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Launch HN: Ancana (YC S21) – Fractional ownership of vacation homes

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Re: Launch HN: Ancana (YC S21) – Fractional ownership of vacation homes

#111

Post by dragonwriter »

buu700 wrote: post #83
dragonwriter wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My parents have been timeshare owners for years so I'm very familiar with the sales tactics resorts use. Regardless of how they spin it, all you really own is a block of time. With Ancana your purchase is a deeded right to the property. Most modern “timeshares” (the word remains current in common use though the technicalities have changed and the industry has mostly moved to “vacation ownership”) are deeded straigh…

Would it be accurate to say that Ancana is to timeshares as Airbnb is to hotels (a technical distinction without major practical differences to the end user), or would it be more accurate to say that Ancana is literally just a specific type of timeshare? If the latter, does the elevator pitch of Ancana make it at least seem like a uniquely good/interesting timeshare implementation, or could the same description be ap…

> If the latter, does the elevator pitch of Ancana make it at least seem like a uniquely good/interesting timeshare implementation

I think using units that are individual homes with a small number of owners per property potentially has some interesting dynamics. The guaranteed ability ro reserve a (even if not the single most preferred) high-demand date each year is an obvious plus from that.

Conflicts within the ownership group, particularly over relationships to property management are very much a thing in shared-interest vacation ownership. Typically these are intense, political, but (for most owners) impersonal because of the size of ownership groups. With small-group ownership of individual properties, there would seem to be a possibility for those to be much more intense and personal, both because of the smaller group size that is involved and the greater sense of attachment/ownership of the specific property.

Re: Launch HN: Ancana (YC S21) – Fractional ownership of vacation homes

#112

Post by ghaff »

PaulHoule wrote: post #109
rblack44 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the feedback. One of our biggest challenges is in overcoming the gimmicks timeshares use to hook customers. My parents have had a few different timeshares, some of which were great, others complete scams. They've been incredibly successful in building huge businesses with these tactics. It really comes down to what you are purchasing, when you can use the property, and how you resell. With timeshares you a…

It's hard to believe a timeshare can really compete with keeping the money and then spending it when you want at the resort or hotel you want to spend it at when you want to spend it. "Just say no" seems to be the answer for me.

I once stayed at a timeshare that a friend of mine had. I think, for her, it was maybe a forcing function to go there on a schedule. Earlier I was in a ski house which was nice but more bounded.

But personally I've never seen the attraction in a vacation house. Maybe it can be temporarily more cost effective but even if you have exclusive use of a room--which isn't the case with a traditional timeshare--I'm really skeptical that any potential savings are balanced by "Where do you want to go this month/year?"

Re: Launch HN: Ancana (YC S21) – Fractional ownership of vacation homes

#113

Post by rglullis »

Make it for digital nomads who are willing to pay a monthly fee to build equity on the properties.

Offer not just vacation homes but homes that are big enough to have 6-10 people co-working and co-living.

Instead of having 4 families splitting a house for 3 months, every participant has the right to live in the house or to rent it out.

Create a market for them so that they can trade their shares. Make it easy for people to sell their shares for co-owners.

Make it international, focusing on places that are reasonably developed and with good climate: southern Europe and the Caribbean.

For the past 5 years I've been unsuccessfully trying to convince my very risk-averse wife (civil engineer) that digital nomads are going to be an increasingly powerful market. If you are willing to do any of that, let me know so that I can quit my job and apply to work with you. :) If not, please let me know what problems you see with it. I've been thinking about this for quite a while and the pandemic made it even more appealing to me.

Re: Launch HN: Ancana (YC S21) – Fractional ownership of vacation homes

#114

Post by hardtke »

hifriends wrote: post #17

My family owns 1/4 of a vacation house through an LLC. Some issues that come to mind are: - Can an owner rent out their time? Who gets the rent money? How much is reserved for maintenance because renting will incur higher maintenance costs. - What happens if one owner can’t carry their weight on taxes or insurance? Our house is beach house so insurance is ridiculous — we rent it out during the summer to cover it and…

I've always heard this is a great way to doom a friendship. Are you ever at odds with the other owners? I can imagine if you've planned your summer around a family vacation and the previous guest trashes the place (or breaks something making the place unusable) it could get ugly. Or worse yet, it is no pets and one owner starts bringing their dog.

Re: Launch HN: Ancana (YC S21) – Fractional ownership of vacation homes

#115

Post by quickthrowman »

How do you plan to handle maintenance, especially maintenance that can be deferred until it suddenly cannot, like foundation/slab issues, sewer line/septic replacement, site drainage problems, roof replacement, etc. The interests of the owners may not be aligned.

Re: Launch HN: Ancana (YC S21) – Fractional ownership of vacation homes

#116

Post by rblack44 »

PaulHoule wrote: post #109
rblack44 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the feedback. One of our biggest challenges is in overcoming the gimmicks timeshares use to hook customers. My parents have had a few different timeshares, some of which were great, others complete scams. They've been incredibly successful in building huge businesses with these tactics. It really comes down to what you are purchasing, when you can use the property, and how you resell. With timeshares you a…

It's hard to believe a timeshare can really compete with keeping the money and then spending it when you want at the resort or hotel you want to spend it at when you want to spend it. "Just say no" seems to be the answer for me.

One area we differ from a timeshare is an Ancana home is an investment in real estate. If the property increases in value, you capture the appreciation and if you decide to sell you make a profit.

Re: Launch HN: Ancana (YC S21) – Fractional ownership of vacation homes

#117

Post by rblack44 »

rglullis wrote: post #113

Make it for digital nomads who are willing to pay a monthly fee to build equity on the properties. Offer not just vacation homes but homes that are big enough to have 6-10 people co-working and co-living. Instead of having 4 families splitting a house for 3 months, every participant has the right to live in the house or to rent it out. Create a market for them so that they can trade their shares. Make it easy for peo…

Love some of these ideas! We are getting a lot of interest from digital nomads looking at this not just as an investment in a vacation home, but as a remote office for a few months a year. We are looking at how we can better serve that market, would love to chat as it seems like you've been thinking about this for a bit. Shoot me an email (ryan@ancana.co).

Many of the homes are big enough spaces to use for coworking, but not always ideally furnished as such. It could be interesting to tailor some homes for this exact use case. Interesting.

The rental rules depend on the property. Some of our homes are in communities with rules governing short term rentals. For the others, we leave it up to the owners to decide as a group whether to allow renting the home when not in use.

We definitely see an opportunity for people to trade time in different homes. With the affordability of many of our properties, we think some people will buy shares in a few homes and bounce around. Anyway, would love to get in touch and pick your brain

Re: Launch HN: Ancana (YC S21) – Fractional ownership of vacation homes

#118

Post by rblack44 »

kfrzcode wrote: post #107
azinman2 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me it just sounds like you’re trying to avoid a 4 letter word. Even if your model is completely different, it’s so on the periphery of timeshares that I think you really need to find a different term. Maybe one that’s less “accurate” and one that’s a brand all its own. Might be worthwhile to learn how AirBNB has described themselves over time. Their name at least plays on something familiar but makes it different.…

Nomadomicile

haha love it

Re: Launch HN: Ancana (YC S21) – Fractional ownership of vacation homes

#119

Post by PaulHoule »

rblack44 wrote: post #116
PaulHoule wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hard to believe a timeshare can really compete with keeping the money and then spending it when you want at the resort or hotel you want to spend it at when you want to spend it. "Just say no" seems to be the answer for me.

One area we differ from a timeshare is an Ancana home is an investment in real estate. If the property increases in value, you capture the appreciation and if you decide to sell you make a profit.

People are finally realizing that's not a good reason to buy a house. If somebody wants to bet on real estate prices going up, shouldn't they just buy shares in a REIT?

Re: Launch HN: Ancana (YC S21) – Fractional ownership of vacation homes

#120

Post by ytdytvhxgydvhh »

rglullis wrote: post #113

Make it for digital nomads who are willing to pay a monthly fee to build equity on the properties. Offer not just vacation homes but homes that are big enough to have 6-10 people co-working and co-living. Instead of having 4 families splitting a house for 3 months, every participant has the right to live in the house or to rent it out. Create a market for them so that they can trade their shares. Make it easy for peo…

I wonder if something like this could help with residency through investment visas, etc. I mean, I know nomads are nomadic by definition so maybe some wouldn’t care much about long-term residency but I’d imagine a lot of American digital nomads would be happy if they could get a foot in the door for EU residency for example.
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