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New owner questions

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Phcmom

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My family and I just purchased at SVV in Orlando. Two bed lockout. It was a rather quick decision for us. We love to travel, but Orlando is not a frequent destination for us. We bought with the intention of trading the majority of our weeks. We are wondering if this is the best way to invest $22,000? We have done some math, and figure we need to get $3000 annual vacation value out of the system. By utilizing the resorts in the SVN , this will pay for itself. My question.....how difficult is it to get into these resorts? We have 81,000 staoptions available. We don't necessarily need to travel school holidays, but it would be nice for the next couple of years. We enjoy skiing, so jan- april in Colorado would be a top choice. Also, Westin in St Johns (anytime except june-sept). Hawaii is also desirable. Just not Orlando!

I have logged on to mystarcentral, but I am unable to see the availability in the SVN. I am planning on calling for some specific reservations today. Probably an II trade in Banff area for March.

Looking for any input.....

Thanks
 
There are so many reasons to rescind! First of all, you grossly overpaid. For $22,000 you can get ~8 2-bdrm units at SVV (worth 81,000 SOs) on the resale market.

Note that 81,000 SOs will not get you a 2 bdrm at most of the other SVN resorts during prime season. For that, you'll need 148,100 SOs. If you have kids, 2 bdrms would be ideal. If you want to fully utilize SVN, you should target a platinum 2-bedroom unit at Westin Kierland. You'll spend less upfront, you'll get 148,100 SOs each year, and the MFs are lower. No brainer.

As far as availability goes, getting into St. John (WSJ) is very difficult year round. Ski resorts are very difficult during snow season. (I tried for 6 months and couldn't find availability). Hawaii is a fairly easy trade except for popular weeks.
 
Agree with the above post. Rescind the purchase immediately if you are still within the time to do so.
 
Just as I thought. I just phoned the toll free number, and I am not yet "in the system". Although I was able to access mystarcentral. She skirted around my availability questions regarding the SVN resorts. She said if I was persistent, availability is usually not a problem....... My time is too valuable to be calling this number every week! And the salesperson was selling me on the ease of travel and booking through SVO. But after I call SVO, I still have to call II with my top choices and wait for a response?
 
Phcmom said:
Just as I thought. I just phoned the toll free number, and I am not yet "in the system". Although I was able to access mystarcentral. She skirted around my availability questions regarding the SVN resorts. She said if I was persistent, availability is usually not a problem....... My time is too valuable to be calling this number every week! And the salesperson was selling me on the ease of travel and booking through SVO. But after I call SVO, I still have to call II with my top choices and wait for a response?
Click to expand...

You need not buy from the developer to obtain access to II trading.

You buy from the developer because you want to go to the resort you bought at or trade to another resort using Starwood's internal trading venue, the SVO/SVN. You don't seem to want to use your week that way.

You buy resale to save a lot of money and to primarily use II, an external trading system, to go elsewhere than where you bought.

You need to rescind and use the next month or two learning how to buy on the resale market (for much less money) and use II for your trades by reading the posts on TUG. Then, buy something. There are lots and lots of timehare weeks available resale. You'll find what you want/need after you understand how it all works. GLTY! Salty
 
I appreciate the comments. I wish we had researched it more than we had. I am learning lots on this site.

We were offered 4 vouchers for 80,000 SV Option points each, which we can activate for $1550 each. So IMO they are valuing 80,000 Option points at $1550. Is it true that owners can sell these to other owners? If so, does the value of $6200, bringing my purchase price down to roughly $16,000 make it any better a deal? Or did I still overpay?
 
Phcmom said:
I appreciate the comments. I wish we had researched it more than we had. I am learning lots on this site.

We were offered 4 vouchers for 80,000 SV Option points each, which we can activate for $1550 each. So IMO they are valuing 80,000 Option points at $1550. Is it true that owners can sell these to other owners? If so, does the value of $6200, bringing my purchase price down to roughly $16,000 make it any better a deal? Or did I still overpay?
Click to expand...

You overpaid, but so do all developer purchasers. There are only very few reasons to buy direct from the developer, and it doesn't seem you have any (yet). I'll join the chorus by saying this: stop worrying, be glad you found TUG, rescind today (follow instructions to the letter), take a deep breath and then take your time figuring out the best purchase for you.

You can even get free Starwood weeks, or very inexpensive weeks, which are great for trading in II.
 
Thanks:):)

I have drafted the cancellation letter........just needs DH signature, and a trip to the post office.

I will be back to this site!!
 
Phcmom said:
I appreciate the comments. I wish we had researched it more than we had. I am learning lots on this site.

We were offered 4 vouchers for 80,000 SV Option points each, which we can activate for $1550 each. So IMO they are valuing 80,000 Option points at $1550. Is it true that owners can sell these to other owners? If so, does the value of $6200, bringing my purchase price down to roughly $16,000 make it any better a deal? Or did I still overpay?
Click to expand...

$1550 for 80,000 is overpaying as well. As everyone has said, cancel immediately and get your money back. You don't have to use SVoptions to enjoy great vacations at Starwood properties. You can get it for next to nothing. I bought a Starwood property for $1 on eBay for my brother two weeks ago! You're paying about $21,999 too much lol
 
Phcmom said:
I appreciate the comments. I wish we had researched it more than we had. I am learning lots on this site.

We were offered 4 vouchers for 80,000 SV Option points each, which we can activate for $1550 each. So IMO they are valuing 80,000 Option points at $1550. Is it true that owners can sell these to other owners? If so, does the value of $6200, bringing my purchase price down to roughly $16,000 make it any better a deal? Or did I still overpay?
Click to expand...

Don't worry about the vouchers. The vouchers are not free. You still have to come up with the $1,550 to exercise one.

The vouchers are valuable. They run about $0.018 per Starpoint purchased. Starwood generally sells Starpoints for $0.03 per Starpoint - sometimes for $0.025 per Starpoint during a sale. And, they can be used at Starwood hotels and converted to air miles. But, you know far too little about Starpoints to evaluate if your style of traveling needs a boost from Starpoints.

However, the incremental value does not make up the difference in purchasing price between buying from Starwood and buying resale on the open market. Until you get more savvy about Starwood and how its timeshare system works, start with a resale unit on the open market. Salty
 
Ken555 said:
You overpaid, but so do all developer purchasers. There are only very few reasons to buy direct from the developer, and it doesn't seem you have any (yet). I'll join the chorus by saying this: stop worrying, be glad you found TUG, rescind today (follow instructions to the letter), take a deep breath and then take your time figuring out the best purchase for you.

You can even get free Starwood weeks, or very inexpensive weeks, which are great for trading in II.
Click to expand...

What are some reasons to buy from a developer?
 
toddvb20 said:
What are some reasons to buy from a developer?
Click to expand...

To requalify a resale so that it is treated like a developer purchase, so that you can reach 5 Star Elite status cheaper.

What does it mean to requalify/retro a resale?

In simplest terms:
a. Someone purchases a Starwood Timeshare, resale, at a voluntary or mandatory resort.
b. Then they purchase a timeshare directly from Starwood.
c. As part of the negotiation for purchase, Starwood requalifies/retros the resale week, giving it all the rights/benefits of a week as if purchased directly from Starwood, which allows it to count towards Elite Status.
Click to expand...

It's not for everyone - you have to have the time, money, and know-how to make it work.
 
toddvb20 said:
What are some reasons to buy from a developer?
Click to expand...

You won the lottery, have too much money burning a hole in your jeans and want to help pay for the saleperson's next house, car and vacation with the huge commission they made off another victim, oops I mean customer, lol.
 
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