DeCaro Auctions Launches First Co-Ownership Real Estate Auctions

Second-home buying is making a cautious comeback, with Redfin reporting a 4.1% annual increase in second-home mortgages in 2025—the first rise since the pandemic boom. Yet second homes still accounted for just 2.7% of all mortgage originations, underscoring how few buyers can afford a property used only part of the year. Enter co-ownership, a model that has now reached the auction block. DeCaro Auctions, a luxury real estate auction house founded in 1983, began offering co-ownership auctions in September 2026 and claims to be the first auction company to sell co-ownership this way.

Co-ownership, often called fractional ownership, is not a timeshare. “This is not a timeshare. It’s co-ownership,” says Mario Vargas, partner and CEO of DeCaro Auctions. “Everyone owns the whole home.” A property is typically divided into eight fractions (sometimes six or four), with owners holding either a deeded fraction or a share of an LLC. All owners share use of the entire house during their stays. DeCaro coordinates professional management, rotates calendars to fairly distribute peak seasons, and owners split carrying costs like maintenance, taxes, and insurance. An operating agreement sets rules on holding periods, right of first refusal, and rental bans. The draw is a lower entry point: on a Lake Minnetonka estate, bidding on one-eighth opens at $1.55 million against a whole-home value of about $15 million. Vargas notes even buyers who could afford the whole house may question carrying 100% of a property used a few weeks a year. “It’s a smarter way to own,” he says. The model also helps sellers—families can sell part and keep part, or heirs can divide an inherited property.

The auction process differs from a standard sale: DeCaro publishes a starting bid for each fraction, and buyers register, qualify, and lock in a place at that opening bid. If demand exceeds available fractions, competition sets the final price. Registration follows the same steps as any DeCaro auction—review due diligence, agree to terms, submit proof of funds—as detailed on DeCaro’s process page. Whole-home buyers can still submit an offer at any time, giving sellers multiple paths. To exit, owners can resell their fraction under the operating agreement; DeCaro recommends re-auctioning it to its growing network of co-ownership buyers. “We can simply put that fraction back up for auction and let the market dictate what it’s worth,” says Matthew Rollins, partner and chief marketing officer. For buyers who have wanted a resort home but couldn’t justify owning all of it, the question is shifting from affordability to fit. Learn more at decaroauctions.com.