I just spent the past nearly two weeks in Mexico looking at a client’s home. It’s a fantastic home in a prime beach location. One of the revelations that hit me while I was there working through the use plan, is how flexible fractional ownership is.

Here’s what I mean… This home is located in a destination that attracts a lot of Canadians during the winter months – these people like to go south in the winter so they can avoid the harsh winters up north. They will often buy a place where it’s nice and warm just so they can spend October through March in a sunny locale and avoid all the snow.

That’s one group of people we’ll call the “Snowbirds”

Another group is composed of fishermen, boaters and scuba divers who like to come down during the summer months because the water temperature is warm and that is when exotic fish can be found in the ocean surrounding the town this home is located in. They play in the sun and enjoy the hot summer weather.

That’s number two – we’ll call them the “fishermen-scuba-boaters”.

Finally, the owner of the place is just so enamored with the area that he wants to be there during specific springtime months. According to him – “it’s the perfect temperature in the spring.”

That’s number three – “the owner”

So that is three completely different groups that can share a vacation home and be pleased with using their respective time slots and have no desire for other time in the home. It sort of reminds me of the three blind men who are feeling an elephant – one feels the trunk and says that the animal must be like a snake another feels the tails and thinks it is small and hairy – finally the third one feels the foot and…well you get the point. A fractional home can be a different thing to different people.

 Another element of this particular fractional arrangement is that the “snowbirds” want the home for longer periods of time (3 to 6 month increments) while the “fishermen-scuba-boaters” only want a month or so each. It works out perfectly.

Fractional ownership is one of those flexible, common sense arrangements that more and more people are looking at. Now throw in the financial considerations… I won’t even go there though because that could be a whole other blog post! Let’s just say (to take the words from another fractional consultant I know), “it makes total financial and lifestyle sense.”