Date:
Nov 20th 2008 -
Publication:"After
Hours Magazine" -
Title:
"Variety
Club"
Author:
Jessie Hewitson
VARIETY CLUB
Overseas property clubs are the latest thing in holiday-home
investment, offering members a choice of luxury addresses around
the world and, sometimes, the promise of a tidy profit. Jessie
Hewitson investigates.
WHY HAVE ONE holiday home when you can have access to six luxury
pads around the world, spending, for example, your summers in
the South of France and your winters in Aspen?
This is the argument put forward by overseas property clubs, a
new breed of holiday home investment. Membership allows you the
use of several lavish villas around the world—though not before
you sign a big cheque, of course.
Rocksure, the first to open for business, describes itself as a
“property fund”—one that will sell all the properties after
seven years, with the profits repatriated to the members, minus
a 17.5 per cent charge deducted by the fund’s managers. The
company is now on to its second fund—its first one has 36
members, while the second is looking for 40. Full membership
costs £189,000, plus an annual service charge of £1,800, which
works out at £450 per week, if you’re using the four-week quota,
and covers cleaning, gardening, utility bills and a
food-and-wine welcome pack on arrival.
Not all the money goes into the fund. Five per cent of the total
is held back to cover essential costs, such as stamp duty taxes,
renovations, furnishings and contingencies. The charges for
services, which include maid service, are kept down by letting
the properties on the open market when investors do not want to
use them. Members get to spend four weeks in any of the
sumptuous properties in the six destinations Rocksure offers:
Algarve, Marrakech, Brazil, Phuket, Colorado and Croatia. All
properties will have at least four double bedrooms, with a
good-sized swimming pool and terrace. Each one comes with its
own housekeeper, and there’ll be a cook on hand to rustle up a
delicious dinner.
Nick Van Gruisen, managing director of the Ultimate Travel
Company, has a share in Rocksure. He bought it mainly as a
property investment. ”l think the locations that the properties
are in have a very good chance of showing a healthy return seven
years down the line,” he says. ”l also like having the
opportunity to nip off to nice places without the hassle.
Everything’s there; you don’t even have to think about it.”
HOME FROM HOME PROS
Access to a whole range of different addresses in a variety of
countries
Start your holiday as soon as you arrive: the homes are well
maintained, with some providing a concierge service
You can spread the risk of investment. Falling house prices in
Europe won’t necessarily be replicated in the Bahamas
Luxury extras such as tennis courts, and chauffered cars are
common, benefits you don’t get when you manage the investment
yourself
AND THE CONS
How you exit the investment club isn’t always clear
Because the schemes are largely untested, it’s difficult to
estimate their value. Will there be enough demand to sell your
share for a decent return?
You own shares in a fund rather than the property itself. This
reduces the risk, but also reduces the value of your potential
reward
Back
to Top
Date:
Nov 19th 2008 -
Publication:"The
Independant" -
Title:
"Homes
Across the Globe"
Author:
Laura Latham
Why restrict yourself to one holiday house? Laura Latham looks
at the schemes that can triple your fun
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
Second homes can be fantastic assets but, even if you use them
regularly, you'll often end up paying the mortgage and costs of
a place that's empty for much of the time.
The idea behind new-style property clubs is that investors can
have all the benefits of owning overseas without any hassle. The
model is similar to fractional schemes in that investors
generally own shares or a stake in the property freehold but
ownership covers a number of homes of higher value than could
typically be bought by individuals. You can also benefit from
any capital appreciation over the period of time you remain in
the fund.
Clubs vary in how they operate. Rocksure, for example, has
several funds, each of which runs for seven years and contains
six high-end, fully staffed properties collectively owned by a
maximum of 40 investors. Homes are in established holiday
locations such as the Algarve, Morocco and Phuket, with its
soon-to-be-launched Capital Fund including European cities.
"If you own one holiday home, you won't necessarily want to go
there every year, and you'll be saddled with the problem of
who's going to look after it in your absence," says the
company's founder, David Rogers. "It also means that you're
risking your capital in one location. We offer the chance to
experience holidays in luxury properties across the globe, while
giving investors a safe spread of destinations."
Full membership of Rocksure's Bravo Fund is £189,000, which
entitles you to four weeks' holiday per year in any of the six
residences currently being sourced. Three-quarter and half
shares are also available for £141,750 and £94,000 respectively.
Back
to Top
Date:
Oct 22nd 2008 -
Publication:"Country
Life" -
Title:
"How
to Rent the High Life?"
Author:
Jonathan Self
How to rent the high life?
Want to see out the credit crunch on board a luxury yacht?
Perhaps clutching a Hermes handbag or wearing a Rolex?
No problem, says JONATHAN SELF
I know that money can't buy happiness, but I wouldn't mind in
the least being referred to as that gloomy chap with the new
Learjet. Not that owning an aeroplane is my priority. The
epitome of luxury, so far as I am concerned, is to be freed of
all domestic duties. There was a brief period of affluence,
before I swapped commerce for indolence, when we had a day
nanny, night nanny, cook, cleaner, driver and gardener. It was
my proud boast that we were never knowingly understaffed, and my
idea of housework was to sweep the room with a glance.
'What most of us crave, if we're honest, are big luxuries:
beautiful homes in different parts of the world, private jets,
yachts, fast cars, designer clothes and the rest of it'.
That was then, however, and this is now. In these more austere
times, the temptation is to fall back on the mantra that it is
the little luxuries in life that bring lasting pleasure. Total
rot, of course. I'm as partial to a morning in bed with
the papers and a picnic on a sunny day as the next person,
but little luxuries are just that. What most of us crave, if
we're honest, are big luxuries: beautiful homes in different
parts of the world, private jets, yachts, fast cars, designer
clothes and the rest of it.
Is this feasible for someone not unfamiliar with the sensation
that there is simply too much month left at the end of the
money? With a bit of judicious planning, and thanks to some
innovative new fractional-ownership companies, it is.
A house for all Seasons
The most popular form of fractional ownership is property. One
scheme that caught my eye was A House for all Seasons (www.rocksureproperty.com).
For £189,000, you buy a share in six fully staffed holiday homes
in places such as the Algarve (in Casa Alto Do Cerro, left),
Thailand and New York. Every year, you can have four
rent-free weeks in any of the properties, until 2016, when the
portfolio will be sold. The manager, Rocksure Property, believe
you will see your capital returned with interest
Fractional ownership
IN SOME RESPECTS, the law of diminishing returns sets in when it
comes to luxury assets. The more things you have, the less use
you get from each of them, and high-ticket toys eat up time as
well as money. Maintaining and staffing multiple properties or
keeping a classic car on the road require a certain amount of
effort. Which is why even Russian oligarchs are taking advantage
of a concept called fractional ownership. Fractional ownership
is the easiest way to live the life of a multi-millionaire for
less. In essence, you club together with others to buy an
asset-it could be anything from an Hermes handbag to a Highland
estate and share any costs involved in looking after it. You can
then use the asset in proportion to the financial contribution
you have made. In addition to being able to enjoy a luxury item
for a fraction of its value, this type of ownership has other
benefits. You never have to feel guilty about buying something
and not using it fully, plus you don't have to be involved in
its upkeep or management. It can be a canny way to diversify
your investments too, and many assets will increase in value the
longer you hold on to them.
Back
to Top
Date:
Oct 21st 2008 -
Publication:"Daily
Telegraph" -
Title:
"How
to beat the Financial Crisis"
Author:
Caroline Gammell
How to beat the financial crisis
The credit crisis may have leached money from the wealthiest of
people, but for those wishing to keep up appearances, luxury is
still available.
By Caroline Gammell
Last Updated: 9:58PM BST 21 Oct 2008
Consumers determined to look the part regardless of the
financial chaos around them can now hire the car, yacht, handbag
and even dog of their dreams for days, weeks or months at a
time.
For a one-off payment of £189,000, someone can buy a share in
six fully staffed holiday homes spreading across the globe from
Thailand, Brazil, Portugal and Morocco. The scheme, A
House for All Seasons - part of rocksureproperty.com -
guarantees a fully furnished four or five bedroom house,
complete with full-time cook and part-time gardener. The
part-owners are entitled to four rent-free weeks a year in any
of the properties over the next seven years, before the houses
are sold.
Back
to Top
Date:
Aug 18th 2008 -
Publication:"Hedge" -
Title:
"Global
Appeal"
Author:
Edward Vaughan & Rebecca Newman
GLOBAL APPEAL
A
TRIO OF NEW PRIVATE DESTINATION CLUBS AIMS TO MAKE THE WORLD
YOUR HOME
—
EDWARD VAUGHAN & REBECCA NEWMAN —
Rocksure is the brainchild of David Rogers and Desmond
Patrick-Smith, former COO and MD Abercrombie & Kent
respectively. ‘I came across the concept in the US’ says
Rogers. ‘But there the bricks and mortar are owned by the
entrepreneurs, not the people who write the cheques. It wouldn’t
work in the UK where we have a love affair with property.’ So
Rogers turned the concept on its head. ‘The people that write
the cheques own the property. I make money from the fees and a
share of the gain at the end of it. So I am motivated to buy
and sell well.’
Rogers and Patrick-Smith started planning Rocksure in 2005. ‘We
launched in 2006, and the first fund - the Alpha Fund - went on
the market in July 2007. It closed after eight months: our City
friends assure us we did well to raise nearly £6m so fast with a
new company with no track record.’ Rocksure launched its
second, Bravo Fund in January.
While properties aren’t sourced until after the fund is closed,
they will be on a par with the Alpha Fund. The Bravo Fund is
targeting properties valued at £1m apiece in the Rockies,
Thailand, Marrakech, the Algarve, Brazil and the Adriatic
coast. ‘We have just passed the halfway mark. It is a bit
slower than we’d hoped – not surprising in the present climate.
But there is no rush, as long as the other investors don’t get
restless.’
Rocksure offers 40 units of investment at £189,000 each -
minimum investment is a half unit – which buys a part of a
limited company in the Cayman Islands. ‘The clients own the
houses completely, and the interest on their investment, as it
were, is four rent-free weeks in the houses each year. At the
end of seven years we sell all the houses. ‘The first 20
percent of the profit on the sale is untouched; after that we
shave off 17.5 per cent.
‘It’s a great way of investing overseas, particularly for
first-timers: it is an easy way to dip a toe in the water, with
risk spread over six destinations. There’s no gearing, no
borrowing. We pay cash for all the properties - one reason we
are able to buy well. We wear out our shoe leather looking for
properties. Desmond looked at over 80 properties on the
Algarve, sifting through a lot of overpriced rubbish, before
finding the one we bought.’
Back
to Top
Date:
May 16th 2008 -
Publication:"The
Times" -
Title:
"Overseas
property: the low-cost route to investing abroad"
Author:
Paula
Hawkins
Overseas property: the low-cost route to investing abroad
£94,000 buys you a share of the profits in six foreign homes
Overseas property is a tricky asset class for the investor. The
initial outlay is large, there are layers of bureaucracy to
negotiate, often in a foreign language, fees to pay for lettings
management and high maintenance costs. This is perhaps why most
of us buy abroad for pleasure, rather than capital gain - but
what if there were a way to achieve both?
It is with this in mind that the Rocksure property company has
come up with “A House for All Seasons”, combining an overseas
property fund with a fractional ownership scheme. Investors
commit a slice of capital upfront, invested in a portfolio of
six properties. They receive no income but are allotted four
weeks a year in any of the properties. At the end of the fund's
seven years, the properties are sold and the profits shared
among investors, though the fund managers take 17.5 per cent of
any increase above the first 20 per cent gain. The minimum
investment is half a unit, which entitles you to two weeks a
year in the properties and costs £94,500.
“Investors like the fact that, in property terms, this is a
relatively small amount to invest,” says David Rogers, one of
Rocksure's founders. “They like the investment being in six
properties, which means that risk is well spread, and the fact
that there is no mortgage.” Rogers is a former chief operating
officer of Abercrombie & Kent, the luxury travel company; his
co-founder at Rocksure, Desmond Patrick-Smith, was managing
director for Europe at the same firm. They set up Rocksure and
launched their first fund, the Alpha Fund, in July 2006. It
closed last summer having raised a little over £5.7 million,
which was spent on properties in Morocco, Brazil, the United
States, Portugal and Thailand.
The
directors chose all the properties themselves. Rogers says: “In
Portugal, Desmond looked at more than 80 properties before he
found the right one.” He selected Casa Alto do Cerro, a
five-bedroom, five-bathroom villa in Loulé in the Algarve. “The
crucial thing to remember is that we are buying to sell,” Rogers
says. All Rocksure's properties sleep ten people, are worth an
average of £1million each and are fully staffed.
One key attraction is price; the annual management fee for a
full unit, which costs £189,000 and entitles the investor to
four weeks a year in the properties, is only £1,800. Many
fractional ownership schemes levy fees of several thousands a
year.
Back
to Top
Date:
April 14th 2008 -
Publication:"Country
Life" -
Title:
"Buyer's
Guides: Fractional Ownership"
Author:
Holly
Kirkwood
Fractional ownership schemes are serious investments in
international high-end properties, says HOLLY KIRKWOOD
Rocksure Property’s Alpha Fund allows Investors to buy not just
time, but also shares in the capital appreciation of the
properties
SECOND-HOME ownership - especially abroad—isn’t without its
headaches. In the I980’s the timeshare concept provided a
solution by sharing the responsibility of maintenance and upkeep
among a group of people. It received some bad press. But in its
place is a new concept of fractional ownership that’s taking the
high-end market by storm.
It offers several weeks per year in exotic locations, plus rental
returns and, importantly a share in the capital appreciation of
the property.
Fractional ownership involves buying a share in an
item rather than the whole thing—an idea, born in the US, that
British investors are beginning to embrace. The concept can be
applied to anything from a handbag to a racehorse, but it works
particularly well with property…
…But most of us would like a second home slightly further
afield, and other similar propositions with property overseas
offer a type of spread bet on global-capital appreciation.
Termed property-investment funds, these schemes allow members to
buy a share in the equity of a portfolio of high-end properties
all over the world, and, in return, they receive a set amount of
tome to spend in them per year. After, an agreed period of
time, the fund dissolves and the properties are sold for a
profit, with each investor getting their share, plus rental
profits throughout.
One of the first of these to launch was Rocksure Property. In
2007 the company introduced its Alpha Fund, which sold 40 shares
in a portfolio of six properties, and has a lifespan of seven
years. Following this success, it began the Bravo Fund, which
will provide top-end properties – worth £1 million or more - in
Thailand, Brazil, Morocco, the Adriatic Coast, the Algarve and
Colorado. From the point of view of the investor the mix of
year-round sunshine and skiing opportunities in a variety of
long- and short-haul destinations has a wide appeal, and the
portfolio which combines established and emerging markets, is a
canny investment. A single share costs £189,000, and buys you
four weeks per year, with annual maintenance fees of about
£1,800. After seven years, Rocksure takes 17.5% of anything you
earn on top of the first 20% increase of investment, which gives
it quite an incentive to choose its properties wisely…
Back
to Top
Date:
March 30th 2008 -
Publication:"The
Sunday Telegraph" -
Title:
"All
yours for under £200,000"
Author:
Sonia Purnell
All yours for under £200,000
Instead of forking out for one holiday home, you could join a
club and get six for a similar amount, writes Sonia Purnell
When Anthony Hamilton, a business consultant living in central
London, decided to buy himself a fancy overseas pad, he was not
so keen on the usual dreary routine of trekking around estate
agents trying to find the right one. He was also concerned that
he might quickly tire of revisiting the same property in the
same location; nor did he relish the idea of spending his
holidays getting the swimming pool fixed.
Instead, he, like an increasing number of other busy
professionals decided to buy into a new concept of club
ownership. Instead of forking out for one high-end property,
with all the attendant costs and concerns, he invested in a fund
with 35 other like-minded people to buy six £1 million places
around the world to be looked after by a specialist management
company.
“I
just didn’t want the hassle of buying myself,” says Anthony. “I
liked the idea of buying an international portfolio and I bought
into the expertise of people who understand the travel industry
and know how to get value for money.
“I
now enjoy going to six different places, where I might not
otherwise have visited. I own a share of all of them, but
without any of the hassle of maintenance.”
Anthony invested £159,000 in the Alpha Fund run by Rocksure
(01993 823809, www.rocksureproperty.com), which
bought properties in New York, Brazil, Marrakesh, the Algarve,
Phuket in Thailand and Breckenridge ski resort in the Rockies,
pictured right. Investors can spend on average four weeks
a year in the properties, with an annual service charge of
£1,800. He has visited the Marrakesh property – a redstone
Moroccan house with traditional courtyards and views of the
Atlas mountains - and a tropical beach house in Buzios in Brazil
- with Jacuzzi and pool - which is two hours from Rio de
Janeiro. Next, he wants to visit the Algarve property, with its
pool and panoramic views. All have four to five bedrooms,
sleeping eight to 10 people.
“
I now enjoy going to six different places, where I might not
otherwise have visited”
The Alpha fund is now closed, but Rocksure is inviting investors
to put up £189,000 to join a new Bravo fund which will also aim
to buy six more properties for 40 investors, although replacing
the New York destination with one in Croatia.
“The funds sell after seven years and repatriate the profits, so
our main criterion is which is most likely to increase in value
over seven years,” says David Rogers of Rocksure.
“We’re buying to sell. The whole purpose is capital
appreciation, and the higher entry price in the Bravo fund
reflects our success with the Alpha fund, which has seen a 10
percent per annum increase in value.
Back
to Top
Date:
March 29th 2008 -
Publication:"The
Telegraph" -
Title:
"Fractional
ownership: A property portfolio for all seasons?"
Author:
Ginetta Verdrikas
Rocksure Property's Bravo Fund
Where
Brazil, Thailand (pictured above), Morocco, Portugal's Algarve,
Croatia's Adriatic Coast and the Rockies in the US
What
An initial deposit of £189,000, plus annual fees of £1,800, buys
a stake in the portfolio and guarantees you four weeks' use
annually. Owners get full concierge services. Your share can be
put into the rental pool, earning you 60 per cent of the rental
income. Limited to 40 investors, you are tied in for seven
years, after which the properties are all sold, earning you your
initial stake back plus a share of any profit
They say
David Rogers, Rocksure's founder, says: "Wealthy, time-poor
individuals realise that, instead of enduring the grief and
hassle of second homeownership on the Continent, where it is
cold and wet for nearly half the year, it makes sense to invest
a fraction of the amount in co-ownership of multiple overseas
properties offering year-round sunshine plus world-class skiing
and golf. Ownership of the real estate is the key. Other schemes
such as destination clubs are just timeshare by another name."
Back
to Top
Date: March
15th 2008 -
Publication:"Billionair500.com" -
Title:
"Rocksure
Property Fund Investing While You Holiday"
Rocksure Property Fund Investing While You Holiday
With a prevailing sense of economic doom in the air it is not
surprising that second home-abroad owners may start to be
getting anxious about their bolt-hole investment in Spain
Bulgaria Turkey or wherever the last great opportunity was meant
to be. Even HNW individuals pondering the best way forward
would do well to think in terms of diversification to spread the
risk, and one way (short of your own multiple-acquisitions) is
to invest in fund or club whereby you own a stake in a portfolio
of properties that you would also actually want to use. As well
as being sourced by “experts” you are relieved of all the usual
personal headaches that come with the addition of each new home
abroad.
Rocksure Property offers just such a fund with a lot of good
logic and pedigree behind it along with a choice of residences
for those used to a certain level of space and luxury. It
launched its first fund, the Alpha Fund, in July 2006, which
recently closed with 38 Shareholders, all owning a share of six
beautiful houses around the world and following this success,
Rocksure Property launched its Bravo Fund at the end of last
year.
The Bravo Fund will comprise six luxury properties hand-picked
in some of the worlds most stylish locations - Brazil,
Thailand, Morocco, The Algarve, The Adriatic Coast and The
Rockies - all of which can be used by Shareholders and their
families rent-free for several weeks a year. Shareholders can
enjoy a collection of million pound homes, furnished to high
standards, and being located in different countries, their
investment risk is spread. The Fund’s Advisors have
strategically chosen top-end properties that should be excellent
investments and collectively offer year round sunshine and a
high chance of strong capital appreciation, especially with
things turning in favour of a buyers market right now.
David Rogers, the founding director of the fund says, “Wealthy
time-poor individuals are realising that, instead of enduring
the grief and hassle of second home ownership on the continent,
where it is cold and wet for nearly half the year, it makes
sense to invest a fraction of the amount in co-ownership of
multiple overseas properties offering year-round sunshine plus
world-class skiing and golf. Ownership of the real estate is the
key.” Certainly there is a lot to be said for diversifying
across markets and climates in this “House for all Seasons”
programme, as well as having someone else worry about all the
management issues. Why just be tied to a villa in Europe in
winter when you could be skiing from your place in Colorado?
The properties will consist of detached homes with an average
individual value of £1m. Each home will have four to five
bedrooms accommodating parties of up to 8-10 people. They will
be furnished to high standards and specifications and will be
looked after by a housekeeper who will prepare meals using local
produce, as well as a maid and part-time gardener to monitor the
maintain the pool both while shareholders are using their homes
and in their absence. The sporting and leisure facilities
available will obviously vary widely from destination to
destination, but a Rocksure representative will assist with
advice and access to equipment hire, ski passes, golf tee times
and other reservations wherever needed. Babysitting can be
arranged and reservations in the best local restaurants can be
organised for you prior to arrival just to make sure you get the
most out of your holiday. Many of the houses will be equipped
with a massage bed and arrangements can be made with a
masseur/masseuse to come to the house by appointment to help you
unwind and totally relax.
So
how does the Bravo Fund work? There are 40 Units available in
total and subscription cost is £189,000 each. A full Unit
entitles the owner to an average 4 rent-free weeks each year at
any of the houses at any time, subject to availability —
shareholders have access to a protected area of the Rocksure
website where they can view availability and when their houses
are free for them to visit. The Bravo Fund is also selling half
Units at £94,500 (an average of 2 rent-free weeks per annum) and
three quarter Units at £141,750 with an entitlement of an
average 3 rent-free weeks each year. This on paper seems to
offer the best of both worlds - investment and usage. Especially
when many of our HNW readers tell us that they often don’t get
to use their own overseas homes themselves for more than a few
weeks in a year.
There is a reasonable Annual Management and Maintenance
Contribution towards the running costs of the houses which is
just £1,800 per Full Unit in 2008 - this is the only extra cost
so no hidden extras to worry about. Finally and crucially,
properties can be enjoyed by the Shareholders as well as their
families. If Shareholders do not wish to use their full
entitlement of weeks in a particular year Rocksure will let the
unwanted weeks through the rental arm www.rocksurerentals.com
and the Shareholders will receive 60% of the net rental
achieved.
Founder David Rogers and Desmond Patrick-Smith, both have
excellent pedigrees having spent many years with the UK’s most
exclusive tour operator, Abercrombie
&
Kent. They should know a thing or two what people expect from a
holiday villa or chalet and the same A&K standards they say will
be imposed on the Rocksure brand so guaranteeing a superb
service and holiday memories for years to come. Maybe there is
some sun after all behind those property clouds…
Back
to Top
Date:
March 12th 2008 -
Publication:"The
Sunday Times" -
Title:
"A
stake in several properties could be the
answer to the conventional holiday home" -
Author:
Lucy Denyer
If you’d love to own a holiday home, but can’t
decide where, new schemes offering investors a stake in several
glamorous properties around the globe seem the perfect solution.
Do they add up?
When
Frank and Anne Humphry decided to invest in a holiday home, the
options seemed endless. The only trouble was, they didn’t want
to end up going on holiday, with their three children – Edward,
7, David, 6, and Erica, 5 – to the same place every year. So
when they came across a scheme run by Rocksure Property that
offered a stake in six £1m properties around the world, it
seemed ideal.
Last
year, the Humphrys paid £189,000 for a single unit in Rocksure’s
Alpha Fund, allowing them to spend four weeks each year in a
variety of locations, from Phuket, Thailand, to Breckenridge, in
the Rocky Mountains, Colorado. In return for their money, they
get a share in the specially created company that owns the
properties, which means they benefit from any capital
appreciation. And, if they don’t want to use any of their weeks,
they can rent them out privately or through Rocksure.
In
March 2015, the properties will be sold and the proceeds
distributed among investors. Rocksure calculates that if the
value of the portfolio has risen by an average 3% per year in
the meantime, this will give an annual return of 7.22% once the
market value of the four weeks each year is factored in. If it
has gone up by 9%, the return will be 10.53%. You can get out
earlier, provided a buyer can be found.
“The
fact that we can invest in a property fund while at the same
time having a damn good laugh – it’s a bit of a win, really,”
says Frank, 40, who has just returned from 10 days’ skiing in
the Rockies with his family, staying at Rocksure’s five-bedroom
house. “Granted, it’s an investment, so it could go down as well
as up, but I look at where the properties are and I don’t think
that’s going to happen.”
Rocksure is now setting up its second fund, expected to include
properties in Breckenridge, Phuket, Marrakesh, the Algarve,
Buzios, in Brazil, and the Adriatic coast.
“It’s
an investment that appeals to successful people who have made
money and want to have fun,” says David Rogers, formerly chief
operating officer at the luxury travel company Abercrombie &
Kent, and one of Rocksure’s founders. “It’s boring having shares
in Cadbury, where the dividend goes straight to your bank
account, Gordon Brown takes 40% and you get zero real pleasure.
With us, you’ve got capital appreciation and a visible asset you
can have fun with.”
The
scheme is the latest twist on fractional ownership, a form of
buying pioneered in America, where several people buy a stake in
a property together. Unlike time-share, with which it is often
confused, it gives owners a share of the title.
Because each fund has a limited stock of property, there is
competition for the best times: with Rocksure, for example, each
shareholder is entitled to two high-season and two mid-season
weeks each year, so you can forget booking every Christmas and
half term away.
Want
to join the club?
How
Rocksure works
Forty
investors put in £189,000 each
Rocksure buys six properties around the world, each valued at
about £1m, over nine months
Investors are allowed to spend four weeks a year in any of the
six (although they must also pay a £1,800 annual management fee)
After
seven years, all the properties are sold and the money is split
40 ways
Pros
It
takes away the hassle of shopping for overseas property and
booking a holiday each year
You
own a share of the homes, so, if they increase in value, you
benefit when they are sold
Unlike
other fractional schemes, it allows you to stay in different
properties
You
get the comfort of a luxury hotel, combined with the advantages
of a private home
Cons
You’re
sharing the properties with 40 other families, so there is no
guarantee that you will be able to have the one you want when
you want it
You
have to wait seven years for your money – or find a buyer if you
want to bail out early
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