Starwood Resale Office?

Hi all ,

I'm in the midst of buying a property (I have a few days left to cancel), and stumbled across this very helpful discussion board. So first of all, thanks for being here and for all the advice! I feel like I've justified the cost of my $2,000 computer by maybe saving $10,000 here!

The main thing that concerns me about my property (Cancun) is that I can't sell to others the bundle of rights that I'm buying from Starwood (the Staroptions and Starpoints can't be transfered). Upon my inquiry, the Starwood sales office confirmed this, but is trying to convince me that the non-transferability of SVN membership is in MY interest, to maintain the pricing integrity of the properties. Sounds awfully dodgy to me.

The key to the salesman's argument is that after any property's units are mostly sold out, Starwood opens a resale office for the property. Starwood will either buy back properties at their going rate less 20%, or will list your property for you (which they would sell with the SVN priviledges) at the going market price, and charge a 20% commision. I am told that this is already in effect in Hawaii.

If true, this would (at least partially) justify the premium of buying property through Starwood. A 20% commission is rather steep, but at least I could feel like I'm not buying a $10,000 property for $20,000.

I looked through the boards here but didn't find much discussion of resales TO or THROUGH Starwood. Does this sound familiar?

Thanks again for your help!

Welcome to TUG - like me - finding this site can save you $1000s (if not $10,000s)

Although it is not in the FAQs - the TUG-Starwood Golden Rule is to never believe anything a SVO Salesperson tells you.

Follow the 3Rs - Rescind-Research-Resale

I am sure there are many here wish they could sell thier Maui TS via SVO for at 20% of their going rate - or a 20% commision. Fact is that Maui (WKORV, KORVN) are Mandatory resorts - so SVN transfers upon resale. Another fact - is that this does not exist for HI.

What is the "going rate"?

For example - our WKORV VOI (OF Dlx) originally was sold by SVO for $65K (we paid a lot less than this resale) - this same VOI is now being sold (supposedly to anyone that just fell of the boat) for $105K. meaning that the original buyer could have made a profit (right...) - BUT resales for this unit are about $50K AND WSVO does not execute their ROFR to buy back this unit - even though they claim it is worth $105K! Smell something fishy here?

Best of Luck

btw - RRR

pale joe said:

The key to the salesman's argument is that after any property's units are mostly sold out, Starwood opens a resale office for the property. Starwood will either buy back properties at their going rate less 20%, or will list your property for you (which they would sell with the SVN priviledges) at the going market price, and charge a 20% commision. I am told that this is already in effect in Hawaii.

Click to expand...

Now that takes the prize for whopper of the week!

I own at the WKROV (Maui) & I paid $45K for my 2 bdm. ocean view unit - those units are now selling for less than $30K on the resale market.

If Starwood will buy my unit back at the going rate -20%, please FAX me the contract NOW!

I have a friend who is a WMH owner and has been trying to sell her unit for a while now. It's not a mandatory resort so SVN trading does not transfer either. THey sold out a while ago and there is NO resale office at the resort and no one is buying back her unit for 80% of cost! She is looking to sell it for $10,000 and she paid $29,000 for it a while back.

She'd like to see this alleged resale office/offer too! I am sure she'd much rather sell it back to Starwood for $20,000+ than on resale for 1/3 the price she paid.

Unfortunately, there is no such thing. Nice try though.

Katherine

You were lied to.

SVO does not offer resale services at any of its properties. It does get some properties back now and then mostly from foreclosures and from folks that refuse to pay their ever increasing (think double digit percentage increases annually) maintenance fees. Also, some folks occasionally trade in their existing SVO property to purchase a more expensive SVO villa.

Regarding your Cancun developer purchase, read here to make sure Lagunamar is right for you.

Regarding the fact that your salesman lied to you, please consider filing a complaint against him and SVO via this link to help prevent others from being lied to in the future.

Good Luck!
-nodge

Hello pale joe,

Some things the salesman didn't tell you:

a) Getting into St. John is impossible during the summer and winter. It's possible during the off season if you're willing to be put on a waiting list. Harbourside is still somewhat difficult. And forget Colorado during ski season. So take these out of the equation when deciding whether StarOptions are worth it.

b) If you do trade within SVN, you lose your view. So if you buy an ocean view at Lagunamar, you'll still probably be stuck with a dumpster view when you trade. (That's why a lot of ocean view/ocean front owners do direct trades or rent out their unit and use the proceeds to rent other places.)

c) Starwood has stalled creating new developments. Aruba is off the table and Los Cabos is just a dream. So don't count on trading to resorts that don't exist yet. Marriott, on the other hand, has hundreds of locations in several countries.

d) Starwood properties apparently trade very well within II. And as a resale owner at a voluntary resort, you get the advantage of depositing the week you own at the resort you own. If you buy from the developer and want to deposit within II, Starwood can pick any resort and week in its collection and deposit it on your behalf.

Personally, I think it's a no-brainer. For the price you'd pay the developer you could pick up two weeks resale. And if I wanted to trade, I'd use II or do direct trades.

Cancun has a swim up bar! Rescind your purchase, buy WKV, and then trade into Cancun every year and drink lots of Margaritas!

nodge said:

Regarding the fact that your salesman lied to you. Please consider filing a complaint against him and SVO

Click to expand...

And Joe - PLEASE post the sales person's name here - I think we should start a list of sales people to stay away from!

Very troubling

Thanks very much for your responses.

This is my first foray into timeshares, and I'm really disappointed with the level of integrity that I've found. It is unbelievable how different the stories are that I read here versus what the salesman / sales manager tells me.

The thing that was hooking me despite my initial reservations is that they told me that the Cancun property that I was going to buy would be going up in price by around 10% at the beginning of June. I figured with that 10% increase and possibly another 10% in a year or two, Starwood likely would be selling units like mine in a few years for about 20-30% more than I paid. Since I was told that in the future Starwood would buy back (or resell for me) my property at the rate they were selling for at that point (less 20%), I figured the deal overall was pretty good.

And I guess that's exactly what they wanted me to think... :annoyed:

I'm not looking for some kind of steal in vacation property and am certainly not looking to flip timeshares to make a buck, but I'd like to think that the vacation property I buy for my family will be worth something when we want to cash out or upgrade.

I will definitely rescind the contract I'm currently in and do some more research. The salesman kept telling me that in the end it was a "no brainer" decision. I guess that's right, though not with the decision that was intended!

Anyway, thanks again for your help. I applaud your efforts to make this all work better for everyone.

Smart move Joe! I'm so glad you have time to rescind!

If you would care to share with us what your vacation/timesharing goals are, we could come up with lots of suggestions.

Here are my suggestions for buying your first timeshare.

You heard it here first, DeniseM is now on the TUG ADVICE PAGE!

Don't forget, we have prices from earlier this year here:
http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showpost.php?p=488890&postcount=11

If the price you were quoted is higher than this, the prices have already gone up. The price on the sheet on the link above for Lagunamar is what we paid last July for ours.

Pricing

clsmit said:

Don't forget, we have prices from earlier this year here:
http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showpost.php?p=488890&postcount=11

If the price you were quoted is higher than this, the prices have already gone up. The price on the sheet on the link above for Lagunamar is what we paid last July for ours.

Click to expand...

Developer (Starwood) keeps on increasing the price (to misled people into believing that the value of the developer purchased real estate is rising), while the price on the resale market keeps on dropping (due to more supply). What a game! Most of us on this board are hooked to this game (it is as much about vacationing as playing this!)

As your rescind, make sure to keep some choice "adjectives" for the salesperson. In Wyndham forums, owners submit what is known as a "Weasel" report.

DeniseM said:

Smart move Joe! I'm so glad you have time to rescind!

If you would care to share with us what your vacation/timesharing goals are, we could come up with lots of suggestions.

Here are my suggestions for buying your first timeshare.

You heard it here first, DeniseM is now on the TUG ADVICE PAGE!

Click to expand...

Denise, GREAT TIPS! And even GREATER TS deals via ebay!

sjuhawk_jd said:

Developer (Starwood) keeps on increasing the price (to misled people into believing that the value of the developer purchased real estate is rising), while the price on the resale market keeps on dropping (due to more supply). What a game! Most of us on this board are hooked to this game (it is as much about vacationing as playing this!)

Click to expand...

Exactly! They keep advertising price increases so people think that they have to lock in now!! In every other real estate market, soft sales + soft economy = drop in price. Starwood, in its infinite wisdom, thinks that its a great time to RAISE their asking price. And as the spread between the resale price and the developer price widens, the easier the decision will be for folks such as pale joe.

pale joe said:

Hi all ,


The key to the salesman's argument is that after any property's units are mostly sold out, Starwood opens a resale office for the property. Starwood will either buy back properties at their going rate less 20%, or will list your property for you (which they would sell with the SVN priviledges) at the going market price, and charge a 20% commision. I am told that this is already in effect in Hawaii.

Click to expand...

Fine have the salesman add to the contract that starwood will buy your unit back at the going rate minus a 20% commision...I'm sure if this is true he will have no trouble doing this...right?