Thank you TUGGERS! Finally 5*

I wanted to post my story here of the past 4 months of getting to 5*. Before I do I wanted to say how much I appreciate everyone's help throughout this process. You are all great! If I hadn't found TUG I would not have been able to buy the weeks that I got and I would have paid a lot more to get to 5*.

February-
Bought EY WKORV 2BR OFD resale with 148,100 StarOptions for $50,000 with minimal closing costs. 2007 usage included but I had to pay MF.

March-
Bought EY WKV 2BR PL resale with 148,100 StarOptions for $21,500 with minimal closing costs. 2007 usage included but I had to pay MF.

April-
Bought EY WLR 2BR PL direct with 148,100 StarOptions and 150,000 StarPoint incentive for $37,950 with $545 in closing costs and requalified my WKV (above). Resort opens in 2008 and I have usage then.

Bought EY HRA 2BR LO PL resale with 148,100 StarOptions for $27,000 with about $2,000 in closing costs. Usage starts for this purchase in 2008.

May-
Bought EOY (2008) 2BR WPORV direct with 74,050 StarOptions (148,100 / 2) and 100,000 StarPoints incentive for $24,300 with $545 in closing costs and requalified my WKORV (above).

Bought EOY (2009) 2BR WPORV direct with 74,050 StarOptions (148,100 / 2) and 100,000 StarPoints incentive for $24,300 with closing costs waived and requalified my HRA (above).

I know that I could have saved alot of money by buying other resorts, less views, seasons, less weeks (StarOptions) etc. At the end of the day, I decided to spend the extra money and buy where I wanted and when I wanted to travel.

I ended up with 10 weeks (if I split my LOs) and 740,500 StarOptions which is well above the 559,000 necessary for 5*. All of my weeks are in network and I spent about $189,000. Looking back I have no regrets. My 2 year old, 3 year old, and wife will have many great years of vacation!

If anyone has any quesitons on any of this please let me know and I will try to explain / clarify!

Congrats!!

IMHO, starwood is doing itself a disservice with it move to all voluntary but as long as they at least allow requalification they are doing something right.

Congrats again.

All I can say is "WOW" and congratulations! You will enjoy many wonderful vacations for the rest of your life. How great is that!

I must say that all of this talk of 5* Elite and requalifications has got me dying to play the game. It's too bad I don't have the money at this time . I would LOVE to become 5* Elite somehow, someday.

Dreaming now....I could see us with another WKORV week and a WPORV week (I think). If I ever got to 525,300, would they bring in a non-Starwood TS to make up the other 33,700 SOs?!

Congrats! With all of your starpoints and conversion possiblities you can go on a great European Grand Tour when your kids are older!! Enjoy!!

Maintenance

Just curious...what are the annual costs on a portfolio like that? It sounds wonderful, and congratulations!

Holly said:

Just curious...what are the annual costs on a portfolio like that? It sounds wonderful, and congratulations!

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I am calculating that my 2008 MF will be about $9000. If I looked at renting an OF 2BR suite in Kaanapali (if I could find it), I would expect to pay at least $5-6k for that week alone. I guess that this is how I justify it in my mind.

I can't really compare the cost to a standard hotel room as they no longer work well for my family situation with two small kids. Having a kitchen, separate bedroom, balcony, and living room are all very important reasons why we chose to buy TSs.

Thank you again everyone for the kind words!

Congratulations. A lot of work but I agree with your assesment, a lot of fun with the kids, a lot of memories, and done in style!

Thank you for sharing and welcome to the club

WOW! Job well done! Congratulations and what an impressive list of weeks you now own!

CONGRATS! and welcome to 5* ELITE and SPG Platinum for life.

I find it interesting and inspiring that you chose the name you did, apparently well before you actually achieved 5* status. Napolean Hill said "what you believe, you achieve." Seems like you could have written his book!

Have a great run and let all of your fellow tuggers have first dibs on any rentals!

Wow. 189K. Lost income in a conservative CD is over $10,000 per year. Thats a big number but sure hope you didnt do worse and finance.

Good luck with them.

$190,000 and 10 weeks off each year.. that's a lot of disposable cash.. but what really impresses me is the 10 weeks off a year.. and now you're Elite 5* too.. all of us in coach salute you

Congratulations! Maybe I'll run into you at WKORV or WPORV sometime. You're in for some great vacations. I like to sometimes bring other people along so the number of weeks available is nice even if you don't have that much time off yourself. Your kids are small but they'll appreciate the room when they start wanting to bring along friends or their own families some day - mine do. My friends that sometimes come along also appreciate it.

I'd rather have an opportunity cost on this kind of luxury than on expensive cars or other frivolous pursuits that financial independence allows. Others prefer to do things differently, but SVO works for me and hopefully for you too. I wish I would have done this when my kids were as young as yours.

At first glance my reaction was- wow, WHY would someone do that, when you could generate approx $10k interest on the $189k.....then, as I really thought about it, I say- WOW, this is a great strategy for having a wonderful vacation home in fabulous spots like Hawaii for your family for the rest of your lives.....I like this concept better than many of the DC's I've been reading about where you have no equity...Assuming you purchased at good prices, they are all very resellable if need be.....we're looking at somewhat similar positioning, but adding different resorts like Four Seasons....all the Best to you, may you enjoy for many years to come- these times and memories will be irreplaceble...as my 78 year old mother said to me 2 years ago when I took her on our 1st timeshare trip- "I wish your father was live to enjoy this". My only regret is that I didn't find TUG and buy sooner...

Wow--I hadn't realized that you just got into the game in February! That's an amazingly short time--I'm blown away!

In any case, congrats, and I hope you have many, many years of pleasure from your purchases.

Now, you need to get to work writing up your vacation experiences, so you can be profiled on mystarcentral.com! I wonder how many Starwood owners have as many Staroptions as you do? It can be many, I imagine.

Glorian

gmarine said:

Wow. 189K. Lost income in a conservative CD is over $10,000 per year. Thats a big number but sure hope you didnt do worse and finance.

Good luck with them.

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Is it really any worse than buying a fractional? Certainly, 10 weeks at some great resorts is a nice alternative to a second home.

I agree with the financing point, and I wouldn't go into debt for this, but if you've got the discretionary income, I don't see the problem.

Glorian

Sir Newf said:

At first glance my reaction was- wow, WHY would someone do that, when you could generate approx $10k interest on the $189k.....then, as I really thought about it, I say- WOW, this is a great strategy for having a wonderful vacation home in fabulous spots like Hawaii for your family for the rest of your lives.....I like this concept better than many of the DC's I've been reading about where you have no equity...Assuming you purchased at good prices, they are all very resellable if need be.....we're looking at somewhat similar positioning, but adding different resorts like Four Seasons....all the Best to you, may you enjoy for many years to come- these times and memories will be irreplaceble...as my 78 year old mother said to me 2 years ago when I took her on our 1st timeshare trip- "I wish your father was live to enjoy this". My only regret is that I didn't find TUG and buy sooner...

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10K in interest, not taking into account yearly compounding, plus the 9K in maintenance fees.

You could spend $19,000 per year on rentals and never touch the principal $189,000.

I'm into financial planning so to me its crazy but to each his own. Again, good luck.

grgs said:

Is it really any worse than buying a fractional? Certainly, 10 weeks at some great resorts is a nice alternative to a second home.

I agree with the financing point, and I wouldn't go into debt for this, but if you've got the discretionary income, I don't see the problem.

Glorian

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You can sure argue that it is a good plan if it is paid for with discretionary income. However you would be better off buying a fractional or DC that has a better chance of going up in value than buying from the developer where resale values are maybe 50-60% of retail.

From a financial standpoint, when spending $189,000 on a luxury item you should have a net worth of around $2 million. And you should have a plan to invest at least $5000 per year in each childs college account.

Great vacations, sure, but at a large price. Just looking at it both ways.

or, you could lose it in the stock market overnight- there's no deed there...the way I see it- his principle is still intact- there is value to those deeds...renting for 10 weeks in those locations- much higher than the $9k maint. fees.

gmarine said:

You can sure argue that it is a good plan if it is paid for with discretionary income. However you would be better off buying a fractional or DC that has a better chance of going up in value than buying from the developer where resale values are maybe 50-60% of retail.

From a financial standpoint, when spending $189,000 on a luxury item you should have a net worth of around $2 million. And you should have a plan to invest at least $5000 per year in each childs college account.

Great vacations, sure, but at a large price. Just looking at it both ways.

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I can certainly respect your point--especially given how much debt most Americans have, and how low our savings rate is. It is good to have a reminder of what that money might otherwise be doing.

I don't think they'll take too big a hit in depreciation since 3 of the 5 units are resale. Assuming they ever want to sell, of course!

Glorian

gmarine your're being a bit critical. This obviously works for Westin5star, and can afford the luxury pruchase. We'd also go this route if we could right now! I don't know what home prices are in your part of NY but you certainly can't touch even a basic 2 bdrm. condo in Calif. for $189,000( In the SF bay area or L.A. even with the housing slump!)) let alone a vacation home!!

Sir Newf said:

or, you could lose it in the stock market overnight- there's no deed there...the way I see it- his principle is still intact- there is value to those deeds...renting for 10 weeks in those locations- much higher than the $9k maint. fees.

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Who said anything about the stock market?

The principal is costing $9000 per year rather than making $10,000 plus per year in a CD.

And you invest in the market over the long term and hope to get a return on investment of 7-8% on your money.. invest money in timeshares and the words "return on investment" don't really go together.. the investment is in quality of life.. I would assume Westin5Star is in a position to spend $190k and not feed the kids on food stamps.. and understands the zero investment quality of timeshares.. I personally would have a hell of a time just trying to manage all that property and points!!

gmarine said:

10K in interest, not taking into account yearly compounding, plus the 9K in maintenance fees.
You could spend $19,000 per year on rentals and never touch the principal $189,000.
I'm into financial planning so to me its crazy but to each his own. Again, good luck.

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gmarine, you crack me up. First, the 10k in interest is pre-tax, so reduce it to $5,000 plus $9,000 in maint fees = $14,000 after tax.

AND, you need to note that he is now 5* ELITE and SPG Platinum for life. With these weeks and the ELITE status in both the timeshares and hotels he will be staying in the best room at whatever resort he travels to for the rest of his and his families and their families and their families and their families lifes.

There is not another opportunity in the world to lock in this amount of first class travel forever and first class means best room in the timeshare or hotel.

Enjoy!
duke

duke said:

gmarine, you crack me up. First, the 10k in interest is pre-tax, so reduce it to $5,000 plus $9,000 in maint fees = $14,000 after tax.

AND, you need to note that he is now 5* ELITE and SPG Platinum for life. With these weeks and the ELITE status in both the timeshares and hotels he will be staying in the best room at whatever resort he travels to for the rest of his and his families and their families and their families and their families lifes.

There is not another opportunity in the world to lock in this amount of first class travel forever and first class means best room in the timeshare or hotel.

Enjoy!
duke

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Oh, ok, its only $14,000 per year. LOL. If you really want to get into numbers figure out the yearly compound interest of $189,000.

How does 10 years at 5.5% sound ? About right for a long term CD. Comes out to over $322,000.

So for the 5 * Elite status the OP is paying the equivalent of $133,000 over 10 years before taxes, say $70,000 or so after taxes, along with $9000 in maintenance fees which will probably go up by 5% per year.

Add the 70K to the 100K in maintenance fees paid over 10 years and you could spend roughly $17,000 per year on vacations and still have your original $189,000.

Financially it isnt wise. However, maybe the OP is a multi-millionaire. In that case it doesnt matter.