The dream of owning a vacation home can come true via tenancy-in-common.

A SFGate.com article talks about families and friends getting together to buy a second/vacation home via a TIC agreement.

"Sharing vacation homes -- with friends or extended families -- is hardly new. But now that lenders are making fractional loans for single vacation homes, a fledging industry has sprung up, especially in luxury vacation markets like Hawaii, Napa, Tahoe, Florida and Paris. Real estate companies like Dreamslice International specialize in it. Spec housing developers have begun building homes specifically for this market, and management companies are springing up to manage the properties. New tax laws have also made the vacation TIC less risky: In 2002, the IRS ruled that TIC interests could be used as a replacement property in a 1031 exchange -- allowing people to buy and sell shares of vacation properties as investments as well as second homes."

Read the article.