Vacation home. Timing and financial implications

[Low_Attenuation]

Our situation: Ages 35. Married, 2 kids ages 4 & 2. I am a physician 3 years out of training. My wife currently stays home with the kids.

We have thrown around the idea of a lake home for the past few years. There is a lake 1 hr from our house that my wife grew up going to with her family, and her grandparents and aunt/uncle have vacation homes on the lake. I also have extended family that is close to that lake and we are in that area for family/holiday gatherings a couple of times per year.

Currently we do visit my wife's grandparents lake cabin probably every other weekend in the summer. It's a bit cramped with other family around. Other family members who have older kids usually stay with the grandparents. There isn't a great place for us to stay, and we have been making day trips up and back. This has been ok, but we also would like to spend a full weekend at the lake or even a few weeks on vacation.

Financial picture:
Annual Income: 700-750K. Very stable job. Specialty in high demand.
Current savings rate: ~37 % gross income or ~50% post tax income. We max out my 401k, 457b, his and her Roths, HSA, and dump the rest into taxable brokerage and 529s.

Current Assets:
Fixed:
Primary home: ~800k in value. 500K left on 2.1% mortgage
2 cars paid off ~ 70k in current value.

Liquid: ~ 1 million
Taxable Brokerage: 500k
His 401K & 457b: 200k
His Roth: 75k
Her Roth: 85k
Cash: 110K
I and EE Bonds: 40k
529: 30K

Debt and liabilities
Mortgage: 500k with under 14 years left on a fixed mortgage at 2.1%.
Medical school debt: 210k @ 6.8%. Currently in government forbearance. I am on track for Public Service loan forgiveness in early 2025. Anticipate paying ~ 3k per month for next 2 years once payment pause expires this summer, unless it gets pushed back further. Either way, we are expecting around 150k of loans to be forgiven in 2025.

We have kept an eye on properties on the lake via Zillow, and we have told ourselves we will wait for the right opportunity that wouldn't stretch us too thin. From a financial standpoint, I would be more comfortable waiting a few more years and pay cash for a place. However, I've always had a delayed gratification mindset, and we also wonder if we would miss out on quality time with our children at the lake while they are young. There is a current listing that we like, and may be able to get it for around 600-650k. While tough to calculate an exact cost, we anticipate between mortgage, utilities, maintenance etc. we'd be looking at 5k per month to keep the place, which would knock our gross savings rate from 37-28%.

Is this a foolish financial investment/dangerous lifestyle creep given our age and current financial situation, or worth the risk to make family memories?

[bikesandbeers]

Given your stable career large taxable account balance and your likely student loan forgiveness, I think you are ok financially.

I guess my main question is do you really want the every weekend lake lifestyle or would you rather spend that 5k a month on something else, like 3- 20k vacations a year.
If the lake a a vibrant rental market, how would it compare to rent a few weeks a year?

We though about buying a cabin near where my in laws have one, but we decided we’d rather go other places and can squeeze in for a quick weekend or could rent a place if we ever wanted a longer visit with more space

[DoubleComma]

I guess my main question is do you really want the every weekend lake lifestyle or would you rather spend that 5k a month on something else, like 3- 20k vacations a year.
If the lake a a vibrant rental market, how would it compare to rent a few weeks a year?

OP can easily do both, have a lake house on the weekends, even add a boat, and still go on a few week+ long non-lake vacations.

So many people on here always argue against having a second home by assuming that will be the owners only vacation destination and never do anything else, eventually growing to resent the home.

We have a mountain home, with a ski resort and lake within minutes, that we spend a lot of time at. Out my back door is incredible mountain biking and hiking. We even have a surf boat that I “bust out another thousand” serval times a season. Guess what, we also take family vacations to other areas too. In the past year we’ve been to serval of the Utah national parks, Hawaii and NYC.

The lake house is 90 minutes away from our primary. We make many sour of the moment trips up there to check out and unwind. It is not uncommon to decide to go and head out in 2-3 hours time. We still take vacations to various destinations that are planned for weeks or months in advance.

Only OPs knows if having a lake house is a one or the other vacation option for them. With $700k income, it doesn’t have to be.

OP I say you get the house if that is what you and your family would value. We love ours, even the occasional “project weekend” doing chores is still something we enjoy. Our mountain home gas enriched our lives way more than saving another $30k, $40k, $50k….would.

Even though you didn’t ask, I’ll suggest you should be paying your student loans. Those loans enabled a $750k annual income, you owe it back to the US Tax Payers to payback the money they enabled you to borrow.

[tibbitts]

Even though you didn’t ask, I’ll suggest you should be paying your student loans. Those loans enabled a $750k annual income, you owe it back to the US Tax Payers to payback the money they enabled you to borrow.

I don't see that the OP is taking any more advantage of the government than anyone else does by simply paying as little tax as possible, and everyone here seems to be on board with that plan.

[unclescrooge]

I recommend looking into the "STR tax loophole" to lower your taxable income. I did this on a vacation home and got to deduct $180k off my taxable income in 2021. The only downside is you would need to rent this out when you aren't using it. Or you could do this for a few years and then stop.

[Watty]

One alternative would be to lease a place there for a year to see if it is something that you will actually use a lot. You might not be able to find an ideal place to rent but since it is only for a year you do not need it to be an ideal place.

Liquid: ~ 1 million
......
While tough to calculate an exact cost, we anticipate between mortgage....
.....
Is this a foolish financial investment/dangerous lifestyle creep given our age and current financial situation, or worth the risk to make family memories?

It is likely a terrible financial choice or you would not be asking so don't kid yourself into thinking that it is a reasonable investment.

That is OK though, If you look at it as a consumption choice instead then feel free to go for it as your choice about what to spend your money on.

The only problem that I see is that it sounds like you are planning to get a mortgage for it when you have more than enough liquid investments to pay cash for it.

If you don't want it badly enough to write a big check for it then you do not want it badly enough to buy it.

If you pay cash for it your net worth will stay the same except for the transactions costs. It is a lot different than if you spent $100K on a charter trip through Africa.

A very good rule of thumb is to always pay cash for your toys and that is what this would be. When can afford it you can buy whatever toys you want.

Figuring out if you should buy something just based on the monthly mortgage payment can get you in trouble with overspending just like someone who buys an expensive car based on the car payments.

If you pay cash for it you will still have lots of monthly costs that you will need to budget for but those are a lot different than a mortgage.

The worst case scenario would likely be that it is a money pit then you get tired of it and sell at a loss. That might very well cost you a few hundred thousand dollars but you can afford that and it would be spread over five or ten years and it is not as if you are likely to lose the full $600K you might pay for it.

[chassis]

Our situation: Ages 35. Married, 2 kids ages 4 & 2. I am a physician 3 years out of training. My wife currently stays home with the kids.

We have thrown around the idea of a lake home for the past few years. There is a lake 1 hr from our house that my wife grew up going to with her family, and her grandparents and aunt/uncle have vacation homes on the lake. I also have extended family that is close to that lake and we are in that area for family/holiday gatherings a couple of times per year.

Currently we do visit my wife's grandparents lake cabin probably every other weekend in the summer. It's a bit cramped with other family around. Other family members who have older kids usually stay with the grandparents. There isn't a great place for us to stay, and we have been making day trips up and back. This has been ok, but we also would like to spend a full weekend at the lake or even a few weeks on vacation.

Financial picture:
Annual Income: 700-750K. Very stable job. Specialty in high demand.
Current savings rate: ~37 % gross income or ~50% post tax income. We max out my 401k, 457b, his and her Roths, HSA, and dump the rest into taxable brokerage and 529s.

Current Assets:
Fixed:
Primary home: ~800k in value. 500K left on 2.1% mortgage
2 cars paid off ~ 70k in current value.

Liquid: ~ 1 million
Taxable Brokerage: 500k
His 401K & 457b: 200k
His Roth: 75k
Her Roth: 85k
Cash: 110K
I and EE Bonds: 40k
529: 30K

Debt and liabilities
Mortgage: 500k with under 14 years left on a fixed mortgage at 2.1%.
Medical school debt: 210k @ 6.8%. Currently in government forbearance. I am on track for Public Service loan forgiveness in early 2025. Anticipate paying ~ 3k per month for next 2 years once payment pause expires this summer, unless it gets pushed back further. Either way, we are expecting around 150k of loans to be forgiven in 2025.

We have kept an eye on properties on the lake via Zillow, and we have told ourselves we will wait for the right opportunity that wouldn't stretch us too thin. From a financial standpoint, I would be more comfortable waiting a few more years and pay cash for a place. However, I've always had a delayed gratification mindset, and we also wonder if we would miss out on quality time with our children at the lake while they are young. There is a current listing that we like, and may be able to get it for around 600-650k. While tough to calculate an exact cost, we anticipate between mortgage, utilities, maintenance etc. we'd be looking at 5k per month to keep the place, which would knock our gross savings rate from 37-28%.

Is this a foolish financial investment/dangerous lifestyle creep given our age and current financial situation, or worth the risk to make family memories?

It is lifestyle creep.

Dangerous or foolish is your call.

Sounds like you are feeling your oats with the new income after finishing training. What about extinguishing the education debt and fully funding kids’ educations before creeping the lifestyle?

[mw1739]

Of course you can afford it. I make much less than you and if I could purchase a home on our family's lake for $600k I would have done it yesterday.

[BV3273]

I like the idea of going somewhere with the family also. Always wanted something near the beach. Spoke to a wealthy friend of mine and he had some pearls of wisdom - “Why buy something and worry about taxes, maintenance, insurance, natural disasters. I could stay in the nicest hotel around for a month and negotiate a great nightly rate.”

At first I was like you’re nuts, but then I see my friends who bought vacation homes and they are mostly complaining about how they have to get there to check on this or that. Not really the fabulous lifestyle I have in mind.

If you want it go for it. Make those memories. You got the financial resources to make it work.

[Carefreeap]

I think you make/have enough $$$ to do this.

Just don't fool yourself into thinking this is a good financial investment. If it works out, great but don't count on it. We've kept my FIL's house as a vacation home for over 20 years and still love the place.

And yes, this is lifestyle creep but that's o.k. I love that this is a place where there's lots of friends and family. I didn't grow up with anything like that but I do have friends that did. They are still visiting "the lake" and they are in their 60s.

[robphoto]

We bought a modest cottage by the shore over 20 years ago, it turned out well. We did rent it out some the first few years, then we got tired of clearing out for renters in the best season.

For me, the danger is that it relies on your income continuing at the current level. Do you have disability insurance, and life insurance on you and your wife?

[London]

We were under contract to buy a beach condo when our kids were 5,4 and 1. If it weren’t for the incompetence of the seller, it would have been ours. It was 90 mins away at one of our favorite spots. Looking back at it, we wouldn’t have used it nearly as much as we thought at the time. Our kids schedules filled up with kids sports, parties and other things every weekend. Ours filled up too with those things plus friends who now had time to get together because their kids were older too.

We definitely would have made some money on it but we wouldn’t have rented it. While I’m not adverse to vacation homes, I’m glad it ended up falling through.

Perhaps when we’re retired something like that will make sense. But only you know your schedules.

[Jack FFR1846]

Is this in an area where you have snow? When we had a boat, we would trailer it about 3 hours north to a lake in New Hampshire. We looked around at houses on the lake and thought about buying. One thing we found when asking around was that prices for houses for sale took a nose dive by mid winter. If you must buy, look when it's warm and then have all acceptable houses on a list and come back in late January with offers.

We ended up not buying because we really liked staying in a new hotel that opened up. When we got rid of the boat, we literally have never been back. We've gone to many other vacation spots and are comfortable with our choice of hotel.

Either way, I'm sure you can afford it.

[Low_Attenuation]

Appreciate all the thoughtful responses. Seems like the consensus is that it’s doable. I would just have to come to terms with the savings rate reduction and lifestyle creep. Spouse and I do like to travel, but we are also homebodies and creatures of comfort, so lake life would fit us well, we think.

The current listing price is too high, and we will discuss whether or not to make an offer that we feel is a reasonable price in the current market. If we feel like we’re overpaying, we will probably wait either a few years or until another opportunity arises.

I have thought about how to purchase. I could drain the taxable brokerage and cash to pay for it, but wonder if that would be taking away too much of our liquidity. I guess that may tell me that I might not be 100% ready for this purchase. Maybe do 50% down and try to get lowest rate possible and pay off over next 5-10 years.

We are in an area with snow and long winters. Maybe this fall or winter the market would be more favorable. Hard to know.

I understand the comments on my student loans. Certainly a hot topic in our current environment. FWIW, I started the PSLF process back in 2014, and made qualifying payments throughout residency that never really touched the principal due to close to 7% interest rates. The pandemic govt loan freeze has been an enormous financial benefit to us in the freezing of payments and interest, something that we weren’t anticipating, and will increase the amount we are forgiven dramatically. It does amount to an incredible one time tax break, and while I have the means to pay off my loans, I think most people would take the forgiveness in our situation.

[MBB_Boy]

I guess my main question is do you really want the every weekend lake lifestyle or would you rather spend that 5k a month on something else, like 3- 20k vacations a year.
If the lake a a vibrant rental market, how would it compare to rent a few weeks a year?

OP can easily do both, have a lake house on the weekends, even add a boat, and still go on a few week+ long non-lake vacations.

So many people on here always argue against having a second home by assuming that will be the owners only vacation destination and never do anything else, eventually growing to resent the home.

We have a mountain home, with a ski resort and lake within minutes, that we spend a lot of time at. Out my back door is incredible mountain biking and hiking. We even have a surf boat that I “bust out another thousand” serval times a season. Guess what, we also take family vacations to other areas too. In the past year we’ve been to serval of the Utah national parks, Hawaii and NYC.

The lake house is 90 minutes away from our primary. We make many sour of the moment trips up there to check out and unwind. It is not uncommon to decide to go and head out in 2-3 hours time. We still take vacations to various destinations that are planned for weeks or months in advance.

Only OPs knows if having a lake house is a one or the other vacation option for them. With $700k income, it doesn’t have to be.

OP I say you get the house if that is what you and your family would value. We love ours, even the occasional “project weekend” doing chores is still something we enjoy. Our mountain home gas enriched our lives way more than saving another $30k, $40k, $50k….would.

Even though you didn’t ask, I’ll suggest you should be paying your student loans. Those loans enabled a $750k annual income, you owe it back to the US Tax Payers to payback the money they enabled you to borrow.

I agree with the loan sentiment, but I think this is different from the general writer off in the news. In this case, OP is paying back taxpayers through public service, which is a deal the government provides to people who volunteer.

Whether the government should offer that is a different discussion (is it a worthwhile policy objective?), but OP made an agreement with the government and followed through on their end, so I'm not going to fault them

[Gadget]

I feel like people are always asking the wrong question on vacation homes. The "is it a good financial investment/decision" answer is always no. It's almost never a good financial decision.

You just have to weigh the memories you'll make there vs the working years added before you can retire. Only you and your family can answer that question. But you can definitely afford it, so it's just a question of if you're willing to work a few more years before retiring in order to make those family memories sooner. It's a different question entirely for someone who genuinely can't afford a vacation home based on their income.

[cbs2002]

I feel like people are always asking the wrong question on vacation homes. The "is it a good financial investment/decision" answer is always no. It's almost never a good financial decision.

You just have to weigh the memories you'll make there vs the working years added before you can retire. Only you and your family can answer that question. But you can definitely afford it, so it's just a question of if you're willing to work a few more years before retiring in order to make those family memories sooner. It's a different question entirely for someone who genuinely can't afford a vacation home based on their income.

This is the correct answer.

I'd also be saving in a short-term account to offset risk that the loan forgiveness doesn't happen.

There was a lake house that was available in our ideal location ten years ago for about 800K. While there's nothing that's truly "unique" this is a special place to us. We couldn't afford it then or now. If I was in your exact position then (1.3MM NW, 750K stable income), I would have found a way to buy it. I say that because we REALLY love the area and the specific property, and could see ourselves living there half the year. Only you can know what you truly love.

[Carefreeap]

I feel like people are always asking the wrong question on vacation homes. The "is it a good financial investment/decision" answer is always no. It's almost never a good financial decision.

You just have to weigh the memories you'll make there vs the working years added before you can retire. Only you and your family can answer that question. But you can definitely afford it, so it's just a question of if you're willing to work a few more years before retiring in order to make those family memories sooner. It's a different question entirely for someone who genuinely can't afford a vacation home based on their income.

This is the correct answer.

I'd also be saving in a short-term account to offset risk that the loan forgiveness doesn't happen.

There was a lake house that was available in our ideal location ten years ago for about 800K. While there's nothing that's truly "unique" this is a special place to us. We couldn't afford it then or now. If I was in your exact position then (1.3MM NW, 750K stable income), I would have found a way to buy it. I say that because we REALLY love the area and the specific property, and could see ourselves living there half the year. Only you can know what you truly love.

O-T but I have to ask; how much is that property worth now?

[Wanderingwheelz]

You can afford to do pretty much whatever you want.

At almost 52 I wish I’d have done more in my 30s and 40s, but my thinking was very close you yours. Holding back out of fear of the unknown.

Live the life you’ve dreamed about. You earned it.

[cbs2002]

O-T but I have to ask; how much is that property worth now?

Ha- probably $1.5MM! But the thing with residential property is that it doesn't really matter how much it's worth until you sell it, and this is a place we would have bought to live in, not to sell later.

[cchrissyy]

i always lean "no" on vacation home posts but your case is different, since you already have a long-running habit of going to this destination and have family there. coupled with the reasonable 1 hour distance, it seems likely you will use it often and not burn out on the idea. even when kids are bigger and have their own schedule commitments, it would be reasonable to go for a single day, or to bring a friend on the overnight.

[PowderDay9]

i always lean "no" on vacation home posts but your case is different, since you already have a long-running habit of going to this destination and have family there. coupled with the reasonable 1 hour distance, it seems likely you will use it often and not burn out on the idea. even when kids are bigger and have their own schedule commitments, it would be reasonable to go for a single day, or to bring a friend on the overnight.

Exactly my thoughts as well. I think OP should buy the vacation home when they find one that is good for them. They'll use it a lot and make tons of family memories.

[bltn]

One alternative would be to lease a place there for a year to see if it is something that you will actually use a lot. You might not be able to find an ideal place to rent but since it is only for a year you do not need it to be an ideal place.

Liquid: ~ 1 million
......
While tough to calculate an exact cost, we anticipate between mortgage....
.....
Is this a foolish financial investment/dangerous lifestyle creep given our age and current financial situation, or worth the risk to make family memories?

It is likely a terrible financial choice or you would not be asking so don't kid yourself into thinking that it is a reasonable investment.

That is OK though, If you look at it as a consumption choice instead then feel free to go for it as your choice about what to spend your money on.

The only problem that I see is that it sounds like you are planning to get a mortgage for it when you have more than enough liquid investments to pay cash for it.

If you don't want it badly enough to write a big check for it then you do not want it badly enough to buy it.

If you pay cash for it your net worth will stay the same except for the transactions costs. It is a lot different than if you spent $100K on a charter trip through Africa.

A very good rule of thumb is to always pay cash for your toys and that is what this would be. When can afford it you can buy whatever toys you want.

Figuring out if you should buy something just based on the monthly mortgage payment can get you in trouble with overspending just like someone who buys an expensive car based on the car payments.

If you pay cash for it you will still have lots of monthly costs that you will need to budget for but those are a lot different than a mortgage.

The worst case scenario would likely be that it is a money pit then you get tired of it and sell at a loss. That might very well cost you a few hundred thousand dollars but you can afford that and it would be spread over five or ten years and it is not as if you are likely to lose the full $600K you might pay for it.

I believe this post is the best one for someone who wants to become really wealthy. Particularly wise is the comment about a good rule of thumb being to pay cash for your toys. Pay cash for it and replenish your savings, if you decide to get it. This approach might make you wait a couple of years to become more comfortable with this commitment.

Spending five or six thouasnd dollars a month on a vacation house will definitely cut into other vacation travel plans. With your commendable mindset leaning toward delayed gratification as well as your excellent tendency to save, fewer travel trips are pretty much inevitable, given the expenses incurred with the vacation home.

I bought a beach lot in Florida in my 40 s. This was five years after buying and renovating our final house. I thought the lot might be an investment. My wife thought otherwise. A few years later we built our vacation house on the beach lot. All of these transactions were paid with cash from our savings. Before our vacation house our family traveled fairly extensively for vacations, often to beach destinations. Since getting our vacation home, I ve taken the family on only one overseas vacation. Likely the last one. Even with no mortgage the maintenance expenses on the vacation home, including taxes and insurance, are higher than most would imagine.

In your position, I would put together some more savings for a few years, and then buy the lake house with cash Your children will still be young and you ll have plenty of years of family experience in the vacation home.

Keep up the good work with your accumulation..

[strummer6969]

I'd do it. Usually there are trade offs between job stability and high income, but you got both. You need less downside protection and don't need to worry about layoffs. So the typical advice about avoiding lifestyle creep don't apply as much in your situation IMO.

[TheOscarGuy]

Given your stable career large taxable account balance and your likely student loan forgiveness, I think you are ok financially.

I guess my main question is do you really want the every weekend lake lifestyle or would you rather spend that 5k a month on something else, like 3- 20k vacations a year.
If the lake a a vibrant rental market, how would it compare to rent a few weeks a year?

We though about buying a cabin near where my in laws have one, but we decided we’d rather go other places and can squeeze in for a quick weekend or could rent a place if we ever wanted a longer visit with more space

Not disagreeing with you, but not all of the 5K per month is "expense". Some of it is going towards principal, so OP hopefully is recuperating some of it back.
I have personally gone back and forth over this (buying a second home) and it does not appear to me there is a clear cut winner. Financially if you can afford it you can go for it. If you will spend any extra dollars anyway, might as well buy property and you get to keep some of that money.

[changingtimes]

Not disagreeing with you, but not all of the 5K per month is "expense". Some of it is going towards principal, so OP hopefully is recuperating some of it back.
I have personally gone back and forth over this (buying a second home) and it does not appear to me there is a clear cut winner. Financially if you can afford it you can go for it. If you will spend any extra dollars anyway, might as well buy property and you get to keep some of that money.

This is what I kind of keep forgetting with the second home I bought last year. I put about 70% down and felt like I had just set that pile of cash on fire. But of course hopefully I'll get that and more back if/when I sell.

OP, sounds like a great setup for you. Even if there's a stretch where you want to go other places, and maybe the kids don't want to go as much, you probably have enough comfort + relatives to make you want to hold onto the place through the times of less use, knowing that you'll want to go back. You could even rent it to other relatives.

[HomerJ]

We waited until we could pay cash.

Save THEN buy for luxuries.

we also wonder if we would miss out on quality time with our children at the lake while they are young.

And your kids are pretty young (2 and 4). You can wait a few years to get a lake house. You won't miss out on any quality time.

BUT... will prices go up a lot between now and 3 years from now?

I will say this, I wasn't that nervous about the money put into a second home. You'll get most of that back when you sell someday, so it's not gone.

But interest rates are high now, so that money is gone, and how much are HOA fees and maintenance, etc.?

I'd suggest a condo with a shared dock to keep your costs down. Far easier to leave a condo empty for a few months at a time than a house. Plus, far less work to do to keep it up (But HOA fees will be higher)

[HomerJ]

I believe this post is the best one for someone who wants to become really wealthy. Particularly wise is the comment about a good rule of thumb being to pay cash for your toys. Pay cash for it and replenish your savings, if you decide to get it. This approach might make you wait a couple of years to become more comfortable with this commitment.

Agreed. If you can't pay cash for your toys, then you can't afford your toys.

A second HOUSE might be an exception, but only if the first house is already paid off.

Since you have a great interest rate on the first house, keep that, and pay cash for the second house would be my general advice.

You can't quite afford to pay cash for this second house yet, so I'm thinking you should save for another couple of years.

[vaggem]

Examine how much time you are guaranteed to be able to utilize the vacation home vs expense.

Once my children started engaging in organized activities, our weekend and evening time became very limited. Summers are more open, but as parents who work FT year round, there's a cap on available vacation time. If there are camps / summer sports programs / teen jobs, etc ... that also eats into summer time.

My advice is to not underestimate the logistical time challenges as your children get older. They will increase. Having said that, if you are certain to have the flexibility to utilize a vacation home on a regular basis ... oh the memories!

[surfinagin]

Was it mentioned whether this is a 4-season lake house? 4-season second homes offer more opportunity to enjoy your investment.
Has the option to renovate/add-on to the grandparents place been considered? That's what my family did -keep everyone under one roof.

As a kid, our 2nd home also about an hour away. Mom and us spent the entire summer at the lake. My dad took Fridays off and left for work Mon AM.
Many families did the same. Very fortunate. Remember asking friends about their summer and get a shoulder shrug. Mine were always Aces.
As a teen and in college, I found jobs and stayed there all summer and also during winter semester break in college.

Grand kids are 5th generation at the lake home. Second homes, and the great memories passed down through generations, are very special.
Absolutely worth the expense and work IMO!
*Beware AirBnB neighbors though. Multiplying -and not desirable. Nice to know your neighbors. A long-time neighbor sold, and now have a revolving door AirBnB next door.

[HomerJ]

Was it mentioned whether this is a 4-season lake house?

Where in the world does one find a 4-season lake house?

if you live close enough to it to visit on weekends, then you already live in paradise.

[Random Musings]

Even though you didn’t ask, I’ll suggest you should be paying your student loans. Those loans enabled a $750k annual income, you owe it back to the US Tax Payers to payback the money they enabled you to borrow.

I don't see that the OP is taking any more advantage of the government than anyone else does by simply paying as little tax as possible, and everyone here seems to be on board with that plan.

I don't think everyone is "on board" with the student loan plan. Doesn't sound like equity to me, which seems to be the big push these days at many of the universities. Oh, the irony.

RM

[surfinagin]

Was it mentioned whether this is a 4-season lake house?

Where in the world does one find a 4-season lake house?

if you live close enough to it to visit on weekends, then you already live in paradise.

You find a 4-season lake house in cold/snowy winter climate areas. It has insulation/heat/etc that allow use year-round.
Many older lake houses are not 4-season where we are.

[HomerJ]

Was it mentioned whether this is a 4-season lake house?

Where in the world does one find a 4-season lake house?

if you live close enough to it to visit on weekends, then you already live in paradise.

You find a 4-season lake house in cold/snowy winter climate areas. It has insulation/heat/etc that allow use year-round.
Many older lake houses are not 4-season where we are.

Heh, okay I guess my lake house was a 4-season lake house. But I never bothered to go there from Nov to March.

(And late March was just spring-cleaning weekend and making sure the dock and boat were still intact - went nowhere near the lake)

The OP's lake house is supposedly in the $600,000 range... I certainly hope it's not an old log cabin...

[Hoosier CPA]

We had a lake house in our family for 51 summers. It was sold a couple years ago as the 2nd generation didn't all use it evenly so it was hard to keep once the 1st generation passed. I'm in the 3rd generation and my kids are in the 4th generation. Those of us who used it miss it dearly. It's hard to describe how great it was for us. Sure it was expensive and there was some work involved but we loved being out there and having it available. Just a non-financial perspective. I hope to be able to find and afford something similar some day. I liked going out there more than taking over types of vacations.

[TacoLover]

Side question. I am a physician too. Holy cow. That is an amazing salary. I am a lot more years out though. Just curious what specialty? I would think plastics or orthopedics or similar.

Back to the question though. I think everyone agrees you can afford it. So then the question is how much money are your memories worth? I would describe myself as very very frugal. You have young kids, and have the opportunity for a particular kind of lifestyle. it is partially about taking your family every weekend over the summers and over vacations to the lake house and having barbecues and watching the fire flies and telling stories by the fire. A major part is that your grandparents will be there as well a lot of the family. When I was in very early elementary school, we lived in a house where we had cousins up and down the street and an uncle behind our house. It was heaven. we saw family every week. We would go to them for dinner or they would come to us or we would just walk over to each other’s houses. It seems to me that is the lifestyle you are looking at building. A life where your children spend summers by the lake with their grandparents, or great grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. Going on the boat on the lake. Fishing or water skiing. Building fires as the sunsets.

I just started reading die with zero. It is not about what you think. It is thinking about how much memories cost and not wasting time.

If it were a Lakehouse and some random area, I would advocate Westport. But having all your family spending much of the summer there together, I think sounds amazing. Your financial return on investment likely will not be great. But your return on investment comparing how much money you’re spending to the memories that you’re making is probably incomparable.

[tibbitts]

Even though you didn’t ask, I’ll suggest you should be paying your student loans. Those loans enabled a $750k annual income, you owe it back to the US Tax Payers to payback the money they enabled you to borrow.

I don't see that the OP is taking any more advantage of the government than anyone else does by simply paying as little tax as possible, and everyone here seems to be on board with that plan.

I don't think everyone is "on board" with the student loan plan. Doesn't sound like equity to me, which seems to be the big push these days at many of the universities. Oh, the irony.

RM

I meant everyone (here) seems to be on board with paying as little tax as possible. On the other hand I agree that not everyone agrees with student loan policies, but given they are what they are, most people here would probably utilize them if it made personal economic sense.

[leeks]

Given you know the place and have family to spend time with there, I would buy when you find the vacation home you like. 1 hour travel time is good proximity.

Until then, can you rent/airbnb a place when you go?

[J_Markov]

I would say go for it. It's not like you're throwing the money away. If it's a good location most likely it will increase in value with time. Not saying you should buy thinking of it as investment, but just saying that you will hopefully enjoy it, make great memories, etc... and it will have value.

[Petr89]

Side question. I am a physician too. Holy cow. That is an amazing salary. I am a lot more years out though. Just curious what specialty? I would think plastics or orthopedics or similar.

Based on the username, "LowAttenuation" is almost certainly a radiologist. That kind of salary would be at the high end, but not unheard of for sub-specialist in a fairly aggressive private practice.

[Carefreeap]

Was it mentioned whether this is a 4-season lake house?

Where in the world does one find a 4-season lake house?

if you live close enough to it to visit on weekends, then you already live in paradise.

Lake Tahoe. Skiing in the winter, hiking in spring and fall, hiking and water sports in the summer. Our cabin in So. Cal at 5,300' is not a "lake house" but is about five miles from a large lake. It's a four season cabin with cross-country skiing and snow shoeing. I'm sure there are other places in the country like these examples.

[WhiteMaxima]

I will make my primary home a vacation home like. Make life simpler.

[Glockenspiel]

I typically always recommend a strong "NO" on buying a home simply to keep for vacation. But you can easily afford it, have family in the area, and it's only an hour away. In this scenario, I would ask yourself if you WANT to afford the hassle of the lake house. Will it make your life simpler or more complicated?

[Glockenspiel]

Side question. I am a physician too. Holy cow. That is an amazing salary. I am a lot more years out though. Just curious what specialty? I would think plastics or orthopedics or similar.

My spouse works for an orthopedic spine surgeon as a partner in a private practice and the physician has made right around $2 million per year the past few years in a large midwestern suburb.

[TacoLover]

Side question. I am a physician too. Holy cow. That is an amazing salary. I am a lot more years out though. Just curious what specialty? I would think plastics or orthopedics or similar.

Based on the username, "LowAttenuation" is almost certainly a radiologist. That kind of salary would be at the high end, but not unheard of for sub-specialist in a fairly aggressive private practice.

I recall coming out of residency that there were some radiology jobs in small towns where you were the only guy in town and worked insane hours but got insane reimbursement. I vaguely recall possibly Corpus Christi someone offering $1 million a year or something like that but you were the only guy covering and it was so demanding that most guys could only last 3 to 5 years before having to move on.

[TacoLover]

Side question. I am a physician too. Holy cow. That is an amazing salary. I am a lot more years out though. Just curious what specialty? I would think plastics or orthopedics or similar.

My spouse works for an orthopedic spine surgeon as a partner in a private practice and the physician has made right around $2 million per year the past few years in a large midwestern suburb.

Holy cow. That is a lot of money.

[Glockenspiel]

Side question. I am a physician too. Holy cow. That is an amazing salary. I am a lot more years out though. Just curious what specialty? I would think plastics or orthopedics or similar.

My spouse works for an orthopedic spine surgeon as a partner in a private practice and the physician has made right around $2 million per year the past few years in a large midwestern suburb.

Holy cow. That is a lot of money.

Granted, I think that includes his income from his Independent Medical Examination (IME) business that he does for insurance companies and attorneys.

[marcopolo]

Side question. I am a physician too. Holy cow. That is an amazing salary. I am a lot more years out though. Just curious what specialty? I would think plastics or orthopedics or similar.

Based on the username, "LowAttenuation" is almost certainly a radiologist. That kind of salary would be at the high end, but not unheard of for sub-specialist in a fairly aggressive private practice.

I am not familiar with the program, but am a bit surprised that a position which is eligible for public service loan forgiveness would be on the high end of a salary range for a given specialty.

[HomerJ]

Was it mentioned whether this is a 4-season lake house?

Where in the world does one find a 4-season lake house?

if you live close enough to it to visit on weekends, then you already live in paradise.

Lake Tahoe. Skiing in the winter, hiking in spring and fall, hiking and water sports in the summer. Our cabin in So. Cal at 5,300' is not a "lake house" but is about five miles from a large lake. It's a four season cabin with cross-country skiing and snow shoeing. I'm sure there are other places in the country like these examples.

Ah got it... it's a 4-season house by a lake. It's not a 4-season LAKE house. (Although I guess if one loves to ice-fish, it could be)

I was confused because lake stuff and boating is rarely 4-season, and if it's warm enough all-year around, then you don't really need a vacation home... Just live there!

But I apologize for derailing the thread. I misunderstood. My fault.

[marcopolo]

Was it mentioned whether this is a 4-season lake house?

Where in the world does one find a 4-season lake house?

if you live close enough to it to visit on weekends, then you already live in paradise.

Lake Tahoe. Skiing in the winter, hiking in spring and fall, hiking and water sports in the summer. Our cabin in So. Cal at 5,300' is not a "lake house" but is about five miles from a large lake. It's a four season cabin with cross-country skiing and snow shoeing. I'm sure there are other places in the country like these examples.

Ah got it... it's a 4-season house by a lake. It's not a 4-season LAKE house. (Although I guess if one loves to ice-fish, it could be)

I was confused because lake stuff and boating is rarely 4-season, and if it's warm enough all-year around, then you don't really need a vacation home... Just live there!

But I apologize for derailing the thread. I misunderstood. My fault.

I would imagine there are lakes in Florida that are usable for lake activities all year round, not that I would want to deal with the oppressive (to me) humidity.

We don't have lakes here, but the ocean is quite usable year-round for all water activities.