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New Guy is lost

DeniseM

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DeniseM

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Timesharing has lots of rules - so you should put the breaks on and take a lot of time doing research before you buy. You are asking the right questions, but there is a steep learning curve.

I gurantee if you rush into a purchase, you will regret it later. The market has lots of resales available, so there is zero reason to rush into a purchase.

BTW - the value of the different seasons make sense: This resort is in Arizona - a week in the spring or winter definitely has more value than a week in the 110º heat of summer.
 
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No, I'm not buying anything for a while, and if I do I'll run the deal through you guys first
 

r1lee

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Plus, the wkv 148100 SO's resale only goes for about $14k. That's the going rate, that site is way to expensive.
 
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dioxide45

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You definitely want to slow down and really determine where and when you want to travel. Currently Lagunamar is in Platinum Plus season, so the StarOptions to stay a week there in June are 148,100 StarOptions. Buying enough Orlando weeks to go to Lagunamar in Platinum Plus season makes for very high maintenance fees. SVV has a rather high MF to StarOption ratio. Can you only travel during high season? If so, WKV may be a better option since there is a much lower MF to StarOption ratio. If you can travel during low season, then SVV can be a good option to at least test out the waters.

I would probably stay away from SMYN, they are an upfront fee listing company and provide no advice to sellers on how to price their weeks. So you see prices all over the map, mostly very high. They also push you to use their high priced closing services. Redweek, TUG Marketplace and EBay are probably the best options for finding great prices. I have found that there are often a lot of mandatory SVV weeks listed on TUG where with the other sites you have to dig to find mandatory and avoid the voluntary phases. The key is to only buy Prime (Platinum) season, don't get high or Gold Plus. High season has a higher MF to SO ratio that makes them less desirable. These are often found for free or close to it. Prime season at SVV will cost between $1200 and $2500 depending on if you get a 2BR or 2BR-LO.
 

alexadeparis

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I own in Orlando and get into St John about half the time, and half the time I go somewhere else, so personally, I wouldn't spend the enormous price difference for the St John home preference. I have never been to Orlando.
 

lizap

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Plus, the wkv 148100 SO's resale only goes for about $14k. That's the going rate, that site is way to expensive.

The current resale price is 15-17k. If you can find one for 14k, I'd jump on it, as that would be a great price.
 

r1lee

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The current resale price is 15-17k. If you can find one for 14k, I'd jump on it, as that would be a great price.

I bought mine for 14. Timeshare king sold 2 for 12.5k. I was able to find another recently for 14.75k for another member. Just keep on searching, they are out there.
 

icydog

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Listen to the folks here. I bought two Vistana Villages weeks with Star Options. I never really figured out the system. I never put in the time to learn how to use the Staroptions and I just deposited the week's into Interval, an exchange company, which was probably a stupid thing to do. I eventually sold one of the contracts and gave away the other one. Now I'm sticking to Marriott and Disney Vacation Club. It takes time and effort to learn how to best use a timeshare. That's why I suggested earlier in this thread that you wait before venturing forward with anything.

In any case, I wish you the best of luck!
 
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lizap

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I bought mine for 14. Timeshare king sold 2 for 12.5k. I was able to find another recently for 14.75k for another member. Just keep on searching, they are out there.

When did you purchase yours? Anything less than 15k is a very good price.
 

r1lee

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When did you purchase yours? Anything less than 15k is a very good price.

1 1/2 yrs ago. Timeshareking recently sold within the year and I found the other one for a member less then 6 months ago.
 

dms11

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Scott is probably no longer monitoring replies to his inquiries, and he undoubtedly made the right decision to do nothing if he is unsure. However, I have to take issue with many of the naysayers in the replies to his inquiries. We have been owners at Lagunamar for several years now and we love it. It is a great place to vacation and the StarOptions are as good at any other Vistana resort as the StarOptions from St. John or anywhere else. And in fact, we have been to St. John using StarOptions and found we did not like it nearly as well as we like Lagunamar. In October, we are going to WKORV using those StarOptions. So, while it may be true that Cancun generally does not have a high resale value or good rental history, those considerations are irrelevant if you plan on using what you bought, which we do.

Another misconception relates to the MF. We recently upgraded from gold to platinum in order to get 81,000 StarOptions to use per year (vs. 44,000 for gold). However, our MF stayed the same (around $1000/yr) because MF are based on size of unit and number of weeks, not on StarOptions. The MF for a platinum 1BR are exactly the same as those for a gold 1BR.

The bottom line is that we are quite happy with our Lagunamar ownership and have no regrets. As my wife has said more than once, the worst case scenario is that we get to vacation at that beautiful resort once a year. And as any of you know who have been there, that is one of the best resorts in the Vistana program. All the rooms have great ocean views and La Isla shopping mall is directly across the street, so great location as well.

One other question that no one addressed is the Explorer option. We used it this year and it is a great deal to get a week at Lagunamar in a 1BR (not studio) unit PLUS 70,000 SPG points for less than $2800. The SPG points alone are worth about $1800 according to The Points Guy. And we can then use our StarOptions elsewhere, as we are doing this year in Maui.
 

maddog497

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I don't think anyone is disputing how great Westin Laganumar is.

I think they are saying if you are going to buy resale that Lagunamar is not the best value for your dollar as the SO don't transfer.

If you're determined to buy directly from Lagunamar and don't mind the additional cost then go for it. If you want to save money and are ok booking 8 months out, there are cheaper options.

We are going back for 2 weeks this fall. We purchased 2 SVV contacts after returning last year from there. It is an absolute bueatiful resort and vacation area.


Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk
 

RnU

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We were "stupid enough" to buy Lagunamar about 8 years ago during a presentation at WKORVN. We kicked ourselves for about 5 minutes after we found TUGs and realized that there is such a thing as buying resale, especially at mandatory resorts. It was too late for us to rescind and so we decided to look at the bright side of things...we were now "forced" to go on awesome vacations (something we tended to neglect) and our now grown up kids would want to go with us (and they DO!). And another plus... we love the Oceanside villa. Being able to exchange into other resorts is nice too.

So were we stupid? YES! Do we regret our purchase? Not at all!
 

DeniseM

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maddog497 summed it up nicely - Lagunamar appears to be a beautiful resort, but most people want to know how to get the best value for their money, and that is almost never buying from the developer.

For those of you who bought from the developer the first time - so did a lot of us (ME!) so don't feel like the lone ranger.
 

vacationtime1

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Those are Kierland listings, yes, but at absurd prices. The first is priced 50% too high, the second is priced 300% too high, and the third is priced 10,000% too high (note: I own three units at Kierland and know the values).

Please take icydog's advice in post #18 to heart.

Should you eventually decide to buy a resale Vistana unit with transferable StarOptions (i.e. a mandatory resort), make sure you buy in the highest possible season the resort offers; the StarOption to MF ratio is much more favorable.
 
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DavidnRobin

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Defending a WLR resale purchase vs. VSE purchase can easily be answered...
A work colleague bought WLR from SVO for ~$22,000 (after fair warning) that is now worth ~$1,000 on the resale market.

That is $21,000 more for the privilege to use SOs within VSN or convert SOs to SPs - with potential bump in Elite status.
Do your due diligence - and never buy w/o first researching.
As you have... congrats.
 
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