Your thoughts on vacation home or second home

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Caduceus
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Re: Your thoughts on vacation home or second home

Post by Caduceus »

Maybe you could rent it out the days you are not there? (I suppose this would be most of the time!)

Personally I would not want to vacation at the same place all the time; hopping on a plane to somewhere different everytime sounds more fun than dealing with maintenance and taxes.
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HomerJ
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Re: Your thoughts on vacation home or second home

Post by HomerJ »

Caduceus wrote:Maybe you could rent it out the days you are not there? (I suppose this would be most of the time!)

Personally I would not want to vacation at the same place all the time; hopping on a plane to somewhere different everytime sounds more fun than dealing with maintenance and taxes.
Ah, but imagine not having to really pack... Just jump in the car and go, and you already have a toothbrush, and a comb, and your favorite shampoo waiting for you... There's a fridge already full of beer, and a washer and a dryer you can use and a big deck with comfy chairs you picked out yourself. :)
westie
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Re: Your thoughts on vacation home or second home

Post by westie »

When determining the cost of a second home, if the cost limits you from going anywhere else, you probably can't afford the second home.
DougS
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Re: Your thoughts on vacation home or second home

Post by DougS »

I combine my main and vacation homes together when I think about housing expense. For example, the combined market value, combined debt, combined maintenance, etc. So I may have a more modest main home than I would otherwise, but that's offset by a manageable cottage.

In my case, I would rather have the two places than one big place at the combined market value.
NOLA
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Re: Your thoughts on vacation home or second home

Post by NOLA »

We just purchased a 2nd home/rental property on the Florida gulf coast 2 weeks ago. It's in an area where people often rent out your condo frequently and we always dreamed about one day having our own "place" on the beach. As of right now it will probably break even, however we will rent it out quite a bit. We understand that it is not really an investment, but its something that we both wanted and we are very excited. Our daughter just turned 1 year old this last week and hopefully we get to spend many wonderful moments on the beach as a family.

I think it's more about a personal preference, we don't spend $ on cars or other luxury items. However, we both think it's worth it to spend a little extra on a house/vacation property.
Leeraar
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Re: Your thoughts on vacation home or second home

Post by Leeraar »

Take a deep breath, sit down, and think about the business case.

What are you looking for? Two weeks at the beach?

One of the best financial decisions we ever made was to not buy a second home. Instead, we bought a lakefront primary home (SE Michigan). Here is the mantra: "One lawn to mow".

We just spent a month in Gulf Shores, AL. in a beachfront 2BR condo. Rent all in was less than $1,000 for the entire month of February. It's interesting to contemplate, but it would be nuts for us to buy the place (for sale for less than $200k.)

So far as second properties (for your own use) are concerned, being a voyeur is good.

L.
You can get what you want, or you can just get old. (Billy Joel, "Vienna")
sesq
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Re: Your thoughts on vacation home or second home

Post by sesq »

I used to live in NH. The beach and the mountains are about 1-2 hours apart. I used to imagine myself in retirement having a beach house and a ski condo. Only I'd rent out the high seasons for each and live in the other during the low seasons. I have since married and I doubt that my wife would be interested in that when we retire. I am not sure I want to live up there when I retire anyways.

Outside of that scheme, I'd rather rent or use hotels.
Martello Shores
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Re: Your thoughts on vacation home or second home

Post by Martello Shores »

If both of you aren't truly on board, don't do it. We won't lose money on our 2nd house: paid rock bottom price for shore property ~ 2000, mortgaged our fully paid primary residence to build shell to use for summer vacation, sell solar energy to pay taxes, finish bits and pieces as we go along with plan to finish fully to move there. It was a beautiful spot for kids to summer, and we enjoy our time there now as early retirees. The downside has been some truly crummy carpentry which had us fixing basic stuff, rather than finishing. Even now, non-standard work takes extra time to finish and will be costly to hire out. DH is engineer, has builder license, and usually enjoys this stuff, but it's beginning to wear.
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kingsnake
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Re: Your thoughts on vacation home or second home

Post by kingsnake »

With half my primary home paid off, I'm increasingly temped to explore purchasing a second residence in Salt Lake or Park City. I'm an avid skier and living in the midwest is annoying in the Winter. I'm spending next week in Vail. :beer
travellight
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Re: Your thoughts on vacation home or second home

Post by travellight »

I bought a second home in Park City right about the same time I bought my primary home. The price was irresistible.... 13 acres and a 2500 sq ft, 3 BR/3BA I designed myself for about 160k total. I've had about 20 years of enjoyment out of it and it has been paid off for over ten years. Annual costs divided by days spent there end up factoring out to about $100-130/night. It is now worth 622k per Zillow. I doubt I will ever sell it though. I always thought I would sell my big egg, the primary home, as I enter retirement and have this home paid off to move in to. Now, it looks like I might just keep both.
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Epsilon Delta
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Re: Your thoughts on vacation home or second home

Post by Epsilon Delta »

HomerJ wrote:
Ah, but imagine not having to really pack... Just jump in the car and go, and you already have a toothbrush, and a comb, and your favorite shampoo waiting for you... There's a fridge already full of beer, and a washer and a dryer you can use and a big deck with comfy chairs you picked out yourself. :)
I'm already in a house with a toothbrush, a comb, appliances and comfy chairs. I don't have to get in the car.
Douglas Adams wrote:Bypasses are devices that allow some people to dash from point A to point B very fast while other people dash from point B to point A very fast. People living at point C, being a point directly in between, are often given to wonder what's so great about point A that so many people from point B are so keen to get there, and what's so great about point B that so many people from point A are so keen to get there. They often wish that people would just once and for all work out where the hell they wanted to be.
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HomerJ
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Re: Your thoughts on vacation home or second home

Post by HomerJ »

Epsilon Delta wrote:
HomerJ wrote:
Ah, but imagine not having to really pack... Just jump in the car and go, and you already have a toothbrush, and a comb, and your favorite shampoo waiting for you... There's a fridge already full of beer, and a washer and a dryer you can use and a big deck with comfy chairs you picked out yourself. :)
I'm already in a house with a toothbrush, a comb, appliances and comfy chairs. I don't have to get in the car.
Douglas Adams wrote:Bypasses are devices that allow some people to dash from point A to point B very fast while other people dash from point B to point A very fast. People living at point C, being a point directly in between, are often given to wonder what's so great about point A that so many people from point B are so keen to get there, and what's so great about point B that so many people from point A are so keen to get there. They often wish that people would just once and for all work out where the hell they wanted to be.
If I could work at Point B, I'd live in Point B... But the good jobs are in Point A, but the beautiful lake is at Point B.

It's really not that hard to understand. :)
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