Always wanted to have a luxurious vacation home in a 5 star resort but were not able to use it enough to merit the cost.

A new breed of vacation home ownership, called “fractional ownership,” is becoming increasingly popular with busy professionals looking to maximize their vacation dollar.

Fractional ownership of luxurious vacation homes is a relatively new concept that allows you to enjoy three months of ownership privileges at a top-of-the-line luxury resort, but at a fraction of the cost.

Fractional ownerships are usually found in exclusive and luxurious resort locations around the world, such as Bahamas, Tuscany Italy and Cabo San Lucas, just to name a few. Pride of ownership coupled with the ultimate in ease of usage makes fractional ownership one of the very best ways to own a vacation home.

Fractional ownership makes intelligent investment sense as it matches usage with cost. It hardly makes sense to bear the burdens of full ownership when the option of fractional ownership exists. Over 60% of second homes are only used for 3 months a year, the owners of these homes are, of course, funding their upkeep and security year round, even while they are not in residence.

By comparison, fractional owners pay only a pro-rated share of operating costs. We have a fractional real estate project in Jaco offering 25% ownership segments that grant the owner an average of 13 weeks per year in two-week increments on a rotating schedule.

According to the 2007 Annual Fractional Interest Report compiled by NorthCourse , while most Fractional Ownership buyers have been found to be able to afford whole ownership of a luxury second home as well, there are many who cannot. Therefore, industry experts’ opinion that Fractional Ownership “satisfies a market niche at a lower price point than whole ownership, within the real estate market.”

According to the 2007 Annual Fractional Interest Report, a leading global consultancy and market research firm, “the Fractional Ownership industry in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean achieved record sales volumes worth $1.65 billion in 2006, up 32% compared with 2005.”

From a strictly legal standpoint, the term “timeshare” refers to any arrangement under which a group of people co-own a property based on time; but from a practical standpoint, there are significant differences between fractional and timeshare ownership. For one thing, time-shares are merely contracts specifying a right to use a property on certain weeks.

Fractional owners usually get an actual, owned, deeded interest, which can be sold, left in a will or put in a trust, practically anything that can be done with any deeded property. In sum then, the meaningful difference between most timeshares and fractional ownership arrangements is the extent of ownership and control given to the users of the property.

Recent surveys conducted by PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) have revealed that “almost half of all U.S. households have heard of Fractional Ownership as a shared leisure real estate option.” The consulting firm also reports that “Forty-one per cent of high-income households have heard of Fractional Ownership as a real estate ownership option while 17 percent indicated they were very familiar with the concept.” However, despite the up tick in buyer awareness levels, the timeshare concept remains the most widely recognized shared ownership model.

Fractional are far more exclusive and include many more luxury amenities and services than timeshares. They tend to be larger homes, usually three to five bedrooms. Timeshares usually allow you use for just one to two weeks per year. Fractional offer from two to 13 weeks, and those don’t necessarily have to be consecutive weeks.

With Fractional ownership you have all the benefits of total ownership with a fraction of the cost. You receive a fully transferable equity-based asset, founded on a tangible property and you may sell your share at any time or give to your heirs. Prices are always driven by demand and, as availability of prime fractional properties is limited, demand will certainly continue to outpace supply. This will result in almost certain capital appreciation.

For more information about condos, homes and land for sale in the beach town of Jaco and surrounding areas please contact our Recommended Realtors in Jaco Shawn Fletcher and his wife Hannah Fletcher
using the simple form below:

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.