Where is your vacation house? Where would you get one?

[Anonymous]

Poster who says it's "same stuff, different location" has obviously never bought a vacation home (or the right vacation home) and never should.

Look on the rivers in SoMD (St. Mary's/Potomac/Pax). Anywhere from 80 to 120 minutes max from NoVA with zero traffic (once you get past the beltway). Are there great beaches? No, but we aren't beach people. Sit on the deck (more comfortable/less sand), watch the sun rise or set, take in the breeze, buy a boat. Be around normal people. It's the best, and is the furthest thing from being home.

[Anonymous]

In general terms for average people:

- a vacation house should be no more than three hours from your primary residence so you can go as frequently as every weekend
- it's not a rental, it's for your personal use

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In general terms for average people:

- a vacation house should be no more than three hours from your primary residence so you can go as frequently as every weekend
- it's not a rental, it's for your personal use

That sounds like a weekend home. Vacation homes are where you vacation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m shocked how many of you are willing to take care of a second or third home. It’s all I can do to take care of the one I live in. I could afford a vacation home, but the S&P 500 doesn’t need cleaning and maintenance.

not much different than being at home. just doing same stuff in a different location.

Not PP, but that’s exactly what I don’t want to be doing on vacation! But we would have to buy as an investment property, not vacation home, as another PP pointed out, and we don’t have the kind of lifestyle/HHI that we could throw money at every inconvenience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Poster who says it's "same stuff, different location" has obviously never bought a vacation home (or the right vacation home) and never should.

Look on the rivers in SoMD (St. Mary's/Potomac/Pax). Anywhere from 80 to 120 minutes max from NoVA with zero traffic (once you get past the beltway). Are there great beaches? No, but we aren't beach people. Sit on the deck (more comfortable/less sand), watch the sun rise or set, take in the breeze, buy a boat. Be around normal people. It's the best, and is the furthest thing from being home.

LOL at this being what normal people do. Classic DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've come to the conclusion that a vacation home isn't the right fit for us. We'd want it to double as a second home for retirement, and there's nowhere within easy driving distance that fits the bill. Like others, I'd only want a second home now if it were easy to get to.

Now, for retirement, we do plan on having two places, but are really all over the map when is comes to where they'll be. Though we're both pretty clear that it won't be the beach, because of climate change (and I'm not a beach person). One may be here; it may be our current place. One can be smaller (though probably at least a 2 BR), and one will be larger. If the next few years are really lucrative, perhaps a small place in NYC and another in Maine or Utah . . . really, it'll be whatever we want/can afford when the time comes.

This is us although I only want one place and it would be on the beach, but after we are retirement age. Have no interest in maintaining a second home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bar harbor - summer
OBX - winter

Translation: we rent our OBX house out in the summer, so it’s an investment property

All real estate is an "investment".

PP has two vacation homes.

And who cares? What an odd mind set.

My aunt and uncle bought a place on Nantucket back in the 70s and would spend summers there, renting it out during the year. The house paid for itself with the rental. How is that not a smart decision? Fast-forward 40 years and they and my four cousins and their families all use it. We've vacationed with them there and it's lovely. They haven't rented it out since it was paid off because why bother, but I always thought they were brilliant. (Now I'm an adult I realize lots of people do this, but when I was a kid I didn't know anyone besides them who had a vacation house, so it always struck me as amazing to have such a great place and figure out how to make it pay for itself!)

[Anonymous]

I'm not entirely sure which is more annoying - the person making the completely irrelevant distinction between a vacation home and an investment property, or the people squabbling over travel times. Go away, all of you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In general terms for average people:

- a vacation house should be no more than three hours from your primary residence so you can go as frequently as every weekend
- it's not a rental, it's for your personal use

Agree for average people looking for a weekend home. Agree vacation homes are different, for example some people live the entire summer in Hawaii or Costa Rica/Caribbean at their second homes.

We have to fly to our vacation home and we aren’t able to use it too often due to kid school and sports schedules, but it’s a beach location where we plan to live full time once retired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bar harbor - summer
OBX - winter

Translation: we rent our OBX house out in the summer, so it’s an investment property

All real estate is an "investment".

PP has two vacation homes.

And who cares? What an odd mind set.

My aunt and uncle bought a place on Nantucket back in the 70s and would spend summers there, renting it out during the year. The house paid for itself with the rental. How is that not a smart decision? Fast-forward 40 years and they and my four cousins and their families all use it. We've vacationed with them there and it's lovely. They haven't rented it out since it was paid off because why bother, but I always thought they were brilliant. (Now I'm an adult I realize lots of people do this, but when I was a kid I didn't know anyone besides them who had a vacation house, so it always struck me as amazing to have such a great place and figure out how to make it pay for itself!)

DP but to answer OP’s question, if I had all the money in the world, Nantucket would be one of my top spots for a vacation home! Definitely not a place I would want to live year round or even in the off season but would love to go annually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bar harbor - summer
OBX - winter

Translation: we rent our OBX house out in the summer, so it’s an investment property

All real estate is an "investment".

PP has two vacation homes.

And who cares? What an odd mind set.

My aunt and uncle bought a place on Nantucket back in the 70s and would spend summers there, renting it out during the year. The house paid for itself with the rental. How is that not a smart decision? Fast-forward 40 years and they and my four cousins and their families all use it. We've vacationed with them there and it's lovely. They haven't rented it out since it was paid off because why bother, but I always thought they were brilliant. (Now I'm an adult I realize lots of people do this, but when I was a kid I didn't know anyone besides them who had a vacation house, so it always struck me as amazing to have such a great place and figure out how to make it pay for itself!)

DP but to answer OP’s question, if I had all the money in the world, Nantucket would be one of my top spots for a vacation home! Definitely not a place I would want to live year round or even in the off season but would love to go annually.

PP with the Nantucket aunt and uncle - my dream is Maine. Bar Harbor, specifically. Will never happen, but I can dream! I am one of those who hates traffic so I would not be willing to spend 5 hours getting there (which is what my aunt and uncle did - drive from Connecticut to wherever the ferry is, then 2 hours on the ferry). But clearly lots of people are and more power to them! I wish I could be more flexible but the thought of driving more than 3 hours stresses me out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a winter home in Naples and love it. We are a few houses from the gulf so it’s really ideal. We never rent it out.

We also have a vacation place in Naples and love it even though we can only use it a few weeks a year due to school schedules. It is also not rented out but a family member uses it during the prime winter months. Southwest Florida isn't for just old people anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not entirely sure which is more annoying - the person making the completely irrelevant distinction between a vacation home and an investment property, or the people squabbling over travel times. Go away, all of you.

Possibly my favorite all time post.

As an aside: Any chance that you work as a greeter at Wal-Mart ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bar harbor - summer
OBX - winter

Translation: we rent our OBX house out in the summer, so it’s an investment property

All real estate is an "investment".

PP has two vacation homes.

And who cares? What an odd mind set.

My aunt and uncle bought a place on Nantucket back in the 70s and would spend summers there, renting it out during the year. The house paid for itself with the rental. How is that not a smart decision? Fast-forward 40 years and they and my four cousins and their families all use it. We've vacationed with them there and it's lovely. They haven't rented it out since it was paid off because why bother, but I always thought they were brilliant. (Now I'm an adult I realize lots of people do this, but when I was a kid I didn't know anyone besides them who had a vacation house, so it always struck me as amazing to have such a great place and figure out how to make it pay for itself!)

You are confusing posters.

[Anonymous]

I would love to retire (in 30 years) somewhere in the mountains that will be cooler than DC is predicted to be by then. We don't really want the expense and hassle of maintaining a second home now, and would happily keep our DC home until we're empty nesters, but I worry about real estate prices exploding over the next few decades in climate change proof areas. Has anyone JUST bought land somewhere with the plan to build later?