posted 02-21-2005 18:17               

Buyer's remorse is natural, particularly on such a large purchase, so don't necessarily let opposing viewpoints make you crazy and feel bad about your decision for you and your family. However, certainly do what resonates with you and mind the time clock, should you choose to change your mind.

First, perspective...by the nature of the TUG community, most people are by nature "bargain hunters" and I mean that in the nicest way. I did, at one time, very much consider myself in that category...when I had the time and energy to enjoy the hunt and the work involved in this approach to timesharing. In fact, I have owned over 20 timeshares (believe it or not, a drop in the bucket to many TUGgers) over the last nine years. My first purchases were very cheap resales that subsequently sold for a nice profit. I continued to hunt for resales, but at the same time also bought two premium developer weeks because even after getting increasingly educated, I learned that there were certain objectives that most resales were not satisfying FOR ME. Now that I have been whittling down my ownership to something more manageable given my changing interests and schedule, I will likely be (I obviously still enjoy, but no longer eat, breathe and sleep timeshares as I once did) left with my two premium weeks, a couple that I rent annually, and keep in reserve when I need a good strong week to use for exchange, one other week/memberships that allows flexibility to travel to typical non-timeshare locations and that's it. Except, I am actually mulling over the purchase on one more premium developer week...why? Am I mad? No, it just suits *MY* needs.

For those of us who have had the privilege of buying really cheap resales, we can only do so if the developer market is supported.

I think we could hear more about your needs and how you envision traveling.

Clearly, finances are an important consideration. So, obviously if this stretched you beyond comfort...the answer may be clear. One thing should be true, a similar deal will likely be they’re later, except if they are still raising prices during construction phase. I have no idea where Atlantis is in the building progress, but I thought I read they were working on a new phase suggesting that prices may continue to go up for the next several years.

Please understand clearly, that I in know way consider myself any kind of expert at all. I simply feel that it may be help for you to consider other experiences, so I detail mine so that you understand the context of my comments which I think can be quite important in evaluating advice.

Well, I have said enough. Perhaps too much. Good Luck whatever you decide and there are no wrong decisions to be made here.

posted 02-21-2005 19:33               

If you have passed the right to rescind period, enjoy your timeshare. Starwood does have a very good product. You will likely be able to do direct exchanges easily with other Starwood owners before the 8 month out period of being able to make exchanges within the Starwood system (so you can get the exact week you want at another Starwood property 12 months in advance).

posted 02-21-2005 22:28               

If you can afford the unit (it sounds like that is the case) and you want the top of line (which is what you bought) then more power to you. It also sounds like you wanted the flexibility of both starpoints and staroptions. You can get the staroptions buying resale, but not the starpoints. You have to pay developer prices for that. I think the 3 bedroom L/O also puts you into the 3 star elite category for SVN. (I don't know that the 3 star level is that big a difference, but the 4 and 5 star elite look like they have some great perks.) You shouldn't see many (if any) of the 3 BR L/O units for resale anytime soon because they only recently have been sold by Starwood. And if saving $10,000 is not a priority due to the time it would take to find the resale, then again, it sounds like you have thought through this.

You may want to post on the Hotel Timeshare section. You will get some great advice from people with more experience in the Starwood system. There is also a Starwood direct exchange group that you may want to join if you decide not to rescind. If you become a tug member, you can search for the thread on joining the direct exchange group.

Part of the reason you are not hearing "rescind, rescind, rescind" is because you didn't post in the "Buy, Sell, Rent" section - you'd probably get more advice to rescind there - mainly because your original post mentioned that you went into this without knowing much about timeshares.

Again, good luck. Ask questions, read about different exchange companies and what you can do with your 3 br l/o. The Harborside units are known to get very high rents. You can check www.redweek.com to see what people are asking for rent (doesn't mean that's what they're getting, though). Did you purchase Platinum, gold or silver?
Edye

posted 02-22-2005 07:03               

Did you mention what season you purchased?

posted 02-22-2005 07:28               

The reason is that buying a timeshare is an impulse purchase. Very few people are willing to pay more than 20-25K for a timshare while at home with time to think about it.

posted 02-22-2005 10:30               

quote:

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Originally posted by PeterCooper:
...I've done some real estate; I can't see ANY way that the whole Atlantis project is going to do anything but appreciate in value...

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Yes, the real estate will appreciate, but your investment in this timeshare will not.

I'm not saying you shouldn't keep this, since it sounds like you know what you're getting, and Harborside is one of the nicest resorts I've visited. I agree with you it's not worth it to buy a "cheaper" timeshare and play the trading game. We've also purchased where we want to vacation, so we don't require the assistance of an exchange company.

However, if you or your family try to resell this, you will not get more than you paid. Most lesser resorts will only sell for 25% of the developer purchase price, if that. I've heard Marriotts hold their value somewhat better, but you wouldn't make money on the deal.

Whichever you decide, enjoy!

Oops, forgot to add that yes you may be able to buy 3-2BR resales at Harborside for the same price, but you would also incur 3 maintenenace fees at about $1400/yr each.

posted 02-22-2005 14:24               

I know one option they did mention is the Explorer (I think package) - prepay for a 6d/5n stay at one of the hotel towers, and if you buy a unit during that stay, you get 100% of the cost applied towards purchase, meaning your stay effectively was free. That makes me think you should at least be able to get a multi-night hotel stay out of it. Certainly paying developer price vs a lower resale price, hopefully you got as much from them as you could other than on price.

posted 02-22-2005 16:38            

quote:

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.. you would also incur 3 maintenenace fees at about $1400/yr each.

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... but have rental income potential that greatly exceeds the maintenance fees.

posted 02-22-2005 20:48               

Just FYI regarding your Starpoints, Atlantis is not a Starwood hotel. Also, while most Starpoints never expire, I'm pretty sure that Starpoints awarded as a bonus by the developer actually do have an expiration date. IIRC, they expire in five years.

posted 02-27-2005 11:43               

One thing to consider is whether you will be going to Harborside each year, or will be mainly trading for other places. IMHO, Harborside is too expensive to buy as a trader-- there are cheaper timeshares that trade just as well, if not better. To me, it only makes sense if you want to go to Atlantis at least 3 out of 4 years. Also, you need to consider when you will travel there. If you need Feb or March, it will be difficult to get that without buying. If you can be flexible and are willing to take January, May, or September, you can probably trade, within SVN or within Interval for a smaller capital investment. It would probably take some work and a lot of planning and flexibility, but a lot of TUGgers enjoy that sort of thing. For us, we knew we wanted to go there almost every year for Presidents' Week, so buying made sense.

Sounds like you did very will with the incentive StarPoints. As a rule of thumb, they are worth between 2 and 5 cents each-- you will get a lot more value out of them using them overseas. On the expiration-- most StarPoints (earned by hotel stays or Amex card, etc.) do not expire, but the ones we received as incentive for purchase did have a six year expiration. By the way, if you don't already have an SPG Amex, you will want to get one-- great way to rack up the StarPoints. We used our SPG Amex to pay for our Harborside purchase and earned a ton of points that way. We broke the payments down into pieces, had Starwood put it on the card, paid it off, put more on, paid it off, etc. Took maybe 2 weeks to do the whole thing, but it got us a lot of extra StarPoints. For us, the StarPoints pretty much bridged most of the gap between developer and resale prices.

Regarding SVN Elite status: When we did our owner's update last week, they told us that buying a 3 BR L/O did not qualify for Elite program, because you need *2* weeks and the L/O doesn't count as 2 weeks. Didn't sound fair to me, but that's the way it is.

If you are considering resale, you should know that phase one MF's are less than phase two (but you don't get the nifty flat screen tv or DVD player with phase 1-- we still have VCR's). I have heard of people buying phase 2 resale, but I'm not sure how people get comfortable spending that much money on a timeshare without seeing the deed. We bought our unit a year ago and still don't have our deed-- we were told it would take 3 years for the Bahamian government to record it. So there's no way that those phase 2 resales have deeds yet. How do you check title on a deed that hasn't been recorded yet? I don't know the answer-- I'm not an attorney. But that's a question I would want to investigate before I plunked down a big chunk of money on a resale.

Harborside is a great place. We just plain love it and I'm so glad we bought there. It works for us. If you think about it and come to the conclusion that it's not the right decision for you, then by all means rescind. There are lots of wonderful timeshares out there that are much less expensive than Harborside (hand around TUG for a while and you will learn a lot). But if you keep it, I hope you enjoy it as much as we do. And maybe I'll see you around the Point some day!

posted 02-28-2005 14:07               

quote:

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Originally posted by Loriannf:
I'm curious about whether or not your 3 Bedroom L/O is built. I spoke with a Starwood salesperson today who noted that the 3 beds wouldn't be available until September. We're considering buying at Harborside, and also considering another week at St. John (in Phase 2).

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3 Bedroom L/O is only available in Phase 2, which is still under construction. Supposed to be open in September 05. Phase 1 has 2 BR L/O's available.

posted 03-01-2005 09:50               

We went down there because friends have a share (have had, I believe, for about 20 yrs) that they weren't using. I guess my expectations were a little high.

Nothing really wrong with Guanahani. Plumbing works, a/c works, tv's work. Beds are decent. Our unit had a view of the water, and was close to the pool.

In retrospect, I suppose that any complaints I'd have would be totally in the nitpicking area, and might not even be apparent to someone else.

The location isn't bad. You can walk to various fast food joints, a couple of liquor stores and a supermarket. There's a MUCH better supermarket a little further away, but not really in walking distance, especially with groceries.

You can also walk, if you wish, to Johnny Canoe's (which I found to be a letdown, even allowing for the horrid service. I found Nassau's culinary aspects uniformly disappointing. But then again, I live in NYC, I'm in the catering business, and perhaps my standards are high) and the Crystal Palace (decent casino, stay away from the buffet).

Staff at Guanahani was nice, and helpful. Other guest were fine, except for a large contingent of Bosox fans who did the best they could to behave, given their once-in-86-years glory and their innate disabilities.