European wants to buy NY Hilton

[aquintanal]

This forum is awsome.
I´d appreciate if someone could help me out with the following:
-I love NY and usually go there once a year.
-I was thinking of buying resale of Hilton NY (the one with the 23 year lease)
1 How do I do it? Do I have to find a seller or can a broker do it for me?
2 What would be the total cost?
3 Do I have to go to NY to sign with a notary or I can just send the money and sign the contracts from where I live?
3 Once I buy, do I have to pay any taxes to the US Government or the City of NY or anyone else every year? How can I do it in case it´s necessary?
4 Can I still travel without a VISA or as I somehow have real estate there I have to apply for one?
5 In the Hilton NY system, I believe 7.000 points is more or less a week. I also believe Hilton cannot take any advantage of the points, like, for instance, asking for more points a day (total points should match with the total amount of weeks). Is it easy to find a week or most of them are busy? Does anyone have the reservation rules?
6 Is it legal that a friend of mine goes there instead of me or I should officially rent it?
Sorry for so many questions, and thank your very much for your coop.
Alberto

 

[Bill4728]

IMHO, You should talk to a broker who sells a lot of HGVC TS Seth Nock

He can be reached at www.sellingtimeshares.net



PS You find better answers on the Hilton board

I'm moving you there.

 

[Talent312]

I'll take a stab at some of these, but do not consider this authoritative:

-I was thinking of buying resale of Hilton NY (the one with the 23 year lease)
1 How do I do it? Do I have to find a seller or can a broker do it for me?
2 What would be the total cost?

You could look for resales on websites like ebay.com or redweek.com, but using a broker such as Seth Nock, would help you over the international hurdles. The total cost would be the sales price, closing costs (document preparation + recording fees), and transfer fees... it would be spelled out in the sales contract you sign.

3 Do I have to go to NY to sign with a notary or I can just send the money and sign the contracts from where I live?

Usually, all the buyer signs is a contract, closing statement, and a check. There should be no need for a notary on your end, unless you are financing the purchase.

3 Once I buy, do I have to pay any taxes to the US Government or the City of NY or anyone else every year? How can I do it in case it´s necessary?

Did you use the #3 twice? Usually, governmental taxes are billed to the TS management, which parcels them out to individual owners along with annual maintenance fees. Typically, you just pay your MF bill and you're done.

4 Can I still travel without a VISA or as I somehow have real estate there I have to apply for one?

When you pass thru Immigration at the airport, does anyone ask if you own property here? Thought not. You could check with a U.S. consulate, but AFIK, ownership of property has no bearing on your Visa-status.

5 In the Hilton NY system, I believe 7.000 points is more or less a week. I also believe Hilton cannot take any advantage of the points, like, for instance, asking for more points a day (total points should match with the total amount of weeks). Is it easy to find a week or most of them are busy? Does anyone have the reservation rules?

The points are representative of the size-of-unit and week that you buy, so that, if you want to make a "home" reservation, you can always get that size and a week in the season that you bought, but not the same exact unit, as that is kept in the resorts inventory. But you can also use your points to make reservations at other resorts for stays of 3 or more days, subject only to your point-balance. NYC points have a higher value than standard-resort points, and thus will go farther if you elect to stay outside of NYC.

6 Is it legal that a friend of mine goes there instead of me or I should officially rent it?

Hilter prefers that you obtain a guest-certificate (pass) for your friend. They discourage rentals, although it happens that someone will make a reservation and then rent it to a "guest."

 

[AKE]

I don't want to discourage anyone, but before buying I would seriously look at the following:

1) Will I want to come here every year for the next 23?
2) Can I afford the airfare? Will I be able to afford the airfare down the road?
3) Can I afford the maintenance fees (and these will continue to increase over time)? Today one can get luxurious hotel rooms (and even timeshare rentals) for the same price as the maintenance fee and one is not tied down to one resort or COMMITTED to spending $3000 - $4000 each year (maintenance fees & airfare) for 23 years = $69,000 - $92,000 (not including inflation, special assessments, etc. etc.)?

 

[aquintanal]

Thanks

Thank you, all.