Global Quarters, Inc., a San Francisco-based firm, has announced the launch of the first brokerage exclusively focused on international fractional ownership properties.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (Feb. 1, 2008) — Global Quarters, Inc. has announced its formation as the world’s first fractional ownership brokerage, addressing changing trends in the international real estate marketplace. “Three things are changing where and how Americans buy real estate: retiring baby boomers, inherited wealth and technology,” says Global Quarters’ founder and veteran real estate broker Paula Gold-Nocella.

“As baby boomers scale back their work schedules, many will be splitting time between their hometowns, the towns where their children live, and their favorite travel destinations. At the same time, technology has made it possible for adults of all ages to stay connected anywhere in the world. For those who have the means and want to live in more than one place, fractional ownership makes it possible,” says Gold-Nocella.

Global Quarters Inc Fractional ownership offers a lifestyle that provides a cost-effective and stress-free way to own multiple homes. It is a legal arrangement that enables a group of unrelated individuals to purchase a property and share its cost, use and expenses. Global Quarters lists properties which have a comprehensive co-ownership agreement authored by the well-known San Francisco attorney Andy Sirkin, who has specialized in fractional ownership agreements for 20 years. These agreements allocate usage rights, costs, and responsibilities among the co-owners. Owners are free to sell their ownership at any time. While the concept isn’t new-resort developers and residence clubs have used fractional ownership to sell their own vacation properties for some time-it is just gaining popularity in the residential real estate market.

Global Quarters, because it’s not affiliated with any resort or developer, is free to represent any fractional ownership property anywhere in the world. “We’re starting with listings in the heart of Paris and the California Wine Country,” says Gold-Nocella, “but our goal is to represent both urban and rural properties with high market appeal and investment potential, around the world.”

Gold-Nocella has been a successful REALTOR(R) for over two decades by staying in front of real estate trends. She was an early proponent of fractional ownership sales, developing several small scale fractional ownership properties in Sonoma County, California as early as 1997. She believes that the fractional ownership structure will gain popularity because it offers the ability to enjoy home ownership anywhere in the world, as well as the financial potential for capital appreciation.

Unlike other kinds of timeshare arrangements, fractional property owners have control over the way their homes are used and managed. Usage can be on a set or rotating schedule, or a combination of both. Global Quarters listings offer a professional management company to oversee the day-to-day details of maintenance, housekeeping, accounting, and any other services the owners association agrees to pay for. That company can be replaced by another or eliminated, should the owners agree to do so.

Paula Gold-Nocella has been in the real estate industry since 1987, starting as an agent in Miami, Florida and relocating to San Francisco, California in 1990, where she became a top producing REALTOR for both Hartford Properties and Pacific Union Real Estate Company. In 2003 she became the Managing Broker for Prudential California Realty in Sonoma County growing one location into three offices and over 65 agents.

She is a past President of the San Francisco Chapter of the Women’s Council of REALTORS(R) and was the President of the North Bay Association of REALTORS in 2007, which serves Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake Counties.

More information: www.globalquarters.com .