Hello All,
These questions are close to others that have posted-but I did not want to take from people responding to their question by asking another question on their thread. I have never done this but thought starting a new thread seemed the curtious way to ask a question. I have spent a great deal of the day reading all of the threads and have learned so much. Thank you to all who take their precious time to answer our newbie questions.
First of all there was a thread that discussed this at length that you can now buy a Fountains property in the Vistana Orlando Resort and be part of the Starwood Vacation Ownership which is what we did yesterday from Starwood.
If I understand correctly the fact that the Fountain properties are not in the mandatory group there is little value to the property for resale which we are fine with. Our intent was to get a lot of options to travel within the SVO properties. However, I am now concerned that it may be more difficult than we anticipated to get reservations at many of the "top" resorts, even booking 8 months out.
Different than the recent thread we bought a 2 bedroom for 2 weeks spending $25,000 and received 152,000 Staroptions. The Starpoints were not as generous totalling 44,000 for both weeks. MF- $1246/year
1. Is this a decent deal?
2. With that many options does it make it easier to try and get a reservation at Harborside or St Johns if you are slightly flexible vs 76,000 options or is just flat not available?
3. Still confused on the II exchange program outside of the Starwood resorts but I am gathering the fountains may not be as easy to exchange value wise??? I guess I didn't realize people go through II to get one of the starwood resorts versus going through the Staroptions????
4. I know many have recommended consider the Kierland villas in similar situations but I believe we would prefer orlando over the two as our home resort and I believe the price is comparable considering we do not plan to resale. Unless Orlando is always available and not an issue, maybe buying at Kierland would be smarter considering it is a mandatory property. I just haven't seen that many options for that MF and overall price. All the talk about resale properties and other than ebay I wasn't even sure where to look. I am also confused if what I bought is considered resale since it was previously owned but I did buy it from Starwood. Any input would be appreciated.
Wow- sorry for all the questions, I just am in my 10 day window and wanted any feedback on any of the above to feel better (or worse) about this purchase. I really, really appreciate your help. Bottom line we have looked at others and went with Starwood because we liked the properties but if we can't get in them I do not want to go to Orlando every year for $25,000. No one ever mentions the Myrtle Beach, Mission Hills, Steamboat, Dessert Willow, or Lagunamar resort- are they nice and available?
cnik
These questions are close to others that have posted-but I did not want to take from people responding to their question by asking another question on their thread. I have never done this but thought starting a new thread seemed the curtious way to ask a question. I have spent a great deal of the day reading all of the threads and have learned so much. Thank you to all who take their precious time to answer our newbie questions.
First of all there was a thread that discussed this at length that you can now buy a Fountains property in the Vistana Orlando Resort and be part of the Starwood Vacation Ownership which is what we did yesterday from Starwood.
If I understand correctly the fact that the Fountain properties are not in the mandatory group there is little value to the property for resale which we are fine with. Our intent was to get a lot of options to travel within the SVO properties. However, I am now concerned that it may be more difficult than we anticipated to get reservations at many of the "top" resorts, even booking 8 months out.
Different than the recent thread we bought a 2 bedroom for 2 weeks spending $25,000 and received 152,000 Staroptions. The Starpoints were not as generous totalling 44,000 for both weeks. MF- $1246/year
1. Is this a decent deal?
2. With that many options does it make it easier to try and get a reservation at Harborside or St Johns if you are slightly flexible vs 76,000 options or is just flat not available?
3. Still confused on the II exchange program outside of the Starwood resorts but I am gathering the fountains may not be as easy to exchange value wise??? I guess I didn't realize people go through II to get one of the starwood resorts versus going through the Staroptions????
4. I know many have recommended consider the Kierland villas in similar situations but I believe we would prefer orlando over the two as our home resort and I believe the price is comparable considering we do not plan to resale. Unless Orlando is always available and not an issue, maybe buying at Kierland would be smarter considering it is a mandatory property. I just haven't seen that many options for that MF and overall price. All the talk about resale properties and other than ebay I wasn't even sure where to look. I am also confused if what I bought is considered resale since it was previously owned but I did buy it from Starwood. Any input would be appreciated.
Wow- sorry for all the questions, I just am in my 10 day window and wanted any feedback on any of the above to feel better (or worse) about this purchase. I really, really appreciate your help. Bottom line we have looked at others and went with Starwood because we liked the properties but if we can't get in them I do not want to go to Orlando every year for $25,000. No one ever mentions the Myrtle Beach, Mission Hills, Steamboat, Dessert Willow, or Lagunamar resort- are they nice and available?
cnik
