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Just a week before Christmas, we were able to catch up with Premium Collection Homeowner, Laura, from Houston,Texas. Having started as part of the Signature Collection, Cozzile, Laura and her family felt that having more room to cook and host others (as comes naturally in the Premium Collection homes) was just what they were looking for in the next chapter of their August journey. Now having joined as Homeowners in the Demi-Quartier Premium Collection, Laura shares her full co-ownership story with August.
I’m Laura, I am from Houston, Texas, and I have three girls, and we travel as much as we possibly can. We go all over.
We love to travel. Europe has always been an area that we really enjoy and so I was looking to buy a home there. When August began to appear online, I started looking into it and I thought wow, as we love to go over to Europe, and this is an option where we could travel around to multiple places.
Plus, since I'm in the States, of course, having the option where I don't have a house there that I have to continue to maintain was very appealing as well.
I did a little at first because we kind of wanted the place to be our own. But as I started speaking with August more, learning about how the model works and how they choose families that are from all different areas of the world, so that your school holidays are different for instance, that really helped me realise that I'll have plenty of options, and that I'm going to be able to stay when I want to stay and things like that.
After talking through it with August, I really liked the concept, and how there is a shared community where you can talk to the other Homeowners. I loved that aspect of it because it felt like you were buying it with part of your family.
It was mainly about space for us as we love to cook. We wanted to have larger kitchens at some of the properties and be able to cook more dinners, that was the main draw. The Signature Collection properties were all beautiful. We loved them. It was just having a little bit more space was our biggest pull towards Premium.
It was a very seamless process and it actually moved faster than I expected it would. I thought I'd be waiting for a buyer for a long time (and there were multiple buyers that were interested), but then it just moved very quickly from there. As it was my first time going through that, in a way I was diving into the unknown, but the team was wonderful at just walking me through the various options and the whole process. So I would say it was pretty seamless.
I wanted to stay over Thanksgiving but my kids wanted to be home so I told a co-worker of mine to go over and use the house. She did, and they had nothing but wonderful things to say about it. So, I can't wait to get over there.
Yes, we loved it. Especially the property in Mallorca (which I'm excited about in Premium). All the properties that we've stayed in, in the Signature Collection, were beautiful. The aesthetic is very similar to mine; it's not over the top and it's calming in a sense. Plus, I love how they tie in the character of the property.
My home is built with pieces from all over the world – my front door is from France, I have a whole bunch of cabinets from Belgium, and all of my doors came from New Orleans in the interior – so I built the house out of these pieces and I think that August does a very good job of keeping the true character of each of those properties too.
Even with the decor, they bring in little things. I remember in the property in Pollença, they had plates all over the wall that they had sourced from different areas in Mallorca and that just represented the area really well. So we really liked that. It feels homey and authentic.
Yes, that's the one that we've visited the most and where I would say we just really got to know the town [Pollença] very well. We really liked being in the village and able to walk everywhere there. I was comfortable with my kids just running around, down the streets. It was safe and we could go to restaurants, and we went there so often that they knew what my kids wanted to order before we even ordered. I thought, oh my gosh this is clearly quite a small town, because we haven't been here that often but every day they would remember my kids. And so, going into the Premium Collection, the fact that it was in the same town, I thought that was perfect. It's just a little bit of an upgrade but we're still staying in the area that we really liked.
Then in the Signature Collection, Chamonix was just incredible. I was actually a little bit sad to leave this destination as we fell in love with the area, but we really just wanted more space. But it's not far from Megève, so we can still go to all our favourite restaurants that the girls found. We did visit Megève when we were there because the last time we were in Chamonix, I was looking at the Premium Collection and they were already identifying a property in Megève. So we went ahead and explored the town there and, of course, it's just as lovely.
Tuscany I would say is my oldest daughter's absolute favourite, she loved that house, she didn’t want to leave, she wanted us to stay there forever, so that was another one that was just one of our favourites.
I would say Mallorca is the one that we've spent the most time at but we enjoy all of the properties so much. As for the locations, all of them are very well placed to be able to get to other things and areas that are nearby. So I like that about it.
At first I was a little bit on edge, counting down, waiting for it to open up to make sure we got our dates. I would have my notepad ready with the dates I wanted to try to secure.
There is still a little bit of that, but what I've found is when the points are released and people are moving things around (especially as all five properties come into the Collection), you really do have a lot of flexibility on how you can get the dates that you want, and not have everything be booked up.
Especially since the recent upgrades, the ease of use is very simple. Even before that upgrade it was really easy to use so I was very pleased with it.
If somebody else got Mallorca before me, usually it would open up later or I would just say okay we're going to go explore a different property this time, perhaps we'll go somewhere else. So you have options and I like that.
One of the things that's the most stress-free is that usually, when you start to plan a vacation, you're starting from scratch. Wondering ‘Where do we want to go?’. Now, we have five solid options that are going to feel like home and the August team has done an amazing job at curating the properties, so it's really easy to just say, okay, which place do we want to go to this time?
Then if you want to add something onto your journey, you can. The last time we went to Chamonix we popped over to Paris on our way home, and it's really easy to extend your trip or add another visit onto a vacation too.
I think that's been the biggest stress relief for me, being able to start with one of the homes and plan other little things around it, instead of starting from scratch. Now we have staple options to begin with, that we can build on with other fun areas.
I would say talk to the August team about any reservations, have as many calls as you need. They can partner you with other Homeowners to speak with them as well, so just talk to people and get out those initial hesitations.
It feels like I'm truly owning this home with my family. I was looking at doing it on my own and I really wanted to own a home abroad myself, but I was a little bit hesitant and I don't know a lot about it. The August team was always really good, even when I was moving from Signature to Premium. Seeing the homes and going to visit them, like the Megève property when they were still in negotiations, the team just said, here's the address, you're right there in Chamonix, go look at it!
Communicate with the August team. They will answer all your questions and do everything to get you comfortable. That is my biggest tip, I would say.
Eager to explore more about co-ownership in Europe's most iconic destinations? Start a conversation with our expert Advisory Team and take one step closer to your August journey today.
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