How many of you have second homes? (Florida, places, boomers)
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We have a home we've lived in for 20 years---much too big now that the kids are gone, also expensive (utilities,taxes) so we refinanced(3.3%) with a cash out and bought a 1200 sf single wide in a gated neighborhood in NC. Right now we're using it for vacations, it's near the ocean, expenses are low. The plan is to sell the big house and use the NC house as our permanent residence once Dh retires. We have a 27' foot camper, and will use that for stays in CT----but I doubt we'll keep a home here---just too much money for a place that we won't use much. Rather spend that money on travel or flying up to visit the kids or flying them down to stay with us. But owning the second place has proven to be very affordable.
I have three homes now, I have one in the Midwest for summer and two in Florida. I found a beautiful home in Florida I couldn't refuse. I have the other one fore-sale with an accepted offer. I think I timed the market and bought the new house at a rock bottom price.
I winterize the Mid-west house, so I don't have to worry about broken pipes. I always look forward to going north and also look forward to going south. Glad I did it.
I have my present home - primary residence and then 2 homes in 2 different states. And 3 more in another country (appreciation baby). Besides these, I have 3 commercial real estate properties in different states.
I am working making 5 figures a month. but the return from all these investments is about twice as much.
We have two homes, our primary residence in Las Vegas and a second one in Miami Beach, although truth-be-told, it wasn't my idea. I had just wanted to rent a condo in Miami Beach, but my wife wanted a place she could call her own, so we bought a unit last year in the same building in which we had contracted for a three-month rental. Although I was against it at the time, it turned out to be a good financial decision because identical units are now selling for about $150k more than what we paid last year. In fact, our properties in both LV and MB have appreciated so rapidly in the past year that we may seriously consider selling one of them and locking in the capital gain.
We have two homes, one in NY, the other in FL. Our son and family live two miles from us in FL, so he keeps an eye on it for us, along with the neighbors.
In NY, we have a neighbor whom we gave a key to, he keeps an eye on it for us. When we returned this spring, almost everyone in the neighborhood stopped by to tell us they were glad we were back. The owner of a landscaping company putting in pavers down the street, stopped by to ask us how FL was. No secrets here.
We are straddling at this point, not wanting to make a decision to keep both or go to one. There's no hurry at this point.
Yes. Owned two. Sold for a good profit and never looked back. Got very tired of the same old place regardless of the beauty of the area etc. Two x house insurance. Two of everything. Now, go where we want to go, rent a room or a condo for whatever time we want, turn in the keys and let someone else fool with the taxes, maintenance etc. I have read in the past that "studies" show that if a vacation property is over 4 hours from your main home, that you will hardly ever use it. Older I get, the more content I am in my home and community.
I have read in the past that "studies" show that if a vacation property is over 4 hours from your main home, that you will hardly ever use it. Older I get, the more content I am in my home and community.
You're confusing the concept of a "vacation home" with a retiree owning two residences and living in each for a portion of the year. These are two completely different subjects/issues.
We have considered buying a vacation home since we like to travel and get away frequently, even though we aren't yet retired. But when we crunch the numbers it doesn't work for us. We like variety too, so going back to the same spot for vacation isn't so appealing. Now, with rentals by owners more prolific via the internet it's easier than ever to find a great vacation rental. And we haven't run into any problems renting on vacation like this. It's actually pretty exciting!
Sometimes I think it might be nice to have a 2nd place for family to congregate but given everyone's hectic lives I am not so sure how practical that would be.
Thats what we found too. With all the kids always busy they didn't use it much at all.
Unless you are retired or have lots of time off we found it hard to make the numbers work.
For what that house cost us we could have stayed at woodloch every time we went and not come close to the cost of ownership.
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