[bob33212]

The business model doesn't seem honest. I doubt they really want to buy 3M homes and sell that to 6 people at 500k each. There isn't much of a market for that.

More likely they want to find a way to circumvent short term rental laws and then charge a premium over Airbnb for short term rental access in locations that Airbnb cannot rent. On paper that company could be worth billions. Then they sell it before investors realize the legal tricks they used only work for a short while.

[kristjansson]

The "homeowners can 'gift' stays to 'friends and family'" [second scare quotes added] quote in the middle, plus the app to organize bookings hints at the direction they're going to take this. You're not buying a very expensive timeshare, you're buying a 1/8th share in a revenue-generating asset. These aren't paying guests, they're friends of the owners who have been gifted a stay.

Turns out, though, that a neighborhood of (by definition) multi-millionaires can mount a more effective defense than the markets airbnb started in.

[vineyardmike]

> app to organize bookings hints at the direction they're going to take this

Can you elaborate why the app hints at this?

[ttul]

It’s definitely no substitute for AirBnB. They’re buying houses worth millions and assisting groups of people to buy them together. The truth is that most people don’t spend that much time in their second home, so a 1/4 or 1/8 share is likely more than enough.

In Whistler, BC, such fractional ownership is common. And it’s true ownership on title, rather than a form of rental like a time share.

[ajsnigrutin]

But you don't buy a second home to timeshare it... you buy it so it's yours, filled with your stuff when you come there and always accessible.

500K for basically an airbnb, where i have to pack all my stuff, to go there for a week, then pack stuff, to go home is pretty useless to me.