Business is coming back for Minnesota’s fractional real estate industry
Fractional ownership is a concept that's akin to a timeshare, but often comes with deeded ownership. Dreaming of a place at the lake, but don’t want to shoulder the burden of maintaining it and paying for it yourself? For some, co-ownership through an unusual model called fractional ownership is the answer. It’s a concept that’s akin to a timeshare, but often comes with deeded ownership. Such arrangements were wildly popular before the recession, but the sector crashed exceptionally hard and has been among the last areas of the real estate industry to recover. Now there are signs that fractionals are starting to come back. “It’s as if a light switch was flipped,” said Lavonne Christensen, the sales agent for Odyssey Development in Duluth, which specializes in owning and managing resorts. While the volume of fractional transactions remains far below pre-recession levels, some think the concept is on the verge of a rebirth as millennials who have embraced the sharing economy start thinking about owning a place at the lake. Christensen pointed to one of her company’s properties, a small resort on the North Shore of Lake Superior, and said shares have been selling quickly. “I’m going to start a waiting [...]