide me with tax amounts for each unit type. I find it odd that the 2017 budget does not include these numbers. Once I have those, I will break out the numbers. My previous estimate was based on the MF+Reserve only.

 

[dioxide45]

Dioxide45, I haven't seen the MF's for a 2BR lock off at SVV lately, but 10% sounds about right. Can you post the numbers, please?

Okay. even though the HOA hasn't replied to me yet, I have some numbers. The numbers on the annual budget are confusing and don't really add up. With that, it doesn't look like the spread between the 2BR and 3BR LO are as far apart as I previously indicated.

Key West 2BR Dedicated Platinum - $1144.44 MF / 81,000 SO / $14.13 per 1000 SOs
Key West 2BR Lock Off Platinum - $2088.76 MF / 139,700 SO / $14.95 per 1000 SOs

So the 3BR LO is only about 5.8% more expensive than the 2BR dedicated unit. I don't have MF numbers for the 2BR LO unit.