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I have very limited experience with this. Most of the really popular spots are obviously pricey. So where's good that's under the radar??
I've always been most interested in New England towns (seem to all be expensive), Burlington, VT ($$$) or Michigan. Even the Michigan hotspots seem very expensive in the summer. So where else to consider? Lake house in MN? Western Carolina?
Needs:
-Affordable for monthly rentals in the summertime. What is affordable? You define it. Also curious to hear about affordable purchase prices.
-Some kind of attraction/draw for the region. Beautiful lakes/beaches or mountains or something.
-A cute walkable downtown area
Wants:
-Somewhere up north. Not ruling out other areas, but just prefer the north for the summertime
-Daytrip distance to a major city
Excited to hear what the community has to suggest. (Note: three years ago I started a thread about similar locations. Was fun to revisit those comments/suggestions. This thread is a bit more specific on preferences, especially the "affordability" factor)
The latter community has a ferry that goes to Canada: https://www.facebook.com/hornesferry/
That ferry would allow you to get to Kingston, Ontario Canada.
The region is about an hour and a half, if that, from Syracuse to the north on I-81. As mentioned in that previous post, Watertown is minutes from and is in the same county as those communities. Ottawa, Canada's capital city is about an hour and 45/50 minutes away. Montreal is just under 3 hours away and Toronto is about 3 hours and 25 minutes away.
You can get to the Adirondacks in less than 2 hours from there as well. This leads me to a spin off suggestion...
It is less than an hour from Utica and you can take this railroad to get to either place: https://www.adirondackrr.com/
Syracuse is an hour and 45 minutes and Albany is about 2 hours and 20 minutes.
It is about 2 hours and 30/40 minutes from Montreal and 3 hours and 45 minutes from NYC.
You could also do this region in the NE corner of NY State around Plattsburgh: https://www.goadirondack.com/
You can take this ferry across Lake Champlain to Vermont: https://ferries.com/ or be in Montreal in about an hour or so.
I'll stop there, but those are some places that may be worth considering and that are more under the radar outside of NY State or parts of the Northeast/Canada.
Last edited by ckhthankgod; 10-28-2021 at 10:14 AM..
Thanks ckh! You are always clutch when it comes to upstate NY. What are the summertime populations in those spots? Do any of them see a large bump during the summer months?
For the last 11 years, I rolled around America in an RV. I visited 34 different states. I tried to avoid big urban areas. Las Vegas and Nashville were probably the 2 largest cities where we ended up. The majority of the stops were in close proximity to National Parks and other locations with sites deemed worthy of visiting. Once we got to the campground we ran around in a tow vehicle. A few of our day destinations were over 100 miles one way. So we did cover a good bit of the country.
All the while we were doing this, a final landing destination was always on the table. So here's what we did. This may not work for everyone but it's an option that isn't often considered.
Many RV resorts have tiny homes that they rent out to people that want the campground experience but don't have a rig. Often those homes are owned by private owners. When the owners aren't using them, the resort will rent them out short term.
The resorts have all sorts of amenities like heated swimming pools, hot tubs, lakes, dog parks, fitness centers, laundries, club houses. Some have active social calendars with things like bingo and pot luck dinners.
We were able to find a tiny home that fit our needs. It cost less than $100,000. There were 7 homes for sale at our destination. Once our unit sold, the rest of them sold quickly in about a 2 month period once the summer tourists started showing up.
Our unit came furnished. We just had to move in our personal clothes, kitchen ware and bath items.. We are on a small pond. We have a great view off of our deck. All the yardwork is handled by the resort. They pick up the trash twice a day. We just have to put it at the curb. Each unit has 2 parking spots.
We are located less than 2 miles from some of the prettiest beaches in America. A great state park is 5 miles away. There is plenty of stores, selling just about everything you could ever need. We do get spring break here. Twice a year they hold a local bike week. Traffic gets a little worse but the crowds are older and well behaved. The restaurants love them since they have a lot of disposable income.
Like any financial endeavor, review the numbers and see if it works for you.
Kewaunee, WI
Algoma, WI
Two Rivers, WI
All on Lake Michigan.
Houses can be bought for well under 100k in any of these.
Not overly touristy, but there is some of that in all of them.
Sheboygan might be a half-step up in price for a nicer neighborhood, but still can be had for under 150k.
They're all close to the touristy areas of Door County without the prices and the crowds.
Plenty of nice state parks in the area, and Milwaukee is close by for the bigger city fix.
Any of the Great Lakes will have something similar somewhere along them. Summers are generally very nice.
Thanks ckh! You are always clutch when it comes to upstate NY. What are the summertime populations in those spots? Do any of them see a large bump during the summer months?
I am very unaware of this region overall.
From what I know, they get some people that have second homes from maybe NYC/Downstate that have discovered them or elsewhere(supposedly a famous country artist had or has a home in the Thousand Islands for instance). However, I wouldn't say that these places necessarily get flooded with people.
It is the same for the Finger Lakes, which has a nice mix of small villages, wineries, historic sites, a casino, an outlet mall, small cities, rural areas(inc. some Mennonites especially in Yates County), etc.; while being in between Rochester and Syracuse. Buffalo and even Toronto, as things open up, are reasonable drives from anywhere in the region.
I have very limited experience with this. Most of the really popular spots are obviously pricey. So where's good that's under the radar??
I've always been most interested in New England towns (seem to all be expensive), Burlington, VT ($$$) or Michigan. Even the Michigan hotspots seem very expensive in the summer. So where else to consider? Lake house in MN? Western Carolina?
Needs:
-Affordable for monthly rentals in the summertime. What is affordable? You define it. Also curious to hear about affordable purchase prices.
-Some kind of attraction/draw for the region. Beautiful lakes/beaches or mountains or something.
-A cute walkable downtown area
Wants:
-Somewhere up north. Not ruling out other areas, but just prefer the north for the summertime
-Daytrip distance to a major city
Excited to hear what the community has to suggest. (Note: three years ago I started a thread about similar locations. Was fun to revisit those comments/suggestions. This thread is a bit more specific on preferences, especially the "affordability" factor)
For the last 11 years, I rolled around America in an RV. I visited 34 different states. I tried to avoid big urban areas. Las Vegas and Nashville were probably the 2 largest cities where we ended up. The majority of the stops were in close proximity to National Parks and other locations with sites deemed worthy of visiting. Once we got to the campground we ran around in a tow vehicle. A few of our day destinations were over 100 miles one way. So we did cover a good bit of the country.
Thanks for sharing your story. Sounds pretty exciting! And I'm glad you found your spot I've been to PCB once and thought it was definitely worth returning.
Kewaunee, WI
Algoma, WI
Two Rivers, WI
All on Lake Michigan.
Houses can be bought for well under 100k in any of these.
Not overly touristy, but there is some of that in all of them.
Sheboygan might be a half-step up in price for a nicer neighborhood, but still can be had for under 150k.
They're all close to the touristy areas of Door County without the prices and the crowds.
Plenty of nice state parks in the area, and Milwaukee is close by for the bigger city fix.
Any of the Great Lakes will have something similar somewhere along them. Summers are generally very nice.
Thanks, I've always assumed WI would be good for this. And I understand that Milwaukee has a few walkable suburbs as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nandorrei
Poconos (PA) is a nice area for a second home.
Of course Poconos are very well known. Without any expertise on this, is there an actual draw to the area for people around the country or does it mainly just make sense as a getaway for New Yorkers?
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I've been to PCB once and thought it was definitely worth returning.
