Second/Vacation Homes

[Stu Gotz]

Curious to know if folks who have purchased/inherited family vacation homes have enjoyed them or came to think of them as a burden? Both?

[MarcusBrody]

I'll be interested to hear replies to this.

I've always wanted one and am in a good professional/time position for one as I'm a professor and my wife has a remote job, so we have summers off, but I still worry that it wouldn't get used enough. Or I'd feel like I always need to go there on vacation to get good use out of it. We live far away from family and so we end up spending a lot of travel time going to visit them and then there is the rest of the world to explore, so do I really want to be tied to one place? If I was super rich, I probably wouldn't care if I only visited a place I owned a few times a year, but I'm not, so I think I might feel constrained.

On the other hand, it would be nice to just live away from Southern NV in the summer and if we got the right place, it could serve as a family gathering place. I know some extended family who are basically all still really close largely because of a vacation home bought long ago.

I think the middle ground is a weekend place. Something 1-3 hours away that provides something different than your current place. You go there during the year and then travel further during bigger breaks. I still keep my eye on those, though now my worry is that we won't stay in our current area permanently and would have to sell two houses.

We do have one coming via inheritance at some point. It's in a lovely place which I'd be very happy to spend time in. Except it's in an Indian hill station that's probably 36 hours travel from where we live in a country that has wild bureaucracy surrounding land. So it's looking to be in the burden category. My mother in law isn't that old, so hopefully it isn't an issue for a long time. My wife's brother lives in the Bay Area, so my ideal scenario would be convincing her to sell the Nilgiri's house and using the money as a down payment on a place near Tahoe where we could all meet up, but that will be an uphill battle.

[dan_pdx]

Interested to see where people land on this. My recent experience moving to Spokane while renting out our Portland house was that it's fucking miserable taking care of houses in multiple locations. I now think my perfect setup would be one house that I live in full-time and some rural acreage that has a covered deck or something similar where I can roll out a camping mattress.

[skaredshtles]

F**k the hassle of owning yet another property. I've actively avoided it because I think home ownership is a PITA.

I also don't really like the idea of being "tied" to a specific location. I know you're really not, but that's generally how it has worked out for people that I know with a vacation home.

Obviously, YMMV.

[zion zig zag]

Both enjoy and a burden. Ours is only 3.5 hours away so we use it a lot. My wife works from home full time so it's not uncommon for her to go up for a week or two at a time and then I'll go up on the weekends. I'm guessing someone is there 75-100 nights a year, maybe more including letting friends/family use it. We really enjoy being there, but there is work involved. I spent a day last weekend in the crawl space pulling out mouse infested batt insulation for example. I mean it's everything you have to do at home, just somewhere else I guess. Yard work, maintenance, etc. I don't really mind it.

We bought it just before COVID and had every intention of making it an airbnb that we used occasionally. But then I went on an every other week work from home schedule and we got used to staying there quite a bit and leaving our stuff staged around the house like we lived there.

As far as feeling like we have to use it? Not really, we still travel quite a bit but I have noticed that we don't really camp anymore. Seems like camping trips have been replaced by staying there. I would definitely do it again if I had to go back in time, especially considering the run up in property values post COVID as we'd absolutely be priced out of that market now.

[liv2ski]

F**k the hassle of owning yet another property. I've actively avoided it because I think home ownership is a PITA.

I also don't really like the idea of being "tied" to a specific location. I know you're really not, but that's generally how it has worked out for people that I know with a vacation home.

Obviously, YMMV.

I have come to that conclusion also, especially in light of the fact of how hard it is to get insurance in Mammoth these days. My new mantra is 3 months a year in Europe.

[skaredshtles]

<snip> My new mantra is 3 months a year in Europe.

[Mofro261]

Have you considered the joys of fractional ownership? It comes with one free-all-you-can-eat Shrimp dinner.

[Ted Striker]

Not me but my parents: major headache that wasn't worth the time & effort. But financially, they've done more than ok on second properties.

[skaredshtles]

Have you considered the joys of fractional ownership? It comes with one free-all-you-can-eat Shrimp dinner.

There it is.

[XXX-er]

F**k the hassle of owning yet another property. I've actively avoided it because I think home ownership is a PITA.

I also don't really like the idea of being "tied" to a specific location. I know you're really not, but that's generally how it has worked out for people that I know with a vacation home.

Obviously, YMMV.

Someone I skied with from colorado shot me a pict of the family " cabin " it was really a pretty nice house on a lake back east, she said there were fond memories of the summers but nobody in the family wanted it cuz of taxes/ upkeep

around here STR is a dirty word so people in BC who have " invested " in condos are stuck with something they can't STRrent because they need to also be living in the STR, so its affected property management companies, house cleaners ... so cry me a river on that

I could barely afford 1 house let alone 2 houses and the costs that would entail, I think early retirement was > having another house to take care of but i am lazy

[BCMtnHound]

Second/Vacation Homes

My wife came to our union with a cabin by Pemberton. 5hr drive away. Her ideas on use (puttering around with the landscaping and interior decorating, while I slaved at the yard work and significant upgrades to Cabin and outbuildings) differed from mine (base for recreation at Whistler or up the Duffy, etc.). Make sure you are in lockstep with the partnership.

I finally convincered her to sell, we bought a travel trailer, which we use as much or more than we used the cabin. We now have more flexibility, and lower annual maintenance costs. But the trailer is a depreciating asset (although resale has remained high after COVID).

YMMV

[singlesline]

My grandparents owned a cottage on Lake Michigan in SW Michigan (well, technically up the hill in the woods off the lake, but it had deeded beach access down a path which I think was the best of both worlds). My grandpa was an architect and he designed and self built a guest cottage/bunkroom on the property as the family grew. They owned it from before I was born up until a couple years after I finished college.

I'm incredibly sad that it is not in the family anymore. But the timing of them wanting to be free of it just didn't work out with either my dad or his sister's ability to buy it...and they did the classic grumpy old man thing of not really being willing to discuss their finances or motivations for selling with their children. They started trying to sell it in the wake of the financial crisis (though it took several years) and my Aunt/Uncle had just made the choice to move further away and buy a more expensive house than they were planning on...a little "heads up" or willingness to work out the money (e.g. answer questions like "what do you need the money for? How much do you actually need *right now*? etc.) could have changed things.

Was a very special place where the family came together. Once it was gone, we saw significantly less of each other. I grew up in MN, but my parents were self employed and always made room for at least one extended stay up there every year (and sent me to be alone with grandparents a few times). My aunt/uncle/cousins lived in Chicago for most of my childhood, so they would spend significant amounts of time up there and my uncle would commute back to Chicago for work. Grandparents left Chicago for a place outside Asheville in retirement, but they would generally spend the entire summer in Michigan. I ended up in Chicago for college (and then work), so had the ability to go up there with friends.

It worked for a few reasons:

1. At least some of the users always lived within driving distance. You get a lot more use out of a vacation home that is a 2 hour drive than a 2+ hour flight...can easily spend weekends there.

2.It provided a clear change of scenery. The primary users all lived in either urban or suburban locations and there's clearly a pretty big difference between driving to a public beach or a wooded hike for the day vs spending time time living there...staying for sunset and a bonfire, hearing the sounds of nature through the window as you sleep, early morning walks to find beach glass, etc.

3. It was used by extended family. Provides justification for the expense...rentals/hotels are cheaper if you just want a vacation, but you're paying for the family bonding and memories created by having a place where people can gather and have overlapping stays.

4. It created a neutral space for family/friends, especially with spread-out living quarters. You don't feel like you are invading someone else's home so extended stays are encouraged. The vibe of a secluded beach house also begs you to stay longer--disconnect and live without a schedule, no money to spend other than stocking up groceries, no having to make dinner reservations. And changing weather--you want to stay for a while because you want that sunny clear beach day, you want the day with big waves for bodysurfing, you want the windy days to go sailing, you want the rainy day to cozy up to a book.

5. Low maintenance property (and the maintenance labor can be split among the family members). No yard or anything to have to pay someone to take care of when you're gone. No HVAC besides some glorified space heaters (and in the final years, a portable AC). Low end durable finishes. Place was seasonal, so you just shut off the water, winterized it, and boarded up the windows, and left until next year.

If you can get most of those things, I think it is a reasonable thing to do. If you can't...just spend your money renting hotels/airbnbs. Certainly not limited to beach homes...e.g. a ski condo or mountain house could serve the same purpose. Where I grew up in Minneapolis, it was super common for people to have some crappy little cabin on a little lake "up north" to go on the weekends. edit: mountain homes are going to be a lot harder/expensive though...you'll want the place to be able to handle winter, need to worry about snow removal, and have to compete with year round residents (vs owning in a place where nobody wants to live in the winter). Condos solve some of that I guess?


If they had waited a little longer to sell it, I would have been in a position to maybe chip in to keep it in the family (although I probably would never have moved to Montana if that were the case). I'm sure I would have seen a lot more of my grandparents and uncle before they all passed.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure I could get a place like that today even if I still lived in Chicago. Most of the remaining old cottages have been bought out and $$$ homes have been built on the lots...which have $$$ upkeep and expenses (and in my opinion kind of ruin the feel of being out in the woods...why have central A/C, a big screen TV, and all the amenities of home if you're trying to get away?).

[fomofo]

F**k the hassle of owning yet another property. I've actively avoided it because I think home ownership is a PITA.

Buy a house, get a hobby!

There's another angle** to all this which is well outlined here...

Can a vacancy tax "fix" mountain town housing problems?

**More so the impact to the local community and your part in it as a second homeowner, not just the potential to have to pony up for a vacancy tax

[riser4]

My wife and siblings are dealing with shared ownership of their deceased parents' farm. I don't wish it on anyone. Dysfunctional family much? Holy shit balls. We're 45 minutes away so a lot of work falls on my wife especially right now while they are doing a ton of deferred maintenance to be able to keep a renter in the house. However , we do manage to get up there for some cool things. The property is awesome. Her sister is 6 hours away, but loves to come over, play the martyr card and try to do whatever she can minimize effort and maximize credit/acknowledgement for in the eyes of the neighbors. "Look at me! I'm awesome!" Plus she's horrid to my wife. The older brother is on the West coast, vetoes any and every suggestion and would still live too close to me even if he were in another galaxy. The younger brother is helpful and lives literally on the opposite side of the planet. I wish he lived next door.