SecondSpace, a Bellevue, Wash.-based Internet startup backed with venture funding, launched two real estate Web sites today targeting the growing vacation homes market.

With LandWatch.com and ResortScape.com, the company aims to connect people to their next second home or land for sale and also to provide information about local services in the towns where their properties are located.

SecondSpace was founded last year by two Internet veterans — former Classmates executive Anil Pereira, and former Microsoft technical leader Alok Sinha. The team received $6.5 million in venture capital from Ignition Partners and an undisclosed partner last July.

Don’t call them time-shares.

To be sure, the “enchanting vineyard residences” in Napa are being sold on a slice-and-dice basis. The 17 private cottages will be sold to 170 different buyers via a method called fractional ownership. Each buyer gets a guaranteed chunk of time every year.

But the Orchard at Carneros Inn says it is worlds apart from the vacation business model notorious for being marketed by motormouth sales reps.

It’s swanky, not sleazy. It’s really real estate. And at $275,000 a slice (the “founding owner” price) plus annual dues of $8,100, it’s unabashedly for rich folks.

Q: My wife and I may sell our home. We have noticed the median sales prices of houses where we live have declined about 3 percent in the last 12 months. However, before that, prices were going up anywhere from 5 to 11 percent annually. We would hate to lose our equity by not selling now. But then my wife brought up the question, “Where would we move?” as we are not yet ready for the old folks home. How important are these sales price statistics and trends?

Q: My wife and I signed a lease about nine months ago. We have decided to buy a home. We close on this home at the end of next month but our lease isn’t up for four more months. I have informed my landlord of our situation and he says we are responsible for the remainder of the lease. I can’t afford a mortgage and rent for four months. What are my options?

Property manager Robert Griswold replies: This is a question you should have asked before making the commitment to buy a new home. At this point, you don’t really have any options if the landlord is not willing to let you out of your lease.

Never one to miss a beat, hip-hop mogul Damon Dash has sold his Los Angeles home of five years for $3.6 million.Dash and his wife, fashion designer Rachel Roy, hadn’t been using the house much lately. They work in New York and have been spending most of their time there. They may buy another house in California, however, and when they do, they have indicated it may be at the beach.

The house they sold is in the Benedict Canyon section of Los Angeles. It was built in 1999 and has four bedrooms and seven bathrooms in 5,800 square feet. It is a Spanish villa with Moroccan design touches such as hand-stenciled walls.