Co-Homeownership Innovator Pacaso Will Drive Listings to Agents, Says Co-Founder

Austin Allison, co-founder and CEO of new tech startup Pacaso, would love to help agents win more business.

Pacaso will also help consumers achieve their dreams of owning a luxury vacation property, Allison says. The twist? They’ll be sharing the property with other people, too, but never overlapping at the same time. In fact, most won’t ever meet or see the other owners. It’s a unique, modern, app-drive iteration of an old idea – and it’s already built incredible momentum in the marketplace.

Allison joined Nick Bailey on Good Morning RE/MAX this week to explain what Pacaso, a company less than two weeks old, is hoping to accomplish in a bevy of markets around the U.S.

Like Bailey, Allison is a real estate lifer. He began selling properties at 18, and went on to wide acclaim as the founder of DotLoop, a leading real estate management platform that he sold to Zillow Group several years ago. With Pacaso, he’s taking another deep dive into real estate technology innovation.

“Pacaso empowers people to buy and own shares of second homes and enjoy true ownership benefits, but for way less cost and hassle. It’s for people who aspire to own second homes but maybe can’t afford a whole second home, or maybe they can afford a whole second home but just can’t justify owning 100% of something that’s going to sit vacant 90% of the time,” Allison explains.

Allison acknowledges that the concept of vacation property co-ownership isn’t new, but until now, the process has been tedious and filled with drawbacks.  

The vast majority of second homeowners use their vacation properties for an average of five to six weeks per year, he says. With the involvement of a real estate agent, Pacaso can help vacation property buyers purchase ownership of a percentage of a luxury residence without having to deal with the hassle of coordinating occupancy or usage with the other co-owners.

“When you show up at your Pacaso, it feels like you own 100% of it. Every owner has their own owner’s closet, and we are starting to do more personalization services that make the experience feel more and more like it’s 100% your home. So, imagine walking into the home and seeing your clothes in the closet, a couple of your family photos on the wall and your favorite wine on the counter. That’s the sort of experience you’re going to gain by being a Pacaso owner,” says Allison.

Through the Pacaso digital platform, co-owners of a property will request time they’d like to use the residence, and the program algorithms will allot equal time to each owner while considering their preferred time periods, such as holidays.

Allison believes real estate agents will capitalize on the opportunity to help more second-home buyers in luxury markets.

“We can help you help convert clients into second homeowners and similarly, on the listing side, we can help [agents] win more listings because we have a really interesting program that empowers second homeowners who own 100% of their homes but use those homes only 10 or 15% of the time. With Pacaso, they can sell 50% to 75% of their home, take their money off the table, pay off their mortgage, and reduce their operating expenses while still retaining the same amount of home they would have been using anyway,” Allison says.