# most staroptions per dollar?



## djp (Nov 16, 2006)

after paying developer prices for my first starwood purchases I am now on the quest to even things out and sstick it to them with a great resale property purchase and requalification. My initial purchase worked out to be @ 4.2 staroptions per dollar (SMV 2brlo 148000 options). I am now looking at a deal which could get me 8.26 staroptions per dollar. I am wondering about the success of others getting a good staroption per dollar ratio. Please post your resort, unit, staroptions per dollar and when you did it, plus if it was developer, resale or combo (resale requalification through new purchase) deal.
I also wonder with all the resorts what the "average" developer staroption perr dollar number would be looking at all resorts and weeks. if I seem to have overthought this I might have


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## Denise L (Nov 16, 2006)

How many Staroptions are you planning to buy resale? When the sale is closed, will you then buy another developer weeks in hopes of requalifying it?


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## DavidnRobin (Nov 16, 2006)

deniselew brings up a good point - from what I understand the requalification of a resale comes when you buy from the Developer with an pre-agreement to requalify a already owned resale - and not the other way around.

The other consideration is buying resale of a mandatory resort since buying a voluntary resort doesn't have the SVN Club transfer with it from the seller to the buyer.

Bottom line: be careful - and do not assume anything.

At 4.2 SOs per dollar - this works out to about $35,000 for 148,100 SOs.  Is this really a good price? You can get many more SOs than this in buying a mandatory resort resale for 148,100 SOs. 
~$21K at Kierland
~$30K at WKORV
and at VV for even less than Kierland (my guess would be around $16K - anybody have an approx price here?)

The other consideration are the yearly MFs - this should also be considered since this is a yearly expense.  The beauty (and value) of buying mandatory is that you can buy 81K SOs at Kierland with a MF of ~$600 and exchange into WKORV (via SVN) where the MFs are much more.  $600 for a week in a 1Bd at WKORV is a deal.

Also - a 'home' resort has value to it - some (like me) think you should buy where you want to stay - St John is a good example of this.


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## seenett (Nov 16, 2006)

I have found it easier to think in terms of "dollars per staroption" rather than "staroptions per dollar".  Your 4.2 StarOptions per dollar is about $.24 per Staroption.

StarOptions are almost always cheaper (both developer and resale) per option in higher amounts; a 148,100 staroption unit will cost you less per option than a 67,100 or 81,000 option unit (2 bedroom vs one bedrooms).  

Kierland and Vistana Villages resales are kind of the consesus "best buys" in terms of dollars per staroption -  if you need a mandatory resort.  VVs tend to be priced a bit lower than Kierland resales (per option), but then again the VV m/fs and taxes tend to be higher.


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## Denise L (Nov 16, 2006)

Keep in mind that Staroptions (SOs) from "unqualified" resales cannot be combined, so try and buy the amount of SOs you think you will need. These SOs also cannot be combined with developer SOs.


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## djp (Nov 16, 2006)

to clarify the 4.2 options per dollar was my orginal purchase a couple of years ago. I am in hte process of buying a super cheap annual 44000 options and will be buying an eoy 37000 options from the developer to get the 44000 grandfathered in. this new combined deal is what works out at 8 gptions per dollar.


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## Denise L (Nov 16, 2006)

Okay, so it sounds like you already have a deal in the works and are just looking for examples of what other people have bought so that you can feel super happy about your deal?

Does this mean that Starwood has already agreed to requalify your resale before it closes? If so, that's a great strategy!


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## Denise L (Nov 16, 2006)

djp said:
			
		

> I am now looking at a deal which could get me 8.26 staroptions per dollar.



Using your math and what information you have provided, does this mean that you are buying 81,000 SOs altogether EY or EOY, combining a requalifed resale with a new developer purchase?

If you are getting 81K SOs, then you are spending $9806.29 total?

Sorry but I'm trying to figure out what you are buying so that we can compare SOs.

81K VV resales have sold on ebay for $6500-8295.  Those are the ones I typically watch.

There are very few Kierland resales, and they go for a lot more.


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## DavidnRobin (Nov 16, 2006)

For 81000 SOs at WKV is around $13K.  (~16 cents per SO)

8.26 SOs per $ = ~12 cents per SO - with the resale requalified is a great price, but depends where you are buying and whether it is mandatory/voluntary - for value upon resale - because this is also a value consideration.



I agree with Chris (seenett) easier to think of SO per dollar.


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## myip (Nov 16, 2006)

You can't look at the staroption ratios  You need to look at the maintenance fees rations.  You spend so much money on the developer week.  Why don't you buy a bigger staroptions resale to requalify.


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## mesamirage (Nov 16, 2006)

myip said:
			
		

> You can't look at the staroption ratios You need to look at the maintenance fees rations. You spend so much money on the developer week. Why don't you buy a bigger staroptions resale to requalify.


 
I think that MF ratios are a HUGE part of making a buying decision. I personally think that one buying option to consider is to purchase an EOY 148,100 point unit rather that an EY 81,000 unit. We just purchased our EOY Kierland at a cost of .07 per staroption. So on an per year basis we actually paid .14 per staroption. ($10,500) Since we have other timeshares and are basically at our budget limit for annual fees (not to mention running out of vacation time every year!!) we felt an EOY was a perfect purchase for top tier vacations for the best cost basis.


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## djp (Nov 17, 2006)

i am buying an ey 44000 staroption contract resale and am looking at buying an eoy 37000 developer staroption contract. my totoal outlay will be $7650 for 62500 annual staroptions. Voluntary resorts, low (for starwood maint fees).


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## Denise L (Nov 17, 2006)

djp said:
			
		

> i am buying an ey 44000 staroption contract resale and am looking at buying an eoy 37000 developer staroption contract. my totoal outlay will be $7650 for 62500 annual staroptions. Voluntary resorts, low (for starwood maint fees).



Okay, so you will have 81K SOs (44+37) EOY and 44K SOs EOY, is that right? How do you get 62500? Maybe it's late and I can't do math anymore.

What are the total MFs each year?


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## myip (Nov 17, 2006)

deniselew said:
			
		

> Okay, so you will have 81K SOs (44+37) EOY and 44K SOs EOY, is that right? How do you get 62500? Maybe it's late and I can't do math anymore.
> 
> What are the total MFs each year?


-- 44000 + 18500 ( 1/2 of 37000 for EY) = 62500

-- with the new purchase, will that get you to 3 or 4 stars elite.


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## grgs (Nov 17, 2006)

deniselew said:
			
		

> Okay, so you will have 81K SOs (44+37) EOY and 44K SOs EOY, is that right? How do you get 62500? Maybe it's late and I can't do math anymore.



He (or she?) is are averaging out the SOs over two years.  So one year they'll have 81,000 SOs; the next they'll only have 44,000.  81,000 + 44,000 = 125,000.  125,000/2 = 62,500 SOs per year.

Glorian

myip--you beat me to the punch!


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## Denise L (Nov 17, 2006)

myip said:
			
		

> -- 44000 + 18500 ( 1/2 of 37000 for EY) = 62500
> 
> -- with the new purchase, will that get you to 3 or 4 stars elite.



Okay, got it . Not that they could use 62.5K SOs a year, but in doing price comparisons, I guess it works.

So there probably aren't a lot of comps for that number of SOs. The closest you would get would be a VV 67.1K EY, which in the past has sold for between $4-5.9K (ebay auctions). But those aren't qualified, so to pay what you are paying for qualified intervals, that seems reasonable.


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## vacationtime1 (Nov 17, 2006)

I also did a Cost per StarOption analysis before I bought, and I agree with the posters who include MF's in their analysis.

Ownership has four costs: (1) opportunity cost on the invested capital, (2) depreciation, (3) MF's, and (4) SVN dues.  We will legitimately have different answers on how to quantify items 1 and 2 because we all have different investment goals and strategies creating different return on capital assumptions, we are in different federal tax brackets, and we live in states with different state income taxes.  

MF's vary wildly; MF's per StarOption at Princeville are over double what they are at Kierland.  MF's for 81,000 SO's at Vistana Village are 50% more than at Kierland (a 1BR Premium Platinum at Kierland had 2006 MF's of $618 for 81,000 SO's; MF's on a 2BR lockout at VV with 81,000 SO's were $930).  I suspect that MF's are almost always less for one 81,000 unit compared to two units totalling 81,000 SO's.  In most of my analyses, the MF's actually create more cost variation than the cost of the unit.  

SVN dues are marginally higher for multiple purchases (I think they are "free" after two units).

We must all do our own math based on our individual assumptions (although I think "mesamirage" did particularly well with the EOY).


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## djp (Nov 17, 2006)

the new purchase will get me to 3 star elite, 210,500 options per year


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## malex2 (Nov 17, 2006)

*EOY StarOptions for Elite?*

How are StarOptions on an EOY ownership counted toward Elite status?  The whole total as for full ownership, or half for the EOY ownership?


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## djp (Nov 17, 2006)

I think you cut the number in half, that is what I have done in  my calculations


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## myip (Nov 17, 2006)

You are paying approx $2000 more premium for requalif if you compare it with VV 67100 points.  What is your total maintenace fees and how does it compare with VV.  It doesn't seem too bad to pay $2000 to be in elite.


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## djp (Nov 17, 2006)

maint fees will be 565 ey and an additonal 650 eoy, so 890 per year on average.


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## oneohana (Nov 17, 2006)

The people at Starwood I have talked to, will only requalify an ey resale with a ey developer purchase. Not a ey resale with a eoy developer purchase. This is also consistant with other posts. You might want to double check with Starwood on this. Maybe they changed thier policy. Let us know how this all turns out.


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## myip (Nov 17, 2006)

oneohana said:
			
		

> The people at Starwood I have talked to, will only requalify an ey resale with a ey developer purchase. Not a ey resale with a eoy developer purchase. This is also consistant with other posts. You might want to double check with Starwood on this. Maybe they changed thier policy. Let us know how this all turns out.


I just requalified completed last week.  I did a EY with a developer EOY.  It all depends on the saleperson.


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## oneohana (Nov 18, 2006)

Thanks for the information.


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## mesamirage (Nov 18, 2006)

myip said:
			
		

> I just requalified completed last week. I did a EY with a developer EOY. It all depends on the saleperson.


 
Just curious if the weeks were close to the same number of staroptions or if the EY was smaller so they were willing to qualify it with the EOY larger point purchase?  Also do you know if you will be able to share the points between the weeks for vacations?


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## myip (Nov 18, 2006)

mesamirage said:
			
		

> Just curious if the weeks were close to the same number of staroptions or if the EY was smaller so they were willing to qualify it with the EOY larger point purchase?  Also do you know if you will be able to share the points between the weeks for vacations?


my EY is 148100 Staroptions and my developer EOY is 25800.  (12900 per year) - just enough for me to qualify for 3*elite.   I have not use the staroptions yet so I don't know about sharing points.  Also, I find the requalifying process is very frustrating.  I started the process in late Sept and finally got it done last week.


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## djp (Nov 18, 2006)

my ey is 44000, and my eoy will be 37000.


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