Pacaso, a new online marketplace that helps people buy and co-own a luxury second home, is expanding its operations in the Coachella Valley, Riverside, CA.

Some destinations where Pacaso has bought properties include Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Indian Wells, and La Quinta, reports James B. Cutchin from Desert Sun. This makes Coachella Valley one destination that the co-ownership platform chose to expand operations directly and through local real estate agents.

Pacaso is valued at $1.5 billion, thanks to SoftBank Group’s investment and interest in the company. The group has made several high-profile investments. However, it’s also critiqued for bloating the valuations of startups it invests in.

We have covered this in our Weekly Wire Round up

The Process of Co-owning a Second Home

Co-owning, or ‘fractional ownership,’ ‘s owning a share of the real estate itself and being issued a deed for the property, not a time you can use the home. Pacaso makes the whole practice digital,l where you can do the following:

• Searching 2nd Homes for Co-ownership: Browse single-family homes in second home destinations using PaPacaso’snline marketplace. The portal lets you decide how many shares you would like to own.
• Legal Cover: Pacaso creates a property LLC for each home. It also finds and vet co-owners and handles all the sales details. At closing, the co-owners enjoy 100% ownership of the home. The portal, r the marketplace provider Pacaso does not own/retain any shares.
• Post-purchase experience: Pacaso handles furnishings, repairs, utilities, and property management of the newly bought 2nd home and co-owner move-in. Many workflows, including scheduling visits, are handled via PaPacaso’spp and SmartStay™ technology.

Why Coachella Valley?

The consistently dry and sunny weather of Coachella Valley puts it among the top destinations people choose to visit or stay at. The weather is a big reason the real estate market has seen consistent activity. Single-family homes have surged in price way more than in other regions.

The market here in Coachella Valley is so hot that some houses sell within the first week of being listed.

“It sold in four days … we had 21 showings in three days that resulted in 11 offers,” says real estate agent Will Cook, of the Will Cook Group with Keller Williams Luxury Homes, adding that it sold nearly $100,000 over asking price.

“No I’m not shocked it’s pretty common,” says Cook about the price, adding that he recently had a home sell for nearly twice over that asking price.

Will Cook, | Will Cook Group 

The real estate agent further elaborates that the market is short in supply, and demand/supply is the biggest factor determining high prices.

It’s all about supply and demand and the inventory is at an all time low, “Right now have .7 months of inventory available so in hard numbers that translates to 710 homes when we normally have 3000 homes at the market at this time.” (Will Cook)

It’s a Seller’s market

Part of the reason Pacaso has chosen Coachella Valley is that the region is a ‘seller market’ ‘right now, with only 0.7 months of housing supply and new building permits (especially single-family homes) not catching up with the demand.

This makes Pacaso even more willing to buy properties in the Coachella Valley and add alternate payment methods like cryptocurrencies.

Real estate is one of the big industries in the Inland Empire or the big industry, we might say. Another real estate tech platform, Sundae, is trying to capture the market of selling dated homes that need repairs.

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