My husband and I visited SBP in 2008, and we were on the fence about purchasing. They offered us the explorer program which would lock in the original offer for 2 years to give us time to think. We are scheduled to return to SBP in May of this year and attend another offer meeting. I would like some advice on whether we should go ahead and purchase or is SVO not what it appears to be. Thank you for any advice you may have. We are very new to timeshares, and it seems much more confusing than what they explained to us back in 2008. Thanks again!
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Explorer Program
- Thread starter jdlove
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SVO can work well. Unfortunately:
1) Since the ability to trade internally doesn't transfer upon resale purchase, you'd have to buy from the developer in order to trade within SVN. You'll pay thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of dollars more for your unit in order to get the privilege of using the network.
2) SBP is a second-tier resort. I'm not talking quality (as I have no idea what the quality is) but in terms of StarOptions. Depending on what season, and how many bedrooms you buy, the MOST SOs you'll get, 125,000 for a 3 bdrm platinum season in the Palmetto phase, will not get you into a 2 bdrm during platinum season in any of the Tier 1 resorts. I strongly encourage you to look at the StarOption chart linked in the Owners Resource sticky above to explore what you could do with your SOs.
3) MFs are on the rise. SBP owners were recently hit with a significant increase in MFs. I have no idea what rentals go for in Myrtle Beach, but I'd definitely check out Redweek or even Tug classifieds to see what the going rate is for rentals. If rentals are not SIGNIFICANTLY more than rentals, then there's no way I'd buy there. Because Starwood can, and will, raise MFs to the point where it'll be very difficult for you to unload your property should you want to sell.
My best advice is that if you LOVE the property and want to go there year after year, then you might consider buying a villa on the resale market with the intention of using it year after year. If you buy during the platinum season, you might very well be able to use II to get better trades using II than using SVN.
If you love Myrtle Beach, I'd also steer you towards Marriott's TS there. It's right on the beach, it's resale value has held firm, and there are way more Marriott TSs to exchange to should you want to travel.
Hope this helps!
1) Since the ability to trade internally doesn't transfer upon resale purchase, you'd have to buy from the developer in order to trade within SVN. You'll pay thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of dollars more for your unit in order to get the privilege of using the network.
2) SBP is a second-tier resort. I'm not talking quality (as I have no idea what the quality is) but in terms of StarOptions. Depending on what season, and how many bedrooms you buy, the MOST SOs you'll get, 125,000 for a 3 bdrm platinum season in the Palmetto phase, will not get you into a 2 bdrm during platinum season in any of the Tier 1 resorts. I strongly encourage you to look at the StarOption chart linked in the Owners Resource sticky above to explore what you could do with your SOs.
3) MFs are on the rise. SBP owners were recently hit with a significant increase in MFs. I have no idea what rentals go for in Myrtle Beach, but I'd definitely check out Redweek or even Tug classifieds to see what the going rate is for rentals. If rentals are not SIGNIFICANTLY more than rentals, then there's no way I'd buy there. Because Starwood can, and will, raise MFs to the point where it'll be very difficult for you to unload your property should you want to sell.
My best advice is that if you LOVE the property and want to go there year after year, then you might consider buying a villa on the resale market with the intention of using it year after year. If you buy during the platinum season, you might very well be able to use II to get better trades using II than using SVN.
If you love Myrtle Beach, I'd also steer you towards Marriott's TS there. It's right on the beach, it's resale value has held firm, and there are way more Marriott TSs to exchange to should you want to travel.
Hope this helps!
DeniseM
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jdlove - Hi and welcome to TUG! 
I agree with Lisa - You can pick up this timeshare on the resale market for next to nothing (less than $500.) I certainly wouldn't pay the developer thousands of dollars.
Right now, there are some major concerns with Starwood:
1) Escalating double digit maintinance fees
2) Negative changes to SVN rules without notice
3) Negative changes to exchange rules (Interval International) without notice
4) Extremely poor communication between management and owners.
As Lisa said, I would strongly look at all my options, before I bought from Starwood.
For a good over-view of how Starwood works, see the Starwood FAQ at the top of this forum.
Good luck!
I agree with Lisa - You can pick up this timeshare on the resale market for next to nothing (less than $500.) I certainly wouldn't pay the developer thousands of dollars.
Right now, there are some major concerns with Starwood:
1) Escalating double digit maintinance fees
2) Negative changes to SVN rules without notice
3) Negative changes to exchange rules (Interval International) without notice
4) Extremely poor communication between management and owners.
As Lisa said, I would strongly look at all my options, before I bought from Starwood.
For a good over-view of how Starwood works, see the Starwood FAQ at the top of this forum.
Good luck!
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Captron
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Most here would say enjoy your time at the resort. Go to the meeting with a VERY firm resolve to not buy and then do more research and buy resale. You can get mandatory resort (which transfers staroptions) for a SMALL fraction of what the developer charges.
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Westin Kierland
Sheraton Desert Oasis
I would suggest bringing printouts from eBay of SBP completed auctions to your meeting. Though the salesperson will start talking about an inability to convert to StarPoints, no StarOptions, etc - it provides you an opportunity to ask how valuable those features truly are... to your travels. If you intend to go to SBP, as others have already said, it's not worth anything. I've seen a few salespeople visibly lose their argument when presented with the facts of resale prices - and that was before the market imploded in the last year. Either way, do *NOT* buy from the developer.
I suggest the same thing. If you like Myrtle Beach or Hilton Head area, buy Marriott timeshare. They have many, beautiful ocean front resorts in that area and resale prices don't fall in this economy.
For SBP, if you buy it from starwood, as soon as recession period (5-7 days) is over, it will be $1 on ebay.
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