By: JonBell jbell@railey.com 301-501-0735 October 21st, 2008 Category: Deep Creek Lake Real Estate, Fractional Ownership, Wisp Real Estate

Fractional ownership homes at Deep Creek Lake are growing in popularity. The concept of multiple families joining together to purchase a vacation home is not new to the Deep Creek Lake area, but having a management company/developer to design and manage the project is.

Second Homes at Deep Creek Lake is the Deep Creek Lake area’s primary fractional home developer, and according to owner/operator Pam Scott, was the first company to bring fractional ownerships to Maryland. Pam was recently quoted in the Cumberland Times Newspaper explaining the difference between fractional ownership homes and time shares. “With a time share you are getting time,” Pam stated. “But with this [Fractional Ownership] you get a deed. Each of the six owners has a deeded interest. It’s very much legally owned by each of them.” Pam also clarified, “The other differences include the average size of a timeshare versus a fractional property, with the fractional property tending to be much larger and more conducive to entertaining family and friends, as well as the exclusivity of the property, with far fewer owners of each fractional property than for timeshares. In fact, Second Homes properties have a maximum of six owners with a minimum of eight weeks usage of the home per year.”

Second Homes at Deep Creek Lake’s first fractional ownership project was a town home in the Overlook Mountain Villas community of the Wisp Resort. This home was decorated and furnished far beyond anyone’s expectations. The developer included a fully stocked kitchen with top of the line appliances, custom painted rooms, and even a fully equipped home movie theater. Most Deep Creek Lake area realtors will agree with me when I say that this is one of the most outstanding properties at Deep Creek.

The Overlook Villa property was built in 2005 by Don Nemith Builders, Inc. and was purchased by Second Homes at Deep Creek Lake just after completion. Once Pam and her group took ownership of the property, they started the renovations to create their first masterpiece. According to MRIS, the Deep Creek Lake area’s MLS provider, the first fraction was listed for sale Dec 18th, 2006. It did not take long for the news of this unique product to spread. This new fractional ownership concept offered an upscale quality of life product to two different categories of Deep Creek Lake vacation home buyers. The first group consisted of those who could not have afforded this luxury in the past, while the second consisted of busy folks who could have well-afforded whole ownership, but felt they just did not have time to use their home more than 8-10 weeks per year.

After the first two sales of The Overlook property, the fractional market seemed to slow. However, Pam forged ahead to purchase La Maison de Montagne, located at 316 Moonrise Dr. in the Waterfront Greens community of Deep Creek Lake. La Maison de Montagne is a single family, 4,400 square foot, lakefront home that was purchased and upgraded to Pam’s lavish taste and divided into six fractional ownership units.

The end of summer 2008 brought new life into the fractional ownership market at Deep Creek Lake. Not only did the Overlook Villa property sell out in Oct 2008, but three of the six interests at La Maison de Montagne have been purchased.

I was fortunate enough to represent the buyers of Fraction 2 at La Maison de Montagne. The buyers and their family have been renting properties and vacationing in the Deep Creek Lake area for years. Pam Scott sent a follow up email to the buyers after their first stay in the property and forwarded their response to me. Their description of the experience is better stated in the few paragraphs below than any advertisement that could be written.

Hello Pam

First off - we would like to thank you once again for the very nice “Welcome Basket”. It was much appreciated and enjoyed by many.

Second - our first stay “exceeded all expectations”. We had several of Cathy’s family up on Sunday for a Cookout and your name came up repetitively for all of the amenities that “La Maison” has to offer. From using the baby swing for our cousins 3 month old baby, to the bikes that were ridden by several, the Kayak’s, the Croquet, the game room, the hot tub with CD & speakers, etc, etc. Everyone just had a wonderful time because of the Love and Detail that you put into the home.

As far as Cathy & my daughter - they loved cooking in your kitchen. From your selection of the dishes to all of the appliances (we did have great waffles on Monday), they could not think of a single thing they would have done differently. Our friends could not get over how beautifully decorated the home was. By now, I’m probably boring you - I could go on and on.

Please also extend our thanks to Lisa for the grand tour on Friday. We also followed her suggestion and stopped by the Fireside Deli for some wine and great sandwiches.

The nicest thing about our first stay was that the home just “feels right” for us at this point in time. We immediately took to home owners from watering the flowers to making sure the sap from the pine tree was not tracked inside. As we left our 2nd home this morning, we put to rest any questions we once may have had if this was the right decision. We are thrilled to be part owners and look forward to the new memories awaiting us at La Maison.

Thanks so very much . . . .

Bill & Cathy

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