Is anyone out there a WEstin Residence Owner?

[califgal]

HI ...I'm trying to find any Westin Residence owners for some advice. I've also left a post for someone at flyertalk. Thansks.

 

[Denise L]

First I've heard of these Westin Residences...

...so I took a look at the website.

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/interests/interest_home.html?category=WI_RESIDENCES

Looks new, mostly under construction, and obviously out of my price range . Are they actually selling or just starting the marketing?

 

[travelguy]

I took a very brief look at this when considering my purchase of High Country Club (a Destination Club). The look was VERY brief once I saw the price for these Condotels. The properties looked great but the investment was great also. I also never did find out the process of using other Westin properties, if there is a process to do this.

IMHO - This may be an option if you are looking for travel real estate investment. I believe there are better options for luxury travel like High Country Club, other Destination Clubs or higher-end Vacation Clubs (HGVC, MVC, Starwood, etc.)

 

[Henry M.]

Thgey're supposed to start building a new W Residence where I live. I'm also wondering how these units perform from a real estate/investment point of view. I know timeshares are a losing financial proposition, but I'm not sure about these luxury condominiums.

The main problem where I am is an overabundance of this type of property there are many project under way in downtown Austin from various developers. I guess its the "in" thing to do right now and I'd be worried because of the supply/demand situation. On the other hand, if you look at places like San Francisco and New York, such properties might not be bad in the long term.

 

[Ken555]

HI ...I'm trying to find any Westin Residence owners for some advice. I've also left a post for someone at flyertalk. Thansks.

I was tempted to buy at the Westin Monache at Mammoth. I got stuck over justifying the price, though. Studios started at about US$420,000 with 1-beds higher. (Obviously, others didn't have this problem as they sold out in "5 hours").

Of course, I'm sure it will be worth more when the building is finally open for business later this year. The presentation was much better than any t/s spiel, as it's wholly owned real estate and not sold by your typical timeshare salespeople.

Well, I'd rather use my StarPoints (from AmEx) to go to Whistler, anyway! (which I'm doing in March).

 

[Henry M.]

Ken:

Did you happen to look into the appreciation potential of this type of property? With timeshares you'd likely nnever get your money back from a developer purchase, but I wonder hat the value proposition might look like with the Residences. They seem like very nice properties and since you completely own your unit the market dynamics are different than for selling timeshares. I haven't seen any discussion of this type of ownership anywhere. It is sort of a hybrid between timesharing and having a nice condo somewhere as I think there are hotel services available to rent out some of the units (not sure about this, though).

Do you happen to know if Westin has a web site for this kind of ownership? Any TUG like web sites out there?

 

[Ken555]

Did you happen to look into the appreciation potential of this type of property? With timeshares you'd likely nnever get your money back from a developer purchase, but I wonder hat the value proposition might look like with the Residences. They seem like very nice properties and since you completely own your unit the market dynamics are different than for selling timeshares.

Yes. I really liked the plans for the Monache at Mammoth, and would visit year-round (along with family and friends, I'm sure!). At the time, I was stuck on the cost, since $420k at that time could purchase a 3-bedroom condo in Mammoth at a very nice, but not gondola/village-central, building. I'm fairly certain it would be a great investment, and I'm sure others purchased multiple units.

FYI, Intrawest built the Mammoth Village (very small version of what they did at Whistler) and I didn't purchase there before they even broke ground. Of course, I regret it today...but I wasn't ready to buy at the time. They had ridiculous offers...a 2-bed condo was about $350k and Mammoth would lease it back for two years after construction (and grant 2-3 weeks of use per year to the owner). Needless to say, after those two years the unit was worth over $500k, and now sells in the $800k's. Sigh... Even so, I just couldn't grasp the expensive monthly fees and relative high price. When it was being sold for $350k, you could purchase a HOUSE in Mammoth for that price. Anyway...

I haven't seen any discussion of this type of ownership anywhere. It is sort of a hybrid between timesharing and having a nice condo somewhere as I think there are hotel services available to rent out some of the units (not sure about this, though).

Well, it *is* a hotel. But you would own a particular unit, and could live there year-round if you desired. They charge expensive HOA monthly fees, and have a plan to split the proceeds from rental nights, etc. The Mammoth building will be part of the Starwood StarPoints redemption program, from waht I've been told, and it will be the first upscale hotel in Mammoth. It was/is a great investment, I'd think.

FWIW, I believe (though I'm not certain) there will be a phase two offering at this location sometime this year, unless I'm totally confused and they did that last year...

Do you happen to know if Westin has a web site for this kind of ownership? Any TUG like web sites out there?

No idea.

 

[califgal]

Thanks for your responses. There isn't a website like Tug for the Residences....believe me I've been looking! Ken is right... the main. fees are very high(insurance included) and if you join the rental program the rent is split 50/50 with the owner actually getting less because they take $$ out for replacements costs etc. However, it still is appealing for us to own a caribbean condo on the beach and the investment potential could really be something.

 

[Henry M.]

At this point I'm most interested in the investment part of it. I have enough vacation places to go to with my current SVO ownership but if the Residences have good appreciation potential and they can fund a large portion of themselves I might like to pursue something, probably in the Caribbean or if something became available in Hawaii. The Intrawest develpment just north of WKOR sold in less that a day last year with many units going over $4 million!

Ken, in Mammoth, how do you think the $350K house appreciated compared to the $350K condo? Since that is more of a vacation destination, for me a condo might actually be more attractive than a house but I don't know what the market is like in such places.