<p>DH & I have talked for years about buying a second home out in a part of our state where our kids have attended camp forever and where there are many cultural opportunities. Approx 2 hours from our “real” home. The plan (and I use that word very loosely) would be that that location would ultimately become our only home in this state after we retire to somewhere warmer (retirement location still TBD since retirement is 10+ years away). Mostly tho, it has just been talk and fantasy each time we drop off/pick up the kids. BUT: a few weeks ago we saw a listing for a place out there that may be ideal in terms of location, price, set up, etc. So now fantasizing is in high gear and being done with calculators in hand. It’s very exciting, but scary too.</p>
<p>I would love to hear from any of you who have second homes about your experiences: managing finances, furnishing, logistics of running two properties (this is not a condo), renting to others, basic pros/cons. Tell us the good … and bad of your second home ownership stories. </p>
<p>Have debated this for the last year, and have come to the conclusion(for now ;). It doesn’t make financial sense…we would be better off renting for a month a summer, then purchasing, as 1) we wouldn’t get there enough( beach house) in summer, and yearly carrying costs( taxes,utitliy bills,maintence, etc )would be more then 1 month rental, and that doesn’t even take into account mortgage and down payment…Most people i know with beach houses get ere for 2-3 full weeks and several other weekends…</p>
<p>No, I’ll never own a second home. I want to spend my weekends having fun rather than staining decks and doing home maintenance. Buying an additional home or cabin will greatly increase the amount of maintenance while my number of weekends remains unchanged.</p>
<p>Would you be happy living in the house after it’s been lived in by renters for 10 years? From what I understand, 10 years of renters would wear on a place pretty significantly.</p>
<p>Where did the OP say he/she was going to RENT this second home? I must have missed that.</p>
<p>We are going to buy a home for the same purpose sometime within the next year. We won’t be spending our weekends staining decks and the like because we plan to buy something that is in good condition, and do the maintenance of that property when we are there. No extra weekends needed.</p>
<p>I would say…look at the place and if the price is right, the inspections come back as you would like, and you really know you want to live in this place ten years from now…and maybe can vacation there in the summers until then…go for it.</p>
<p>We know a number of people who did just what you are suggesting. Using their “second home” as a vacation home until they retired gave them the chance to establish a life in the new locale before actually moving there for a longer period of time each year. They have all been happy doing this.</p>
<p>Are you going to do the maintenance while you’re on vacation? I can think of a million things I’d rather do on vacation that home maintenance like staining decks. And even if it is in good condition today, you will need to do maintenance in the future.</p>
<p>In post one,the OP wants to know others’ experiences with renting…they do not say they are planning to do this. They would like to hear opinions about that.</p>
<p>IF my second home has a deck, it will be made of a composite that does not need staining.</p>
<p>Seriously…I would look at this cup as being half full instead of half empty.</p>
<p>Personally I would not rent except for vacation times, and long weekends…and then only to friends I knew well.</p>
<p>Most people I know who have second homes really don’t get to use them often enough to justify the expense. Many have ended up selling after a few years. The exception is a second home in a location that the prices rose significantly making it an investment as well.<br>
Nobody I’m aware of rented out their properties (except to friends).
2 hours away doesn’t seem far enough to justify a second home–a hotel room for long weekends with no maintenance nor property taxes and a free breakfast bar makes more sense to me.</p>
<p>We looked at buying a second home that we would have used as a vacation home until we retired. After retirement, we would have used it for two to three months over the winter. It was so much fun shopping until we realized that the area we were looking at regularly rents to snowbirds, and the rent for three months was a lot less than owning and maintaining. But that’s us.</p>
<p>Also, with our own home, we have learned that once it becomes about 25 years old, it needs a lot of maintenance. We are somewhat overwhelmed with our primary residence, and would not want to be responsible for another home.</p>
<p>We have access to two family homes - actually three if you count a condo in a ski resort. The condo is great - rentals pay for all the costs. (Except when my parents periodically are told they need to upgrade amenities by the management company. The other two are very rustic cabins. We do spend large parts of vacations sanding decks, chopping wood, fixing solar power systems, but somehow the work is so different from our usual practices that it’s still a nice change of pace. We share these places with a lot of family so we aren’t responsible for all the work. Different families have different things they like to work on, it seems to even out in the long run, though the families who are currently only going in the winter are doing less work. (But that was us once, now we nearly always go in the summer.)</p>
<p>If the two hours takes you somewhere really different - I think that’s fine. We have to drive 7 hours to get to Vermont which means we only go once a year - those who live closer often go for a weekend.</p>
<p>Bought a beach house 3+ years ago (this is the 4th summer) that’s just an hour from our year round house. We waited until financially it was a non-issue. (I saw the crash coming and pulled most money out of the market and we used a home equity on first home to finance it). </p>
<p>Furnished it with thrift shops, craigs lists & stuff in the attic, except for the mattress, which were new. </p>
<p>Rented it several weeks the first year (2009) to help cover the sticker shock of purchasing it. I think we just about covered the property taxes. The following year (2010), the economy was terrible and we only rented 1 week. (used a realtor both years, as I didn’t have time to screen people via internet posting). The last renters were a PITA and left the place a mess. Yes, it’s the beach, but we are 2 blocks from the beach and there’s a foot spray at the boardwalk and hose at the house, so I should not fill up my vacuum with sand when you leave. Didn’t bother to empty garbage. That was it - never rented again. </p>
<p>This year, we have spent most weekends there since early May. The minus with that is you neglect paperwork & other stuff that you end up taking days off to deal with. </p>
<p>We are also finding this year that both kids have jobs and can’t get away on the weekends. They are old enough that we leave them alone for 1-2 nights and we have the place to ourselves. Since it’s only an hour we can be home if there is an emergency. Think about what your kids want out of a place. It’s <40 minutes from D1’s school and we expect she & her roommates will use it in the fall & spring this upcoming year, as 2 roommates will have cars on campus. </p>
<p>Maintenance is what you make of it. We hired someone to do some significant foundation & bathroom work this past winter, however the little stuff we do ourselves. </p>
<p>I would not stretch financially for a second house. It’s a luxury. It has changed how we relax. I have not gone away on vacation in over 2 years, as I spend my time at the shore.</p>
<p>Long term, I see us spending our summers (early May - early Oct) at this house in retirement and something farther south for the colder months of the year.</p>
<p>We’ve had a second home for many years. My parents have lived in the first one (ski area) for many years, a decision they (and we) made after our kids were older and weren’t interested in going as often on weekends. The timing worked well with my dad’s retirement and the waning of our kids’ interest. Two years ago, we bought a second, second home (beach). Got lots of good advice here, by the way! It’s in a beautiful area with lots to do, lots of amenities, and a gated community. Easy connections for people who want to fly.</p>
<p>We chose it for many reasons, after extensive research. We’ve visited four or five times a year since the purchase, with the ultimate goal of spending considerable time here starting at the end of this year when my H retires. It’s been great so far. Several gathering of the entire family. We’re here at the moment for a few weeks and one D and her H are here, another with two friends arrive next week.</p>
<p>We bought our place mostly furnished but, of course, had to purchase kitchen ‘stuff’. We have a wonderful caretaker who does absolutely everything when we’re not here and who is worth his weight in gold. We specifically chose a community that did not allow short term rentals, as we were not interested in renting it out and did not want a transient atmosphere, for two reasons - security and, honestly, it’s too nice a place to want strangers in it, even those who would be willing to be a high price.</p>
<p>Our experience has been great. It’s definitely a luxury, but we are set for retirement, and can afford it, so it was the right decision for us.</p>
<p>We bought a second home in a beach area about 2 and a half hours from our house. Our plan was to try to move there permanently, but jobs have dried up, so for now, we are maintaining both. We waited till we were done paying tuition, and had the first house paid up. Like nj2011, our savings were in a safe place before the slide started, so we were able to put half down. We go there almost every weekend, year round, and love every minute (I’m there now.) We both work part/time from home during the summer, so we can be there most of the time now (I just changed my job last year to make this possible.)</p>
<p>We have furnished it sparsely, as eventually we’ll be moving some furniture from the other home. Maintenance not a big deal; no deck to stain! :)</p>
<p>We feel like we’re on vacation every time we come here–and we’ll live here permanently either when one of us gets a job with bennies, or we retire. Can’t say enough about how much I love it!</p>
<p>How do you have a house in a beach area without having much maintenance? I would expect the humidity and salt water to be very hard on homes near the beach.</p>
<p>We’re about half a mile from the water. It’s not a “beach house”; it’s a house in a largely full-time neighborhood that’s been here for quite a few years. We do have a dehumidifer. Salt water is not a factor.</p>
<p>We do need to mow, and my H spends many happy hours with his vegetable garden. There is the usual house maintenance, but not more because of location. </p>
<p>Believe me, I’m not here to fake how happy we are to have it–if I felt it was too much work, I’d have said so.</p>
<p>I think what garland has done sounds like a good plan, if you can swing it.
I expect we missed our chance to buy property where we have vacationed for years, H would love to retire there, but it is too isolated for what I think our aging needs will be, not to mention I have no idea where the kids will eventually settle, I would rather stay put and use discretionary funds to go visit them.</p>
<p>We don’t have much maintenance either, even though we can see the ocean from the porch. No deck or back yard. Grass patch in front is about 10x12 and takes <5 minutes w rotary push mower. </p>
<p>The biggest issue is figuring out if you have the time & finances for it. We didn’t buy one when the kids were younger, as we had lots of weekend stuff scheduled with them during the summer - ie/ picking up/dropping off from various camps & summer programs. Now D1 drives & S1 can ride his bike to lifeguard job. Also make sure the kids like the location & place or they won’t want to go. We have several friends with houses in our beach town, so that’s great. Also make sure you set their rooms up with 2 beds, so they can bring friends. </p>
<p>Our neighbor is selling, as she told us she figured her annual carrying cost is $15-18,000 and for that amount she would rather rent a larger house with a pool for the entire summer a bit father south and have her family visit and not worry about maintenance. (She’s a recent widow and retiring this fall. Kids all in their 20s - her beach house is small 3br).</p>
<p>Well, i will disagree about no issue with salt water…We have close friends who have a great home on the NJ shore…steps to the beach…salt has rusted/corroded anything of metal,including hinges,door and window handles ,etc…they had the house vinyled sided after needing to paint the beautiful shinges every other year at a cost of 5k…removed the several decks,they had gotten very worn and weathered, and replaced with composite deck…unless you can get there more then every other weekend and a few weeks a summer, it doesn" t make financial sense to spend nearly 800,000-1,000,000 on a home on the shore…i guess you can buy for less, but…perhaps in retirement,we sell our current home and then take an apt in the city with the shore home</p>
<p>I should probably explain. I have relative sthat own a 4000 square “vacation house”. very year they have to restain one side of the house, which is upwards of 30 feet tall. Quite difficult for someone to do. Or replace the decks. Or fix the roof. Pipes froze one winter. Or mice move in while they’re gone. Every year when we see them they groan about some big expense they have to pay for on their vacation house, and I’m always worried they’ll put me to work on the never ending list of things that need to be done (which I’m not skilled at and have no desire to spend my vacation time doing). It’s a big headache in many respects.</p>
<p>My own family owned vacation homes for a while and have vowed never to own one again. For the same amount of money, they can stay in nice hotels all over the world with no maintenance.</p>
Got lots of good advice here, by the way! It’s in a beautiful area with lots to do, lots of amenities, and a gated community. Easy connections for people who want to fly.</p>