Welcome to TUG!
We took the bait on a Studio in May.
Any impressions - warnings (I'm still rifling thru the documents/forums - it did take the vacation out of my vacation)
What are realistic rents?
I don't own at WSJ, so I'm not an expert on rentals, but on Redweek.com I see rentals starting at $143 a night. Typically, a private owner gets far less than the developer, when it comes to renting. It is not uncommon for salespeople to grossly overstate the rental potential. Right now with the cost of air travel and the economy, there seems to be a larger than usual number of rentals on the market.
How much do maintenance cost go up (It has a bigger long term cost than time share)
You might want to read the
2008 Maintenance Fee Thread in the Owner Resources Sticky at the top of the board for more info., but in general we are seeing some pretty steep increases-
Posted on Jan. 28th by DavidnRobin: Got our WSJ notice - it looks as if it is going to be the MF and a Replacement Reserve Fee (lucky us) - which is $174 - and the brings it to a whopping incr ease of 15% - but then again, I would have been willing to [pay] this much [for] the couch (and offered...). I will follow-up in Westin St John thread -
http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthr...419#post459419
Have the current upgrades addressed some of the management concerns I've seen?
Some - but it appears from recent posts that they still have a ways to go.
What are chances of decent trades with a studio in premium season
With Starwood all exchanges are based on the number of Staroptions a unit is worth - it doesn't matter what resort the Staroptions came from. So with a Starwood exchange, WSJ has no more value than the same number of Staroptions from Scottsdale. For more info. on exchanging see the Starwood FAQ and the Staroptions Chart in the Owner Resources Sticky.
