Anatomy of an Exchange

“Variety’s the very spice of life. That gives it all its flavor.” – William Cowper, 1731-1800

I’m taking the opportunity to write this update while (obviously) enjoying the pool at The Hemingways, located on the banks of Warm Springs Creek in Ketchum, Idaho (Sun Valley).

Over the Thanksgiving, 2009 holiday, our exchange partners enjoyed the use of our place in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico (listing 3100) and we’re just now using their place. We’d always heard about the magic of a summer in Sun Valley and it was a great opportunity for our family to enjoy hiking, biking and fishing the area. We also timed the visit to coincide with an incredible slope-side concert by Carole King and James Taylor.

For our family, exchanging is a great way to experience new places. While we love our home-by-the-sea in Cabo San Lucas, we love exploring new destinations! Our next stop: a lakeside exchange at Lake Tahoe in August. Vacation homes and fractional properties offer great potential for exchange, as the exchange need not be simultaneous (our Tahoe exchange partners used our Cabo home in late January, 2010).

It’s as simple as sending another member on FractionalExchange.com a simple message: “We’d like to use your place. Would you be interested in an exchange?” If you’d like to practice sending an exchange request, visit our listing 3100 and send us a test message.

Appassionata, Le Marche, Italy

We’re very happy to announce the affiliation of Appasionata, located in Le Marche, Italy. Appassionata consists of three restored farmhouses overlooking the Adriatic Sea. Appassionata is being sold in fractional interests and we look forward to new fractional owners joining us at FractionalExchange.com for exchange.  www.Appassionata.com for more information.

Paul’s Travel Tip

With the popularity of mp3 players (iPod, iPhone, etc.), be sure to pack a cable that connects the headphone jack (3.5mm) to the female RCA-style jacks of many stereos. With the cable, you’ll be able to easily play your favorite music using the audio systems available in most upscale exchange homes and other lodging properties.

FractionalExchange.com Tip

Did you know you have the ability to send multiple exchange offers with one click of the mouse? When logged-in and viewing member listings at the city level (or resort level), you may select multiple listings (or all) and send an exchange message to the selected listings with just one click of the mouse! This is especially handy when proposing an exchange at a specific resort property.

Availability of Financing for Fractional and Vacation Properties

We are currently working on specifics regarding a securities-based lending program that may be used to finance (or refinance) vacation holdings. With lending these days tough to find or non-existent, the low rates offered by this program (currently less than 3%) offer an opportunity to borrow or a great chance to refinance an existing high-interest-rate mortgage. More to follow in the coming weeks.

Regards,

Evan Julber
CEO FractionalExchange.com®

FractionalExchange.com ® | Bend OR USA | office: 541.306.3180 | Support: support@FractionalExchange.com
www.FractionalExchange.com Exchange Keys. Trade Dreams.®

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/dcb2cc88-741b-11df-87f5-00144feabdc0.html

We’re presently introducing Donate-a-Dream™, a new program aimed at supporting selected charities.

The 2008/2009/2010 recession caused financial support for many charitable organizations to decline substantially. By donating weeks of use at participating resorts, FractionalExchange.com is able to help provide valuable financial assistance to charity and at the same time, provide lodging at incredible fractional properties to winning purchasers. Many of the properties are not available for rent, making the lodging opportunities offered very unique.

Through Donate-a-Dream™, individuals and companies desiring to support charity are able to purchase incredible vacation opportunities, either directly or through the charity’s event program. In the future, we will maintain a list of the travel opportunities available, along with contact information for the charity offering the item for sale.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Appassionata Ltd. selects FractionalExchange.com^® for Exchange Needs

May 26, 2010 (Bend, Oregon) – FractionalExchange.com^® has announced that Appassionata, Ltd. has selected FractionalExchange.com for the vacation exchange requirements of its owners at Estate Giacomo Leopardi in the Le Marche region of Italy.

Appassionata has acquired Estate Giacomo Leopardi, which is located near the hilltop village of Montefiore dell’Aso.   The estate sits on five acres with stunning views of the Adriatic Sea and Sibillini mountains. The facilities have been created for all seasons and truly reflect the Italian lifestyle.  The large swimming pool, all weather tennis court, private terraces, landscaped gardens, olive groves and newly planted vineyard offer something for everyone.

Casa Giacomo, the first residence on the estate ready for exchange, is a four bedroom, three bath residence consisting of 2,150 square feet over two floors.  The villa sits on its own private grounds within the estate.

Paul Nabor, Director of Sales at FractionalExchange.com states, “Casa Giacomo is truly an Italian masterpiece.  We are so happy to be adding this remarkable property to our ever-expanding network.  We welcome its owners to our program, and are confident our existing members will relish having access to this unique exchange opportunity.”

Also on the estate is a farmhouse known as Casa Leopardi.  This second residence is presently being restored and converted to two fractional ownership townhomes and will be available to FractionalExchange.com members at a future date.

“Appassionata is delighted to have joined forces with FractionalExchange.com. We have been researching the exchange options available for the last couple of years and have decided that FractionalExchange.com provides the best solution for our boutique fractional business. Appassionata owners now have the wonderful opportunity to exchange residency weeks with similar luxury properties around the world.  This is a fantastic additional benefit and choice for Appassionata owners,” says Michael Hobbs, co-founder of Appassionata Ltd.

Says Evan Julber, FractionalExchange.com CEO, “Bringing this premier Italian property into the FractionalExchange.com family creates new and exciting opportunities for all of our members.  We are thrilled to have them join our program and look forward to serving their owners’ needs.”

For additional information regarding this release and the services of FractionalExchange.com, visit http://www.fractionalexchange.com or contact Paul Nabor at 541.306.3180.

About FractionalExchange.com

FractionalExchange.com is a global online owner-to-owner exchange network for owners of upscale vacation residences and fractional properties.  The company was established in 2008 by parent company Sierra Holdings, Incorporated, an Oregon Corporation with offices in Bend, Oregon, USA. Servers are located in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

You can connect with FractionalExchange.com on Twitter @FractionalExch, on Facebook here, and on LinkedIn here.

Find the FractionalExchange.com Fact Sheet and logo here.

Press release archives here.

Contact:

Paul Nabor, Director of Sales

FractionalExchange.com
Bend, Oregon 97702 USA

541.306.3180
866.595.4075 Toll-free (USA)

http://www.fractionalexchange.com

About Appassionata, Ltd.

Appassionata Ltd. is a UK based development business specializing in the restoration and creation of unique fractional ownership properties in the region of Le Marche Italy. The business is boutique in nature and style, family run and aimed at like- minded people who want to experience real Italy and a luxurious lifestyle.  Founded in 2004 the business takes its time; in Italy great things take time to evolve. Website: http://www.appassionata.com.

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Took some time off of major work, but time to delve back into new modules. Our work for the next few weeks will involving coding a portion of the website for display on Apple’s iPad. Fun stuff.

June 17:

Cool new promotional code invitation module completed and installed. Fractional owners can now click-and-create memberships quickly at participating resorts.

Working on different visual presentation for the “resort-level” view, introducing tabbed information as a visual element. We’ll make the change live and likely refine from there.

June 16:

Translation option added. Thanks Google, you saved us a ton of work.

Started programming of a new promotional code invitation system for use by fractional resorts. When completed, this system will create a membership quickly and efficiently for new members referred from participating/affiliating resorts.

June 10:

Several weeks spent working on our renewal billing module. Almost there.

Donate-a-Dream™ page added to our website.

May 19:

Our team spent most of April traveling, but returned with a renewed focus on website improvements. From scratch, we wrote a messaging module that will now allow us to communicate directly with our membership (in full, a subset or just certain members). We can now send newsletters and important announcements. Previous to this, we’d been limited to certain pre-programmed administrative messages related to new member sign-up, exchange offers and renewals.

We also instituted an easier way to log in to FractionalExchange.com for our members. Each and every email that is sent out will have a custom login link in the signature/footer line.

And, big news, we received our official trademark registrations for our name, logo and tagline. We spent a day updating our logos, graphics and communications to reflect the change from SM/TM status to ® status!

April 8:

New exchange search programming. Switched from an additive process (find where you want to go) to a subtractive process (show everything, then filter/narrow down the selection). This new search capability includes the ability to filter/narrow selection using many parameters (bedrooms, number of people a property will sleep, resorts, activities). We also added the ability to sort listings by date added (great for looking for listings that are new to the site) and by “most popular.”

March 18:

We’re working on implementing the ability to filter listings. For example, selecting “beach” and “fishing” will filter for those properties meeting that criteria. Select “3+ bedrooms” and you’ll narrow the selection further.  Unfortunately, we don’t have ANY properties that show when “beach” and “skiing” are selected (wouldn’t that be nice!).  Hoping to have this new feature implemented within a week.

Another improvement we will be implementing is the ability to brand individual listings. A listing may be part of what we call a “Fractional Residence Collection,” a group of homes that have been fractionalized and branded under the auspices of a development or fractional company; the individual listing will have the option to carry the brand of the FRC. This offers the opportunity for the member to display the brand, thus displaying the quality (and management) of the property listing, as well as gaining exposure for the brand.

March 12:

Created the ability to have default listings for resorts. With this improvement, members may select from pre-defined templates and save time in creating their listings. There’s even the option for default, resort-provided photos that members may use.

Created the ability to have a “default” photo for a resort. In the event a listing doesn’t have photos (yet), the default resort image will appear at the city- and resort-level viewing of listings. In the event there is no default photo, a “Image not available” placeholder will appear (this is unchanged from our original software version).

March 5:

Created, tested and implemented our invitation system. With this system, a resort can provide us with names and email addresses of their fractional (or other) owners and we’ll send out a personalized invitation to join, complete with personalized link and default listing templates (which they can edit to suit).

February 27:

Enabled bulk proposal sending for members. This improvement allows members to easily send an exchange proposal to all (or selected) listings in a particular city and/or resort with one click of the mouse. This improvement saves time by eliminating the repetitive sending of exchange proposals, one-by-one, to all listings in a city and/or resort.

The Club features ten units located directly on Mission Beach. Each unit is being sold in 1/8th shares (6.5 weeks), with prices starting at $279,000.  Located just steps from the sand, The Club offers contemporary beachfront living. As a testament to the quality of the offering — and the incredible location — Sales Advisor Megan McGarty shared with us that they’ve already sold twelve fractional shares in just a few short weeks.

The fractional model is alive and well in the post-recession environment. In fact, we expect fractional to gain market share (vs. traditional whole-ownership resort- and second-home properties) as families make the decision to purchase only the amount of time that they can use (rather than buy 52 weeks of time).

Owners at The Club are eligible for membership with the Elite Alliance, a luxury collection of nine resorts that offer exchange. Owners are also eligible for membership at FractionalExchange.com, allowing them to use their keys at The Club to open doors worldwide.

The Residence Club on Mission Beach is a wonderful and stunning boutique property, located on some very precious real estate: on the beach in San Diego’s Mission Beach. An excellent execution of the fractional model.

Photo of our presentation booth.

Paul Nabor (l) and Evan Julber (r) at Ragatz Fractional Interest Conference 2010 (Ron Wright in background)

2009-Fractional-Interest-Report_EN_NorthCourse

Reve Orange of Costa Rica Selects FractionalExchange.com^® for Exchange

March 22, 2010 (Bend, Oregon) – FractionalExchange.com^® has announced that Reve Orange of Costa Rica has selected FractionalExchange.com for the vacation exchange requirements of its members.

Reve Orange is a French expression meaning “Orange Dream” and serves as the descriptive title of a gated 25-condominium unit, master planned community on Costa Rica’s west coast.  Located northwest of San Jose by a one-hour drive and one-hour ferry ride to the Nicoya Peninsula, the area is declared by worldwide scientists as an official Blue Zone, or geographical location with the highest population of people living past 100 years of age.  The wild hues of orange and red that cascade across the Gulf of Nicoya with each sunset and sunrise coined the area as Playa Naranjo or “Orange Beach”.

Paul Nabor, Director of Sales at FractionalExchange.com states, “The opportunity to add this remarkable Costa Rican destination to our network is extraordinary.  We welcome Reve Orange members to begin utilizing their FractionalExchange.com benefit immediately, and encourage our existing members to follow the exciting development of Reve Orange, in order that they may take advantage of all the wonderful amenities this location offers.”

Through a group enrollment arrangement, all Homeowners Association members at Reve Orange are now part of the FractionalExchange.com Gold level membership network, and may access the complete global exchange network of FractionalExchange.com.  By using the network, Reve Orange owners can effectively utilize their property prior to completion of the resort using Early Exchange™ which enables offering future time to other members as part of a current exchange for another member’s property.

“Haute Costa Rica living for a fraction of the cost represents the essence of Reve Orange.” said Moe Montana, Reve Orange’s Sales and Marketing Director.  “New York City design firm Datumzero has provided an outstanding contemporary, minimalist architectural design.   The development will also offer its owners several asset-based amenities such as: three pools, a fishing boat, a ski boat, an All Terrain Vehicle for each condo, three wave runners, concierge, security, and a 12-passenger limousine bus that will be able to pick up and drop off owners from the San Jose airport.

“Reve Orange is proud to join the FractionalExchange.com network, providing our owners with the added resource of a dynamic and easy-to-use database that offers the selective option to stay at the best fractional ownership developments in the world.  Reve Orange is honored to be integrated as an official member, and pleased that our members will enjoy yet another amenity which to date is not offered by any other Costa Rica or Latin American development.”

“This landmark location in Costa Rica will provide a phenomenal Latin American vacation option for our members.  We are excited to welcome Reve Orange and its members to the FractionalExchange.com network,” said Evan Julber, FractionalExchange.com CEO.

For additional information regarding this release and the services of FractionalExchange.com, visit http://www.fractionalexchange.com or contact Paul Nabor at 541.306.3180.

About FractionalExchange.com

FractionalExchange.com is a global online owner-to-owner exchange network for owners of upscale vacation residences and fractional properties.  The company was established in 2008 by parent company Sierra Holdings, Incorporated, an Oregon Corporation with offices in Bend, Oregon, USA. Servers are located in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

You can connect with FractionalExchange.com on Twitter @FractionalExch, on Facebook here, and on LinkedIn here.

Find the FractionalExchange.com Fact Sheet and logo here.

Press release archives here.

Contact:

Paul Nabor, Director of Sales

FractionalExchange.com
Bend, Oregon 97702 USA

541.306.3180
866.595.4075 Toll-free (USA)

http://www.fractionalexchange.com

About Reve Orange

Reve Orange offers a gated community in one of Costa Rica’s most exclusive locations (Playa Naranjo) with 20 condominiums and 5 Penthouse units.  Full or fractional ownership is available.  More information can be found on their website at:  www.reve-orange.com, or by calling 866.805.6708.

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