The recently established company Owners is introducing the idea of co-ownership (or fractional ownership) in opulent vacation homes as an alternative proposal in the Greek real estate market.

The term refers to sharing the cost of a property between 2 or more owners, with each of them acquiring a fraction of it. It is a model that has been successful in the USA for about four and a half years and has recently been introduced in several European countries.

In contrast to the examples of other countries, Owners—a company created by Kostas Pappas, Elias Pappas, Eva Pappas and the investor Takis Solomos—has chosen to introduce the model in Greece, breaking the value of the property into just six portions. This is the lowest number internationally and, as Kostas Pappas explained, it has to do with the particular characteristics of the Greek market. In practice, those interested can acquire a share in the holiday home they choose at 1/6 of the price (with the share reaching a maximum of up to 50%) and without incurring all the costs and obligations of traditional ownership.

The management of all this (maintenance, cleaning, insurance, bills, etc.) is taken care of by the owners, who also equip the property with consumables for the needs of the stay. The price of the share includes. Through the app also, they can communicate with the home manager 

24/7

As Elias and Kostas Pappas explained, the owner identifies the property it is interested in and proceeds to sign a notarized preliminary agreement with the owner. With this pre-contract, on the one hand it locks the purchase price for 90 days; on the other hand it gains the right to proceed with the purchase—with its own funds—at any time it wishes within this period. This right, as the two entrepreneurs explained, will be activated after buyers have been found for at least 4 of the 6 shares. In effect, the interested party will buy a share in an IKE that will have the role of a 'Special Purpose Vehicle' (SPV), with the property in question as its sole asset and its (co-)owners as shareholders.

TARGET 36 PROPERTIES 

On the owners' website, four holiday homes have already been listed (for one of them in Artemis, there is reportedly already interest from 3 German families), and the company sets a target of selling 6 holiday homes in the first year of operation, 12 homes in the second, and 18 in the third. According to Mr. Elias Pappas, the company is open to collaborations with real estate agents on the basis of a commission system as, as he stressed, the company is essentially offering them two new products: - The purchase of a second home with full management at a fraction of the cost and - The sale of a percentage of the property with the introduction of the owner to the co-ownership model with full management (some such collaborations are already underway, such as with Morcos Real Estate).