frequently asked questions

If you cannot find the answer to your question, please contact us by calling 1-866-650-4334 or send an email to us.

Q: Why is co-ownership both a wise investment and an intelligent alternative to sole ownership of a vacation home?

A: These are the reasons that our investors are so excited:

• Enjoy a high-end vacation home in a prime location in an appreciating market.
• Pay only 20 percent of purchase price and on-going costs.
• Generate positive cash flow depending on level of personal use.
• Individual financing packages may be available.
• Own an interest in an appreciating asset.
• Choose the combination of personal use and rental income the works for you.
• No management responsibilities; Elite maintains, manages and markets your property.
• Pride of ownership without the risk and hassle of being the sole owner.

Q: How does a co-ownership ownership of a luxury vacation property compare to sole ownership?

A: While some vacation home owners require availability more than ten weeks per year, many find co-ownership a wonderful alternative to paying the full purchase price and operating costs, as well as managing and maintaining a second home. With co-ownership, owners get most of the benefits of sole ownership, without the expense and hassle. For ten weeks each year you get full use of a wonderful vacation home, while being responsible for only 20 percent of the up-front and on-going operating costs.

Q: How do you balance the return among those who buy the property purely as an investment and those who want to use it more personally?

A: Owners choose how to use their ten weeks, i.e. for personal use or to generate rental income. Elite pools the rental income and returns the appropriate pro-rata share to co-owners based on the amount of personal use.

Q: What happens to the weeks that I do not use personally?

A: In order to maximize the investment return for owners, we will re-market and attempt to rent as many unused weeks as possible. This income will go toward paying overhead and any remaining income will be shared pro rata between owners.

Q: What if I want to donate one of my weeks to my favorite charity?

Q: How is this different from a timeshare?

A: Timeshares are not sound investments; in fact they are really not investments at all. The typical timeshare usually has from 26-52 owners per unit.   The sponsor will mark up the property as much as 300% of its true market value, leaving no opportunity for appreciation.

The Elite co-ownership vacation home investment is structured as a true investment shared by a very small group, typically five or less. A share in an Elite property represents a real estate asset with the appertaining tax benefits and opportunity for appreciation.  Most importantly owners occupy a home in a prime location that is built and furnished to the highest standards.

Q: How is this different from a vacation club?

A: Vacation clubs, also known as a residence clubs, are similar to country club memberships. Members have the use of collection of very nice residences for a certain amount of time each year. The cost of the initial membership is usually somewhere between $100,000 and $400,000 in addition to annual membership fees, usually $30,000 to over $100,000. At the end of the day, members have no ownership stake in any real estate.

Another way in which an Elite boutique vacation home investment differs from vacation clubs is the ability to realize cash flow from rental of the property, rather than being out of pocket $30,000 to $100,000 annually.

Q: How is this different from fractional home ownership offerings?

A: Most fractional offerings are located in hotel or condominium style properties with hundreds of units. The mark-up on most of these offerings is typically 150 percent or more, leaving little room for an owner to realize any appreciation on their investment. The number of owners for each property is typically 8 to 12, affording a much lesser degree of privacy and exclusivity.

Elite properties are shared by a select group of qualified owners and are far more luxurious than most fractional offerings. Elite properties often provide the opportunity for membership in top drawer resorts that do not have other fractional opportunities available.  

Q: What if two of the owners want to use it at the same time?

A: Elite owner groups are so small that conflicting requests for use is rare. Should an overlap occur, we first contact the owners to assess each one's level of flexibility, with the aim of working out a solution. Failing that, we invoke very fair tiebreaker system that establishes priority for reservations.   Priority rotates among the owners each year .