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Some people believe they must do everything themselves to care for their home(s). Others, like me, have discovered the preference of paying people to do repairs, maintenance, etc. So it's a trade-off between using your time versus using your money to care for the maintenance needs of your home(s).
I'm looking forward to our new vacation home that's near the beach and fortunately I'll be able to pay to have whatever needs to be done to keep it and our other home in good condition so that neither are time nooses around our necks preventing us from enjoying each.
We've traveled a lot in prior decades of life, have no burning need to go here or there abroad so we should be in good shape to enjoy our new little second/future retirement/vacation home.
I still agree that most of the time it's hard to justify the economics of ownership but as I previously said, every once in a while emotions trumps economics.
Depends seriously----how wealthy are you? If was was wealthy, I would have a vacation home in several places.
So true, but since we're not wealthy...
And let me preface this by saying that I know timeshares get a bad rap, and most of the time it's well deserved, but owning a points based timeshare has worked pretty well for us. I would never recommend that anyone purchase a contract directly from a timeshare developer at their EXTREMELY inflated prices, but there is an active secondary market out there where you can get some great deals on resale contracts. We feel really fortunate to be able to vacation multiple times a year and to a lot of different places that I honestly don't think we could have seen if not for our timeshares. We own points through Wyndham/RCI and the last contract I bought on Ebay cost a $1, plus I think $350 in closing costs, for an ocean view condo in Destin, FL (this gives us priority reservations there). We've vacationed in Arizona, Colorado, California, Montana, New Orleans, Nashville, the Smoky's, and numerous places in Florida over the years. I calculated that on average, we've stayed or rented out between 25 -30 days a year for the $2,700 we pay in maintenance fees annually. I just wanted to mention this as another option to owning an actual vacation home, where you're limited to that one place, not to mention the ongoing cost and hassle of upkeep on a 2nd home. Yes, there are draw some backs, and you have to be willing to learn the system and be good at planning, if not please don't bother with it, you'll hate it. Anyway, I can definitely see it being something we'll continue to use and enjoy on into retirement and just wanted to throw it out there as another possible option to consider.
I think if you want to own a vacation home, the time to do it is while you are working in your 30's-50's assuming you are good with going to the same place every year.
Beyond that, whats the point imo. Once you retire, you are living where you want to and doing what you want to.
We bought our retirement home at about the bottom of the market in 2010 before we sold our home and retired in 2011. We actually didn't sell the old home until 2012 for reasons we hadn't anticipated. That gave me a taste of owning 2 homes and going back and forth for a few years.
Originally, because we got our retirement home so much cheaper than I anticipated, I seriously thought about also buying a "vacation" home at the beach. I'm so glad we didn't do that.
Owning two homes is a hassle. All the duplicate expenses. Not to mention, bad things happen to houses that sit empty for long periods of time. We had family at both houses and still there were problems that were stressful and/or expensive. Not to mention, its a lot to ask of family/friends to watch a house you aren't visiting for months at a time.
Fast forward to today, and if I truly wanted to own a second house, I would want it in an entirely different place/climate than I did then.
Further, now that we have lived here for a while, we met someone who does own a house at the beach who likes to give it out to friends for the price of weekly maid service and stocking the fridge. Cant beat that.
Its cheaper to rent than to own a second home imo. I would never buy a second home unless I was wealthy enough to hire live in servants to care for it when I'm not there.
We plan to do the seasonal thing when we retire: summers and winters in LA near the beach, and spring and autumn in NYC. We already have the LA home, and we're leaning towards purchasing a co-op or condo in Manhattan sometime in the next 20 years before we retire.
We're leaning towards buying because:
1. We're confident that we'll want to spend at least half the year there, every year.
2. NYC Real Estate seems to hold its value, and it's something I assume our kids would be happy to inherit.
3. We have the time to wait for the right opportunity.
If we were missing any of those criteria, we would probably re-evaluate our current thinking.
AirBnB has no appeal to me. I don't want to rent in a piece of someone else's home. I want privacy, especially for long seasonal stays.
You do know that you can rent entire homes, apartments, condos or townhouses via AirBnB. I would venture to guess that renting the entire place is now more of their business then renting a room in someone's house.
I owned two homes for about six months. I can honestly say that that was about four months too long.
I am one of those people who found that everything I needed was at the other place.
Yo keep the place in the Midwest would be $9-12k per year. That could pay for 2-3 months in places that I would like to stay. However, the more we take month long trips, the less we enjoy being gone from Arizona more than 2-3 weeks at a time.
I do not want to have a house that sits vacant for long periods of time. Also, I do not want to long-distance landlord. And most of the management companies do not do a good job.
I am surprised at all the negative comments about owning a vacation home.
We bought a vacation home ten miles as the crow flies from our house, twenty-five miles by car. BTW we are out West so ten miles is a huge difference. Our in town house is in sage, while the vacation home is in a high mountain meadow. We bought it planning to rent it as a vacation rental. Everybody told me I was nuts that nobody would rent the house for a vacation. That was about 20 years ago.
Our guests have paid for the home and adjacent lot over those twenty years. So the properties are free and clear. The tax benefits are great and I cannot believe I did not do this earlier in my life. Whenever we need additional cash flow we would up the advertising budget and increase our income flow.
We have traded our vacation home for stays in the Yucatan, Rocky Point, Sedona, Santa Cruz, Napa Valley, Oregon Cascades and other locations in Washington state. Our only disappointment was that we traded 10 days in Paris. I thought it was Paris, Tennessee but it turned out to be that city in France. Oh well, my wife and daughter enjoyed the visit.
As somebody mentioned the time to by a vacation home is when your working and it does help if it is close to you primary home. We go up just for dinner and sunset and then come home. If you can do this...it is a no brainer.
Relatives and friends we just made it a rule...you have to be there when we are there. We only broke the rule for close friends and their weddings.
Also as someone mentioned...repairs mean getting out the checkbook. It is a business and I am not that good at repairs.
The house sits vacant for 2/3 of the time and my income flow is greater than renting on a full-time basis. So the damage, maintenance is much less than a full time rental.
If you'd consider having strangers in your home why not do a home exchange? You swap your home for a week or more. I've done 8 or 9 each worked out very well. They are online at this URL HTTP://homeexchange.com
No cost for the home itself, just airfare or gas for your car if you're relatively close.
walessp
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