[2006] SVO Resale: Yes you can requalify/retro [MERGED]

[lars158]

A fellow TUGGER gave me some advice and I had my retro completed today within minutes. Amazing. They sat on it for over 30 days until I had to call and ask them to do it.

Who did you call to get it done ? I worked with the Sales office and it was painful (pointing fingers on other departments within Starwood).

 

[Joshadelic]

I spoke to the SVN Admin department. They did a search for my documents. Once they found them, my unit was in SVN within minutes.

 

[silkey21]

SVO Retro was there a charge

I spoke to the SVN Admin department. They did a search for my documents. Once they found them, my unit was in SVN within minutes.

was there a $599 charge to retro your unit into SVO ?

 

[DeniseM]

was there a $599 charge to retro your unit into SVO ?

That sounds like the fee that Starwood is charging the voluntary owners that are being invited to join SVO. Several sections of Sheraton Vistana Resort have been invited to join Starwood for a fee. That is different than requalifying a resale. These are voluntary weeks that were never in the SVN, and all of them are being invited to join the SVN. However, recent purchases don't qualify.

Also, if an owner bought at a resort like SDO before Starwood bought it from the original developer, they can pay a fee and join the SVN. But that is a different scenario than requalifying, as well.

Note that the above offers cannot be transferred to a new resale owner that just recently bought at the resort. However, we sometimes see Ads where the original owner thinks they can transfer this option when they sell their TS - it doesn't transfer.

 

[Joshadelic]

was there a $599 charge to retro your unit into SVO ?

Nope. It was part of the deal. All they did was take the old owner's paperwork and replaced their names with ours. We signed the docs as if we were the original owners.

 

[pointsjunkie]

Nope. It was part of the deal. All they did was take the old owner's paperwork and replaced their names with ours. We signed the docs as if we were the original owners.

are you sure you are in the SVN? you have starpoints and staroptions?

 

[Joshadelic]

are you sure you are in the SVN? you have starpoints and staroptions?

Yes. Absolutely sure.

 

[silkey21]

Nope. It was part of the deal. All they did was take the old owner's paperwork and replaced their names with ours. We signed the docs as if we were the original owners.

Why does this option not transfer to the new owners ?.

 

[Joshadelic]

Why does this option not transfer to the new owners ?.

What option? Every option that the original owners had transferred to me. I can't think of one that didn't.

 

[DeniseM]

Why does this option not transfer to the new owners ?.

When a resale week is requalified, it is treated exactly as if it was a week that was bought from the developer, so it has both Staroptions and Starpoints.

A resale week from a MANDATORY resort automatically (without requalifying) has StarOPTIONS, but not StarPOINTS.

A resale week from a VOLUNTARY resort does not have Staroptions or Starpoints, unless it's requalified.

Why? - Because those are Starwood's rules.

See the Starwood FAQ at the top of the page for more info.

 

[Fcast]

Requalifying Weeks

I have 3 weeks purchased as resales. I was told by starwood that to requalify you need to spend $20M on a new developer purchase to requalify a domestic location and $40M for Hawaii or other international locations. This is for each unit you want to requalify. She said the rules changed on May 1 and it is likely that Starwood would stop all requalifications in the future.:annoyed:

 

[Bill4728]

I have 3 weeks purchased as resales. I was told by starwood that to requalify you need to spend $20M on a new developer purchase to requalify a domestic location and $40M for Hawaii or other international locations. This is for each unit you want to requalify. She said the rules changed on May 1 and it is likely that Starwood would stop all requalifications in the future.:annoyed:

I'm not an SVN expert like some of the others but :
"I was told by starwood that to requalify you need to spend $20M on a new developer purchase to requalify a domestic location and $40M for Hawaii or other international locations. " This was and still is the rule.

I understand the rule change in May was you can't requalify/retro a resale week by "up-grading" that week any more. People were able to buy a 1 bd gold season unit resale, then trade that unit in (at the full developer price) for an "up grade" And they were able to get their new unit in SVN and . retro a second unit at the same time. This option went away.

 

[xbanker]

Plain English for Newbies

Hello all,
I found this thread to be extremely interesting and valuable for a SVO newbie like myself. I purchased Westin Princeville 2bd EY last month through the developer. I am looking to add by purchasing another 2bd EY at another SVO property if I can get it prequal so that I can enjoy the same advantage as purchasing through the developer.

I'd like to get input on what is the best stategy for purchasing the next resale SVO prop that'll give me 148.1k points for the lowest price and MF and get it prequal'd. Given that i already purchased and closed on my Princeville prop, would that disqualify me from getting my resale prequal'd if i go that route?

And would love to get some step by step on what to do to get resale prop prequal'd for someone in my situation.

Thx Much!!!

 

[DavidnRobin]

Hello all,
I found this thread to be extremely interesting and valuable for a SVO newbie like myself. I purchased Westin Princeville 2bd EY last month through the developer. I am looking to add by purchasing another 2bd EY at another SVO property if I can get it prequal so that I can enjoy the same advantage as purchasing through the developer.

I'd like to get input on what is the best stategy for purchasing the next resale SVO prop that'll give me 148.1k points for the lowest price and MF and get it prequal'd. Given that i already purchased and closed on my Princeville prop, would that disqualify me from getting my resale prequal'd if i go that route?

And would love to get some step by step on what to do to get resale prop prequal'd for someone in my situation.

Thx Much!!!

There is no short answer here - thus the various ways and reasons people have requaled.

Main problem is that you have already purchased a very costly SVO TS (VOI) at WPORV, and then that would have been the best time to requal.

I wrote my experiences on buying an EOY WPORV (SVN Mandatory) from SVO and requaling our WKORV - and that describes in detail one approach. However, these is more benefit in requaling a SVN Voluntary resort that is cheap, has low MFs, and gives the best SO-SP conversion

In order to requal now - you will need to 1st buy a resale (meeting the above criteria) and then buy another SVO VOI that qualifies in order to requal the resale.

At this point - I would only see a benefit (IMO) if you intend to get to 5*Elite/Plat for life - otherwise the benefit of SO-SP conversion w/o 5*/PFL is questionable? This is commonly argued here, but mainly from those who are already 5*/PFL - where the optimal benefit is attained.

 

[LisaRex]

Hello all,
I found this thread to be extremely interesting and valuable for a SVO newbie like myself. I purchased Westin Princeville 2bd EY last month through the developer. I am looking to add by purchasing another 2bd EY at another SVO property if I can get it prequal so that I can enjoy the same advantage as purchasing through the developer.

I'd like to get input on what is the best stategy for purchasing the next resale SVO prop that'll give me 148.1k points for the lowest price and MF and get it prequal'd.

I'm afraid you've done it backward. You should have bought the resale unit FIRST. Then you go to the developer and say that you'll buy from them directly ONLY if they agree to requalify your resale purchase. In this case, you have the leverage because they want you to buy from them at a significant mark up. Requalifying your resale purchase is really no skin off their teeth, so it's a win-win.

There is absolutely no incentive for them to prequalify a resale unit. They've already been paid their huge markup when you bought from them at Princeville.

My advice is to forget about requalifying altogether unless you really, really want to own three properties. Instead, buy a mandatory unit which will automatically be in SVN or buy a cheaper voluntary unit and enjoy II for all it has to offer.

 

[xbanker]

Yes, I did it backwards...
But I didn't know of this tugbbs.com site/forum until i had made the purchase. Someone actually pointed me to this site which is how i'm getting so much info...after the fact. I'm learning that requal has a lot of advantages, including the status upgrade...for me the only advantages i'm looking for is the ability to trade staroptions for other SVO villas and to trade to starpoints....not too keen on the status upgrade (at least for now). Is there a way to achieve this without requal? Again, sorry if i'm not stating things properly as i do have a lot to learn as being a newbie..

and one more...according to the owner docs i received, there is no way to bank staroption points for use in future years...is there a way around this?

I'm afraid you've done it backward. You should have bought the resale unit FIRST. Then you go to the developer and say that you'll buy from them directly ONLY if they agree to requalify your resale purchase. In this case, you have the leverage because they want you to buy from them at a significant mark up. Requalifying your resale purchase is really no skin off their teeth, so it's a win-win.

There is absolutely no incentive for them to prequalify a resale unit. They've already been paid their huge markup when you bought from them at Princeville.

My advice is to forget about requalifying altogether unless you really, really want to own three properties. Instead, buy a mandatory unit which will automatically be in SVN or buy a cheaper voluntary unit and enjoy II for all it has to offer.

 

[calgarygary]

Starwood is currently allowing the combining of Staroptions from mandatory resorts purchased resale. So if you purchase a resale at any of the mandatory resorts (most would point you in the direction of WKV) you could combine those staroptions with your developer purchase. However, there is a huge caveat - there is nothing in writing that assures you that Starwood will allow you to combine those options. They are currently doing it but that ability could disappear at a moment's notice. So, if you want the temporary ability to combine options, buy a mandatory resale.

 

[Politico]

Starwood is currently allowing the combining of Staroptions from mandatory resorts purchased resale. So if you purchase a resale at any of the mandatory resorts (most would point you in the direction of WKV) you could combine those staroptions with your developer purchase. However, there is a huge caveat - there is nothing in writing that assures you that Starwood will allow you to combine those options. They are currently doing it but that ability could disappear at a moment's notice. So, if you want the temporary ability to combine options, buy a mandatory resale.

With all the Starwood chagnes and lack of employee training on SVN rules, seems to me this feature would be an utter waste unless you got your right to combine SOs in writing.

 

[DavidnRobin]

Yes, I did it backwards...
But I didn't know of this tugbbs.com site/forum until i had made the purchase. Someone actually pointed me to this site which is how i'm getting so much info...after the fact. I'm learning that requal has a lot of advantages, including the status upgrade...for me the only advantages i'm looking for is the ability to trade staroptions for other SVO villas and to trade to starpoints....not too keen on the status upgrade (at least for now). Is there a way to achieve this without requal? Again, sorry if i'm not stating things properly as i do have a lot to learn as being a newbie..

and one more...according to the owner docs i received, there is no way to bank staroption points for use in future years...is there a way around this?

Do not fret - you are not the first - nor will be the last to find TUG too late. Focus on making the most of it.

You can buy a M resort resale and have the ability to exchange via SVN.
With resale - you will not be able to a SO-SP convert, but as stated (and not without disagreement by some) this benefit is not a good value (generally - although some find it to be good - and those are likely 5*/PFL because of the perks).

Look at it this way - for WPORV - worth 148.1K SOs - can be converted to 84K SPs - the MFs for WPORV are >$2000 - this means that for >$2000 you are getting 84K SPs upon conversion (unless you are 5*/PFL, then there is a bump in the amount of SPs). While you could certainly maximize your converted SP usage to make it worth >$2000 - you are giving up 14 nites at WPORV by separating the units (7 nites in the 1Bd and 7 nites in the studio) or 7 nites in the 2Bd LO. I (and others) would argue that that is not a good deal.

HOWEVER - if you requal a cheap V resort that has low MFs and good conversion - and if you are 5*/PFL - then it works out better.

This is a simplification, but IMHO - do not bother requalifying unless you have a clear plan (like getting to 5*/PFL) and have tons of vacation time and money to spare (because owning enough VOIs to become 5*/PFL means that you will have many weeks to use - along with yearly MFs).

Therefore - in most cases - buy a V resort resale to use II, or buy a M resort resale to use SVN. Forget about the benefit of converting SOs to SPs - unless you want to achieve the 5*/PFL. Otherwise - you will be using fuzzy math to make it seem worthwhile. (fuzzy math is what TS salespeople use to convince those unsuspecting vacationers to buy a TS from them)

 

[pcandpetunia]

New Starwood Reactivate Rules

I just spoke with Starwood. They implemented a rule that if you want to grandfather in a unit purchased through resale, you must spend at least $20k with the developer.

PLUS... you only get "home" advantage for each property you buy. That is, if you purchase in Orlando in resale and purchase in AZ from the developer, you can't combine your Star Options from the two properties during the 12-10 month window.

 

[LisaRex]

PLUS... you only get "home" advantage for each property you buy. That is, if you purchase in Orlando in resale and purchase in AZ from the developer, you can't combine your Star Options from the two properties during the 12-10 month window.

The home priority window is 8-12 months. The StarOption exchange period is 3-8 months. Owners have NEVER been able to use SOs during the home priority period, whether they are a resale owner or a developer owner.

 

[Bill4728]

I have 3 weeks purchased as resales. I was told by starwood that to requalify you need to spend $20M on a new developer purchase to requalify a domestic location and $40M for Hawaii or other international locations. This is for each unit you want to requalify. She said the rules changed on May 1 and it is likely that Starwood would stop all requalifications in the future.:annoyed:

I just spoke with Starwood. They implemented a rule that if you want to grandfather in a unit purchased through resale, you must spend at least $20k with the developer.

I'm not an SVN expert like some of the others but :
"I was told by starwood that to requalify you need to spend $20M on a new developer purchase to requalify a domestic location and $40M for Hawaii or other international locations. " This was and still is the rule.

I understand the rule change in May was you can't requalify/retro a resale week by "up-grading" that week any more. People were able to buy a 1 bd gold season unit resale, then trade that unit in (at the full developer price) for an "up grade" And they were able to get their new unit in SVN and . retro a second unit at the same time. This option went away.

petunia. As I said in the quote above: This is and has been the rule for some time.

PLUS... you only get "home" advantage for each property you buy. That is, if you purchase in Orlando in resale and purchase in AZ from the developer, you can't combine your Star Options from the two properties during the 12-10 month window.

THis also has always been the rule, no matter how you bought your SO.

 

[DeniseM]

I just spoke with Starwood. They implemented a rule that if you want to grandfather in a unit purchased through resale, you must spend at least $20k with the developer.

PLUS... you only get "home" advantage for each property you buy. That is, if you purchase in Orlando in resale and purchase in AZ from the developer, you can't combine your Star Options from the two properties during the 12-10 month window.

When you combine Staroptions, you are, by definition, making an exchange, and the home advantage no longer applies. Staroptions are only used for exchanging into a resort/season/or unit that is different than the one you own. Exchanges can only be made from 0 - 8 mos. out.

Please see the Starwood FAQ at the top of the page for a lot of info. about how Starwood works.

 

[pathways25]

Owner discount for requal

I'm starting the process of buying a developer week from Starwood to requalify a resale. I'm interested in getting an EOY Platnum week at WDW. The current price list shows $25,300, but the salesman indicated that as an existing owner in Starwood, I qualify for 1/2 of the EY price which is $19,450 ($38,900 / 2). Unfortunately, that is below 20K so he said I would need to forgo the discount in order to requalify the resale.

My question is, has anyone managed to work something out where you get most of the discount, say 5K leaving you above 20K or gotten Starwood to let something close to the limit slide by for requal purposes? I'm having a lot of heartburn paying 6K more for being $550 short of 20K.

 

[DeniseM]

I would tell the salesman I'd pay $20K for the WDW week - take it or leave it, and be prepared to walk away.

What are your goals in requalifying?

Since this is a voluntary resort, if you are a little patient, you will be able to buy it on the resale market for less than 50% of retail.