OurSharedPlace

About OurSharedPlace

OurSharedPlace is a foundational digital tool designed to simplify the management of a co-owned vacation property. It is built for families, friends, and investment groups who share ownership of a second home, such as a cabin, beach house, or ski chalet. The core problem it solves is the chaos that arises from using scattered, informal methods like group texts, email chains, and personal spreadsheets to coordinate schedules, finances, and property information. OurSharedPlace provides a single, organized, and private online hub for all co-owners. Its main value proposition is to replace confusion with clarity, ensuring fair access, preserving shared knowledge, and streamlining communication. By centralizing every essential aspect of property management, it allows co-owners to spend significantly less time on administrative coordination and more time actually enjoying their shared getaway. The platform operates on a straightforward annual subscription model per property, making it a dedicated and professional solution for a common, often frustrating, modern ownership challenge.

Features of OurSharedPlace

Shared Booking Calendar

This intuitive calendar is the cornerstone for coordinating stays and preventing double-bookings. Co-owners can view availability, request dates, and see confirmed reservations at a glance. The system supports approval workflows and usage quotas to ensure fair scheduling for everyone. For properties also used for rental income, the calendar can be exported via iCal to sync with platforms like Airbnb and VRBO, as well as personal calendars like Google Calendar, creating a single source of truth for property availability.

Centralized Document & Knowledge Storage

This feature acts as a digital filing cabinet and collective memory for the property. It provides a secure place to store and organize essential documents such as appliance manuals, warranties, insurance papers, and contractor contracts. Beyond formal documents, it allows owners to capture and preserve shared knowledge like Wi-Fi passwords, local restaurant recommendations, check-in procedures, and family traditions, ensuring this valuable information is never lost and is accessible to all members.

Financial Tracking & Expense Management

OurSharedPlace brings transparency to shared finances. Co-owners can log expenses for maintenance, repairs, utilities, and supplies. The system tracks who paid for what and automatically calculates what each member owes or is owed, providing a clear, up-to-date financial snapshot. This minimizes confusion and awkward conversations about money, with features for annual financial resets and settlement suggestions to simplify bookkeeping among the group.

Member Communication & Task Management

This suite of tools replaces fragmented communication. A dedicated discussion board allows for organized, threaded conversations about property matters, with email notifications to keep everyone in the loop. A property blog is ideal for sharing updates, news, and detailed maintenance notes. An integrated to-do list lets the group assign and track recurring or one-time tasks, ensuring nothing important, like seasonal maintenance, falls through the cracks.

Use Cases of OurSharedPlace

Managing a Family Vacation Home

Multiple siblings and their families co-own a lakeside cabin. OurSharedPlace helps them fairly schedule summer and holiday visits using the booking calendar, store instructions for the boat lift and septic system, share favorite hiking trails in the blog, and split the cost of a new roof through the financial tracker, all while keeping conversations organized and off of everyone's personal social media.

Coordinating a Friends' Investment Property

A group of friends purchases a ski chalet as a rental investment and for personal use. They use the platform to sync their personal booking calendar with their Airbnb listing to prevent double-bookings, manage cleaner and property manager contacts, track rental income and shared expenses for taxes, and maintain a log of guest feedback and maintenance issues for continuous improvement.

Preserving Knowledge for Future Generations

A family wishes to pass down their mountain retreat to their children and grandchildren. OurSharedPlace becomes the digital repository for the home's history, storing photos, stories of family gatherings, instructions for unique home features, and contacts for trusted local vendors. This ensures the home's legacy and operational knowledge are preserved as ownership transitions.

Streamlining an HOA or Club Property

A small homeowners' association or social club manages a shared lodge or beach club. The platform allows them to coordinate member reservations, post announcements and event calendars, store governing documents and meeting minutes, manage a roster of members with appropriate access levels, and transparently track annual dues and special assessment fees.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does the calendar sync work with rental platforms?

OurSharedPlace generates a secure iCal link for your property's master calendar. You can paste this link into the calendar sync settings on platforms like Airbnb or VRBO. The platforms will then import your booked dates from OurSharedPlace every few hours, automatically blocking those dates on the rental site to prevent guests from booking them. This is an optional feature you can enable if you rent your property.

Is our property information secure and private?

Yes. Your OurSharedPlace site is private and accessible only to the members you invite. The platform uses role-based permissions, so you can control what guests, members, and administrators can see and do. Your data is not shared publicly or with other OurSharedPlace groups, ensuring your family or group's information remains confidential.

What happens after the 14-day free trial?

After your 14-day free trial, you will be asked to choose an annual subscription to continue using the service for that property. The trial requires no credit card, so you will not be charged automatically. If you choose not to subscribe, your property site and data will be deactivated but typically held for a period in case you decide to return.

Can we use it if we don't rent our property out?

Absolutely. OurSharedPlace is primarily designed for co-owners to coordinate among themselves. The rental calendar sync is a completely optional feature. The core tools for scheduling, communication, document storage, and financial tracking are invaluable for any group of owners, whether they rent to the public or use the property solely for their own personal enjoyment.

Pricing of OurSharedPlace

OurSharedPlace offers a simple, flat-rate pricing model. After a 14-day free trial that requires no credit card, the service costs $79 per year for each property you manage. This annual fee covers all features for an unlimited number of co-owners and guests for that specific property.