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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

#131

Post by ytdytvhxgydvhh »

rglullis wrote: post #128
ytdytvhxgydvhh wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Not even needed. After the pandemic, many countries (e.g Costa Rica, Croatia, Malta) are interested in attracting remote workers and are offering year-long, renewable visas, some of them waiving any kind of tax-residency requirement. It is a smart move for them, because it basically treats nomads as perennial tourists with high spending power.

That’s interesting - I’d heard of Iceland and Costa Rica doing that, didn’t realize any EU countries were doing the same. I couldn’t tell from a quick Google search if “residence” under Malta’s digital nomad visa would qualify one towards any further EU residence or even future EU citizenship or if it’s just like you were there as a tourist for a long time.

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

#132

Post by koolba »

fuzzer37 wrote: post #98
rblack44 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A majority of owners need to agree before moving forward (so 3-1 or 5-3 in the examples you gave). The threshold increases for more costly expenses

So 2 people in agreement can just gridlock everything in a 4 person unit forever? That seems broken.

If all it takes is two (out of four) to decide something, the other two could immediately rescind the decision. It has to be a majority.

In most bureaucracies gridlock is not a bug, it’s a feature. It forces wider consensus.

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

#133

Post by mbesto »

rblack44 wrote: post #72
mbesto wrote: post #59

I'm your target market as I'm currently investigating this with 3 other friends. Honestly, I wouldn't trust a commoditized service for this. It requires honest discussions with friends, a trusted lawyer and a trusted accountant. I want to personally know the parties I'm dealing with because often times disputes can be handled with gentlemen agreements or through those trusted contacts.

Friends and family have been entering into these type of agreements for years. If you have a group that agrees on the same property we think that's awesome. Our solution isn't for everyone. But we are trying to make this co-ownership opportunity available to everyone. Especially those who want to invest in a property but don't have a group to go in with them. In terms of disputes, we agree that most can be handled th…

Makes sense, best of luck! Hopefully my direct and honest feedback is helpful as you navigate your business model.

I'm looking at Costa Rica, BVIs and Medellin.

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

#134

Post by ytdytvhxgydvhh »

rblack44 wrote: post #124
rbobby wrote: post #108

> Priority order is determined by the owner's purchase date (1st buyer gets 1st choice, 2nd buyer gets 2nd choice, etc), with the order rotating each year (2nd buyer gets 1st selection in year 2, 3rd buyer gets 1st selection in year 3, etc.). That's pretty awful. Do early buyers pay a premium? Do late buyers get a discount? Why not do a lottery? Or an actual cash based auction (proceeds go to maintenance fees... whic…

Curious why you think this is awful. The order rotates each year so for a home sold in 1/4 fractions, every owner would get 1st choice once in a 4 year period. Then it starts over again. All buyers pay the same rate, the priority selection rewards people who buy first, it's a benefit for moving fast. We are contemplating a snake draft system if we decide to allow people to schedule more than 1 priority date each year…

Is there any pre-draft conversation between owners or is it all an arms-length thing where each owner just starts seeing dates disappear on the calendar in Ancana?

Seems like with a good group of co-owners who understand each other’s intentions, they might plan around each other somewhat for mutually agreeable outcomes. E.g. if Owner 1 just wants a lot of time in the place in shoulder seasons for mild weather but Owner 2 specifically wants certain fall dates for an anniversary, the first owner could (inadvertently) screw the second owner if that wasn’t communicated.

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

#136

Post by tacostakohashi »

rblack44 wrote: post #70
dragonwriter wrote: post #12

As someone who has sat through several of them (and has bought a few), this is exactly, almost word-for-word (right down to the references to the complaints about the rest of the industry) the elevator pitch for every timeshare/vacation ownership scheme ever. > Unlike a timeshare, Ancana owners own a real asset (the property) versus a block of time. Like literally every timeshare/vacation ownership scheme I’ve seen o…

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…

> You own a piece of the home you are staying in, not a deed to a piece of a resort.

Which piece do you own? Is it like I own the roof, but someone else owns the roof, and a different person owns the floor?

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

#137

Post by ytdytvhxgydvhh »

So, no presumption against the founders here, but what happens if Ancana folds in a few years? Each property’s trust still exists and everyone still owns their shares but they need to find a new manager for the trust? I have pretty much no knowledge of that industry - are there other companies ready to take over management of the property and allocation of dates in a situation like that?

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

#138

Post by prawn »

rblack44 wrote: post #60
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…

Thanks for sharing! The co-ownership model has been around for a while, but usually has been limited to friends & family. Really great feedback on some of the challenges you've faced. - Rentals: this is property dependent. Some of our homes are located in communities that have explicit rules regarding short term rentals. For homes not governed by these rules, the owners are free to vote on whether they'd like to allo…

Can an owner sell to anyone they like or do the other owners have a say in this?

I co-own a building and one of the partners is looking to sell his share. I have first right to purchase and a majority vote is needed to approve a new owner, so the rest of us can collectively block a purchaser we don’t like.

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

#139

Post by Semiapies »

aparsons wrote: post #58
nicklo wrote: post #25

Your testimonial section of "happy customers" are just the stock headshot photos from this wix template. It's probably safe to assume that the testimonials themselves are fake as well? I'd suggest removing this section entirely as it comes off as dishonest and misleading.

Very dishonest indeed. Does YC not do any due diligence anymore? They seem like they’ve become a quantity-over-quality investment firm now, casting the widest net possible based on the strength of their reputation.

YC is free to invest in whatever they want, but maybe they can stop the free hype threads on HN if they're moving into timeshares and similar crap.

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

#140

Post by benatkin »

koolba wrote: post #130
benatkin wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure they should be. As a customer, I wouldn't want everyone poking holes in it. Also, seeing a new version of it, could cause unnecessary headaches (it also could let me know of stuff that's really important, but they should communicate that another way). That said, I do like standardized agreements in a lot of situations. I just am not sure it's best for these.

Why wouldn’t the agreement be standardized at least per country or jurisdiction? For clarity, I’m not asking to see contracts with peoples names or addresses. I’m asking to see what I would assume to be the actual terms one would be entering regardless of which specific property or others involved.

Sure, they would have a standard version of it. If you don't have access to it, it isn't relevant to you that it's standardized.

I have clarity. I don't think it would necessarily be good to let everyone scan it for vulnerabilities. They would need to clean it up more first. With web apps, even if the app is open source, the server config will often be hidden.

Otherwise, on some forums they might discuss how to take advantage of a timeshare, or how to get more out of the company managing it. Things like making extra by putting it on AirBnb or VRBO and not taking pains to avoid disruptive parties.

More access, more scrutiny.

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