New VSN owner looking for advice

[ray8817]

Hi Everyone, wish I could find this community earlier

So I recently purchased a 37000 options(thank god I only purchased the least amount) with Westin Lagunamar and I am regretting it so much, but It has been 15 days after the cancellation window. Right now I am just telling myself to accept it because I guess there is noting I can do. After reading a lot of threads I want to buy a resale so I can have more flexibility on travelling which lead me to a couple questions:

1. How many additional options do I need to purchase from the developer in order to retro.( For example: Sheraton Vistana Village 139,700 Annual)

2.What are the suggested resorts I should purchase(Mandatory)?

3.Can I purchase multiple resale VOI and combine them into one VSN account so that options can add up?

Thanks!!!

 

[YYJMSP]

Welcome!

You generally need to buy approx. $20,000 in new VOI through the developer to retro some other purchase... Most likely that will give you around the 148,100 StarOptions every other year level, plus whatever your retro brings...

 

[ray8817]

Welcome!

You generally need to buy approx. $20,000 in new VOI through the developer to retro some other purchase... Most likely that will give you around the 148,100 StarOptions every other year level, plus whatever your retro brings...

Hi man, so does it mean I need to purchase equivalent amount of VOI I bought from resale market, but it can be biannual?

Thank you

 

[ray8817]

Also, since I might retro anyway, which voluntary I should buy since it’s cheaper than mandatory.

 

[DannyTS]

Does it make sense to buy Westin St John voluntary and trade it back to Vistana? The maintenance fees are high but if you give it back soon that should not matter. The developer prices were high so the 80% credit should be high as well. I am not making a statement, i would like to know what others think, if this is a good idea.

 

[YYJMSP]

Does it make sense to buy Westin St John voluntary and trade it back to Vistana? Yes, the maintenance fees are high but if you give it back soon that should not matter. The developer prices were high so the 80% credit should be high as well.

it doesn't necessarily matter how much the credit is on the resale, as you still have to out up an additional $20,000 in New monies.

if the OP is good with putting that much more actual cash in to a new developer purchase, then I guess it could make sense to "save" a larger amount by trading/retroing a more expensive property.

 

[DannyTS]

it doesn't necessarily matter how much the credit is on the resale, as you still have to out up an additional $20,000 in New monies.

if the OP is good with putting that much more actual cash in to a new developer purchase, then I guess it could make sense to "save" a larger amount by trading/retroing a more expensive property.

my thought is that giving back a more expensive resort allows you get a more expensive "legit" contract with a higher number of StarOptions (or homeoptions) even if using the same 18-20k of new cash. I hope i understand the process correctly

 

[YYJMSP]

my thought is that giving back a more expensive resort allows you get a more expensive "legit" contract with a higher number of StarOptions (or homeoptions) even if using the same 18-20k of new cash. I hope i understand the process correctly

the goal is usually to get the most SOs for the MFs paid, which may or may not be by choosing a more expensive up-front purchase (on paper).

the problem is that the developer will end up offering you a minimum package with more SOs than you may want (and probably higher total MFs) just to make the credit+$20,000 min purchase price work.

if you trade in $50,000 they will only sell you something that goes for $70,000 and it's associated higher number of SOs and higher MFs.

if you trade in $20,000 they will sell you something that goes for $40,000 and it's lower SOs and lower MFs.

since Flex (which is what they're going to offer first) pricing and MFs increase pretty much linearly, my examples follow that (higher buy in means more SOs means higher MFs).

if you buy a deeded week, the end results vary dramatically on what/where you buy, as there isn't necessarily the same linear relationship between price/SOs/MFs across all products.

 

[LisaRex]

At least WLR has affordable MFs!

To answer #3, it doesn't matter how you acquire your SOs, they are internal currency and can be combined.* I, personally, wouldn't give the developer any more money but instead would focus on buying a mandatory resort that got me to my SO goal in the most economical way. What mandatory resort to purchase depends on how long you plan on holding onto it. Generally speaking I'd buy SVV Key West for short term (less than 5 years), and WKV for long term.

I'd also advise you to try and be realistic about your future travel plans, which will change based on your family size, your budget, your availability and your personal likes. Examples: If I had 2 pre-school children who loved amusement parks, my travel plans would look a lot different than if I were an empty nester who loved to snorkel. If my vacation budget was $5000 and I had a family of 5, an annual trip to Maui might be out of the question, but by banking SOs, I could make it work every 4 years. So do some analysis on your unique situation and try to determine what places you want to go to, can afford to go to, and how big a unit you might need. (Hint: A 1 bdrm with a pull-out couch worked great for our family of 4).

Also, I'd strongly advise anyone who's looking to buy a timeshare to look at the network and make sure that the locations appeal to you. As nice as the resorts are, Vistana is much more limited than, say, Marriott. In the 7 years that we owned, we'd traveled as a couple, with family, or with friends to Maui a half dozen times, St. John 3 times, Harborside 1 time, and Arizona 3 times. After our 2nd St. John trip, we had to concede that we we'd grown bored of the network. We'd exhausted everywhere that appealed to us, and were actually starting to travel to places that didn't really appeal to us just to burn up our SOs, and so it was time to sell.

So my last bit of advice is to not OVERbuy. We realized only after we bought a 2 bdrm annual at WKORV-N that we'd overbought. In retrospect, a 1bdrm annual or an EOY 2 bdrm would have been much better for our needs. One of the advantages of VSN is that you can bank SOs for up to 2 years, so take advantage of that flexibility to buy the minimum that works for you.

Hope that helps and good luck to you!

*If you're a married couple, and your first title is deeded to "John and Mary Smith" make sure that subsequent deeds are titled in that order. IOW, don't put Mary's name first on the second deed. If you mix them up, it causes problems when combining SOs.

 

[vacationtime1]

To the OP: you are getting some good advice here. I can add only one thing: Take your time. Learn to use what you now own; it will help you make a better decision about what else (if anything) to acquire -- location, size, season, quality level, etc.

It is much easier to buy these things than it is to sell them, so take your time and do it right. Prices are not going up in the interim.

 

[Markus]

it doesn't necessarily matter how much the credit is on the resale, as you still have to out up an additional $20,000 in New monies.

if the OP is good with putting that much more actual cash in to a new developer purchase, then I guess it could make sense to "save" a larger amount by trading/retroing a more expensive property.

I have been offered an upgrade into Westin Flex with as little as $11,500 in new money. This also came with the ability to retro a week as well and use an explorer.

Markus

 

[YYJMSP]

I have been offered an upgrade into Westin Flex with as little as $11,500 in new money. This also came with the ability to retro a week as well and use an explorer.

Good to hear other experiences. I have only dealt with deeded purchases with retro/Explorer, and they all wanted $20K in new funds.

The last few owner's updates did offer me Flex to trade in some deeds, but they priced them close to the $20K in new funds as well.

I've done 3 Explorers over the years, so supposedly I can no longer get those (they don't even offer them to me...)

 

[controller1]

I have been offered an upgrade into Westin Flex with as little as $11,500 in new money. This also came with the ability to retro a week as well and use an explorer.

Markus

I was offered to return our Sheraton Flex (which we did not like) for Westin Flex and x amount of additional options for $20,000 in July, 2018. I stated I was reading on TUG that some members had been able to get deals with only $12,000 of new money. The salesman said he would talk to his manager. About five minutes later, the salesman and manager appeared and the manager stated "we'll make a deal with that margin."

 

[taterhed]

Certainly Westin Flex is in it's 'young days,' but it sounds intriguing.

 

[TravelBee]

I have been offered an upgrade into Westin Flex with as little as $11,500 in new money. This also came with the ability to retro a week as well and use an explorer.

Markus

Who is your sales agent?

 

[DeniseM]

Certainly Westin Flex is in it's 'young days,' but it sounds intriguing.

Westin Flex is not MANDATORY - that means that when/if you resale it, it has NO STAROPTIONS. This tanks the resale value.

You are far better off buying a deeded resale week at WKORV-N/S which is mandatory. (Or a resale at another mandatory resort.)