Despite Recent Layoffs, Pacaso Launches Second Home Specialist Certification Program
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Pacaso, the embattled company that offers fractional ownership of luxury vacation properties, just announced the launch of its Second Home Specialist Certification program right after the company laid off a significant portion of its workforce.
Pacaso CEO Austen Allison blamed interest rate hikes on the massive cuts to the company’s staff:
In the last few weeks, the economy has become more unstable and a global recession now seems likely. Like any business in this environment, Pacaso must make proactive changes to ensure that our expenses align with revenue.
As a result, we will be reducing our workforce by 30% while we streamline operating costs. There will be no change to owner services or in-market home operations. Our long-term relationship with owners, and their homes, remains our top priority and will continue to receive exceptional service.
Second Home Specialist Certification
The new program, heralded in a press release, will allegedly give agents the knowledge and best practices they need to market Pacaso’s co-ownership programs.
The Pacaso Second Home Specialist Certification program is an easy five-step process that includes learning co-ownership best practices via the Pacaso Agent Playbook, garnering resources and tips for sharing co-ownership with agents’ networks and experiencing a live virtual tour of a Pacaso home during an overview webinar, as well as submitting a referral.
In addition to a 3% referral commission and Pacaso equity on each closed referral and additional 1% commission on resales for life, agents who complete the program will receive a Pacaso Second Home Specialist badge, free enrollment in Pacaso Access for agents ($1,000 value), and more exclusive opportunities to expand their business. Since the company’s October 2020 launch, Pacaso has paid agents more than $21 million in total gross commission income (GCI).
“With the uncertainty of the market, successful agents are already creating business plans for next year.” said Jeff Kennedy, vice president of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World. “The best plans always include continued education and exploring new ways to grow their business – making this certification a ‘must have’ for agents. The buyers that purchase high-end second homes typically have friends that also buy high-end second homes. If you don’t tell your clients about co-ownership and Pacaso, someone else will.”
According to the company, Pacaso’s Second Home Specialist Certification takes one day, though there’s no word yet on whether the program actually prepares agents to sell second homes other than the fractional ownership model offered by Pacaso.
