yours2share - sharing stuff & collaborative consumption » property http://www.yours2share.com/blog Behind the scenes look at yours2share and its mission to help people share more stuff Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:53:46 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Housing co-operatives http://www.yours2share.com/blog/2011/10/housing-co-operatives/ http://www.yours2share.com/blog/2011/10/housing-co-operatives/#comments Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:25:38 +0000 sophie http://www.yours2share.com/blog/?p=675 The second of two posts about ways that sharing can help people find suitable accomodation solutions, specificaly looking at:

Homeshares – see previous post Housing co-operatives – below

Housing co-operatives

For those who want to move on from the house/flat/home share scenario, who need more space and somewhere long term to live, and who may have children too, the [...]]]>

The second of two posts about ways that sharing can help people find suitable accomodation solutions, specificaly looking at:

Housing co-operatives

For those who want to move on from the house/flat/home share scenario, who need more space and somewhere long term to live, and who may have children too, the options are getting ever more constrained. Even if they can pay the mortgage, have they got the deposit? Is their credit rating good enough? Is the bank feeling helpful today.

One route forward is to get together with a group of like-minded people and families, and buy a large property together. One mechanism which protects everyone (in what can be a complex legal and financial situation) is to form a not-for-profit, fully mutual co-operative which purchases the property. Each person pays rents to the co-operative, which is used to pay the mortgage taken out by the co-operative. This arrangement makes it easier for people to leave/join, but also gives the “tenants” total control upon the property.

The end result is that people have a way of affording a decent living space, usually with a bigger garden and living area, often in a better location. There may also be other benefits such as helping each other with childcare etc. Radical Routes website has some good information and they also lend money to housing co-operatives to form the deposit. They are rightly very demanding of potential housing co-operatives; they want clear evidence that people have discussed all the possibilities and fully understand what they are doing.

Homeshare and housing co-operatives won’t work for everyone and they need careful consideration, but I can see both growing steadily over the next few years.

]]> http://www.yours2share.com/blog/2011/10/housing-co-operatives/feed/ 0 Homeshares http://www.yours2share.com/blog/2011/10/homeshares/ http://www.yours2share.com/blog/2011/10/homeshares/#comments Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:20:09 +0000 sophie http://www.yours2share.com/blog/?p=673 Many people are struggling with housing costs, whether they want to rent or buy. Students and recent graduates are having a particularly hard time. If they want to buy in the future they need to save, but rents are so high that this can be impossible. Families with young children are also finding it difficult [...]]]>

Many people are struggling with housing costs, whether they want to rent or buy. Students and recent graduates are having a particularly hard time. If they want to buy in the future they need to save, but rents are so high that this can be impossible. Families with young children are also finding it difficult to afford bigger houses to accommodate their needs.

Two completely different strategies offer ways forward.

Homeshare

Whilst 20-somethings are looking for somewhere reasonable to rent in the cities as well as enabling them to save, many elderly but fit people would like to continue living in their family house. But they often need some help shopping and cleaning as well as some company and conversation. It doesn’t require a big leap in imagination to see the potential win-win here.

Homeshare explains how this works and gives details of homeshare programmes across the world. Programmes are run by not-for-profit agencies and the people running them usually have a background in social work. All the agencies work differently, but they all manage the application process and most screen the applicants and personally match people. I’m surprised that there aren’t even more Homeshare programmes, I think there should be at least one in every county and city.

]]> http://www.yours2share.com/blog/2011/10/homeshares/feed/ 0 How to share the big stuff http://www.yours2share.com/blog/2011/03/how-to-share-the-big-stuff/ http://www.yours2share.com/blog/2011/03/how-to-share-the-big-stuff/#comments Fri, 11 Mar 2011 14:05:33 +0000 sophie http://www.yours2share.com/blog/?p=634 I’ve just added a post to Shareable.net’s excellent website about every aspect of sharing.  It is an introductory piece explaining the basics issues to be discussed when you are creating a new private syndicate, called How to share the big stuff.

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I’ve just added a post to Shareable.net’s excellent website about every aspect of sharing.  It is an introductory piece explaining the basics issues to be discussed when you are creating a new private syndicate, called How to share the big stuff.

]]> http://www.yours2share.com/blog/2011/03/how-to-share-the-big-stuff/feed/ 0 Timeshare and fractional ownership http://www.yours2share.com/blog/2011/03/timeshare-and-fractional-ownership/ http://www.yours2share.com/blog/2011/03/timeshare-and-fractional-ownership/#comments Tue, 01 Mar 2011 12:44:18 +0000 sophie http://www.yours2share.com/blog/?p=632 I often comment on articles about fractional ownership and timeshare: they aren’t the easiest conscepts to understand and their are many misconceptions.  However this recent article on ehow is probably the most misleading and garbled I’ve seen in a long time.  Unfortunately there is obviously a limit on the number of characters in a comment, [...]]]>

I often comment on articles about fractional ownership and timeshare: they aren’t the easiest conscepts to understand and their are many misconceptions.  However this recent article on ehow is probably the most misleading and garbled I’ve seen in a long time.  Unfortunately there is obviously a limit on the number of characters in a comment, not that they tell you.  So I thought I’d repeat my reply in full here.

Timeshare means buying the right to use a property for a lengthy period, usually 20-30 years, where the “rental” payment is made at the beginning. Timeshare also includes schemes where the purchaser is buying equity, but for three weeks a year or less. Timeshares usually incur a sizeable annual management fee. All timeshare schemes are carefully regulated. This is because the buyers need to be sure that the development will be suitably managed and maintained over the life of their purchase. The regulations also protect people against some of the poor selling techniques that gave timeshare such a bad name.

Although timeshares are generally for property (real estate) the concept can easily be applied to other assets such as boats and the recent update to the European laws on timeshare specifically includes reference to other asset types.

Fractional ownership means that a groups of private individuals have got together to buy an asset: this could be real estate, but also boats, cars, mobile homes and aircraft are commonly joint owned. These owners could be friends or family, or strangers using service like yours2share. They could also be strangers put together by commercial agents selling properties, boats etc. In the latter case, the sharers usually pay a small premium. As explained above, once the number of sharers goes above 13, which translates to less than four weeks a year, the scheme is considered to be timeshare.

Some fractional ownership developments also have management and maintenance fees: in others this is entirely up the owners. Many timeshare and commercial fractional ownership developments have systems to let unused weeks or allow owners to swap their weeks.

]]> http://www.yours2share.com/blog/2011/03/timeshare-and-fractional-ownership/feed/ 0 ShareZen – making sharing simple http://www.yours2share.com/blog/2010/12/sharezen-%e2%80%93-making-sharing-simple/ http://www.yours2share.com/blog/2010/12/sharezen-%e2%80%93-making-sharing-simple/#comments Thu, 23 Dec 2010 10:50:38 +0000 sophie http://www.yours2share.com/blog/?p=621 Over the next few days most of you will be celebrating Christmas and New Year with family and friends. I’m guessing that some of you will end up discussing plans for the future, including the purchase of boats, cars, motor homes and holiday homes. When you think about it, these major assets are almost always [...]]]>

Over the next few days most of you will be celebrating Christmas and New Year with family and friends. I’m guessing that some of you will end up discussing plans for the future, including the purchase of boats, cars, motor homes and holiday homes. When you think about it, these major assets are almost always bought to share. The real return on your investment is the joy of inviting your immediate family, extended family, friends, colleagues or even like-minded people you met through yours2share to share it with you.

(To make life easier, and so that I don’t have to constantly use the word “assets,” which gets a bit tedious, I’m going to use a boat as an example of an asset.)

There are two types of boat owners:

  1. Private boat owners who mostly just share their boat with family and friends. Usually the owner is on board with them, but some trusted souls may be allowed to use it unaccompanied.
  2. Boat sharers who have bought the boat with family, friends or yours2share partners and formed a private syndicate.

Over the last couple of months I’ve been talking to ShareZen, a new website that helps both types of sharers manage their sharing arrangements. ShareZen has been designed by Drew Bernard, Shawn Kemp and Adrian Pike, who together have shared several holiday homes, a boat and a light aircraft. Drew and his partners wanted a simple online system that made sharing simpler, so they designed ShareZen.

I have been impressed with the user friendliness of ShareZen. There are some excellent short videos on their website that explain the details, but the six key tasks ShareZen makes easier are:

  • Communication – helps ensure everyone who uses your boat knows the status of things at all times: How much fuel is on board? Is the boat clean? Is it at the dock?
  • Bookings – keeps track of who’s using the boat and when
  • Money – records all payments made by sharers and to sharers
  • Maintenance – ensures servicing or other “to-do” items get done on time
  • Info – stores anything a sharer needs to know, such as safety instructions, directions, contact details and maps.
  • Memories – builds a long-term history of your shared boat, with status reports, stories and photos.

I’m delighted to see the arrival of ShareZen, because it completes the sharing process:

  • yours2share gives guidance and finds like-minded partners
  • Net Lawman provides the template contracts
  • ShareZen keeps the sharing arrangement running smoothly.

ShareZen has several packages. For single owners who simply want to manage friends and family sharing their boat, the basic package is free. More complex packages are priced on a monthly-fee basis. There is also a free 30-day trial period for anyone. This is extended to a 60-day free trial special offer for friends of yours2share, if you sign up for the trial before 15 February 2011. (They don’t require a credit card at the free trial stage, so you won’t be caught out if you forget to cancel. I like this.)

If you’re sharing a boat or any other asset and want to try ShareZen out, or are considering sharing and want to see how it might work, sign up and try it out.

]]> http://www.yours2share.com/blog/2010/12/sharezen-%e2%80%93-making-sharing-simple/feed/ 0 Couch surfing http://www.yours2share.com/blog/2010/05/couch-surfing/ http://www.yours2share.com/blog/2010/05/couch-surfing/#comments Wed, 26 May 2010 18:17:35 +0000 sophie http://www.yours2share.com/blog/?p=540 Several months ago I stumbled upon the website couch surfing,  a worldwide network for making connections between travellers and the local communities they visit. (According to Wikipedia, couch surfing is the practice of moving from one friend’s house to another, sleeping in what ever spare space is available, floor or couch, generally staying a few [...]]]>

Several months ago I stumbled upon the website couch surfing,  a worldwide network for making connections between travellers and the local communities they visit. (According to Wikipedia, couch surfing is the practice of moving from one friend’s house to another, sleeping in what ever spare space is available, floor or couch, generally staying a few days before moving onto the next house.)  Couch surfing, with its community ethic, accords well with yours2share and my views.

So I signed up and put a few things on my profile and, well, I’ll admit, I forgot about it.  Then a couple of weeks I received a message from Jeff and Gerda who live in Canberra and who wondered if they could stay with us as they cycled through Norfolk.  Explaining this to my partner was a bit tricky: he didn’t quite get it.  I was perfectly happy to make excuses and remove our profile and say no more, but he did at least have the courtesy to read Jeff and Gerda’s profile.  Then he realised that maybe this would be OK and agreed to let them stay with us.

They stayed for one night on Monday.  They were perfect house guests and lovely company.  This is a fantastic idea.  I love travelling, but hate the anonymity of staying in hotels.  Hotels are great for a lovely break, but moving from hotel or hotel (or bed and breakfast) constantly is very wearing not only because of the constant moving, but because they are all the same.  You learn very little about the place you are staying in and don’t experience what it is like to live there.  I usually try and stay with friends when I travel not just because it is cheaper, but because I learn more and enjoy finding out what it is like to live in that country.  You can’t really do this if you are staying in a hotel.

My partner’s just asked me if anyone else is coming to stay!

]]> http://www.yours2share.com/blog/2010/05/couch-surfing/feed/ 1 Options for sharing property or real estate http://www.yours2share.com/blog/2010/05/options-for-sharing-property-or-real-estate/ http://www.yours2share.com/blog/2010/05/options-for-sharing-property-or-real-estate/#comments Wed, 12 May 2010 17:49:01 +0000 sophie http://www.yours2share.com/blog/?p=537 About a month ago there was a great article in the Daily Mail discussing fractional ownership and private syndicates. Two yours2share members who share more than one major asset were interviewed: Graham Price shares a property and boat in France; and Bill Hosie shares a boat and an aircraft.

This created a great deal of [...]]]>

About a month ago there was a great article in the Daily Mail discussing fractional ownership and private syndicates. Two yours2share members who share more than one major asset were interviewed: Graham Price shares a property and boat in France; and Bill Hosie shares a boat and an aircraft.

This created a great deal of interest in yours2share and I’ve spent a fair amount of time since then answering questions. Many people who are trying to sell a holiday home abroad wondered if sharing was the way forward.

There are broadly three ways in which you can share an asset: joint or fractional ownership, fractional rental and timeshare. The principles below apply just as well to boats, planes, motorhomes, cars and any major asset.

Joint ownership

Two or more people own the property: either they find each other first and buy together; or the existing owner of a property sells shares.

In the latter case, if the property was worth £100,000, the owner might think four shares was ideal and look for partners to buy quarter shares. As it takes time to find people to agree the deal, often they will sell one share at a time. This could mean selling a £25,000 share to each buyer.

However it is important that all the partners are like-minded. So the vendor often sells half to the first partner on board for £50,000. Then both owners look for the next partner. The third partner then buys a third share for £33,333 and the first two partners split this between them. If, and when, a fourth partner joins them, their payment of £25,000 is then split between the three owners.

Fractional rental

One or more people rent the property for several non-continuous weeks a year. The owner often doesn’t want to holiday let, but wants to generate some income and to ensure the property is kept in use.

Some numbers help to illustrate how this might work. For example a £100,000 property might let for £200/week in the low season, £300 in the mid season and £400/week in the high season. The owner looks for a partner that is looking for a holiday home for 12 weeks a year, split between the three seasons. If this was a straightforward holiday let, this would cost £3600 per year.

Most owner/holiday lettings company give a good discounts for this many bookings, but between £2000 and £3000 a year is reasonable for the 12 weeks. Usually this kind of arrangement is agreed annually, with all or most of the payment up front. Generally the weeks are not fixed (although the number in each season should be defined in the contract), but agreed once a year for the following year.

Timeshare

One or more people rent the property for one or more weeks a year and pay for the right to do this for several years in advance. This is similar to fractional rental, except all the rent is paid in advance.

Taking the example above, instead of (say) paying £3000 per year, they may pay £10,000 in advance for the right to use the property for 12 weeks a year for 5 years, or maybe £30,000 for the right to use it for 25 years.

Commercial timeshares are generally sold for periods of one to three weeks a year, and there are usually annual management/maintenance fees. There are strict laws on selling timeshare in many countries because, amongst other issues, the timeshare purchaser has to know that the property will be available and properly maintained for the contract duration. In general, I would advise private holiday home owners to avoid the timeshare model: this is why I rarely mention timeshare. However last week I had several questions about possible sharing arrangements which were effectively timeshare. There are many well run commercial timeshare schemes; I just don’t think it works for private holiday homes.

Sharing a holiday home is a great solution if you can’t justify the cost of full ownership and don’t want to holiday let. Finding like-minded partners, discussing and agreeing everything, getting advice, writing the contracts and dealing with the purchases, can easily take a year, or two, or more. If the property is a long term investment, this is fine for many people; they are looking for long term partners. But if holiday home owners need to raise capital fast or are struggling to pay a mortgage, sharing is less likely to be the solution.

I should make it clear that I am not a professional legal, financial, tax or property advisor. The laws on ownership, finance, tax and property vary enormously from country to country and if you are considering sharing property or any other major asset, you must get independent professional legal, financial, tax and property advice. And I mean “must”. Even within any one country there will be several entirely different ways of setting up an arrangement each with advantages and disadvantages. The best solution will depend upon all the partners’ particular personal circumstances. Sharing is very cost effective, but you do need to invest time and money into ensuring that the arrangement is properly set up.

]]> http://www.yours2share.com/blog/2010/05/options-for-sharing-property-or-real-estate/feed/ 0 Reservation systems for private syndicates http://www.yours2share.com/blog/2010/03/reservation-systems-for-private-syndicates/ http://www.yours2share.com/blog/2010/03/reservation-systems-for-private-syndicates/#comments Fri, 26 Mar 2010 13:25:42 +0000 sophie http://www.yours2share.com/blog/?p=516 Most sharing arrangements quickly find they need some kind of reservation system so that people can easily see who and when partners are using the shared asset. If they have an arrangement where free time can be booked on a first come basis, then they need the system to enable them to make the reservation [...]]]>

Most sharing arrangements quickly find they need some kind of reservation system so that people can easily see who and when partners are using the shared asset. If they have an arrangement where free time can be booked on a first come basis, then they need the system to enable them to make the reservation too. Ideally this should all be on-line so everyone can access it.

Over the last couple of months several on-line reservation systems have come to my attention, so I thought I’d let you know about the three that look the most interesting.

The first is My Reservations which has been created by Bill Hosie, a yours2share member. Bill has shares in both a light aircraft and a boat, so he has a good understanding of the requirements. The system can either be slotted into your own website (many syndicates have a website about their boat, plane etc) or can be a standalone system hosted by My Reservations. I’ve had a play with the demo and for £45 a year, this gives you all the basic functionality you need for a straightforward syndicate, and it’s very easy to use.

Then I stumbled upon Divvy which is free to use and appears to allow lots of flexibility and sophistication. You can manage reservations on multiple items, and can take payment with reservations. I’ve also had a play with Divvy and set up a reservation system for a client who wanted a system to handle booking at several cottages. Because it is so flexible, it is a bit harder to understand and for a straightforward syndicate, could be overkill, and a bit frustrating if your computer skills aren’t too great.

Finally I heard some good reports about Booking Bug so I had a look. This looks like the most sophisticated system of all and costs the most at £10/month for the basic package. This looks like it has all the functionality of Divvy and more, but has a simpler user interface. I haven’t played with the system, but what I could see of the website looked straightforward. As well as the basic package which would suit a private syndicate, there are business packages suitable for a whole range of booking and reservation requirements.

There are also several more booking systems designed specifically for sharing aircraft and I’m sure lots more for the hotel and bed and breakfast/holiday lettings market, but these three are some of the best I’ve seen that would work for a wide range of private syndicates sharing many asset types.

If you’ve used any other system and have views, good or bad, please let me know, by commenting below.

]]> http://www.yours2share.com/blog/2010/03/reservation-systems-for-private-syndicates/feed/ 0 Sharing in action http://www.yours2share.com/blog/2010/01/sharing-in-action/ http://www.yours2share.com/blog/2010/01/sharing-in-action/#comments Sun, 31 Jan 2010 13:26:13 +0000 sophie http://www.yours2share.com/blog/?p=461 Do you share a house, car, motorhome, boat, aircraft dog, horse or anything else? I’m always looking for examples of sharing in action to blog about on yours2share and, if they are really good and two or more partners are willing to be interviewed, for case studies.  If you are happy to tell me about [...]]]>

Do you share a house, car, motorhome, boat, aircraft dog, horse or anything else? I’m always looking for examples of sharing in action to blog about on yours2share and, if they are really good and two or more partners are willing to be interviewed, for case studies.  If you are happy to tell me about your experiences, good or bad, I’ll blog about you and include a link to your website.

Examples could be straightforward: you own a quarter of a boat, a fifth of a light aircraft, half a motorhome.  Or maybe your daughter goes to someone’s house to practice on their piano, or you swim in someone’s pool for an hour once a week.  Maybe you rent a room from Monday to Friday because you are working away from home, or you’ve found someone to ride your horse on Tuesday and Thursday in return for some mucking out.  It could be that you’ve found someone to help sort out the vegetable patch you’ve neglected for years, so you get a quarter of the produce, or you’ve found someone who is happy to look after a dog during the week when you are at work, so your children can now have the dog they have been pestering you for.

There are so many ways of sharing: nearly everyone does it they just don’t realise it.  And they could do so much more.

Contact me here, or via my twitter account.

]]> http://www.yours2share.com/blog/2010/01/sharing-in-action/feed/ 1 How to share a house http://www.yours2share.com/blog/2009/12/how-to-share-a-house/ http://www.yours2share.com/blog/2009/12/how-to-share-a-house/#comments Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:37:19 +0000 sophie http://www.yours2share.com/blog/?p=437 Here is a great case study on shareable.net about sharing a house written by Janelle Orsi, attorney.  The people are based in California, but the advice applies anywhere.

I’ve written before about sharing houses, in Suffolk and in Streatham.

To make this work you do need to put in considerable thought, discussion and negotiation at the beginning, [...]]]>

Here is a great case study on shareable.net about sharing a house written by Janelle Orsi, attorney.  The people are based in California, but the advice applies anywhere.

I’ve written before about sharing houses, in Suffolk and in Streatham.

To make this work you do need to put in considerable thought, discussion and negotiation at the beginning, but the benefits can be very significant.  As usual with sharing, the economic benefits are usually the reason people first consider sharing: the community and social benefits become the ones they get the most pleasure from over time.

]]> http://www.yours2share.com/blog/2009/12/how-to-share-a-house/feed/ 0