Let's hear from those who own 2nd homes

[bjl584]

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.

I picked my place up for $33K cash in 2018
After doing a total inside and outside renovation (most of it myself) the place is appraising around $90K today.

[james.hendrickson]

For those of you who do have second homes...what are the implications for your taxes? Like are you able to deduct the interest on two mortgages? Or can you deduct the property taxes on both places?

[Fishindude77]

For those of you who do have second homes...what are the implications for your taxes? Like are you able to deduct the interest on two mortgages? Or can you deduct the property taxes on both places?

The implications are that you pay more taxes.

Can only be a resident in one state, so could only have the mortgage deduction in one state.
I've heard of couples claiming one place each as their primary residence and filing taxes separately, but to do that legally you'd have to be divorced.

If you want any kind of a "deal" on a second home you need to use it as a rental, but that comes with it's own set of challenges.

[bjl584]

For those of you who do have second homes...what are the implications for your taxes? Like are you able to deduct the interest on two mortgages? Or can you deduct the property taxes on both places?

No mortgage on my second home, but no. I can't deduct any taxes, insurance, or mortgage (if there was one)
You can only do that on a primary residence.

If I was going to rent it out, and I formed an LLC, I could write off those expenses

But, it's just a cost right now