By Scott Gaertner

Scottsdale North has always been a great second home and vacation destination but lifestyle changes due to COVID-19 have made it even more desirable. More people now realize that they can work remotely for part of the year. Others realize that they want to spend more time with loved ones or want room to breathe.

There is a new product available that may revolutionize the way we look at second homeownership the way Uber, Airbnb, and Netflix changed the way we look at their industries. The product is a company called Pacaso and it makes second homeownership available to many more people via co-ownership.

About Pacaso
Pacaso (pronounced like “Picasso”) creates a more accessible category of second-home ownership by building a marketplace around co-owning a second home through a property-specific LLC, and reduces the cost and hassle of ownership. Pacaso manages the property and uses proprietary technology to make scheduling easy. Pacaso was founded by Zillow executives, including co-founder and former CEO Spencer Rascoff and founder and former CEO of Dotloop, Austin Allison.

As people rethink how and where they want to live during and after COVID-19, Pacaso offers the best way to buy and own a second home. Pacaso modernizes the generations-old practice of co-owning a second home, creating a marketplace that makes buying and selling easy, and adding professional management and technology to make scheduling dates and owning the home seamless and simple.

Buyers considering a second home can tell Pacaso where they want to buy, how much they want to spend, and how much time they expect to spend in the house. Pacaso and The Scott Gaertner Group will help them find the perfect home and set up a professionally managed LLC uniquely designed for co-ownership. The buyer will purchase their desired share — for example, half of the home, which will guarantee them access to the home for half the year — and Pacaso will briefly purchase the remainder of the home, before reselling the remaining portion to vetted buyers. Pacaso will manage the property, and owners will use Pacaso’s mobile app to make scheduling easy and equitable. Buyers will pay a 10 percent fee at the time of purchase, and then will pay an annual property management fee equal to 1 percent of the purchase price.

“The co-ownership concept for second homes has been around for decades,” says Allison. “But the traditional process is difficult, high risk and onerous. Pacaso is the easy button for co-ownership. We bring together and organize the ownership group; manage the legal process; provide the tech tools so owners can easily and equitably schedule time, and manage the home itself.”

“Pacaso also makes the process more accessible, allowing buyers to purchase anywhere from one-eighth to half of a second home, depending on their occupancy needs,” Allison continues. “It dramatically reduces the hassle. And finally, owners can sell with ease through Pacaso’s marketplace and our network of real estate agent partners — without having to build consensus among all owners.”

Want To Sell Just Part Of Your Home?
Are you not using your home as much as you thought you would? Many Scottsdale North second homes are only used a few weeks or months a year, creating a carrying cost burden that some owners no longer want to shoulder. For current second homeowners who love their home but want to right-size their ownership and lessen the hassle, Pacaso will purchase part of the home, then resell as shares to vetted buyers. The pandemic has changed a lot of thinking about where folks want to live and for how long. Many have now discovered that they can work from anywhere for at least part of the year, why not have options?

If this might make sense for you or anyone you know contact The Scott Gaertner Group at 480-634-5000 to see if the home of your dreams aligns with Pacaso’s home standards and see if this home ownership model is an option to help your family achieve your real estate goals.

Scott Gaertner is an Associate Broker with Keller Williams Northeast, who for the past 25+ years has helped more people to find their lifestyle niche in the Scottsdale North area than anyone else. He also contributes his thoughts on lifestyle interests in the area.