<p>Rent, rent, rent. We inherited a vacation home and my H feels obligated to spend time there every year (it’s also a money pit in repairs, taxes) although we do travel elsewhere more. Ownership of anything that needs repair, updating is a burden, especially if you are an empty nester.</p>
<p>Rent! I understand the appeal of a permanent roost … but why not have the best of both world—rent via VRBO! See the world, follow both your interests and the good weather. Plenty of them accept small dogs.</p>
<p>Will you be keeping your Iowa home for the long term or are you considering eventually leaving Iowa and moving to a different location for your full-time home? </p>
<p>We are in our early 50’s. Last kid graduated fr. college last year. We built a vacation/retirement home on the water three years ago. It’s 4.5 hours away from our current home. We knew for certain that we did not want to stay in our current area once DH retires next year. </p>
<p>We knew prices would only keep rising so we purchased the lot in 1999. We’ve had plenty of time to decide if it’s really where we wanted to be! Our goal was to be able to be debt free once DH retired.
Last year we sold our home of 28 years and are now renting in anticipation of moving to the new house next year.<br>
We are renting a small house for a year.</p>
<p>We spend a lot of time at the house in the summer and get there maybe once a month or so in the colder months. </p>
<p>If you plan to stay in Iowa long term, I wouldn’t buy anything that’s a long drive away. Our drive is only 4.5 hours but it gets old. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel for us though. As you get older, making that drive would turn into an obstacle to enjoying your vacation home. I agree with all those who say you should rent some places in different locales before jumping in on a purchase</p>
<p>I appreciate all of your responses. I can see the beauty of having our own place like some of you do. But, I agree with those of you that have suggested renting. </p>
<p>So, I have a follow up question. What places should we put on our must see list in the states.</p>
<p>We haven’t travelled much in our own playground. When we travel we have been going to the Caribbean. I think I want to explore our coast now that we aren’t buying a condo. For long trips my dog will fly with us but for short trips I will have her stay with a friend (assuming she flys ok).</p>
<p>I want to go to a destination with quite a bit to do but not a built up tourist trap. </p>
<p>I have wanted to go to the outer banks – quaint with some history and a lot to see and do, right? </p>
<p>Thanks again!</p>
<p>Where are YOU going and why?</p>
<p>A recent trip to the Oregon coast has me SOLD on the northwest coast. We went to Cannon Beach area and pets -dogs- we’re EVERYWHERE! The place we stayed at allowed pets and others seemed to as well. Lots of outside things to do - beach walking, running, biking, parks galore, etc. small beach towns that are enjoyable but not over the top touristy. </p>
<p>I always wanted to visit the east coast beaches, but have to,say, the northwest beaches met my expectations.</p>
<p>Acadia National Park, but don’t tell anybody else! Bar Harbor is touristy and fun, and the rest of the island is gorgeous and pretty quiet. John Rockefeller built many miles of “carriage roads” that are perfect for hiking, running, biking or horseriding. There are some incredible views.</p>
<p>We have lived in Maine for almost 27 years and haven’t run out of things to do along the Maine coast. The interior is also nice - the area around Flagstaff Lake is breathtaking, and tourists don’t venture there often.</p>
<p>Gina, the Outer Banks is good for a vacation. I would advise going in the early Fall. Rentals are less expensive. The weather is still nice. All the kids are back in school. It’s much less crowded than in the height of vacation season.</p>
<p>Been to the Outer Banks several times. It’s low rise but densely developed - unless you go way out into the ocean (like Ocracoke).</p>
<p>Our preference in retirement will be travel and/or renting. Honestly, keeping up with one house is plenty for us. We’ve intentionally avoided having a pet in our empty nest because we really like the freedom that we have without one.</p>
<p>We have tight budget & the first time I ever took a plane with my H was about 5 years ago to San Francisco. ( we’ve never done that with the kids)
Youngest on the other hand is headed to Hawaii for the 2nd time.
First time was when she was in 8th grade and there was room with the 10th graders marine biology field trip.
Second time will be next month when she goes with her boyfriends family. ( the 2nd vacation- shes been on with them- however, she promised that if she sees Eddie Vedder or Boom, she will get an autograph & a photo with them.:D)</p>
<p>Neighbor has a timeshare. Baja California, Palm Springs, Ocean Shores, Bali… Sounds pretty nice.
Inlaws have a timeshare that suits their interests. Branson, Vegas, Reno…</p>
<p>We have to be flexible enough to incorporate where we happen to get Pearl Jam tickets.
;)</p>
<p>a new thing we tried last year- we scheduled vacation for one week at a time through the year (3) and then decided where to go. it worked out really well. one week to chicago (flew) another week to oregon (drove) and third week to germany. we forced ourselves to leave on vacation and to start planning where and when to go. it was fun. i already have some time in december blocked off at work to points unknown.
strangely the most fun we have had at christmas was going to NYC and germany both cold weather places but very festive and fun.</p>
<p>We had a vacation condo back before son was a busy HS student. Discovered the area was not where we wanted to retire. It was 1 1/2 hours away and nice to not have to do day trips to the area. After awhile we had explored the area thoroughly and found its lifestyle was not ours. I would certainly vacation a lot in your desired area before deciding to buy. Once we were empty nesters we traveled to many areas in the search for where to retire. No place is perfect. We spent about one year looking at houses before finding a great one (post renovations to update it that is) and are happy here in the Tampa area now. Pros and cons- but don’t miss snow and cold.</p>
<p>You need to explore the country before settling on one area. Decide the lifestyle you think you want. Liberal/conservative. Religious or not. Libraries, shopping, other activities. Types of restaurants you enjoy. Bigger city or small town. One nice thing about Tampa is that so many of us are from somewhere else. The Brandon, MO area may be like that. It helps to be in an area where there are others vacationing/retired like you are. Definitely visit in the season(s) you plan to be there. Tampa has not been any hotter than the upper Midwest last summer and some days this summer. </p>
<p>We considered the Pacific NW but the gloomy weather/short nights and some other factors were potential issues. Now son is in WA state and over 3100 instead of 1300 miles away. We’ll see what happens in ten years.</p>
<p>I vote travel. We had done a lot in the upper Midwest when we were in WI. Discovered distances west of the Mississippi are LONG. Explored parts of the east coast. It is a lot easier to buy later than to sell a place you bought before you knew the area.</p>
<p>We have had a second home for about 5 years. It is about a 90 minute drive from our primary home and is on a lake. Although I love our lakehouse, we did not purchase it as a potential retirement home. We will probably eventually sell it and our primary home, buy something smaller in the area of our primary home and rent something in the winter further south (or visa versa). When my kids were still in high school and very involved, it was difficult to find the time to go to the lake. Now that they are at college most of the year, we go quite often. It’s great to have a place that we can reach in less than 2 hours; sometimes we will go on Saturday morning and come home on Sunday evening. </p>
<p>Buying this home was definitely out of my comfort zone; I’m accustomed to being sensible, and buying it with two kids ready for college was risky. However, I am so happy that we took the risk; I find it so relaxing at the lake! That being said, there is definitely a time and money commitment with having a second home. Fortunately, our lakehouse is newer than our primary home and has had minimal upkeep. We do probably take less vacations since we’ve had the lakehouse, but I don’t feel deprived as we do frequently get away.</p>
<p>Living not far from the upper Midwest lake country, I certainly see the appeal. Yesterday was talking with a 90 year old woman about the family draw of having a familiar lake home, where kids return, even after grown, as there are so many memories associated with the place. If the area has appeal to offspring, it can lead to closer family ties. </p>
<p>Heck, my S comes home to the Midwest and heads off to his friend’s family cabins any chance he can get. </p>
<p>Personally, I camp on the Lake Michigan shore every year and that state park campsite is sufficient for me, though I’ve loved visiting other folks cabins occasionally. </p>
<p>However, I’d go bonkers returning to the same place year after year and dealing with the property maintenance. Give me fresh horizons, any day! </p>
<p>S went to school in San Diego. Though I still visit AZ yearly and love the never ending variety of scenery in that state, what I’ve seen of San Diego makes me think I’ve found paradise. </p>
<p>Rocky Mnt. totally agree on big city travel in winter! Europe especially. Fewer crowds, and the food is made for cold season eating. Went to Prague in March once, and was so glad to be there sans massive crowds.</p>
<p>We bought a 3br beach house that’s an hour away. It’s close enought that we can run down there in an emergency or impending weather that you need to handle. (There was a huge fire on block 2 years ago & I was on scene less than 2 hours of hearing of it.) while we love it, we know its not large enough to be ourretirementhouse and the winter weather is not good. (We will probably retire to the area where garland is) Beyond a 3-4 hour drive, I would likely own a condo so these issues are handled by a maintenance staff. </p>
<p>You might want to consider the financial side of owning vs renting. The annual expenses onout place are similar to what a cabana rents at high end beach clubs in the area, plus we can sleep there, can use it year-round and have room to spread out. </p>
<p>The downside is I have not taken a summer vacation since we bought the place 4.5 years ago. </p>
<p>Good luck with your decision.</p>
<p>We now live in the second home we bought in a vacation/retirement area about 1 1/2 hrs. from the town we lived in for about 30 years. We used this house as our weekend home for a few years and then moved here and sold our family home. </p>
<p>I did not like having two houses at all. I was constantly cleaning, gardening, packing up and unpacking, trying to coordinate food at both houses. It sounds good to have two homes in theory, but it’s really a lot of work. I don’t want to have two homes again. I would much rather have a main house and travel. </p>
<p>Our dogs were also an issue to us, as we wanted to be able to take them with us when we went away on weekends.</p>
<p>We knew a couple who had three homes they lived in–SF, LA, and DC. They found it very confusing to remember where things were left in which house. My folks also had friends with multiple homes–after a few years they tired of it and recently sold everything to move near family, where they moved into SR community.</p>
<p>One issues that many people did not realize before Hurricane Sandy is federal disaster relief only covers primary homes. There are many heartbroken people where the house has been in the amply for generations that now have a sand lot.</p>
<p>^I read that article in the Ledger yesterday. Somewhat mixed feelings. I understand people put savings into them, see them as retirement, had them in the family, etc., but FEMA and other disaster plans really were never designed to protect investments, legacies, etc. They really are to be sure people have <em>a home.</em></p>
<p>I have several friends rebuilding second homes on their own, who don’t expect it to be covered for them. It would cost everyone else a lot more in order to do that.</p>
<p>We didn’t buy our second home anywhere near a barrier island or built up lagoon for just this reason–we sacrificed the view and the proximity in favor of stability on solid land (I noted in the article that where yours is and where ours is are two of the few places like that near the water in NJ.)</p>