<p>No, if you can’t afford to buy your primary resident, you can’t afford a vacation home. Vacation area is exactly what it says. When people need to dump, they will dump their vacation home instead of their primary home. At least if they buy around where they work, it is a place where there is employment, which probably would be easier to sell. In order to get a tax deduction, one must spend.</p>
<p>D1 asked me if it would make sense for her to buy next year when her lease is up. I told her no. I think she should figure out if the job is long term and if NYC is where she wants to be. If she decides to go back to school or move to another country, it is not a sure thing that she’ll be able to rent her apartment out easily, and selling would be very costly. I did offer to help out with the downpayment when the time comes.</p>
<p>Oldfort, I think that the only situation where it makes sense to rent a primary residence is in places like NYC, if the person can get hold of a rent-controlled or rent-stabililzed apartment.</p>
<p>Oldfort, we got my D a coop in a controlled middle income building, it is really very nice. If she moves, I can move in.</p>
<p>Owning a place you are not living in has its own challenges. The owner will have to hire someone to look after the unit. You can’t leave unoccupied property out of sight and out of mind. Eventually, you’ll be looking to rent the place out so you can get back some of your costs; then you are looking at being an absentee landlord, which is a giant pain. I can’t see these young people being financially better off by buying a vacation place.</p>
<p>Agree with kayf. Many people rent in nyc and then own in the hamptons, upstate, berkshire, fire island etc. This is very common among all age groups - gay, retired, young families, singles - pretty much every demographic. Telecommuting part of the week has made this even more attractive.
Some of my contemporaries are selling the big familly house in the burbs, rent in the city and then buy a vacation home as part of a pre-retirement stratedgy. Save on property taxes and commuting and still have home ownership advantages with money in the bank.</p>
<p>A timeshare would be a far better use of their money than a condo. If they are renting it out, there are plenty of headaches, and if they use an agent, there goes any possible profit. Because of the tax codes, they are likely to have a paper loss every year, but if they don’t end up moving in, they will pay significant capital gains when they sell (they are required to depreciate it each year, whether they claim the depreciation on their taxes or not). A well-run timeshare, when used for personal vacations, is no worse than your own vacations home, you’re just sharing it with 5o other families, and don’t have to deal with renting it out. Like any other real estate, you just have to be careful of what you buy.</p>
<p>I would not recommend real estate investment right now, of any kind, unless you already know the ropes.</p>
<p>If a blue shirt is on sale should I buy it even though 1. I don’t need it. 2. Blue looks terrible on me. 3. I have no immediate plans to wear it.<br>
As the owner of a rental property I would not buy something that far away from my primary residence. Particularly if I didn’t already have a tenant. If you sit down and pencil out the cost of HOA, taxes, insurance, repairs, etc. it probably doesn’t make sense.</p>
<p>Sure. If you can find a buyer who wants your condo in one of these places. (Cheap Florida real estate isn’t what is meant when financial advisors stress diversification.)</p>
<p>I personally think it would be really nice to have a dedicated vacation spot. I have 7 weeks vacation and also can work from anywhere so to me it would be a win win… apart from the whole paying for two houses thing!!</p>
<p>I just find it crazy that 30k buys a condo down there… 30k was less then my 20% downpayment on this house! Obviously much smaller and not as nice… but still! :)</p>
<p>H and I have bought and sold land and real estate since we were married. But like any investments people have different comfort levels of risk/reward. Clearly I wouldn’t dissuade one of my boys from buying something - even if it wasn’t primary. It’s one of those types of things if you ask 15 people you’ll get many different opinions about the “best use” of excess cash.</p>
<p>I guess it would be a good move if real estate where you purchase jumps in value and a bad move if prices decline. It could be a neutral move if prices hold steady and you enjoy using it.</p>
<p>Having inherited a vacation home from the in-laws, I would not advise anyone to do it. You are obligated to go back there year after year just because it’s there and instead of enjoying your vacation, we spent time dealing with maintenance issues. It’s also a money pit. I would sell it in a heart beat, but my H has wonderful memories of spending childhood summers there. </p>
<p>Both my kids rent in Manhattan even though they have the down payment to buy something in a nice neighborhood. Unless they know they can stay put in one place for five years, renting is still a better and cheaper option.</p>
<p>I would not purchase RE long distance intentionally no matter how attractive it is. This type of investment requires a lot of hands on， especially for the small investors。</p>