Introduction
Imagine owning only one-eighth of a house. You get many of the benefits of a regular holiday home, except you share the ownership with seven other parties. Would that interest you? This week I catch up with Austin Allison. Austin co-founded a platform called Pacaso which enables second-home ownership through a fractional ownership model. Through this model of home ownership, Pacaso is able to increase the utilisation of a second home from 10-15% to roughly 90%. Within six months of launching, the business scored a $1 billion valuation which skyrocketed the startup to unicorn status. In this episode, Austin and I discuss the fractional home ownership model, how Pacaso acquires properties, the spectrum of buyers, and the purchasing process. We also dig deeper into his entrepreneurial journey and how he’s built such an impressive company in just two years.
Show Notes
03:10 What is Pacaso
06:45 Timeshare vs Fractional Ownership
08:20 How scheduling works
14:00 Adoption of the fractional ownership model
17:51 Ways of acquiring properties
19:40 The spectrum of buyers
21:16 Austin’s entrepreneurial journey
25:17 Challenges Austin’s faced
29:00 Raising money for a startup
32:00 Working with investors
34:25 Austin’s expectations
36:00 Family support
38:20 The mechanics of a company like Pacaso
40:00 Benefits of co-ownership
43:07 How Pacaso makes money
45:00 How the homes are sold
46:37 How real estate brokers react to Pacaso
Show Sponsors
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Social Links
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