I don’t want to rattle anyone, but “a startup is turning houses into corporations,” according to northern California’s NPR station, KQED.
“A new venture capital-backed startup,” saying in the story that “it’s the fastest company in American history to achieve the ‘unicorn’ status of a billion-dollar valuation,’” is “buying up homes around the nation” and converting them into LLCs, and then selling “shares of these newly-minted corporate houses to multiple investors.”
Anyone buying “a share in a house” is “able to stay in it 44 nights per year, in increments that can’t exceed 14 consecutive days per visit.” They “can also ‘gift’ these stays to friends and family,” and the startup “offers an app to handle the logistics of booking stays.”
If you’re thinking this smacks of the short-term rental business model, or the timeshares business model, the startup’s founders would disagree. In a promotional video, they talk about “making the dream of second home ownership possible for more people.”
But folks, in the NPR story, who were about to experience the corporatization of a neighborhood home, expressed concerns about “the venture capital-backed company…invading their community and converting their neighbor’s house into a revolving carousel of vacationers. They imagined endless parties, noise, and cars overflowing their cul-de-sac.”
So, here’s another one of those business models, with another new twist on things.
And as I’m reading this particular story about second home ownership, and homes becoming something other than what they were meant to be, I’m thinking about Pagosa Springs.
So there you have it. The next new thing to watch out for. Corporatized homes. Neighborhood LLCs.
Harvey Radin is former senior vice president in charge of corporate communications and media relations, Bank of America Western Region. He makes his home in Redwood City, CA.