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I have 2 homes. One in Florida and one in Tennessee. However I'm not retired yet, but I will be....... soon enough. I'm sure "issues" arise with 1st and second homes. Please let me know what 'hidden" issues you may have discovered with the 2 home thing.
I live (currently) in a rural area of Florida... on 5 acres, this is our "first" or "primary residence". We have four(4) children who all live in Fla (one in the USMC) so there is family near when we are out-of-town. This will be occupied from November to March... then in our Tn. home, the difference of the year. The Tn. home is in a subdivision. I'm sure we'll spend Christmas or Thanksgiving in Tn on occasion, ... but hopefully with Grand kids one day, more of those times in Fla.
Hi Dave,
We had 2 homes one in Michigan and one in Fl. Notice that I said "Had"....
We went to Fl. and worked on our home.... we went to Michigan, and worked on our home.
While we were gone from Michigan, the hot water tank broke and we had to clean up everything that it got water all over ... which was dried up by the time we came back but had messed up our walls and carpet.
We didn't seem to have as much trouble in Florida because the hot water tank is in the garage... the furnace is too. The neighbor keeps an eye on things around the house... he can hear the air go on.
The taxes in Michigan are high too so it was nice to elemenate them, along with the up keep. We come back and rent... baby sit the grandkids and enjoy the summer weather in Michigan... when the leaves begin to turn we head back to Florida and enjoy that weather all winter long.
Ya know someone has to do it ... it might as well be us. Have a great retirement... enjoy every day.
Hi Dave, gee that is a tough one we just did the same. We live in Tampa and just bought in Soddy Daisy TN, even though we had not planned to do so for a few more years. Our problem is we have 2 homes here in FL and are trying to decide which one to sell. Our tenant will be in the other one until next july so a little time to figure it out. Still giving a good deal of thought about selling them both and renting in the winter. A lot will depend on hurricane season/ insurance and the tax vote in Jan. If you figure it out let me know
Dave. Keeping two houses is a pain in the arse. A year and a half ago we bought a house in Hendersonville, Tn. and still had a house in Arizona. After some serious consideration, we decided to get rid of the Arizona house and become full time Tennessee residents. No regrets here.
We have thought about having a home in the south and a vacation home in Maine...but the maintenance issues, two homeowner policies, two property tax bills, association fees, 2 sets of utility bills, cable, etc., and leaving one home empty for months while we visit another, kinds of turns us off. The idea sounds good, but for us it probably would be a pain and divert cash from our travel fund.
We are toying around with the idea. We are thinking about, maybe a condo on the beach (oceanfront) and a condo on a lake (lake front). We would only want them to be about 2 hours away from each other. We have various pets and they could handle the 2 hour drive or maybe a tad further. If it's close enough we think we would be able to enjoy both of them more.
They would be great investments, Oh, and for TAX reasons too.
As Lakerat said, we finally got rid of one house and made Tn our permanent residence. What he didn't say was that we have a Motor Home which enables us to travel comfortably, with our dogs, whether we go back to Az for a visit or decide to go somewhere else. I love being down to one house with the ability to travel in my other home.
I am so computer stupid. Hope I'm doing this message correct. We live in TN and just bought a home at Melbourne Beach, FL. Wondering if we should change our permanent residence to FL. In TN you have to pay a tax on investments. Just seems TN taxes a person to death because it does not have state tax. Just don't know what to do.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dee74
Hi Dave, gee that is a tough one we just did the same. We live in Tampa and just bought in Soddy Daisy TN, even though we had not planned to do so for a few more years. Our problem is we have 2 homes here in FL and are trying to decide which one to sell. Our tenant will be in the other one until next july so a little time to figure it out. Still giving a good deal of thought about selling them both and renting in the winter. A lot will depend on hurricane season/ insurance and the tax vote in Jan. If you figure it out let me know
We are toying around with the idea. We are thinking about, maybe a condo on the beach (oceanfront) and a condo on a lake (lake front). We would only want them to be about 2 hours away from each other. We have various pets and they could handle the 2 hour drive or maybe a tad further. If it's close enough we think we would be able to enjoy both of them more.
They would be great investments, Oh, and for TAX reasons too.
Thats us we have two homes 2 hours apart one at the beach and the other in the sorta outter suburbs of sorts. The beach is a condo and the other is a single family and the need to mow etc is becoming a pain. If I had it to do over again I would do both as Condo's or the primary home as town house. Spend more time in warm weather at the beach so it is a pain having to mow when you get back and before you leave. Bermuda grass grows fast. Our dog loved both places but he is on his last legs and can't deal with the steps at the beach so we will see in a few months. He has lasted longer than the vet predicted and has had his ups and downs. We had to cancel a vacation to stay with him in November. But two places does add to diversity in the retirement lifestyle.
We moved south 8 years ago selling the McMansion with the idea of buying two smaller homes; one in the south the other up north near the kids and grandkids.
We purchased a small 1,400 sq. ft. 2 bedroom home (but our master bedroom is 500 sq. ft.) so we were halfway there.
We recently started looking for a second house up north and after thinking it over I don't think we want to do that.
How long will we be commuting back and forth, 10 years tops?
What will property taxes and utilities run for the cold winter months we aren't there? How about shoveling the snow, spring and fall yard work etc, etc?
I am coming to the conclusion the best thing to do is rent an apartment in an upscale apartment community so my costs are fixed in terms of rent and minimal utilities with water and garbage normally being included.
On the plus side after a year we rent month to month so when we are done we're not busy fixing the place up for sale. Even in a house in great condition you can expect to have some maintenance issues, new roof or new air conditioning/furnace, and I don't want to deal with a $12,000 new roof if I don't have to.
With an upscale, you can get a pretty nice two bedroom for $800/month, we'd have a pool for the grandkids when they came over and the best thing about that is I wouldn't have to clean the pool.
Like everything related to retirement I am still thinking this one over.
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