Important Update Affecting Resale Purchasers

Mac, If you will go back to the begining of these pages on this subject the ideas you state which are very good and thoughtful have been tried. I personally paid to see a lawyer on this subject and he said he wouldn't and couldn't reccommend any lawyer that would take on sheraton/vistana without an outragous retainer. And as stated in one of my previous posts there was a time not that long ago when the was a computer set up so that you could get a list of all vistana owners but when sheraton took over that disappeared. Makes you wonder now doesn't it. Let me know if I can help in any way. There are a bunch of us. jeffcreighton13@yahoo.com

Macsille, I wasn't proposing 3 choices, I was stating 3 outcomes, or end-results. Actually, these 3 are subsets of the overall outcome: every owner at Vistana will end up paying the refurbishment fees, either by direct payment or indirectly by reduced value (due to their unpaid refurb fees) when they sell their unit. Those owners who do not pay the fees when they come due will damage their credit and end up paying more due to interest, fees and penalties. I want to re-emphasize that I don't agree with the cost or timing of this refurbishment.

While I understand everyones frustration withthe assessments, the units do look beautiful and their value will increase. It is unfortunate that so many people are not paying their assessments and dues. Those of us that have paid on time are being told that our fees are increasing due to those who have not paid. If you cannot afford it, then so be it, but if you are not paying based on the principle, remember you are not hurting the company, you are hurting fellow owners who have to come up with your share.

susanf267 wrote:

While I understand everyones frustration withthe assessments, the units do look beautiful and their value will increase. It is unfortunate that so many people are not paying their assessments and dues. Those of us that have paid on time are being told that our fees are increasing due to those who have not paid. If you cannot afford it, then so be it, but if you are not paying based on the principle, remember you are not hurting the company, you are hurting fellow owners who have to come up with your share.

If the value is zero, refurbishing will not help. What would it take to make people understand that there is NO market value for these units. NO ONE will buy them, unless they are cornered at a sales pitch and high-pressured into signing on the bottom line. I don't want to "hurt" anyone. Will one of you please, PLEASE take my timeshare? No charge. Honest. I've been trying to sell it or give it away for years.

yes please take mine too i dont want to hurt anyone either i just cant afford it after being made redundant and i certainly dont want my credit ruined through no fault of my own

from what i understand those who dont pay for their units will fall back to vistana who in turn will renovate them and sell them on... so whose making money on them????????

Its the big lye!!!!!!! These units loose there value. Check it out for yourself. When I bought mine I was told what an investment it would be for the future with disney right down the street it could be worth upwards to 40,000.00 in 10 or so years. Well, I'd be lucky to 8,000.00 for the 13,000.00 I paid back in 1990.

jeffreyc81 wrote:

Its the big lye!!!!!!! These units loose there value. Check it out for yourself. When I bought mine I was told what an investment it would be for the future with disney right down the street it could be worth upwards to 40,000.00 in 10 or so years. Well, I'd be lucky to 8,000.00 for the 13,000.00 I paid back in 1990.

Unfortunately jeffrey, you will not get $8,000 even. The market is NOT there. I've checked with resellers the last couple of weeks. I was given a price of $100.00 from three different entities. The only reason I can think of is that the resellers are buying them back at this rate and turning them over to Starwood for a fee (I would expect). I kind of thought this when I saw other posts who said they were only getting offers of $100 - $200. Now you may be able to get more on a private sale but I would expect not much. Starwood is going to make it extremely difficult to own these older units, I can already see it happening, even though I took issue with a few of you in earlier posts about the refurb fee, I believe now is the time to be getting out. Starwood wants these properties and I believe it is setting up the resale market so that it can get them cheap. These old units are sitting on some prime real estate and Starwood wants it. Even though I said everyone was stuck with the refurb, I did say it was NOT going to lend any value to the unit, except in Starwood's position. Starwood can now rent the units they are buying back, as they are nice, and get a fair rental value for them. I am afraid Susan's post is not so too.

who do i get intouch with then to sell it for 100.00 i just want rid of it and want to keep my credit intact

There are buyers out there!!! I am looking to get another unit to take advantage of the current market. It is true they selling very cheap - 2 nights ago, a 2/2 float with ALL fees paid to date sold for $306. If you are paid to date with all fees, then there is a resale market out there, you will not get alot, but some of us who like and use the property (as opposed to realtors, or investors) are actually looking to buy right now. If you are not paid to date on all fees though, you will have a hard time selling! Good luck!!

You should post a copy of this offer letter on the internet. People going for timeshare presentations at this resort should take copies of this offer ($210) with them and start handing them out to other prospective buyers.

Hey.. now that sounds like a great idea,,, I trust you will need Bail money if you try this... I am sure they will not only have you escorted out... if you persist.. they will have you arrested no doubt. I have had my unit since 1981, and was always impressed with the "florida Feel" of them when we arrived to use our week. Now they are making them look like we are staying someplace in the NorthEast/West somewhere... What happened to the Florida Look... isn't that why we chose Fla. for our timeshares?

Vistana did offer me 200.00!!!!!

Hey if you get $200 take it all I got on my 2 bedroom Courts a few months ago was $100.00 from a buyer that was it. All the offers I had were under $200 . You can't give these units away right now. With all of this going on and all the negative entries we are only hurting ourselves as to anyone buying them. If you look at the amount of rentals on SVR hardly any are renting there are so many available under what maintence fees are why would anyone buy one and pay all the costs involved and pay all the refurbibshment fees. I know I wouldn't .

i would take the money offered so who do i get in touch with jeffreyc81

I feel as though I am in the Twilight Zone! I am not sure why no one thinks these units are selling? If you paid your fees to date as required by your contract, then it should sell. These past weeks, I have been calling realtors and searching ebay...all the units are selling; especially floating weeks. I had to call a number of people before I found the type of unit I was looking for and I made a bid immediately since I knew it would be gone. The key is that no one wants to buy a unit hat has a lien against it (except maybe Sheraton or some investor), so if you have paid your fees, you should have no problem selling, even now! If you have not paid and have been in default, then maybe selling back to Sheraton is your best bet, even though you will not get much for your unit (at least you will be rid of the problem and accrue no further debt for 2010 fees). They will, no doubt, turn the unit over to their sales department and resell it for a profit while the rest of us owners have to pay all the defaulted maintenance and assessments. But hey, at least it is not your problem anymore. BTW - in reference to a previous post regarding the new style of the units. The old style was not "Florida" it was "old 80's early 90's". I do not know anyone who lives in Florida and has wicker and tropical colors throughout their homes or vacation house. The new style is clean, up to date and very welcoming. I guess it is a matter of preference, but everyone that I have spoken to who owns or rents at the Vistana Resort has had nothing but wonderful things to say about the units and the new decor.

what a crock. What do late fees and overdue maintenance fees have to do with selling price? If I owe $2000 on my unit on past due fees, and someone pays me $2500. for the unit, I net $500. Would somone pay me MORE if I owed nothing on the unit? Why?

That's like saying a house without a mortgage is worth more than one with a mortgage. I swear this site is loaded with shills that tell us to "pay, pay, pay!" Pay your annual fee, pay for "renovations" (which should have been accounted for in annual fees, as repair and replacement costs), pay whatever the timeshare people want. Crazy.....

Linda, It came right from vistana/sheraton.

H E L P This was not in the fine print.

As usual,, we have to pay for things to "KEEP UP WITH THE JONES's" as the old saying goes.. it's our own faults for being such snobs about where we vacation, we complain when it's not "really nice"... so then they have to make it that way so that everyone stops complaining, and so they hit us up for extra money to fix it up.. cause it has to be "top of the line".. and afterall,,, it's not there money that they are spending so it's a lot easier not to give a care at how much it's costing. I am sure that there are many other companies that could compete and do as good a job with perhaps a little less expense.. but as it always is with the wealthy board members... they don't look at the cost.. they just look at the benefits to their company. And I am sorry that you feel that tropical colors and the Florida style that is so lovely is 80's shabby..have you never been to Key West?? . like I said before.. if I wanted to stay in a dark dreary condo... I would go up north. Not to Florida. I am sure that the renovations could be done a lot less costly,, but they have their noses so far up in the air that they can't see daylight.. we are just a spoiled selfish society that always wants the best even if we can't afford it.. and now it 's come back to bite us. They are taking it to the extreme... tearing down and rebuilding walls.. ???? Giant TV's in every room... who goes to Florida to watch TV? and if you do maybe you should try enjoying Florida instead of TV. This is just another classic example of OVERKILL... with someone elses money.