Many Americans dream of owning a second home, but relatively few can afford the luxury. But the very nature of a “second” home often means that it’s not a person’s primary residence, which is why Pacaso came up with a compromise.
Pacaso launched on Thursday to enable an alternative to owning a second home. Instead of purchasing an entire home, the company’s marketplace allows buyers to purchase a fraction of its listings. So buyers can own one-eighth to half of a home, and split the rest with other co-owners.
Co-owning a piece of real estate isn’t a new idea, but it can be a legally complicated one. Pacaso makes things easier by forming an LLC for each property, and then doing the work of finding other buyers and managing how much time each person spends there through its scheduling platform. The company says this is different than owning a timeshare because buyers own a portion of the real estate, instead of just reserving time to spend there.
In addition to the launch, Pacaso announced that it raised a $17 million Series A funding round. It also secured $250 million in debt financing, which will help the company purchase these homes.
Pacaso was founded by former Zillow CEO and co-founder Spencer Rascoff and former dotloop CEO and founder Austin Allison. The team also includes Zillow’s former CTO, CMO and CRO, as well as other tech executives.
“The mission of Pacaso is to democratize second home ownership, a luxury to which millions of American aspire but which seemed previously inaccessible, and is more important than ever as people seek safety, security and serenity amid Covid-19,” Rascoff said in a statement. “Nearly every member of Pacaso’s team has experience turning an innovative idea into a company with a household name. ... With this team in place and with $267 million in funding and debt, Pacaso is poised to scale incredibly quickly.”
Pacaso currently lists homes from 20 regions across 10 states. It plans to expand across the country in the future.
