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Rapid First Purchase - Thanks to TUG & Smart Choice Realty!!

Lewis

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Quick background: My wife and I enjoy travelling to Scottsdale, and about a month ago I decided to check into a timeshare.

I found TUG and greatly appreciate all the info! From the TUG review boards, member posts, and tripadvisor, I identified the Westin Kierland Villas as the best fit for us. We wanted more space, but wanted high quality accomodations too. We want to mostly travel to Scottsdale but also to Hawaii on occasion. The SVN has Maui already + Kauai soon to come, and the SVN made the Kierland Villas that much more attractive!

The value from Starpoints, convertibility to Starpoints, and SPG premium membership weren't top priorities (as we don't travel much for business), plus it looked like Starwood was raising its prices, so I decided to buy resale.

Then, the search began. From my search, timeshareaz.com (Smart Choice) really stood out as providing complete, accurate information for its listings. :clap: Another good site was transactionrealty.com. :clap: These sites stand out because many listings on other sites offered sketchy/ incomplete/ exaggerated information. The Starwood season and SVN points value are the most important info. to know, but are curiously not reported much of the time. In my opinion, many Gold sellers/brokers are trying to present their TS as a Platinum, and many Silver sellers/brokers are trying to present their TS as a Gold or better. For example, many listings listed "Red" or "Floating" for the season. I would think this is fairly meaningless to a halfway knowledgeable Starwood / SVN buyer. There are so many good choices in the SVN, I am hoping to never have to exchange it outside.

From the website, I had a confidence level and positive impression of Smart Choice. I called them, and spoke with Judy Rulli (broker). She was very knowledgable and had a new listing for WKV at a price that worked for me. I put my offer in right away (Sept. 1) and it was accepted by the seller. I had excellent communication with Judy and Brandon Phalan in their office. The closing went very quickly and my deed was recorded on Sept. 20 (about 2 1/2 weeks later!).

I don't have a comparision, but I get the impression that many resale purchases take several weeks (if not months) to complete. Smart Choice simply has it together, from their website, to customer service, to closing the sale quickly. I would like to thank them for their great service and would recommend them to other resale buyers.

I look forward to using our new timeshare in 2007. Thanks again to TUG and Smart Choice for making our first timeshare purchase so easy!!
 

Time2Ponder

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Lewis said:
I don't have a comparision, but I get the impression that many resale purchases take several weeks (if not months) to complete. Smart Choice simply has it together, from their website, to customer service, to closing the sale quickly. I would like to thank them for their great service and would recommend them to other resale buyers.

I look forward to using our new timeshare in 2007. Thanks again to TUG and Smart Choice for making our first timeshare purchase so easy!!

Congratulations on your purchase; doing the research ahead of time makes the process much less painful/much more pleasant.

Re: your quick turnaround time and Smart Choice. Not to denigrate Smart Choice (I'm certain they were on the ball in your case), but it sounds like you got lucky.

Usually, the amount of time it takes to close on a sale and record a deed are beyond the control of the realtor/resale agency, and can be limited by such factors as how long it takes the seller to sign and notarize the documents (on two occasions, it took our sellers over two weeks to return the documents to the closing agency), the "busyness" of the county clerk (or whoever it is that records the deed), and so forth. It's in the best interests of the realtor and closing agency when things move quickly ("time = $$"), but it often just doesn't end up that way.

JMO.

Kim
 

Denise L

Tug Review Crew: Veteran
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Starwood/Vistana, Disney, Hyatt, HGVC
Congratulations! I'm sure that you will enjoy your Westin Kierland for years to come!

Can you share with us what you ended up buying, and for how much? We are always curious about these things. If you aren't comfortable with telling us the price, maybe you can tell us what size unit and season you purchased, and how many Staroptions you have. Will you be visiting Kierland in 07 or another SVN resort? Not only are you another happy Starwood owner...you are our competition at 8 months out, ha ha!

Congratulations! Glad your closing went quickly too. I have the *worst* luck with closing and recording. Our DVC took a LONG time and I have another resale in the works that is dragging :( for some unknown reason at the recording stage.
 
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