Should I buy a beach vacation home?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is literally a deranged person on this thread who hates beach houses more than I have ever hated anything

One could argue there is a deranged person who made a terrible financial decision to buy a beach house and keeps insisting she loves monitoring it for hurricane damage and forcing her family to have Christmas in the dampest place on earth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is literally a deranged person on this thread who hates beach houses more than I have ever hated anything

Indeed. I think meditation might be helpful.

[Anonymous]

I think we pretty conclusively determined that the OP should NOT buy a beach house. Maybe lock the thread?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I only listened to the DCUM echo chamber, I would be more worried about owning our beach home and being able to resell it. Because climate change is real, and sure, the stock market would have been smarter purely from an investment standpoint.

The fact is that 40% there are SO many families who still want to buy beach properties -- though maybe that's on the wane in Florida. Maybe because they can afford it regardless of whether it blows away. Maybe because they're climate change deniers. Maybe because they are motivated by emotion and are willing to ignore the risks; they want a gathering place for family that feels more like home than a vacation rental.

And all of that negates the naysaying on this thread. You'll be able to resell your beach house because the psychology still favors buying coastal properties. I'm at our beach house right now. I had two people just this week ask me if we'd think of selling - one who wants to buy, the other who knows someone who is actively looking. Could that change in the next few years? Sure. But right now, it's the weird poster here (who is so freaked out that she's calling names) who is the outlier. No one on our island is freaking out.

Ha Ha you were doing so well until you weeded into bullshit. This did not happen. Folks looking for beach houses don’t ask owners of houses that aren’t on the market if they’re “interested in selling.” They look at the MLS, where there always are plenty of houses for sale in every beach community that attracts renters.

There are very very few houses for sale in the upscale beach town we’ve been looking at. Inventory is so low. I fear prices will only rise if rates get cut.

I’ll add that I’ve been told by locals that there are less and less rentals available every year because rich people are buying the houses and not renting them out.

Where are you looking? We have a house in the Hamptons that we don't rent, but the town we're in has pretty strict regulations about rentals---especially short-term rentals. That's not a bad thing.

+1

Nobody wants to live in an area where most homes/condos are rented by the week. At a minimum you want 30day+ rentals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I only listened to the DCUM echo chamber, I would be more worried about owning our beach home and being able to resell it. Because climate change is real, and sure, the stock market would have been smarter purely from an investment standpoint.

The fact is that 40% there are SO many families who still want to buy beach properties -- though maybe that's on the wane in Florida. Maybe because they can afford it regardless of whether it blows away. Maybe because they're climate change deniers. Maybe because they are motivated by emotion and are willing to ignore the risks; they want a gathering place for family that feels more like home than a vacation rental.

And all of that negates the naysaying on this thread. You'll be able to resell your beach house because the psychology still favors buying coastal properties. I'm at our beach house right now. I had two people just this week ask me if we'd think of selling - one who wants to buy, the other who knows someone who is actively looking. Could that change in the next few years? Sure. But right now, it's the weird poster here (who is so freaked out that she's calling names) who is the outlier. No one on our island is freaking out.

Ha Ha you were doing so well until you weeded into bullshit. This did not happen. Folks looking for beach houses don’t ask owners of houses that aren’t on the market if they’re “interested in selling.” They look at the MLS, where there always are plenty of houses for sale in every beach community that attracts renters.

There are very very few houses for sale in the upscale beach town we’ve been looking at. Inventory is so low. I fear prices will only rise if rates get cut.

I’ll add that I’ve been told by locals that there are less and less rentals available every year because rich people are buying the houses and not renting them out.

Where are you looking? We have a house in the Hamptons that we don't rent, but the town we're in has pretty strict regulations about rentals---especially short-term rentals. That's not a bad thing.

+1

Nobody wants to live in an area where most homes/condos are rented by the week. At a minimum you want 30day+ rentals.

That's not realistic.

[Anonymous]

Why not rent for a couple of months and see how it feels? We once rented a lake home for an entire summer. It was lovely. As our kids aged, our summer travel window shrank progressively, so I'm glad we didn't buy. OP is at the end of her kid-raising years, though, so it's worth trying out a long-term rental to see if she likes the lifestyle, as she might be able to spend significant time there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lol, there are few DCUM topics more inclined to go intensely negative quickly (Disney, cheerleading, sororities) than, "Should I buy a beach house?"

The posters who invoke S&P comparisons are my personal favorite!

and the answer is always "no you shouldn't" and some old lady always posts "I love my vacation home, we spend all of our free time there and it's much better spending christmas in a poorly insulated damp shack teetering on the edge of the cliff that we've forced our family to join us at, than traveling to nice places, and we do it because we love it, not because we feel financially obligated" and then she has a big meltdown about everyone being jealous of her financial disaster.

Ok, I laughed at this one. Well done!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lol, there are few DCUM topics more inclined to go intensely negative quickly (Disney, cheerleading, sororities) than, "Should I buy a beach house?"

The posters who invoke S&P comparisons are my personal favorite!

and the answer is always "no you shouldn't" and some old lady always posts "I love my vacation home, we spend all of our free time there and it's much better spending christmas in a poorly insulated damp shack teetering on the edge of the cliff that we've forced our family to join us at, than traveling to nice places, and we do it because we love it, not because we feel financially obligated" and then she has a big meltdown about everyone being jealous of her financial disaster.

Ok, I laughed at this one. Well done!

thank you, but i can't take credit. that lady is here in this thread and will explain it all to you herself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why not rent for a couple of months and see how it feels? We once rented a lake home for an entire summer. It was lovely. As our kids aged, our summer travel window shrank progressively, so I'm glad we didn't buy. OP is at the end of her kid-raising years, though, so it's worth trying out a long-term rental to see if she likes the lifestyle, as she might be able to spend significant time there.

I think this is a great idea. Part of the problem is that OP asked this question on the money board, and Sonos getting responses from an investment standpoint. But from a lifestyle standpoint, we really can’t answer that.

[Anonymous]

I'm not the "deranged" anti-beach house poster. I'm the poster who had a bad experience owning one and who would never do it again. I really do think that most beach house owners underestimate -- or deceive themselves -- when it comes to the cost involved. They're money pits, especially if you rent them out. I do understand that they tend to appreciate substantially in the long term, so there's that. You're unlikely to lose money, as I did. But too many people throw out "I paid X and now it's worth Y!" while completely discounting the costs involved.

If you have enough money to buy with your heart and not your head, by all means go for it. Just don't go into it thinking you're striking gold. Chances are, you won't be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not the "deranged" anti-beach house poster. I'm the poster who had a bad experience owning one and who would never do it again. I really do think that most beach house owners underestimate -- or deceive themselves -- when it comes to the cost involved. They're money pits, especially if you rent them out. I do understand that they tend to appreciate substantially in the long term, so there's that. You're unlikely to lose money, as I did. But too many people throw out "I paid X and now it's worth Y!" while completely discounting the costs involved.

If you have enough money to buy with your heart and not your head, by all means go for it. Just don't go into it thinking you're striking gold. Chances are, you won't be.

I don't really think there's a deranged anti-beach house poster, just a number of people who think it's silly to invest in beach houses these days.

I'm all for buying a home in a beach community, but being very selective about where and not expecting to be super near the beach. I love the OBX but between the storm damage and the horrible winter weather, I can't imagine any sane person buying there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not the "deranged" anti-beach house poster. I'm the poster who had a bad experience owning one and who would never do it again. I really do think that most beach house owners underestimate -- or deceive themselves -- when it comes to the cost involved. They're money pits, especially if you rent them out. I do understand that they tend to appreciate substantially in the long term, so there's that. You're unlikely to lose money, as I did. But too many people throw out "I paid X and now it's worth Y!" while completely discounting the costs involved.

If you have enough money to buy with your heart and not your head, by all means go for it. Just don't go into it thinking you're striking gold. Chances are, you won't be.

Point well taken. I think this is great advice

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not the "deranged" anti-beach house poster. I'm the poster who had a bad experience owning one and who would never do it again. I really do think that most beach house owners underestimate -- or deceive themselves -- when it comes to the cost involved. They're money pits, especially if you rent them out. I do understand that they tend to appreciate substantially in the long term, so there's that. You're unlikely to lose money, as I did. But too many people throw out "I paid X and now it's worth Y!" while completely discounting the costs involved.

If you have enough money to buy with your heart and not your head, by all means go for it. Just don't go into it thinking you're striking gold. Chances are, you won't be.

I noted earlier in this thread that our beloved beach house is a money pit. The considerable appreciation in value over the years is commensurate with the amount of money it costs to maintain two households. We never considered it a financial investment, we don't care to rent it, and I doubt we'd make money renting it anyway.

[Anonymous]

You do what makes you happy - and maybe I'll change my tune (I'm 43 now) but I used want to buy a second place, and recently decided that I think I want to rent for a few months a year instead of buying and dealing with the second place all year.

[Anonymous]

OP here - you're all right, from a pure money standpoint, I should not buy one. But my spouse has recently declared that they don't want to leave our suburban DC life full-time in retirement because they like urban amenities, so a 2nd home is looking like a good option. Mountains are nice but boring for me. Not buying in Florida.