By: Mike Kennedy mkennedy@railey.com 301-616-6106 February 19th, 2008 Category: Deep Creek Lake Real Estate, Fractional Ownership

One of the newer trends in our real estate market here at Deep Creek Lake has been the introduction of fractional ownership. The first fractional offering was developed by a company called Second Homes at DCL. This concept has been a little slow to catch on in this market  - there have only been a handful of fractional sales in the past year or so. But fractionals are huge in other resort markets - like Park City Utah, Steamboat Colorado, and Vail to name just a few. It’s only a matter of time until the fractional concept catches on here at Deep Creek Lake and Garrett County. 

What is fractional ownership? In a nutshell, it’s owning a fee simple ownership percentage in a property - the most common in our market being a 1/6th ownership. For your share you get the ability to use that property 1/6th of the year - or in other words 8 weeks out of the year - (52 week less 4 weeks reserved for maintenance divided by 6 fractions). And then the 8 weeks you can use it usually get broken down by the season - you can use the house for 2 weeks in the summer, 2 weeks in the fall, 2 weeks in the winter, and 2 weeks in the spring.

Pros & Cons - It’s important to note these are NOT Timeshares or Residence Clubs. These properties are fully furnished, fully decorated and ready to go when you arrive at it - all the way down to having a full roll of toilet paper hanging in the bathrooms. Other than buying groceries you will spend no time maintaining the property….no cutting grass, no changing light bulbs, painting, etc. 

While this fractional concept isn’t for everyone looking to buy a vacation or second home - it does open up a unique opportunity for those looking to purchase something they may have not had the means to do on their own. Basically, it makes these types of properties more affordable. For a little over $329,000 you can buy part of and enjoy all the benefits of a lakefront home that would normally cost well over $1,000,000 by itself. And you can split the ongoing costs and maintenance expenses - like real estate taxes, HOA dues, and utilities - six different ways now. On the flip side though, you do only get to use the property 8 weeks out of the year…..but most survey’s show that vacation home owners only use their properties 8-10 weeks each year anyways. And if you decide your deeded interest can be sold, willed, or gifted at a later date.

Current Offerings - If you are still interested please contact us about the current fractional ownership opportunities in this market. We are the only real estate company in the area right now offering fractionals. Below are some of our offerings - it’s a nice mix of the different types of properties you can find at Deep Creek Lake;

• 1/6th of a lakefront home in Waterfront Green for sale for $329,000
• 1/6th of a lakefront townhome at the brand new Creekside condominiums for $259,900
• 1/6th of a lake view townhome at Overlook Villas for $259,900
• 1/6th of a lake access home with indoor pool at Cedar Shores for $299,000
• 1/6th of a lake area duplex style townhome at Northlake Village for $119,900

In future posts about this topic, we’ll work through some of the math and show you how all the numbers work - and we’ll also try to better explain how the usage rotation works as well - but until then please use this post as a starting point to better understand this unique concept in property ownership.

Tags: Deep Creek Lake Real Estate, Fractional Ownership

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 at 5:32 pm and is filed under Deep Creek Lake Real Estate, Fractional Ownership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.