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Advice please [bought WSJ from the developer]

Gman7575

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Just bought at St. John on an encore package (return visit). 42800k plus 310k Bonvoy points. 176k staroptions every other year with maintenance fees at 1600. Platinum plus or whatever they call it (Jan-May). Sunset bay. I don't think the staroptions transfer if we ever sell it. Seems like a decent price but concerned about not being able to sell with no staroption transfer. We like St. John but not sure if buying resale would be much better since the only mandatory property where you get transfer of staroptions is Hillside I believe. Anybody have any advice? Rescind or keep and if so why? Thank you for any help!!!!
 

carpie99

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Why? Thanks.

You can buy resale on the hill for much less and it should hold most of not all of it’s resale value. The maintenance fees will be higher but it will be a VERY long time before you make up the entire purchase. Plus my opinion is the hill units are much better. I like parking close to my unit.
 

Gman7575

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You can buy resale on the hill for much less and it should hold most of not all of it’s resale value. The maintenance fees will be higher but it will be a VERY long time before you make up the entire purchase. Plus my opinion is the hill units are much better. I like parking close to my unit.
Ok. We liked Sunset bay for my 6 year old since it was right near the pool but I don't want to get screwed if it's a big difference.
 

DeniseM

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Rescind and buy a mandatory resale (has Staroptions) for a fraction of the cost. Question - do you think you will go to St. John every year?

Ok. We liked Sunset bay for my 6 year old since it was right near the pool but I don't want to get screwed if it's a big difference.

You can buy on the resale market for pennies on the dollar.
 

Gman7575

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Ok. We liked Sunset bay for my 6 year old since it was right near the pool but I don't want to get screwed if it's a big difference.
It does seem like there are a ton of hill units for scale but I think maybe many of those are the old plan with deeded weeks vs the "new" plan with flexibility.
 

DeniseM

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Welcome to TUG - I moved your post from the Marriott forum, because although Marriott is now the parent company for Vistana/Starwood/Westin St. John, the timeshare systems have not been integrated and are completely separate.

As you are doing your research, you want to take everything the sales people told you with a grain of salt, because their ONY motivation is to sell you something. Sales people lie - they are not your friends.

You should rescind, do your homework, and then decide if WSJ is right for you, and if a resale or developer purchase is right for you. If you decide that you want to buy from the developer after all (and you won't) they will be very happy to sell the same thing to you again. So you have nothing to lose by rescinding.

However, if you don't rescind within the very short time frame allowed, you won't get a 2nd chance later, and I can guarantee that you will regret it.

Then, before you jump into a resale purchase, I recommend that you take our "what should I buy" survey: https://www.tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?threads/what-to-buy-questions-for-newbies.208742/
 

Gman7575

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I think the issue is the ones that are on the hillside that are super cheap are for specific weeks vs the new "floating" program (no specific weeks just certain months). I checked on resales for the new program and they were similar to what we got from the Westin. (maybe I haven't looked around enough?)
 

carpie99

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It does seem like there are a ton of hill units for scale but I think maybe many of those are the old plan with deeded weeks vs the "new" plan with flexibility.

It is true ... definitely weeks and less flexible on the hill. Honestly if you have the $40K to burn then go for it.
 

DeniseM

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I'm assuming that you financed your purchase? This is a deal killer. A timeshare is a depreciating liability - you don't want to finance it, because as soon as you sign the paper and walk out the door it depreciates about 90%.

One more time: Do you really think you will go to WSJ every year?
 

Gman7575

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No we were not going to finance it. We were going to pay it off right away. We aren't rich but we do have some money. We just thought we were getting a good deal since we are a) got encore pricing (before the hurricane) b) Westin is the only game intown (canel bay is closed) c) we get to book 12 months in advanced vs 8 c) get the best months Jan-May.
 

carpie99

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No we were not going to finance it. We were going to pay it off right away. We aren't rich but we do have some money. We just thought we were getting a good deal since we are a) got encore pricing (before the hurricane) b) Westin is the only game intown (canel bay is closed) c) we get to book 12 months in advanced vs 8 c) get the best months Jan-May.

I think you could rent for 25 years before you came close to breaking even on the purchase price and maintenance fees.
 

Gman7575

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I'm assuming that you financed your purchase? This is a deal killer. A timeshare is a depreciating liability - you don't want to finance it, because as soon as you sign the paper and walk out the door it depreciates about 90%.

One more time: Do you really think you will go to WSJ every year?
We love St. John and would probably like to go every other year. The Westin is the only major hotel left and we like the kid stuff. If I can find a resale that gets us down by the pool for spring break vs what we have then I would be thrilled.
 

DeniseM

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If WSJ sells every other year deeds, you should look into it and save some money. The timeshare sales people probably bragged about the rental rates you could get during the years you don't use it yourself, but I guarantee that they at least doubled the realistic rate that you might expect.

This is why: owners can't touch the retail rental rates, because owners can't offer the same terms - like no payment until check-out, and the ability to cancel at the last minute. As an owner, renting is an option, but you can't get close to the rates that the Westin charges.
 

cubigbird

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FWIW We own Sunset Bay. I recently just tried to book 12 months (Sunset Bay) out exactly for next year and inventory was gone in seconds, yes seconds. 12 month priority doesn’t mean much. We are going, but not at the week we want, and it’s not even a holiday week. Makes me wonder if Vistana holds back inventory limiting what is available....
 

TUGBrian

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congrats on finding TUG in time to save $42,000 bucks!
 

Gman7575

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Thanks for all the help! We were thinking that this might be a good deal since it will be in such high demand and we could always sell but it looks like that is not the case. We may look at resales since we love St. John and the Westin is the only resort left in town.
 

DannyTS

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if you do not want to travel just to WSJ, you will get better advice if you post your preferences: time of the year you can travel, annual budget, number of people, condo size etc. Buy resale, you are going to save a ton. IMO a combination of voluntary for where you want to go and mandatory for flexibility might be good idea. You may also want to consider a Vistana or Marriott "trader", a week that has low maintenece fees but good trading power in Interval international. Again, if you do not want just WSJ and especially if you have some flexibility in terms of season.

Concerning the availability, try not to think short term since buying a timeshare is a long term commitment. Other resorts will re-open in the area. Also, it is harder now for Vistana owners to book with Staroptions WSJ (but not impossible) because the resort just re-opened. It is still partially under construction not to mention people waited for few years to go back to their resort so they are not going to deposit their condo to go somewhere else. I am a relatively new Vistana owner so i cannot tell you for sure but my sense is telling me that it is harder to book with Staroptions now than it was say five years ago, before the hurricane. Probably things will stabilize in a couple of years and the availability will go back to where it was before.
 
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GrayFal

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We love St. John and would probably like to go every other year. The Westin is the only major hotel left and we like the kid stuff. If I can find a resale that gets us down by the pool for spring break vs what we have then I would be thrilled.
Resales are slowing being listed.
I purchased Coral Vista 2BR resort season resale three+ years ago and just went into contract for a Sunset Bay resort season summer studio that I plan to use in the fall for a 12 day stay. Both these ownerships can be reserved at 12 months out.
I am okay with NOT having Star Options as I want to stay at WSJ during these times. I have a Hillside week 7 that has star options but I use or rent this one.

I personally think it is okay to NOT have StarOptions if you know you want to go to that location. So be patient and wait for a resale EOY unit. They will show up soon.
When I purchased the Coral Vista, Starwood told me I was the first resale purchaser. They had to figure out how to do the transfer!
 
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DavidnRobin

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Decent price?

RESCIND.
RESEARCH.
RESALE.


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Ken555

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if you do not want to travel just to WSJ, you will get better advice if you post your preferences: time of the year you can travel, annual budget, number of people, condo size etc. Buy resale, you are going to save a ton. IMO a combination of voluntary for where you want to go and mandatory for flexibility might be good idea. You may also want to consider a Vistana or Marriott "trader", a week that has low maintenece fees but good trading power in Interval international. Again, if you do not want just WSJ and especially if you have some flexibility in terms of season.

Concerning the availability, try not to think short term since buying a timeshare is a long term commitment. Other resorts will re-open in the area. Also, it is harder now for Vistana owners to book with Staroptions WSJ (but not impossible) because the resort just re-opened. It is still partially under construction not to mention people waited for few years to go back to their resort so they are not going to deposit their condo to go somewhere else. I am a relatively new Vistana owner so i cannot tell you for sure but my sense is telling me that it is harder to book with Staroptions now than it was say five years ago, before the hurricane. Probably things will stabilize in a couple of years and the availability will go back to where it was before.

It’s always been difficult to get WSJ on SOs.


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tomandrobin

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Thanks for all the help! We were thinking that this might be a good deal since it will be in such high demand and we could always sell but it looks like that is not the case. We may look at resales since we love St. John and the Westin is the only resort left in town.

Since it appears you are going to be buying, you might as well make the unit an Every Other Year contract (EOY). We own three EOY contracts at St John. We love the resort but found trying to go every year was difficult. So now we own exactly what we use.
 

Gman7575

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Since it appears you are going to be buying, you might as well make the unit an Every Other Year contract (EOY). We own three EOY contracts at St John. We love the resort but found trying to go every year was difficult. So now we own exactly what we use.
Yes that is what the original purchase was.
 
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