16 Friends Went In On a Vacation Home in Big Sur. Burning Man Was Their Proving Ground

Homeownership can be stressful. Buying and managing a vacation property, perhaps even more so. Beyond the time and resources necessary to finance and maintain a second home, there’s the constant pressure to spend enough time there to justify the investment. But one Bay Area friend group seems to have solved these issues in one fell swoop by purchasing a vacation home together in Central California.

“We thought it would be super special to share a space and take on the joint burden, financial and logistical, of a second home together,” says Phil Levin, who purchased an 11-acre property in Big Sur with 15 of his friends through an LLC. Throughout the year, the group, along with their kids, pets, and guests, cycle in and out of the lot’s three dwellings—a three-bed home, two-bed cottage, and artist’s studio—coordinated with a shared Google Calendar.

“People will just put on the calendar when they’re going to be there, and then they’ll specify that they’re requesting the main house or three bedrooms, or whatever,” explains CeCe Gehrig, another one of the owners. Aside from the rare instance where a co-owner requests the entire space for a private family getaway or work off-site, she explains that there’s always an eagerness to share the space with other families, even pulling out air mattresses if necessary. That means the home rarely sits empty for extended periods of time.