Let's hear from those who own 2nd homes

[disneysteve]

My wife and I are starting to look more seriously into buying a 2nd home in central Florida. If and when we do buy, we do not intend to rent it out. We want it strictly for our own use. We want to be able to stock it with our own things - clothing, toiletries, etc. - so that we can throw a few things in a backpack and hop on a plane to go down there.

I'd love to hear from those of you who own a 2nd home/vacation home. What have you found to be the pros and cons? What expenses have turned out to be more than you had anticipated? If your place is not in driving distance from your primary home, what do you do for transportation when you're there? Do you rent a car or do you have a vehicle you keep there? Any tips or advice?

[Fishindude77]

Typing this response from our second home, a five hour drive from home. We have a lake house which happens to be pretty close to where one of our kids family lives, so a bonus to see them and grandkids every trip. A few neighbors around rent their places to help control costs or pay the mortgage, but we have not, and don't want to rent ours out at this time. We bought the place cash and it's paid for but still a pretty expensive "toy". Routine upkeep projects have probably totaled $120k or more in the ten years we've had the place and it costs around $20-30k annually for utilities, lawn care, boat lift and dock work, snow removal, taxes, trash service, internet, etc., taxes are $8k.

It's been great for entertaining family and friends but this has got to be something you just want to do. It will rarely make economic sense. Boats and docks are a pain, putting the lifts in, winterization, storage, etc., but a lake house wouldn't be nearly as fun without them. We are considering scaling back to only one boat, which would be a big pontoon. A bright spot is real estate appreciation; we bought the place for $460k, and zillow estimate now says it's now worth $740k. We're in a touristy area on some pristine water, so the places are appreciating.

I wouldn't try to talk you out of it. What good is money if you can't have some fun and share with family and friends?

You can also enjoy second homes much more economically. As an example, we have a third place five hours away the other direction that I primarily use for hunting and fishing. It consists of 132 acres of farm and wooded recreation ground with a few ponds and great hunting. I built a small, very nice pole building on this property and finished out cabin space in it that is quite livable. Also set the place up to be real low maintenance and efficient. Only bills I get at this place are a monthly water bill, electric bill and real estate taxes. The cash rent income from the tillable farm ground covers the annual cost of keeping this place, so other than the original purchase price it's pretty economical. Farm ground has a appreciated a bit too, so I'm sure I could sell and recover my original investment.

Another note - You'll need to buy a whole bunch of stuff for the second home which will be duplicates of stuff at your first home; tools, cleaning equipment, kitchen equipment, grills, appliances, towels, beds, linens, furniture, etc., etc. Initially getting set up can be pricey, but most of that is a one time deal, and if you ever sell, you could take some of it with you or sell.

[GoodLiving]

I own a second property that is about 90 minutes by car in a rural area. It was inherited through my Dad's passing, he was in the middle of building it when he passed and I helped finish it. There's huge sentimental attachment to this. I love the time we go there and it's relatively inexpensive. It's on acreage that includes farm land and woods. It doesn't have the water feature that so many folks value. We have the land rented for corn or hay to earn a little income but also retain tax breaks because it's farmland. I haven't actually looked into what the difference would be if we didn't rent the land. It's small one bedroom around 700 sqft and generally runs about $5k or so a year for property taxes, insurance, propane, electric, snowplowing. We keep it going year round. It is the place I go to feel very connected to my Dad. I've shared it with a handful of friends but never rented it out.

The biggest drawbacks are that it's all wood siding to it's more maintenance than I would like and I also never feel like we use it as often as we should. When I think of selling it because of those reasons, I can't quite pull the trigger yet. It's pretty rural and I've lived rural but prefer a more urban population so I doubt we'll retire there but it would be an inexpensive home base if we wanted to be more nomadic. I think when retirement is closer, I would have to do some more thinking about it but in the meantime, I enjoy it when we're there and otherwise I have some guilt about it sitting. I have had folks interested in purchasing it but I'm definitely not there yet. It's also a place as we've cleared out some of my Dad's things that more and more of him is there which makes it harder to let go.

[Jluke]

No experience as a two house owner.

in your case one suggestion is to buy a place in Florida that you can see living at full time - should you ever want to relocate.

[james.hendrickson]

I own a second property that is about 90 minutes by car in a rural area. It was inherited through my Dad's passing, he was in the middle of building it when he passed and I helped finish it. There's huge sentimental attachment to this. I love the time we go there and it's relatively inexpensive. It's on acreage that includes farm land and woods. It doesn't have the water feature that so many folks value. We have the land rented for corn or hay to earn a little income but also retain tax breaks because it's farmland. I haven't actually looked into what the difference would be if we didn't rent the land. It's small one bedroom around 700 sqft and generally runs about $5k or so a year for property taxes, insurance, propane, electric, snowplowing. We keep it going year round. It is the place I go to feel very connected to my Dad. I've shared it with a handful of friends but never rented it out.

The biggest drawbacks are that it's all wood siding to it's more maintenance than I would like and I also never feel like we use it as often as we should. When I think of selling it because of those reasons, I can't quite pull the trigger yet. It's pretty rural and I've lived rural but prefer a more urban population so I doubt we'll retire there but it would be an inexpensive home base if we wanted to be more nomadic. I think when retirement is closer, I would have to do some more thinking about it but in the meantime, I enjoy it when we're there and otherwise I have some guilt about it sitting. I have had folks interested in purchasing it but I'm definitely not there yet. It's also a place as we've cleared out some of my Dad's things that more and more of him is there which makes it harder to let go.

please post a photo.

[jenn_jenn]

We very recently purchased our second home about six months ago so I am by no means an expert. We haven’t run into anything unexpected but +1 for the initial set up being expensive. It’s not just big ticket items like furnishings but things like cleaning supplies, tools, and general household things. That all adds up quickly.

We’re lucky that I just borrow my parents car when visiting. Depending on how often we end up using it, we’ve talked about getting a car to keep there. In reality, it will be only me using it for the majority of the time because my husband works full time in the office.

We decided to rent our condo out for short term leases. We still have a set of drawers in the linen closet that we keep our personal items (toiletries, clothes, etc). I was surprised how territorial I felt when someone else moved in. I’d prefer not to rent it out but it’s hard to justify not renting it out when we’re not using it, at least at this point in our lives.

This won’t factor for you Steve but for others it might. I am WFH permanently so I have the flexibility to work anywhere which is great but there are tax implications that come from working remotely in a different state. For example, I live in NY and the great state of NY wants their income tax regardless if I’m living and working in CA for two months and CA wants their income tax too. It makes it very unappealing from that perspective and is definitely something to take into consideration.

Even with renting out sometimes, our condo is still an expensive luxury. I’m very grateful for it though. I love having the option to go “home” whenever I want and having the ability to escape the North East winter.

[bjl584]

My wife and I are starting to look more seriously into buying a 2nd home in central Florida. If and when we do buy, we do not intend to rent it out. We want it strictly for our own use. We want to be able to stock it with our own things - clothing, toiletries, etc. - so that we can throw a few things in a backpack and hop on a plane to go down there.

I'd love to hear from those of you who own a 2nd home/vacation home. What have you found to be the pros and cons? What expenses have turned out to be more than you had anticipated? If your place is not in driving distance from your primary home, what do you do for transportation when you're there? Do you rent a car or do you have a vehicle you keep there? Any tips or advice?

I've had my cabin since 2018. Like you, I do not rent it out. I am lucky that it is within driving distance (a little over 2 hours away), so that isn't much of an issue.

The main expense was we had to put a new holding tank in to be compliant with the sewage regulations. That was $4000, but we knew it was coming years ahead of time. It was a cash purchase, so there aren't many carrying costs. Taxes and insurance are low. The only other major expenses were the remodeling costs, but I did most of the work myself, so it was just material costs.

The biggest thing for me is having a place that I'm not everyday. I worry that something is going to happen to the place while I'm not there. (tree falls on it, fridge breaks, someone breaks in, etc.) We have a neighbor who lives there full time, so he keeps an eye on the place. That mitigates some of my anxiety, but I still have some to a point.

Having a second home is great, but it is work. I'm always doing something there. Not being there everyday does make the projects pile up at times. If you go there for a week expect that at the least the first day or two of your trip will be spend catching up on work.

[Fishindude77]

The biggest thing for me is having a place that I'm not everyday. I worry that something is going to happen to the place while I'm not there. (tree falls on it, fridge breaks, someone breaks in, etc.) We have a neighbor who lives there full time, so he keeps an eye on the place. That mitigates some of my anxiety, but I still have some to a point.

Having a second home is great, but it is work. I'm always doing something there. Not being there everyday does make the projects pile up at times. If you go there for a week expect that at the least the first day or two of your trip will be spend catching up on work.

A couple good points here.
No security systems, etc. will take the place of having good neighbors to keep an eye on things. We've always made it a point to get friendly with the neighbors.

We had a lake place when we were kids and every trip there with my dad was a big work weekend. Kind of made us kids dislike going to the lake. Made up my mind that would not be the case if I got a place, so we've got someone to cut grass, put the docks in / out, hire out the maintenance, snow plowing, repairs, painting, etc. If you have to do a bunch of work every trip, it's not much of a vacation home.

[scfr]

It will be interesting to read others' insights. I'm encouraging DH to, once the dust has settled from our custom home build, think about buying a small condo in his native country. Now that his mom has passed, he doesn't have a "home base" anymore when he visits. He likes to go for weeks at a time, and he used to stay at his mom's in between visits to various friends and family. I think losing that geographical anchor in the country of his birth has made his mother's death even harder to deal with.

[GoodLiving]

please post a photo.

The first pic is the last one of my Dad within 48 hours he was gone. I don't really have a pic of the full cabin but here's one of the front when we re-stained it a few years back.

[james.hendrickson]

The first pic is the last one of my Dad within 48 hours he was gone. I don't really have a pic of the full cabin but here's one of the front when we re-stained it a few years back.

Oh, fantastic. Thank you. That gives it sense of place.

[Drake3287]

I only wish I could find a second home! I've mentioned this before on this forum but in early 2020 we finally made that big decision to finally buy a vacation home after having saved for years. Sure enough, as soon as we started looking at $400k to 500k homes in the Tahoe area, covid hit and prices went through the roof with everyone wanting to move up to the mountains so they could work from home. The $500k house's we had hoped for all of a sudden jumped to $750k or more. Certainly a price I refuse to pay for a vacation home not to mention the additional property taxes that it would cost.

I watch all these House Hunter type TV shows and sit there envious of people buying these nice affordable vacation homes all around the country except for here in California where everything's too expensive. Certainly puts a damper on my retirement plans. If I was Steve I would jump at buying that place in Florida! I only wish we lived closer.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I only wish I could find a second home! I've mentioned this before on this forum but in early 2020 we finally made that big decision to finally buy a vacation home after having saved for years. Sure enough, as soon as we started looking at $400k to 500k homes in the Tahoe area, covid hit and prices went through the roof with everyone wanting to move up to the mountains so they could work from home. The $500k house's we had hoped for all of a sudden jumped to $750k or more. Certainly a price I refuse to pay for a vacation home not to mention the additional property taxes that it would cost.

I watch all these House Hunter type TV shows and sit there envious of people buying these nice affordable vacation homes all around the country except for here in California where everything's too expensive. Certainly puts a damper on my retirement plans. If I was Steve I would jump at buying that place in Florida! I only wish we lived closer.

Maybe you'll get a deal when things go back to normal and people are required to go into office 2x a week and that might change some people's minds

[Drake3287]

Maybe you'll get a deal when things go back to normal and people are required to go into office 2x a week and that might change some people's minds

I can only hope but hard to believe with California's crazy real estate market. To me, even $400k to $500k is a lot of money for a vacation home. Way more even than the original purchase price of my primary home. Time will tell...

[disneysteve]

I can only hope but hard to believe with California's crazy real estate market. To me, even $400k to $500k is a lot of money for a vacation home. Way more even than the original purchase price of my primary home. Time will tell...

Whatever we spend will be way more than we paid for our primary home but we bought that in 1994.