Same old questions for you experts from newbie

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

Just sent you an important PM. Katherine

I can try to answer some of your questions. We bought the 2 Fountains as well (and retro'd a unit) and I thought it was a fantastic deal. With 152,000 SOs, you can go in a 2 bedroom anywhere via SVN. I like the SP option too (although we got 44,000 SPs for each unit as well as incentive SPs). If you look at active sales with Starwood, no other sales get you that many SOs for that little price. Most are in the $35,000 to $45,000 range for 148,100 SOs.

The only other good option for you would be to buy Kierland in resale, which is Mandatory, where you could get the 148,100 SOs for about $22,000. But then there is no SP conversion (which I happen to like). For the extra few thousand, I would prefer to have the SP conversion option for the rest of my life! Even if others here disagree with me.

Harborside and St John is going to be near impossible to get no matter where you own (unless you own there) whether going through II or SVN. I think that's just reality. If you want to be there year after year, you gotta pony up the cash to own there.

We don't talk about Steamboat, Desert Willow and Lagunamar because they are not open yet! They are brand new. Lagunamar opens this Summer (as does Princeville) and the others in 2009 or 2010. Sooooo, not much news there. WMH is VERY NICE and since it's driving distance to us, we love going there. We'll be there this winter actually. You can go to the TUG reviews section and read more about the other properties.

Katherine

I think this is a decent deal, just not one I would purchase. If you're going to be happy going to Orlando every year or three, then this may be great for you. But, if your intention is to use your SOs annually then you'll be using them within the 8-month reservation window where it doesn't matter where you own. And, when you consider that the Kierland Platinum is about $20-23k purchase and similar MFs to your two weeks in Orlando coupled with a strong resale capability, it seems to me that Kierland would be the better buy. What happens if you become unhappy with SVN or decide not to travel as much? Those Fountains units will sell for almost nothing compared to a Platinum Kierland. In 5 years you might decide that you like Hyatt, Hilton, or Marriott better than Starwood...and if you had Kierland you'd probably be able to get most, if not all, of your original investment back out so you can invest in a different t/s plan. I think the choice is obvious.

If you don't want to buy via eBay, then find a reputable resale group. I and others bought our t/s' via agents, not strictly from eBay.

So, RESCIND!

*Note to viewers: the author is a confirmed t/s value-oriented buyer

Thank you both for your help- I will keep you posted
I am addicted already to this site and absorbing all I can from all the different threads!

Buy where you want to go...

For us - that would not be Orlando.

Converting to SPs would be our last option.

Except for WPORV (which we bought from SVO) - we could almost get back what we paid for our resale SVO TSs

best...