East Coast Fractionals is a niche real estate company located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, serving the beautiful Carolinas coast. East Coast Fractionals, will assist you with a whole ownership condominium or if you decide to purchase a condominium with shared ownership or fractional ownership. ECF offers a new way to purchase a condominium, house, golf villa, oceanfront home and so much more. Purchase at a fraction of the cost of a typical second home.

Would you like the idea of owning an second row ocean view luxury home , within a private gated community, but just can’t justify the cost of whole ownership? You are not alone! A new concept of vacation home ownership called “Fractional Ownership” is becoming increasingly popular with busy professionals, empty nesters, and baby boomers, looking to maximize their family vacation time.

What is Fractional Ownership?
Fractional ownership is a middle ground solution to second home ownership. It is between whole ownership and timeshare. With whole ownership you have sole responsibility and full exclusive use. With timeshare you purchase only vacation time, not the real estate itself. Fractional Ownership consists of owning an “undivided interest” in a specific property. In simple terms, you are buying your vacation home in partnership with other owners who share the cost with you.

How Does It Work?
Fractional ownership is similar to any other real estate purchase, except you are only purchasing a ”fraction” of the property instead of the whole property. Fractional shares can vary from 4 weeks to 26 weeks. A 1/4th share, for example, provides thirteen weeks, a 1/8th, 6 weeks, a 1/6th, eight weeks, etc. However, most common are quarter shares where you can use the property one week out of every month, sharing the property with only three other owners. In addition, you can elect to rent it through an on-site rental management company, exchange it with others, resell it through a broker, and even pass it down through generations in your family. Under this unique form of strata title ownership, each owner has a registered title to a one-quarter interest in the condominium.

You belong to a Homeowners Association
Management of the property is taken care by a Homeowners Association. In most cases, an annual budget is established and owners make monthly or quarterly payments to cover utilities, housekeeping, maintenance, insurance, taxes, and the like.

Benefits
One of the main reasons people buy fractionals, even when they can afford the entire purchase, is that the expense and responsibility is substantially reduced. This makes the second home truly a vacation, as you can simply go there and know everything is in order. It’s carefree, it’s flexible and most importantly, it’s affordable! Some of the fractional developments also participate in a global vacation exchange club. This offers the ability to travel worldwide for quality vacations while still maintaining the benefits of your fractional ownership.

Appreciation Potential
The main attractions for buyers are price, and a share in potential appreciation. To date, there are approximately 254 fractional developments worldwide according to Ragatz Associates, who provides research for this fastest growing segment of the vacation industry. The demand therefore is high. As a result, it is likely there will be substantial appreciation, rather than the depreciation that usually occurs with timeshares. Real estate experts say that the outlook for investment potential appears excellent. You should expect at the very least an appreciation parity against other real estate in the resort area in which the fractional is located.

Comparison Of Fractionals to Timeshares
How do fractionals compare with timeshares? They really don’t! Fractionals are for the more exclusive and include many more luxury amenities and services than timeshares. Timeshares usually allow you use for just one to two weeks per year. Fractionals offer from four to twenty-six weeks and these don’t necessarily have to be consecutive weeks. Timeshares are for exchanging whereas fractional ownership is a use product and considered to be the primary vacation destination of choice.

Financing
With regard to financing, obtaining a bank or mortgage loan on a timeshare is difficult. Rates are often very high, regardless of how good your credit. That’s because it’s a well-known fact that most timeshares depreciate over time and expire. Conversely, banks and mortgage firms consider fractionals to be “appreciating assets” and will often treat them like any other second home purchase.