Newbie Question

Just got back from vacation. My wife & I recently sat through a presentation at the Sheraton Vistana in Orlando. As with most people, we were not planning on buying into a vacation ownership while on vacation. Given our lack of research/knowledge, it sounded like a good deal at the time (even though I hate to make spur of the moment decisions) plus we have the 10 day recession period. From all that I have gathering looking around this site, it makes zero sense to purchase from the developer and we should cancel and purchase a resale. I just want to make we understand what we are giving up and can get on the resale market.

Purchased Biennial unit w 76,000 StarOptions, Gold+ Season
$408 MF, $134 SVN fee, $58 taxes = $600 annual cost
30,000 SPG points
Unlimited getaway weeks

If we cancel & purchase a resale, do we only get the unit and corresponding StarOptions if we purchase a unit from a "Mandatory" location ? I assume we lose all of the other benefits including the SVN membership.

Thanks in advance and any other helpful info would be welcomed. We have a couple days left in our recession period.

Also, what is meant by "Lock Out" ?

VA77 said:

Thanks in advance and any other helpful info would be welcomed. We have a couple days left in our recession period.

Also, what is meant by "Lock Out" ?

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If you only have a couple days left, you need to get on it right away! Make sure you follow instructions exactly and have it postmarked and send it certified so you can prove it was sent on time. If you decide later that you really do want to buy it, any salesperson will sell it to you again. You will lose nothing.

Lock out is a unit that can be broken up and used as 2 different reservations. Normally, it breaks into a studio and a one bedroom.

I am not familiar with Starwood, but many people here are and they will answer your other questions. Have you looked at completed Ebay auctions to see what similar things have sold for?


ETA: If you do decide to buy resale, you can learn about the resellers here. Some are excellent and some are horrible.

presley said:

If you only have a couple days left, you need to get on it right away! Make sure you follow instructions exactly and have it postmarked and send it certified so you can prove it was sent on time. If you decide later that you really do want to buy it, any salesperson will sell it to you again. You will lose nothing.

Click to expand...

Exactly.

If you purchase a mandatory resale, the only thing you lose is the ability to convert your unit into StarPoints (i.e. hotel points) which is almost never a good economic trade.

If you purchase mandatory resale, you will be in SVN; what is "mandatory" is your participation in SVN. Which is generally a good thing.

SVN membership costs approx $130/yr., but includes a membership in Interval for external trading. It is also the mechanism through which you use StarOptions to trade within SVN.

Getaways

Rescind immediately the deal will always be there from the developer

Also everyone (resale and developer purchasers) that has a timeshare affliated with international interval get unlimited getaways that is not a Starwood specific benefit.

A Sheraton resort unit can be bought resale for $1 plus closing costs.


If you buy a mandatory resort you will get staroptions and Sven membership.

This is the primer
http://www.tug2.net/timeshare_advice/Starwood_Vacation_Network.htm

If you bought resale at Sheraton Vistana Villages, Bella and Key West phases or any of the other non-Orlando Mandatory resorts then you would get the StarOPTIONS and SVN (Mandatory and SVN are joined at the hip) but would not get conversion to StarPOINTS or SPG GOLD status.

In no way recommending the purchase of the following link
http://www.ebay.com/feed/51467129

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2BR-Sherato...re-DEED-/271404658258?&_trksid=p2056016.l4276
But as you can see you can get this unit buy it now (likely overvalued and won't sell at that price) and have 81,000 options for cents on the dollar price you agreed to.

Here is another example.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/81-000-STAR...E-34965-/390776353400?&_trksid=p2056016.l4276

so recind and research if / what you want to own and then buy resale at your leisure.

Sent our notice in today...Thanks all !

Just rescinded over the last three weeks. I waited about a week after proof of delivery and then called the main office in Orlando. I found the number on a web search. They got me to the right department who verified receipt of the letter. I called a few days later and got confirmation of the cancellation. I am now buying the same thing I just rescinded from a re-seller for 75% less. The Starpoints just never made the deal worth it for me.

Congrats on realizing this before it was too late.

Please note: There is no reason to call Starwood after rescinding - it has no impact on the process. All you need a return receipt to verify the receipt of the letter. A phone conversation has no purpose.