Should I buy a beach vacation home?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So you have a million dollars to buy it, but how much do you have to maintain 2 households (at least for a few years until you retire)?

Even with a turn-key beachouse (good luck finding that unicorn) the startup of a beach house (furniture, windows treatments, room essentials, etc) are costly .

Now factor in buying all that stuff over when it gets moldy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ha, have fun with climate change.

Only a sucker would be investing in anything near the water these days.

Seriously—insurance is only going up, and that's your best case scenario. Most places you're probably consider are extremely vulnerable to catastrophic storm damage.

Get a mountain house.

Op - also a consideration, but we aren’t sure we are boat people.

Maybe something mid Delmarva peninsula—easy drive to the beach with much less risk. We stayed at some airbnbs—beautiful large old houses on open fields, only like 30 minutes from Rehoboth.

That's not really a beach house.

Yes, we've established that only a literal moron would consider buying a beach house in a day and age when they're shortly all going to be uninsurable and/or severely damaged on a regular basis. The idea is a nice family home that can be an escape and a retreat that also has easy/close access to the beach so, while it's all still there, the OP can enjoy what the beach has to offer.

Why all the aggression and name-calling, PP? We have a beach house, and yes, our insurance premiums are increasing. We've also experienced several hurricanes. But we can afford the insurance as I suspect OP can. We didn't buy ocean front (we're deliberately four houses from the ocean) and we looked carefully at the flood zones, so we've never experience even a dollar's worth of damage due to storms or floods. This "literal moron" has seen her beach house value rise by $500K in the 3 1/2 years since we bought with a 3% mortgage. My personal opinion is that, if you have to get in your car and drive 30 minutes to a beach, you might as well drive 2 hours to the beach from DC. It's the same amount of effort to pack everything up and get in traffic. We walk down the lane to a beautiful uncrowded beach.

As an owner of more than one vacation home at the beach and in ski areas like Aspen you are an idiot.

Expenses are not just insurance.

With Trump's economy and the fact he's never leaving office buying a beach house when the dollar is tanking and unemployment is rising is a terrible financial move unless you are the 1% which you are not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ha, have fun with climate change.

Only a sucker would be investing in anything near the water these days.

Seriously—insurance is only going up, and that's your best case scenario. Most places you're probably consider are extremely vulnerable to catastrophic storm damage.

Get a mountain house.

Op - also a consideration, but we aren’t sure we are boat people.

Maybe something mid Delmarva peninsula—easy drive to the beach with much less risk. We stayed at some airbnbs—beautiful large old houses on open fields, only like 30 minutes from Rehoboth.

That's not really a beach house.

Yes, we've established that only a literal moron would consider buying a beach house in a day and age when they're shortly all going to be uninsurable and/or severely damaged on a regular basis. The idea is a nice family home that can be an escape and a retreat that also has easy/close access to the beach so, while it's all still there, the OP can enjoy what the beach has to offer.

Why all the aggression and name-calling, PP? We have a beach house, and yes, our insurance premiums are increasing. We've also experienced several hurricanes. But we can afford the insurance as I suspect OP can. We didn't buy ocean front (we're deliberately four houses from the ocean) and we looked carefully at the flood zones, so we've never experience even a dollar's worth of damage due to storms or floods. This "literal moron" has seen her beach house value rise by $500K in the 3 1/2 years since we bought with a 3% mortgage. My personal opinion is that, if you have to get in your car and drive 30 minutes to a beach, you might as well drive 2 hours to the beach from DC. It's the same amount of effort to pack everything up and get in traffic. We walk down the lane to a beautiful uncrowded beach.

As an owner of more than one vacation home at the beach and in ski areas like Aspen you are an idiot.

Expenses are not just insurance.

With Trump's economy and the fact he's never leaving office buying a beach house when the dollar is tanking and unemployment is rising is a terrible financial move unless you are the 1% which you are not.

Yup.

This.

Anyone who thinks there is going to be a market for summer rentals is a lunatic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ha, have fun with climate change.

Only a sucker would be investing in anything near the water these days.

Seriously—insurance is only going up, and that's your best case scenario. Most places you're probably consider are extremely vulnerable to catastrophic storm damage.

Get a mountain house.

Op - also a consideration, but we aren’t sure we are boat people.

Maybe something mid Delmarva peninsula—easy drive to the beach with much less risk. We stayed at some airbnbs—beautiful large old houses on open fields, only like 30 minutes from Rehoboth.

That's not really a beach house.

Yes, we've established that only a literal moron would consider buying a beach house in a day and age when they're shortly all going to be uninsurable and/or severely damaged on a regular basis. The idea is a nice family home that can be an escape and a retreat that also has easy/close access to the beach so, while it's all still there, the OP can enjoy what the beach has to offer.

Why all the aggression and name-calling, PP? We have a beach house, and yes, our insurance premiums are increasing. We've also experienced several hurricanes. But we can afford the insurance as I suspect OP can. We didn't buy ocean front (we're deliberately four houses from the ocean) and we looked carefully at the flood zones, so we've never experience even a dollar's worth of damage due to storms or floods. This "literal moron" has seen her beach house value rise by $500K in the 3 1/2 years since we bought with a 3% mortgage. My personal opinion is that, if you have to get in your car and drive 30 minutes to a beach, you might as well drive 2 hours to the beach from DC. It's the same amount of effort to pack everything up and get in traffic. We walk down the lane to a beautiful uncrowded beach.

Agree on all points.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ha, have fun with climate change.

Only a sucker would be investing in anything near the water these days.

Seriously—insurance is only going up, and that's your best case scenario. Most places you're probably consider are extremely vulnerable to catastrophic storm damage.

Get a mountain house.

Op - also a consideration, but we aren’t sure we are boat people.

Maybe something mid Delmarva peninsula—easy drive to the beach with much less risk. We stayed at some airbnbs—beautiful large old houses on open fields, only like 30 minutes from Rehoboth.

That's not really a beach house.

Yes, we've established that only a literal moron would consider buying a beach house in a day and age when they're shortly all going to be uninsurable and/or severely damaged on a regular basis. The idea is a nice family home that can be an escape and a retreat that also has easy/close access to the beach so, while it's all still there, the OP can enjoy what the beach has to offer.

Why all the aggression and name-calling, PP? We have a beach house, and yes, our insurance premiums are increasing. We've also experienced several hurricanes. But we can afford the insurance as I suspect OP can. We didn't buy ocean front (we're deliberately four houses from the ocean) and we looked carefully at the flood zones, so we've never experience even a dollar's worth of damage due to storms or floods. This "literal moron" has seen her beach house value rise by $500K in the 3 1/2 years since we bought with a 3% mortgage. My personal opinion is that, if you have to get in your car and drive 30 minutes to a beach, you might as well drive 2 hours to the beach from DC. It's the same amount of effort to pack everything up and get in traffic. We walk down the lane to a beautiful uncrowded beach.

Agree on all points.

Unfortunately reality doesn’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ha, have fun with climate change.

Only a sucker would be investing in anything near the water these days.

Seriously—insurance is only going up, and that's your best case scenario. Most places you're probably consider are extremely vulnerable to catastrophic storm damage.

Get a mountain house.

Op - also a consideration, but we aren’t sure we are boat people.

Maybe something mid Delmarva peninsula—easy drive to the beach with much less risk. We stayed at some airbnbs—beautiful large old houses on open fields, only like 30 minutes from Rehoboth.

That's not really a beach house.

Yes, we've established that only a literal moron would consider buying a beach house in a day and age when they're shortly all going to be uninsurable and/or severely damaged on a regular basis. The idea is a nice family home that can be an escape and a retreat that also has easy/close access to the beach so, while it's all still there, the OP can enjoy what the beach has to offer.

Actually, what we've established here is that a lot of people are envious of OP.

Seriously! As bad as dcum usual is, this thread seems to have attracted some especially nasty people.

Yep, very jealous and nasty

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ha, have fun with climate change.

Only a sucker would be investing in anything near the water these days.

Seriously—insurance is only going up, and that's your best case scenario. Most places you're probably consider are extremely vulnerable to catastrophic storm damage.

Get a mountain house.

Op - also a consideration, but we aren’t sure we are boat people.

Maybe something mid Delmarva peninsula—easy drive to the beach with much less risk. We stayed at some airbnbs—beautiful large old houses on open fields, only like 30 minutes from Rehoboth.

That's not really a beach house.

Yes, we've established that only a literal moron would consider buying a beach house in a day and age when they're shortly all going to be uninsurable and/or severely damaged on a regular basis. The idea is a nice family home that can be an escape and a retreat that also has easy/close access to the beach so, while it's all still there, the OP can enjoy what the beach has to offer.

Actually, what we've established here is that a lot of people are envious of OP.

Seriously! As bad as dcum usual is, this thread seems to have attracted some especially nasty people.

Yep, very jealous and nasty

Srsly, I can understand why some of these people have buyers remorse for spending so much on an investment that’s about to be swept away but sheesh!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ha, have fun with climate change.

Only a sucker would be investing in anything near the water these days.

Seriously—insurance is only going up, and that's your best case scenario. Most places you're probably consider are extremely vulnerable to catastrophic storm damage.

Get a mountain house.

Op - also a consideration, but we aren’t sure we are boat people.

Maybe something mid Delmarva peninsula—easy drive to the beach with much less risk. We stayed at some airbnbs—beautiful large old houses on open fields, only like 30 minutes from Rehoboth.

That's not really a beach house.

Yes, we've established that only a literal moron would consider buying a beach house in a day and age when they're shortly all going to be uninsurable and/or severely damaged on a regular basis. The idea is a nice family home that can be an escape and a retreat that also has easy/close access to the beach so, while it's all still there, the OP can enjoy what the beach has to offer.

Actually, what we've established here is that a lot of people are envious of OP.

Seriously! As bad as dcum usual is, this thread seems to have attracted some especially nasty people.

Yep, very jealous and nasty

I would actually say obsessed and fixated lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ha, have fun with climate change.

Only a sucker would be investing in anything near the water these days.

Seriously—insurance is only going up, and that's your best case scenario. Most places you're probably consider are extremely vulnerable to catastrophic storm damage.

Get a mountain house.

Op - also a consideration, but we aren’t sure we are boat people.

Maybe something mid Delmarva peninsula—easy drive to the beach with much less risk. We stayed at some airbnbs—beautiful large old houses on open fields, only like 30 minutes from Rehoboth.

That's not really a beach house.

Yes, we've established that only a literal moron would consider buying a beach house in a day and age when they're shortly all going to be uninsurable and/or severely damaged on a regular basis. The idea is a nice family home that can be an escape and a retreat that also has easy/close access to the beach so, while it's all still there, the OP can enjoy what the beach has to offer.

Why all the aggression and name-calling, PP? We have a beach house, and yes, our insurance premiums are increasing. We've also experienced several hurricanes. But we can afford the insurance as I suspect OP can. We didn't buy ocean front (we're deliberately four houses from the ocean) and we looked carefully at the flood zones, so we've never experience even a dollar's worth of damage due to storms or floods. This "literal moron" has seen her beach house value rise by $500K in the 3 1/2 years since we bought with a 3% mortgage. My personal opinion is that, if you have to get in your car and drive 30 minutes to a beach, you might as well drive 2 hours to the beach from DC. It's the same amount of effort to pack everything up and get in traffic. We walk down the lane to a beautiful uncrowded beach.

No one called anyone a name.

I'm glad you're enjoying your beach house, but you've made a disastrous financial decision. Humans, as you're showing us, are terrible at evaluating risk. It doesn't matter what has happened in the past, it matters what will happen in the future. The beach—any beach—is only going to get MORE risky, the question is how quickly. All evidence points to it accelerating in the near future. Insurance rates going up but still affordable is a sign that your investment is going the wrong way—get out before you're uninusrable. Don't think it can happen? Look at Florida, look at California. Hawaii.

NP. Sorry, but you're completely wrong about this. We bought in 2012, cash, for $900,000. House is worth well over $3 million now.

I know you think the sky is falling, but that's not the realty of the beach market.

If you invested the same amount in the S&P 500 for the same time period it would be worth $3.3 million today.

Now, how much do you think you’ve spent over the last 13 years on your beach house for taxes, maintenance, insurance and utilities.

The dividends alone that you’d earn from the stock market would pay for very very nice vacations every year without the hassle of a beach house.

Since you're so interested, I'll tell you that we've broken even on all of that, due to the hefty rental income we take in each year.

And we do manage very very nice vacations every year on top of owning a beach house, as well.

What you're also not accounting for is the personal value of the enjoyment of the house that my close and extended family has enjoyed for all of these years. We would not all travel together on these very very nice vacations, but it's nothing for 12 or so of us to gather at the beach house for holidays or other occasions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ha, have fun with climate change.

Only a sucker would be investing in anything near the water these days.

Seriously—insurance is only going up, and that's your best case scenario. Most places you're probably consider are extremely vulnerable to catastrophic storm damage.

Get a mountain house.

Op - also a consideration, but we aren’t sure we are boat people.

Maybe something mid Delmarva peninsula—easy drive to the beach with much less risk. We stayed at some airbnbs—beautiful large old houses on open fields, only like 30 minutes from Rehoboth.

That's not really a beach house.

Yes, we've established that only a literal moron would consider buying a beach house in a day and age when they're shortly all going to be uninsurable and/or severely damaged on a regular basis. The idea is a nice family home that can be an escape and a retreat that also has easy/close access to the beach so, while it's all still there, the OP can enjoy what the beach has to offer.

Why all the aggression and name-calling, PP? We have a beach house, and yes, our insurance premiums are increasing. We've also experienced several hurricanes. But we can afford the insurance as I suspect OP can. We didn't buy ocean front (we're deliberately four houses from the ocean) and we looked carefully at the flood zones, so we've never experience even a dollar's worth of damage due to storms or floods. This "literal moron" has seen her beach house value rise by $500K in the 3 1/2 years since we bought with a 3% mortgage. My personal opinion is that, if you have to get in your car and drive 30 minutes to a beach, you might as well drive 2 hours to the beach from DC. It's the same amount of effort to pack everything up and get in traffic. We walk down the lane to a beautiful uncrowded beach.

As an owner of more than one vacation home at the beach and in ski areas like Aspen you are an idiot.

Expenses are not just insurance.

With Trump's economy and the fact he's never leaving office buying a beach house when the dollar is tanking and unemployment is rising is a terrible financial move unless you are the 1% which you are not.

Yup.

This.

Anyone who thinks there is going to be a market for summer rentals is a lunatic.

Sorry you couldn't afford it, PP. But plenty of other people can.

[Anonymous]

We bought a vacation house recently and we are very excited about it. It might not be the optimal investment but I’m confident that the value will continue to increase. More importantly, it is located in our favorite place which we love off season as well as summer. It gives us a place to gather with friends and family in a beautiful location. We only have this one life to live and it makes us happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We bought a vacation house recently and we are very excited about it. It might not be the optimal investment but I’m confident that the value will continue to increase. More importantly, it is located in our favorite place which we love off season as well as summer. It gives us a place to gather with friends and family in a beautiful location. We only have this one life to live and it makes us happy.

This is the answer…it won’t ever beat taking the money and putting it in the market, but people spend their money on all kinds of things instead of investing every penny so why not this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve always wanted a place at the beach, but it never made sense because of working in an office and busy kid sports schedules. Now I’m in my 50’s and have savings for retirement. I’m not going into the office as often and will probably retire in a couple years. I could afford to pull out $1 million for a place. We would not rent it out. We’d use it more once I stop working. Our kids and siblings could also use it some. We’d have a view.

Downsides are distance - 3 hour drive, cost - $1 million plus pretty high HOA fees (cheaper to rent but hard to find places last minute), crowds and traffic during the summer, potential maintenance hassles, potential climate change, and is it a pain to actually go to your vacation home often?

Do you love having your place?

OP, curious, is there a reason you would not rent it out?

We're owned a beach house about an 8 hour drive away (SC) for 10+ years. We love it and are looking forward to spending more time there when kids go to college. I actually preferred having a house a significant distance away because there was never the thought that we should be there every few weekends. When we go, we go for weeks at a time, such as during school breaks.

Yes, maintenance issues are a PITA and can be costly. That is why renting it when we are not here has been so helpful. When we decide to use it on a more permanent basis, we will redo the entire place. I'm not worried about annual upkeep so much now.

We have a relatively high NW and would like the flexibility. Not out of the question to rent but I think we’d rather be able to leave all our stuff there and not worry about renter issues. Our kids are in college now, I’m sorry we didn’t buy before Covid.

Well, that's a good point and I certainly get it. Not trying to convince you, but I will say that we keep tons of personal stuff at our beach house, locked up in multiple owners' closets. We've never had an issue with anything important broken or stolen. It does take a good day to pack it all up before we leave, and a day to unpack and set up the house when we arrive, but like another poster said, when we're here, we're here. The lengthier stays (at least 2-3 weeks) are the best.

Even at $2K/night price points, renters simply don't treat a rental home nicely 100% of the time. I'm 5 years into living in a newly renovated (gutted) home and I don't see any of the issues I used to see in our 5-8 year old homes that we were the 2nd owners. Because not everyone cleans and maintains things as well as we do, even if they own it. Now imagine it is a family of 10-12 gathering for a vacation. They don't care. if they scratch your floors or stain the countertops, or leave water puddles on the floor for 4 hours before cleaning up. And no, I don't want to have to spend a full day packing and unpacking at the start/ends of my trips to get out the real cookware, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ha, have fun with climate change.

Only a sucker would be investing in anything near the water these days.

Seriously—insurance is only going up, and that's your best case scenario. Most places you're probably consider are extremely vulnerable to catastrophic storm damage.

Get a mountain house.

Op - also a consideration, but we aren’t sure we are boat people.

Maybe something mid Delmarva peninsula—easy drive to the beach with much less risk. We stayed at some airbnbs—beautiful large old houses on open fields, only like 30 minutes from Rehoboth.

That's not really a beach house.

Yes, we've established that only a literal moron would consider buying a beach house in a day and age when they're shortly all going to be uninsurable and/or severely damaged on a regular basis. The idea is a nice family home that can be an escape and a retreat that also has easy/close access to the beach so, while it's all still there, the OP can enjoy what the beach has to offer.

Why all the aggression and name-calling, PP? We have a beach house, and yes, our insurance premiums are increasing. We've also experienced several hurricanes. But we can afford the insurance as I suspect OP can. We didn't buy ocean front (we're deliberately four houses from the ocean) and we looked carefully at the flood zones, so we've never experience even a dollar's worth of damage due to storms or floods. This "literal moron" has seen her beach house value rise by $500K in the 3 1/2 years since we bought with a 3% mortgage. My personal opinion is that, if you have to get in your car and drive 30 minutes to a beach, you might as well drive 2 hours to the beach from DC. It's the same amount of effort to pack everything up and get in traffic. We walk down the lane to a beautiful uncrowded beach.

No one called anyone a name.

I'm glad you're enjoying your beach house, but you've made a disastrous financial decision. Humans, as you're showing us, are terrible at evaluating risk. It doesn't matter what has happened in the past, it matters what will happen in the future. The beach—any beach—is only going to get MORE risky, the question is how quickly. All evidence points to it accelerating in the near future. Insurance rates going up but still affordable is a sign that your investment is going the wrong way—get out before you're uninusrable. Don't think it can happen? Look at Florida, look at California. Hawaii.

NP. Sorry, but you're completely wrong about this. We bought in 2012, cash, for $900,000. House is worth well over $3 million now.

I know you think the sky is falling, but that's not the realty of the beach market.

If you invested the same amount in the S&P 500 for the same time period it would be worth $3.3 million today.

Now, how much do you think you’ve spent over the last 13 years on your beach house for taxes, maintenance, insurance and utilities.

The dividends alone that you’d earn from the stock market would pay for very very nice vacations every year without the hassle of a beach house.

Since you're so interested, I'll tell you that we've broken even on all of that, due to the hefty rental income we take in each year.

And we do manage very very nice vacations every year on top of owning a beach house, as well.

What you're also not accounting for is the personal value of the enjoyment of the house that my close and extended family has enjoyed for all of these years. We would not all travel together on these very very nice vacations, but it's nothing for 12 or so of us to gather at the beach house for holidays or other occasions.

Christmas in rehoboth sounds like a nightmare. Pass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We bought a vacation house recently and we are very excited about it. It might not be the optimal investment but I’m confident that the value will continue to increase. More importantly, it is located in our favorite place which we love off season as well as summer. It gives us a place to gather with friends and family in a beautiful location. We only have this one life to live and it makes us happy.

(Narrator voice): it didn’t.