What I particularly liked was this was a sensible look at the shared option, with the neither the pros or cons sensationalised, just simply laid out.  It struck [...]]]>

Last night’s edition of Channel 4′s Location, location, location with Kirsty Allsopp and Phil Spencer was interesting as it showed three friends buying a property in London together.

What I particularly liked was this was a sensible look at the shared option, with the neither the pros or cons sensationalised, just simply laid out.  It struck me that the three friends had thought about it carefully and it was likely to work well for them.  It would be very interesting to go back to see how they get on after a year.

I’m always a bit concerned by young first time buyers buying together: often money is extremely tight and they try to cut corners with insufficient legal advice, their careers are moving swiftly so they may need to move on within a year or two, and they simply lack the wisdom to think everything through.  In this case, the three friends were older, had evidentally thought things through and understood the compromises that they were prepared to make.

The point that the friends need their solicitors to draw up a Trust Deed was clearly made, defining exactly how the sharing arrangement will work, and particularly the exit strategy.

One of the panellists was [...]]]>

Last Sunday I was in the audience at the BBC’s The Big Questions programme.  I went along because one of the questions being discussed was “Is it still acceptable to have a second home?”  As you might expect my view is generally “yes, but I’d be happier if you shared it”.

One of the panellists was Jonathan Bartley, director of the religious think-tank Ekklesia.  During the debate he explained that he lived with another family and several other people in several properties.  Well I had to find out more.

I had an interesting chat with Jonathan and found out how his sharing arrangement works.  Several years ago, he was working with a good friend on a charity dot.com.  Like Jonathan, his friend was interested in communal living.  Following an idle “what if we buy a house together” conversation, Jonathan and his wife wound up buying a six bedroom terraced house on several floors in Streatham, London with his friend.  Jonathan and his wife’s share was 75% and his friend had a 25% stake.

Then his friend’s brother moved in too.  When his friend married, his friend bought the house two doors down and Jonathan bought out his friend’s stake in the first house.

Time moved on, both families had children and one of Jonathan’s children is a wheelchair user, which isn’t easy to accommodate in a tall terraced house.  So Jonathan bought the ground floor flat in the house in between and connected it to his house.  This created a three bedroom apartment on the ground floor of both houses. On the upper floors of Jonathan’s house live his son’s carer and three other adults who rent rooms. There is also a shared office.

All three gardens have been joined together and everyone contributes to expenses and food costs. The group is a mix of Christians and non-Christians, with many different lifestyles, but everyone gathers together for a communal meal on Wednesdays, which alternates between the two houses.

Jonathan is understandably delighted with the sharing arrangement.  They live in a great house, in a great location, and everyone enjoys being part of the group.  The arrangement succeeds not only because everyone is like-minded and willing to make it work, but also because the ownership has always been clearly defined. When the first property was joint owned, there was a formal contract in place. Jonathan clearly understands the importance of clarity and contracts.

When he first mentioned the sharing set-up on The Big Questions I was intrigued as one thing I’ve learned with yours2share is that arrangements between friends are the most likely to fail because friends can’t or don’t want to discuss them properly at the outset.

It’s lovely to see an example where friends have worked it out a sharing arrangement so well.

I thought it summed up yours2share rather well, even if there was a little flattery involved.

But I can see his point, yours2share [...]]]>

I was busy chatting someone on the phone yesterday and after my extended elevator pitch (ground to 100th floor return) the person I was explaining yours2share to exclaimed “You mean you’re a fractional e-bay”.

I thought it summed up yours2share rather well, even if there was a little flattery involved.

But I can see his point, yours2share covers a huge range of assets that can be shared, in any way through ownership, rental, payment in kind or no payment, enabling private individuals to get together and shape arrangements to suit their needs.  One of the big problems with commercial fractional schemes is they have to try and find one size that fits all, and end up giving most people a badly fitting suit.

I heard about this two years ago when I first started yours2share, and it spurred me along. It is the wonderful tale of 13 women who bought a beautiful diamond necklace together in the US. I have been reminded of the story because a book has just been released about the women and [...]]]>

I heard about this two years ago when I first started yours2share, and it spurred me along. It is the wonderful tale of 13 women who bought a beautiful diamond necklace together in the US. I have been reminded of the story because a book has just been released about the women and the impact of the necklace on their lives.

The book is called The Necklace: A True Story of 13 Women, 1 Diamond Necklace and a Fabulous Idea

What I loved about this example of fractional ownership is the joy it gave and the fact that such a lovely piece of jewellery was worn nearly all the time as each woman kept it on virtually permanently for their alloted four weeks a year.  Most expensive items of jewellery sit in a box in a safe for all but a couple of times a year.

One of the women said:  “No one needs to wear a $37,000 necklace. But every woman should wear one now and then”.  I couldn’t agree more.

I’m glad that the major managed car clubs such as City Car Club are starting to become more mainstream.  But I’m keen to ensure people [...]]]>

I’ve added a new page to yours2share explaining the various types of car clubs and all the associated terminology: fractional ownership, joint ownership, shared ownership, car share, liftshare etc etc.

I’m glad that the major managed car clubs such as City Car Club are starting to become more mainstream.  But I’m keen to ensure people also know that they can set up their own informal car club.  This is particularly appropriate for people who live in rural areas and villages and towns where the managed car clubs are not ecomonic.  The baked bean club is a great example of an informal car club operating in Hastings.

Informal car clubs are also appropriate for people who want to share a less mainstream car: a convertible or classic car.  Often these kinds of informal car club have only two or three owners.

The clip is from [...]]]>

It’s not often that one of my favourite TV shows includes a good example of fractional ownership. (Even if it wrongly calls it timeshare).  It also explains why you should not to get carried away with on-line auctions, what sniping means and why you can’t rely upon snipers coming to your rescue!

The clip is from the Big Bang Theory: Time-Share Time Machine.

Just in case you don’t know the difference, fractional ownership means the owners own the title of the asset.  Time share means that people have bought the right to use the asset for a short period of time, every year (or other period) for a given number of years.  Fractional rental is similar to timeshare but usually the payments are made over the period of time rather than in one lump sum at the start, and can be ended with a relatively short period of notice.

For example the guys in the Big Bang Theory, are setting up fractional ownership.  If one guy had paid $150 for the right to have the time machine for three months a year for five years, this would be timeshare.  If he had agreed to have the use of the time machine for three months a year in return for an annual fee of $40, with both parties able to give two months notice that the agreement should end, then this would be fractional rental.