Steps to Buying a Second Home With Pacaso

You’ve dreamed about buying a second home — the relaxing summer afternoons on the patio, the cozy winter evenings gazing out at the stars — and now you’re ready to make it happen. You’ve come to the right place! If you’re unfamiliar with co-ownership, you may be wondering how the buying process differs from a typical whole home purchase. In some respects, it’s similar — but when you buy with Pacaso, it can also be faster and easier.Here are 11 steps to buying and owning a Pacaso.

1. Find a home you love

Dream big! All of our homes are exceptional, so the challenge might be narrowing down your choices. Homes that meet Pacaso’s selection criteria offer great amenities and features, and are located in top second home destinations. A few things to keep in mind when you browse our listings:

Home prices reflect the cost of one share, or 1/8 ownership.
Homes marked “Available Now” are actively listed and ready for co-ownership.
Homes marked “Prospect” are under consideration for purchase. They are listed for sale on the MLS as whole homes and meet Pacaso’s highly selective home criteria. If there’s enough buyer interest, we’ll purchase the home and turn it into a Pacaso.

If you don’t see your perfect match among our listings, let us know what you’re looking for, and we can help guide you. Or, if you’ve seen an amazing listing you think would be a great Pacaso, share it with us! If it meets our criteria, we might purchase a portion of the home through our discovery program for buyers.

Co-owned second homes

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2. Talk to us

We’re excited to share all the details about our homes. If you’re not sure which one is best for your needs, we’ll go through each home’s unique attributes and location to help you decide. You can easily schedule a time to talk with one of our Crew members from any listing details page, or if you have general questions about co-ownership, you’re welcome to get in touch via our contact form.

3. Take a tour

We’ll give you all the information we have about the home, but seeing is believing. While you’re on the call with our Crew member, they can arrange a time for you to tour the home. Buyers can schedule a virtual tour or in-person tour or attend an open house. An in-person tour can be a great opportunity to involve the whole family and enjoy a day in your future second home town.

4. Say yes!

You talked, you toured, you fell in love — you’re ready to buy your second home! We’ll walk you through the purchase process and paperwork, and our Crew will make sure you understand all the terminology related to co-ownership, such as:

What it means to have ownership interest in a home (the short answer — it’s true real estate ownership)
How a Pacaso property LLC is organized and managed, and why it makes co-ownership simpler and more enjoyable
The purpose of an LLC operating agreement

We want you to feel confident in the process, so ask as many questions as you’d like. Once you’re ready to proceed, you’ll reserve your share with a 10% deposit.

5. Secure financing

If you’re interested in financing a portion of your purchase, you’ll work directly with Pacaso and our banking partners. We've negotiated competitive rates and offer multiple financing tiers, up to 70% of the purchase price. Pacaso facilitates the transaction, and the approval process is straightforward and fast. Once all documents are provided — typically your most recent pay stub, bank statement and tax return — approval takes just a few days. You also have the option to pay all cash or take out a HELOC or personal line of credit through a lender of your choice.

6. Close on your new home

Pacaso’s closing process is streamlined and, unlike most traditional home purchases, can be completed within days rather than weeks or months. Once you’ve signed your purchase agreement, we’ll send additional documents to review and sign. Some will look familiar if you’ve bought a house before, such as the inspection report and seller disclosures. Others are specific to Pacaso and our property LLC model, including the program manager agreement and operating agreement. Once you’ve had a chance to go through the paperwork, we’ll schedule a call to review the documents and answer any remaining questions. You’ll sign, wire the funds to complete your purchase, and you’re done!

7. Get ready for second home bliss

Congratulations, you own a Pacaso! Our commitment to owners doesn’t end at closing. We assign a dedicated Home Manager to each home, and they’ll schedule an onboarding session to ensure you have the Pacaso app, which you’ll use to book stays, and answer any questions. Your Home Manager will be your point of contact throughout your ownership, and they are available to provide support whenever you need it.

8. Book your stays

You can begin scheduling stays after closing, and the home will be ready for your enjoyment as soon as home upgrades are completed. The home does not need to be 100% sold before owners can begin using it. As an owner, you have ongoing access to the home, and you can quickly and easily book multiple stays with the Pacaso app, powered by our SmartStay™ scheduling system. Go ahead, plan that weekend getaway you’ve been talking about!

9. Experience the ease of managed ownership

One of the best things about owning a whole second home? It’s all yours! One of the worst things? It’s all yours. The responsibilities and hassles of second home ownership can take a lot of joy out of the experience. Pacaso’s professionally managed co-ownership model gives you the benefits of second home ownership without all the headaches. We take care of maintenance, repairs and turnover cleaning; manage payments for utilities, insurance and taxes; handle property management; and so much more. You just show up and relax, every time.

10. Flex your ownership muscles

Pacaso’s management services are designed to make your ownership experience easier — but that doesn’t mean you don’t have a voice. In fact, you and your home’s co-owners have 100% ownership of the home once all shares are sold, which means your co-ownership group has decision-making authority. Here’s how this works in practice: Owners can bring major issues about their home to a vote of the co-ownership group, and every share owned holds one vote. A major issue might be a costly home upgrade, like the installation of a hot tub. To call for a vote, you would reach out to your Home Manager. Routine maintenance and necessary repairs (such as replacing a broken dishwasher) are handled by Pacaso and do not require a vote.

11. Feel confident when it’s time to move on

We think you’ll love your Pacaso for years to come, but your needs may change at some point. Within your first year of ownership, our Home Transfer Benefit™ allows you to easily transfer to another eligible Pacaso that better meets your needs. You are also free to sell at any time if all ownership interests in your home have been sold, and you set the sale price. We'll work with you to facilitate a fast and streamlined resale. Unlike a timeshare, which can be hard to sell and typically depreciates in value, your Pacaso is sold on the open market and any gains realized are yours. Our goal at Pacaso is to make second home ownership simpler, more enjoyable and attainable for more buyers. We’ll help you every step of the way, but the first step is yours — so check out our listings and imagine where the journey can take you.

Steps to buying and owning a second home with Pacaso