Friend Just bought Welk Resort Northstar

Being a veteran timeshare owner of more than 15 years I made my friend promise that he would not buy from the developer this last weekend when his wife roped him in to a "free" weekend in Lake Tahoe. I even made him promise that if the urge presented itself he would call me first and I would remind him the myriad of reasons why he should st\ay no.

It turned out to be a Welk Resorts presentation for their Northstar property. They ended up purchasing an EOY 1 bedroom in I believe Red Season(not positive) for around 15k.

Unfortunately I did not find out until last night and my rescind advice in too late.

Hyatt Northstar and now Welk Northstar are in very high demand during ski season.

Is there any chance he didn't get totally ripped off on this one? I can seem to find much resale info on this property.

Specifically, which ski week did he purchase? And what is his maintenance fee? That information is necessary to provide a better view.

I believe that Welk is only selling their points program, which includes the property at Northstar. The last I heard you don't have a deed to the resort, but to points that can be used at all of their properties.

Their properties are nice, but most on TUG consider the system to be in the second tier of systems. Their salespeople are generally very aggressive, so one has to be particularly strong to say "no" many times.

It is now too late, so they just need to learn how to maximize their use of what they own. If they learn the system well, they will enjoy it. They paid too much, but a lot of us on TUG did too before we knew better.

Cheers.

Mike

mattnday said:

It turned out to be a Welk Resorts presentation for their Northstar property. They ended up purchasing an EOY 1 bedroom in I believe Red Season(not positive) for around 15k.

Unfortunately I did not find out until last night and my rescind advice in too late.

Hyatt Northstar and now Welk Northstar are in very high demand during ski season.

Is there any chance he didn't get totally ripped off on this one? I can seem to find much resale info on this property.

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Hard to say. There is so little resale data on Northstar -- it doesn't come up for sale very often and Hyatt sold them as fixed weeks. However, since they were purchased by Welk, I am unsure as to how Welk is selling them -- float/fixed/points.

There are some 2BR and 3BR on Redweek for sale, but that is not a good indicator of price -- they could be actually selling for much less. In this case, because your friend wanted to own there, this may be a case where the only choice is to purchase from the developer if you want to own.

I do see rentals for a 3BR on Expedia for under $600/nt during winter ski season, but again, that is retail pricing.

-ryan

What happened to the Hyatt owners with fixed weeks? Do they still have their weeks or were their weeks enrolled in Welk's system?

This is a very nice resort. I have seen (not often) some available weeks here using Hyatt's internal system.

tschwa2 said:

What happened to the Hyatt owners with fixed weeks? Do they still have their weeks or were their weeks enrolled in Welk's system?

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Are they skiers? This is a ways from Lake Tahoe, so not a good deal, unless you want to ski.

Denise, we are not skiers, but would love to stay here. It is a gorgeous resort located in a scenic area and not far from Incline Village.

DeniseM said:

Are they skiers? This is a ways from Lake Tahoe, so not a good deal, unless you want to ski.

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lizap said:

Denise, we are not skiers, but would love to stay here. It is a gorgeous resort located in a scenic area and not far from Incline Village.

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I know, but would you want to own there every year if you aren't a skier? Isn't it about 15-20 mi. to Incline Village?

Looked it up: It's 14 miles. If you don't ski, it would be a good place for a quiet vacation in a beautiful location, but you have to drive to everything.

Just received an email from Welk that the additional units will open this fall. They bought some of the Hyatt units as well as some undeveloped pads right next to the original building. The new units will be the standard Good Welk quality, but not as nice as the original Hyatt units. Those are very high end.

You are right it is remote. They do have the little Northstar Village right there with shops and restaurants. Great area for mountain biking and I suspect so for hiking too. Easy drive to Incline Village and Reno.

Mike

Lake Tahoe

DeniseM said:

Are they skiers? This is a ways from Lake Tahoe, so not a good deal, unless you want to ski.

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We have stayed at both several times. Northstar is fantastic for golf, river rafting and on the edge of Truckee where there is more golf, rafting and good restaurants. Incline is great for looking at the lake and gambling. Both resorts are fantastic and highly desirable locations.

mjm1 said:

I believe that Welk is only selling their points program, which includes the property at Northstar. The last I heard you don't have a deed to the resort, but to points that can be used at all of their properties.


Mike

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My concern is that they purchased points (most likely in a trust). Since Northstar is a very small property and most of Welks inventory is in Escondido and Cabo it may be hard to get into Northstar, especially during high seasons. This is one of my issues with trust based points.