OurSharedPlace

About OurSharedPlace

OurSharedPlace is a comprehensive, cloud-based management platform engineered specifically for groups of individuals who co-own a single property, such as a vacation home, cabin, or rental investment. It functions as a centralized digital hub, eliminating the inefficiencies and conflicts inherent in managing shared assets through disparate tools like spreadsheets, group texts, and email chains. The platform's core value proposition is to streamline all critical aspects of co-ownership into one secure, organized, and accessible system. It is designed for families, friends, or investment partners who need to coordinate usage, maintain the property, manage shared finances, and preserve institutional knowledge. By providing professional-grade tools tailored to this unique use case, OurSharedPlace enables co-owners to reduce administrative overhead, prevent disputes, and shift focus from logistical coordination to simply enjoying their shared asset. The system supports role-based permissions, ensuring appropriate access levels for administrators, members, and guests, and offers optional two-way calendar synchronization with major rental platforms to prevent double-bookings for those who also rent their property.

Features of OurSharedPlace

Centralized Booking Calendar

The platform features an intuitive, shared calendar designed for conflict-free scheduling of property usage. Administrators can configure approval workflows, set member booking quotas, and establish usage policies to ensure fair access. The calendar supports iCal export, enabling seamless synchronization with personal calendars (Google, Apple, Outlook) and major rental platforms like Airbnb and VRBO. This bidirectional sync automatically blocks booked dates across all connected systems, providing a single source of truth for availability and preventing double-bookings. All members have visibility into the schedule, and automated notifications can be configured for calendar updates.

Integrated Financial Tracking Module

OurSharedPlace includes a dedicated financial system for transparently managing shared expenses and income. Co-owners can log costs for maintenance, repairs, utilities, and supplies, attributing them to specific members or the group. The platform tracks rental income if applicable and automatically calculates member balances, providing a clear, real-time view of who has paid and who owes money. It features automatic settlement suggestions to minimize the number of required transactions between members and includes a one-click reset function for annual accounting cleanups, simplifying shared financial management.

Secure Document and Knowledge Repository

This feature provides a centralized, organized vault for all property-related information. Users can upload and categorize critical documents such as appliance manuals, warranty certificates, insurance policies, contractor contracts, and receipts in various formats (PDF, Word, Excel). It also includes a property blog and discussion board for capturing and sharing ephemeral knowledge, including check-in/check-out procedures, local service recommendations, maintenance notes, and family traditions. The repository supports images and embedded private YouTube videos, making it ideal for creating visual how-to guides and preserving the property's history.

Member Management and Communication Hub

OurSharedPlace facilitates structured group communication and clear role definition. Administrators can invite members and assign them to roles with specific permissions (Admin, Member, Guest), controlling access to features like financial data or calendar modification. The integrated discussion board allows for threaded conversations on specific topics, complete with emoji reactions and email notifications for new posts and replies. This replaces scattered group texts and emails, keeping all property-related discussions searchable and organized within the context of the shared asset.

Use Cases of OurSharedPlace

Multi-Family Vacation Home Coordination

A group of three families co-owns a beach house. Using OurSharedPlace, they utilize the shared calendar with enforced booking quotas to fairly allocate prime summer weeks and holiday periods, eliminating scheduling conflicts and disputes. They store the HVAC manual and landscaper's contact info in the document hub, and use the discussion board to vote on purchasing new patio furniture, keeping all communication and decisions in one searchable location accessible to all adults.

Investment Group Managing a Rental Property

A syndicate of four investors owns a condo used for short-term rentals. They enable the calendar sync feature to connect their OurSharedPlace calendar directly to Airbnb and VRBO, automatically blocking dates to prevent double-bookings across platforms. The financial tracker is used to log rental income, management fees, and repair costs, with automatic balance calculations ensuring transparent and accurate profit distribution each quarter without manual spreadsheet reconciliation.

Family Estate Preservation and Knowledge Transfer

A large family inherits a mountain cabin. The older generation uses the property blog to document historical stories, local fishing spots, and specific winterization procedures. They upload scanned photos and videos to the gallery, preserving the cabin's legacy. The document storage holds the original deed and septic system diagram. This centralized knowledge base ensures vital information is not lost and is easily accessible to younger family members as ownership transitions.

Friends Sharing a Ski Chalet with Usage Rules

A group of friends jointly purchases a ski chalet with strict rules on guest policies and cleaning responsibilities. They post the official usage agreement in the document storage. The to-do list feature is configured with recurring tasks for post-visit cleaning and hot tub maintenance, automatically assigning rotations. The discussion board is used to plan group trips and vote on capital improvements, providing an official record of all group decisions and communications.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does the calendar synchronization with rental platforms work?

OurSharedPlace generates a secure, unique iCal feed URL for your property's master calendar. You paste this URL into the calendar sync settings of platforms like Airbnb or VRBO, as well as into personal calendar applications like Google Calendar. The platform periodically pushes updates (typically every few hours), sending booked dates from OurSharedPlace to your external calendars, which block those dates. This prevents a date booked by a co-owner internally from being accidentally made available for rent on a public platform.

Is our property data private and secure?

Yes. Your OurSharedPlace property site is private and accessible only to the members you explicitly invite. The platform employs role-based security controls, allowing you to define permissions (e.g., Admin, Member, Guest) to control access to sensitive features like financial data or calendar management. Data is stored securely on hosted servers. The platform does not publicly list or share your property information.

Can we use OurSharedPlace if we don't rent our property to the public?

Absolutely. The calendar synchronization feature with Airbnb, VRBO, etc., is completely optional and disabled by default. The core functionality--coordinating stays among co-owners, managing documents, tracking expenses, and facilitating communication--is designed for private co-ownership groups. Many groups use the platform solely for internal coordination without any public rental activity.

How does the financial tracking handle settlements between members?

The financial module acts as a detailed ledger. When expenses are logged, they are assigned to the payer and optionally split among specific members or the whole group. The system continuously calculates each member's net balance. It then provides "Settlement Suggestions," which are optimized payment instructions showing the minimum number of transactions required for all members to settle up (e.g., "Member B pays Member A $125"). Members then handle the actual payment transfer via their preferred method (e.g., Venmo, bank transfer).