Your second home

[Anonymous]

If you have a second home, where is it? Why that location? What do you love/hate about it? How often do you use it? Do you Airbnb or rent when not using?

If you would like to have a second home oneday, where would you like to buy one and why?

[Anonymous]

Bayside I’m Selbyville, DE- we don’t rent and go most weekends in the summer.

[Anonymous]

Op her, please also include your HHI.

[Anonymous]

If you have a second home, where is it?
Paris, LA, Chicago.

Why that location?
I like Paris. It gives me an old world feel that I can't get in the states. LA and Chicago due to business - and is always interesting. Never cared to be in NY, Philadelphia or Boston for one more minute than I needed to be there. Same for any place in the (U.S.) South.

What do you love/hate about it?
Love Paris: No one loves or cares about Trump. Hate Paris: Unfortunately has Le Pen, a more polished version of Trump, of the same ilk.

How often do you use it?
Love to spend Spring in Paris and Summer in the Southern coasts of France and Italy. LA and Chicago as business requires.

Do you Airbnb or rent when not using?
Don't really understand how other people allow others to sleep in their bed and go through their things. A rental is a rental and a home is a home.

If you would like to have a second home one day, where would you like to buy one and why?
Berlin - unexpected adventure, Lake Como - lake living, St. Moritz - skiing. Probably not there often enough to buy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you have a second home, where is it? Why that location? What do you love/hate about it? How often do you use it? Do you Airbnb or rent when not using?

If you would like to have a second home oneday, where would you like to buy one and why?

Colonial Beach VA and Harpers Ferry WV. Beach and the mountains. I love both, no hate on either. We go once a month. We AirBNB in between.

I'm done buying second homes. My advice is that AirBNB is super competitive so if you are thinking that route you need to figure out if the home is unique enough and will stand out from the crowd.

[Anonymous]

OP, there's a big difference between a second home and a rental property that you also sometimes use.

Some people go into it with the idea that they want a second home but want renters to pay for it. This often doesn't work out. Determine how often you would have to rent this out during the peak season, and would you really want to go there only during the rest of the time. It's usually not the best financial decision from an investment perspective, so you end up with neither a second home nor a great investment.

[Anonymous]

Lower Potomac on MD side, we go 2-3 times a month year round. It's about 1.5 hr drive and we don't rent it out, don't like strangers using our "home". It's a great nearby getaway from NoVA and more rural than Colonial Beach, which is about across the river.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, airbnb sounds like turning a vacation home into a tiny scale timeshare management business.

[Anonymous]

Colonial Beach is a dump. Sorry. We looked at places to buy there and found it super depressing.

[Anonymous]

Yes we have 3 one in the mountains, one in north Carolina and one in Virginia Beach. We Airbnb them between our stays which are about 2 weeks a year in each. Don't have any issues with other people renting the place we have really good cleaners. We couldn't afford it if we didn't Airbnb.

[Anonymous]

We live in Chicago and have a second home in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. We don't AirBnb it now, but likely will as our kids get more heavily into sports over the next few years and we won't be able to use it as often in the summer (we do go year round). Love everything about it and honestly can't think of a downfall other than it obviously costs money.

HHI $300k

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes we have 3 one in the mountains, one in north Carolina and one in Virginia Beach. We Airbnb them between our stays which are about 2 weeks a year in each. Don't have any issues with other people renting the place we have really good cleaners. We couldn't afford it if we didn't Airbnb.

They are investment properties. They are not second homes.

[Anonymous]

Condo on the hill, big SFH in Charlotte. Don’t rent out either. HHI 600k.

[Anonymous]

-Berkshire County MA

-We love the location and always have (both grew up going to the area as kids although we are the first in our families to own a place there)

-Love that once you are there, you feel a million miles away from your worries. Can wear whatever you want. No one cares "who" you are. Con is that it is a pain to get to.

-Mostly only in the summers but we go for very long stretches. Sometimes we go up over winter or spring break, too. Have also done Thanksgiving there occasionally.

-Yes -- we list it on VRBO. Income from that varies between 50K-75K a year. Pretty much covers the mortgage but not additional fees like property manager, heating, etc.

-HHI is around 1M although it wasn't that high when we bought it. Probably closer to $500-$600K when we pulled the trigger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lower Potomac on MD side, we go 2-3 times a month year round. It's about 1.5 hr drive and we don't rent it out, don't like strangers using our "home". It's a great nearby getaway from NoVA and more rural than Colonial Beach, which is about across the river.

We're probably neighbor-ish on both ends. I would say on average we only get down there on average 3 days a month year 'round. We don't rent it out (we bought less house b/c we didn't want to deal with AirBNB so we could always go on a whim). I love getting away from the DC rat race, especially when I look out my window and see the water. There really isn't anything I don't like about it, other than that we haven't been down there enough to become a part of the community.