Basically, his family and about 5 or 6 other families formed an LLC, bought a property under the LLC and then basically meet once or twice a year to divvy up who's going to use the unit and when. They split the property taxes evenly and then split the upkeep/maintenance costs proportionately relative to how much time each member spends at the property. There's no corporate overlord involved, just a split between longtime friends. Originally, there was one more family involved, and when they wanted out, the group just bought back the family's "shares" in the LLC at the current valuation of the property. My friend said there was no bad blood, everything was by the books, nothing shady.
If things were done this way, all good. But when you get "Always Be Closing" scam artists on the case, well, things just tend to go south.