Starwood exercises ROFR at WKORN

Starwood has just today exercised its ROFR on an eoy IV at North.
Price was $8,000, with buyer paying 2010 fees.

Thought you all would like to know.

Hmmmm....interesting. That hasn't happened for a long time, has it?

GREAT news! I guess they need more inventory after all... and now we may know where it's coming from.

DeniseM said:

Hmmmm....interesting. That hasn't happened for a long time, has it?

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No, it has not.
And, this is a first for me with KOR.

Frankly, I was shocked. The last thing on my mind was an exercise at this price.

Fredm said:

Starwood has just today exercised its ROFR on an eoy IV at North.
Price was $8,000, with buyer paying 2010 fees.

Thought you all would like to know.

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Bizarre and irrational. But we expect no less from Starwood. An eBay auction just closed on an identical unit for $4,850:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360244472225

Why is Starwood grabbing a relatively undesirable unit at a relatively high price? It recently let an annual ocean front at WKORV go for $22,100 (unless someone tells us Starwood exercised ROFR on that as well, which actually would make sense):

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350319390896&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

vacationtime1 said:

Bizarre and irrational. But we expect no less from Starwood. An eBay auction just closed on an identical unit for $4,850:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360244472225

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This auction was for a biennial also, but we don't really know if ROFR was exercised here too.

A 2-br unit EOY Desert Willow week was advertised on eBay and pulled a few hours later. My bid of $1 was cancelled. I was the only bidder.

Maybe Starwood has decided to buy up units and re-sell them. I thought that was what everybody here wanted Starwood to do. Isn't the exercising a ROFR a good thing?

Or, is it good only until Starwood does it? ... eom

Typical...

What does a retracted WDW bid have to do with this? {complete non sequitur}

...and btw - only SVO can exercise a ROFR on a SVO VOI...so what is the your purpose to somehow attempt to turn this report of a ROFR around and make it sound like 'typical' SVO bashing by SVO Tuggers?

It was an just an occurance that FredM wanted to report because it is rare for a ROFR to be reported on TUG - nothing more or less. It doesn't mean that SVO has (or hasn't) been exercising their ROFR on other sales, or will continue (or not) to do so in the future?

jarta - question

jarta said:

A 2-br unit EOY Desert Willow week was advertised on eBay and pulled a few hours later. My bid of $1 was cancelled. I was the only bidder.

Maybe Starwood has decided to buy up units and re-sell them. I thought that was what everybody here wanted Starwood to do. Isn't the exercising a ROFR a good thing?

Or, is it good only until Starwood does it? ... eom

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You mean the brand new Westin timeshare in Palm Desert?

Cayhyb, ... "You mean the brand new Westin timeshare in Palm Desert?

Yes (but I hear it's irrelevant).

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=390174394177&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

... eom

You'd think with all the foreclosures that Starwood has begun processing, there'd be plenty of units that the HOA could sell them for just the cost of MFs...

Dream on! ... eom

LisaRex said:

You'd think with all the foreclosures that Starwood has begun processing, there'd be plenty of units that the HOA could sell them for just the cost of MFs...

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Hi Lisa -

Was that a joke, or do you really think they have begun processing foreclosures?

LisaRex said:

You'd think with all the foreclosures that Starwood has begun processing, there'd be plenty of units that the HOA could sell them for just the cost of MFs...

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If the HOA actually went through with foreclosing on units for unpaid maintenance fees, the HOA would own the units. If Starwood exercises ROFR, Starwood would own the units.

But it would be an interesting situation if the HOA foreclosed on some units at the same time as Starwood grabbed some units via ROFR. Starwood would want to sell its units at full retail price. To the extent Starwood-controlled people are on the HOA board, they will have a conflict of interest between their responsibility as Starwood people to maintain retail pricing vs. their responsibility as board members to foreclose and sell units at fair market value (i.e. 25% as much).

OH NO! >>>Say It AIn't SO

Fredm said:

Starwood has just today exercised its ROFR on an eoy IV at North.
Price was $8,000, with buyer paying 2010 fees.

Thought you all would like to know.

Click to expand...

I just won an Ebay auction at a great price at WKORV_N . Just as I was feeling pretty good having confirmed all the details in the listing with the resort and having received an estoppel letter, I see this post indicating Starwood is now exercising ROFR.

WHile I am glad to see Starwood's renewed faith in the economy (as indicated by exercising ROFR), I am confused as to what to do? Should I go forward and take the risk of having my money tied up for several months just to have ROFR exercised? More importantly what it is the risk that the funds would never be refunded? (Has this happenned to anyone?)

Some background... the EBay seller is SeizetheDayVacations and the title transfer is handled by Trajesto Title Transfer. My biggest concern is that the terms of the sale were to send full payment to Trejesto Title and it would be held in a separate account until closing...they state that no EscrowCOmpany will be used but should ROFR be exerci.sed the buyer will receive a full refund. (I am not sure how I am protected only by the integrity of the company I presume.)


Therefore, I am seeking TUG insight into:

1) Experiences with Trejesto Title Transfer

2) experiences with Ebay Seller: SeizetheDayVacations

3) to what extent is ROFR being exercised by Starwood



Thanks for all your comments/advice


Best regards,

rudy

Take the Chance

Take the Chance on the ROFR, if they exercise it, you are no worse off than if you decided not to go forward with the purchase. If they don't you get a great unit at a great price.

How long does starwood have to excercise/decline rofr?is it 30 days like dvc? I too have a cheap eoy 1 bedroom ocean view I recently picked up on eBay, but at the south property, so I will update when I hear back either way.

ROFR 30-60 days

sb2313 said:

How long does starwood have to excercise/decline rofr?is it 30 days like dvc? I too have a cheap eoy 1 bedroom ocean view I recently picked up on eBay, but at the south property, so I will update when I hear back either way.

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I don't know the mandatory time frame, but I was told by the title agency that it takes 30-60 days after Starwood receives the paperwork to get an answer. After which it takes about 8weeks for Hawaii property to complete the transaction.

They did it AGAIN!

Starwood just exercised ROFR on an annual 1 bedroom OV at KOR. $5,000.

sb2313 said:

How long does starwood have to excercise/decline rofr?is it 30 days like dvc? I too have a cheap eoy 1 bedroom ocean view I recently picked up on eBay, but at the south property, so I will update when I hear back either way.

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Starwood has 15 days from date the transaction is submitted to exercise ROFR. This is true for Hawaii,and is specified in the Governing Documents. Check the docs for individual resorts.

Not all resorts have an ROFR. Kierland does not, for example.

alexadeparis said:

Take the Chance on the ROFR, if they exercise it, you are no worse off than if you decided not to go forward with the purchase. If they don't you get a great unit at a great price.

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I agree. ROFR is an opportunistic exercise. One may be exercised today, and another at a lower price may not, tomorrow.

rudy said:

WHile I am glad to see Starwood's renewed faith in the economy (as indicated by exercising ROFR), I am confused as to what to do? Should I go forward and take the risk of having my money tied up for several months just to have ROFR exercised? More importantly what it is the risk that the funds would never be refunded? (Has this happenned to anyone?)

Some background... the EBay seller is SeizetheDayVacations and the title transfer is handled by Trajesto Title Transfer. My biggest concern is that the terms of the sale were to send full payment to Trejesto Title and it would be held in a separate account until closing...they state that no EscrowCOmpany will be used but should ROFR be exerci.sed the buyer will receive a full refund. (I am not sure how I am protected only by the integrity of the company I presume.)

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Never send money directly to an ebay seller. Funds should be held by an independent escrow/closing agent.

Fred, ... "Starwood just exercised ROFR on an annual 1 bedroom OV at KOR. $5,000. (doing it again)"

2 ROFRs in 2 days? I guess it is no longer an isolated incident. Maybe there actually is intrinsic value in those WKORV and WKORV-N units above the panic-driven eBay prices. I could speculate on why that may be so. But, I won't.

TUG members make buys on eBay at cheap prices to visit, rent out and trade. What's wrong with Starwood making buys at cheap prices to resell or rent? From the WKORV and WKORV-N HOA point of view, there probably is no more reliable entity to pay MF than Starwood.

Plus just the threat of Starwood exercising its ROFR can prop up the prices of all weeks. Isn't that a good thing for all WKORV and WKORV-N owners? ... eom

jarta said:

Fred, ... "Starwood just exercised ROFR on an annual 1 bedroom OV at KOR. $5,000. (doing it again)"

2 ROFRs in 2 days? I guess it is no longer an isolated incident. Maybe there actually is intrinsic value in those WKORV and WKORV-N units above the panic-driven eBay prices. I could speculate on why that may be so. But, I won't.

TUG members make buys on eBay at cheap prices to visit, rent out and trade. What's wrong with Starwood making buys at cheap prices to resell or rent? From the WKORV and WKORV-N HOA point of view, there probably is no more reliable entity to pay MF than Starwood.

Plus just the threat of Starwood exercising its ROFR can prop up the prices of all weeks. Isn't that a good thing for all WKORV and WKORV-N owners? ... eom

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Actually Starwood exercised twice in the same day. I didn't receive notification of the second until early this am.

The question of how a preemption right affects market values has been debated on TUG and elsewhere for a long time.

Intuitively, one assumes that it has a firming effect.
However, it is hard to know. The effect on the marketplace is an abstraction that can only be dealt with (for discussion purposes) theoretically.

The best discussion I have been able to find is:
http://lsr.nellco.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1049&context=harvard_olin

If not inclined to read the 81 pages, Professor Walker, and others, conclude that ROFR has the effect of damaging prices.

Now that Starwood seems to be getting more active in exercising its preemption right, this discussion is unavoidable.
Caution to all: it will never be resolved.

DeniseM said:

Hi Lisa -

Was that a joke, or do you really think they have begun processing foreclosures?

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Just a few months ago, a poster reported that the President of the HOA promised that foreclosures were imminent.

:hysterical: