Purchase question

[mpc5473]

I am looking at buying a timeshare. Please tell me what I'm missing:

I can get a 53k platinum plus floating 2br bay vista in sj usvi. Or, I can buy a much cheaper 2br unit at one of the wkor buildings and have the same number of points to use at st John?

I understand that I have to wait until 8 months out to book a unit at the westin sj and a unit may not be available for the week I'm looking for.

Am I missing something?

Thanks in advance.

 

[jarta]

.mpc, ... If you buy at WKORV you have to wait until 8 months from arrival to request a reservation at WSJ. However, there may be severely restricted availablity at WSJ in Plat Plus season when you call. Most owners buy Plat Plus WSJ weeks to use or to rent out. So, few weeks make it to the SVN reservation pool - and even fewer weeks wind up being deposited in II.

My advice is not to buy anything right now. Hang around TUG for a couple of months and pay attention to the Starwood forum discussions. Read the Stickys at the top of the foram home page.

While there might be little availability for reservations at 8 months from arrival, there are always plenty of timeshares for sale at WSJ or WKORV. One will meet your needs (and your idea of what you really need might change) after you hang out at TUG for awhile.

GLTY Salty

 

[DeniseM]

The Hawaii resorts are far too expensive to use for traders - the MF is more than twice the MF at Westin Kierland Villas and a Plat week at WKV has the same number of Staroptions - 148,100. Staroptions are Staroptions - regardless of where they come from.

Trading into Harborside is difficult - there is far more demand than supply. If your are completely flexible it's doable, but to visit during high season, you should buy there.

 

[Ridewithme38]

Trading into Harborside is difficult - there is far more demand than supply. If your are completely flexible it's doable, but do visit during high season, you should buy there.

The MF's go from $1,500 up to almost $3,000 at Harborside, what does it usually rent for?

 

[DeniseM]

Here you go - http://www.familyfunatatlantis.com/

 

[hypnotiq]

Jesus, between 4 and 12k? And they rent for that? WOW.

 

[jarta]

Jesus, between 4 and 12k? And they rent for that? WOW.

Those are asking prices. My experience is that AFF requires an exclusive rental agreement, will sometimes discount from that asking price and that the AFF rental fee is 30% of the price for which the deal is closed. The listing may be cancelled up to 90 days before arrival with prior notice to AFF. Sometimes the weeks tied up by the AFF listing don't rent. Usually, prime weeks rent.

Right now AFF has 2 weeks I reserved up for rental: a SVN StarOption Premium 1-br for August of this year and my home resort 3-br week 7 at HRA next year.

Neither has rented yet. But, I am hopeful. AFF is good. HRA demand is pretty high at those times.

If the weeks don't rent, I can cancel (before 60 days from arrival) and have the StarOptions returned to my account ($29 fee for the SVN; $0 for the home resort) and, because I am 5 Star Elite, the benefits include unlimited converting the StarOptions to Starpoints (no fee) until October 1 or banking the StarOptions (again no fee) until December 31. Salty

 

[LisaRex]

Definitely, the most ECONOMICAL way to get to WSJ is to buy at WKV and use SOs to get in. The huge downside, of course, is that you may not be able to get in the week that you want. If that is where you want to go the majority of the time, this is a definite detraction because WSJ is already difficult to exchange into, and will get even worse in the future now that SVO is allowing folks to bank their SOs.

I anticipate that the top tier resorts will be very difficult to exchange into during high season, including Hawaii resorts that were previously fairly easy to exchange into.

When you say "53k," is that what you could get it for from Starwood, or is this what you could buy on the resale market? Sounds very high to me. I'd definitely look for resale units. If you have your heart set on Bay Vista, then I'd target these. You will not be able to use SVN because it's a voluntary resort, but if this is where you want to go, why not buy there?

Another option is to buy a mandatory unit in the Hillside aka Virgin Grand phase. That will give you the opportunity to use SVN to exchange to other places (most of which will be easier to get into than WSJ), plus save you quite a bit of money if you buy resale. Yes, the MFs are much higher than WKV, but you'll own where you want to be.

Personally, I'd gladly pay the extra MFs $$ in order to book the place I really wanted to be, especially if my MFs would be significantly lower than rental rates.

Good luck on your decision.

P.S. The best time to buy will probably be right before MFs are due. So no rush.

 

[Pmuppet]

Personally, I'd gladly pay the extra MFs $$ in order to book the place I really wanted to be.

I think it is crucial to buy where you WANT to go. If you are okay doing spring training one year in arizona, hawaii two years in none peak weeks, a week at HRA, a week at WSJ, and a week in florida, then using star options to trade is feasible. This type of vacation plan is feasible/realistic i believe with staroptions. Now for the WSJ and HRA, it sounds like you will need to make dozens of calls to get a room confirmed and it will likely be offseason, but trades do happen and i think over a five year period (and about 50 phone calls), you should be optimistic you will find availability at WSJ and HRA during non prime weeks, but still good weeks (not hurricane season).

(tuggers correct me if my assumption above is wrong)

Bottom line, if you are open to traveling to many different resorts, and schedule accommates traveling in a wide window of weeks, and plan to keep traveling with same open criteria for at least the next ten years suspect star options would be very viable option for you. The more you constrain your criteria above, the less attractive star options are.

To me, WKV is quite attractive cause having to go to spring training for a week if i cant get an options exchange to HRA, WKORV, WPORV, or WSJ is a great backup and still a vacation to get excited to travel to.