What is Fractional Ownership?
The phrase "fractional ownership" is fairly self explanatory and basically
means owning a fraction or share of something. Now this could be a property, a car,
a work of art or indeed anything of great value.
More often than not fractional ownership is a means of owning and enjoying
something, normally expensive collectively and thus spreading the costs and possibly
risks of ownership.
People and businesses have been buying real estate, commercial machinery, ships,
aeroplanes and other assets on fractional ownership for many years now -
the principle is almost the same in every case.
Fractional Property - Fractional and Shared Ownership
The current downturn in the property market has led to a recent increase in
the number of people and investors looking at the fractional ownership market as
a means of spreading both the risk and costs involved in buying a overseas property
for investment or holidays.
Typically, fractional property ownership is an ideal opportunity for a group of
family or friends interested in owning a property abroad to pool their buying resources
and achieve something far superior to what they may have been able to afford singularly.
Of course this doesn't work if one of the group is looking for a permanent residence
abroad.
Timeshare vs Fractional Ownership
Fractional Ownership is definitely not timeshare so don't get the two mixed
up. Timeshare is very much different to buying a fractional shared ownership property
and we have listed some of the differences below.
The differences between timeshare and fractional ownership are:-
- Timeshare does not offer actual ownership of the property only the right to a number
of weeks usage.
- Timeshare could in theory be owned by up to 50 different people or families.
- Timeshare is normally limited to specific developments whereas fractional ownership
can used to buy any property anywhere.
- Fractional can be divided to suit the group of people buying with each
party buying similar or differing fractions of the property.
- Fractional is easier to control and manage when there are only a few people
involved.
- Resale values of timeshare are generally a lot lower than original purchase prices
whereas a fractional property will increase in value in much the same
way as other properties do.
- Fractional can be handed down to offspring
- the list goes on......
Top 10 Questions to ask about Fractional Ownership
When considering buying a fractional or shared ownership property there are
a number of questions that you need to ask to ensure that your property purchase
is best protected for you.
We have listed below our top 10 major questions that you should be asking:
- Is the property deeded? - will you receive a deed for your proportion of the property?
- Ensure you understand and accept the % of the property that you are buying
- Can the weeks that you are buying be changed or moved - is there flexibility
- What does your ownership of the fraction include?
- What are the on-going charges if any are associated with the your fraction
- Can you re-sell your fraction and if so are there any additonal charges
- How are the properties furnished and maintained - is there an agreement in place?
- Is there a property management company in place for rentals etc?
- Can you sublet your fraction?
- Can you buy out other fractional owners at a later date?
It is always better to be well prepared when buying anything of such value and the
more work you put in at the begining of a purchase the less likely it is to be complicated
should you come to sell.
Fractional Properties
As the overseas property market continues to slow down there has been a marked
increase in the the number of fractional properties coming onto the market.
We have fractional properties for sale in Greece, Spain, Panama, Venezuela, Cape
Verde and even in the UK.
Thought you couldn't afford an overseas property? Then think again and check out
our Fractional properties...
More Fractional Properties