About to buy second home on Eastern shore

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am in the "DO IT" camp. We have a 2nd home on the Northern Neck that we share with my sister and her family. It was probably one of the best purchases we've ever made. Our "river house" is about 2.5-3 hours away, which is just about right for us. We can go down on a Friday night and come back early on Monday, and feel like we had a wonderful weekend. We also can go down just for a day trip. Our place isn't in a community and we pretty much never leave our property once we get there. When we're there we totally disconnect. We boat, swim, fish, crab and hang out. The kids have a ton of sports gear down there, too, so it isn't like they are cooped up inside if it is too cold to swim or we don't want them in a boat because of wind/waves.

As others pointed out, we use it more some years and less some years depending on what is going on with the kids. In the high school years we actually picked up a bit because the kids didn't have weekend sports anymore (yahoo!) unless they were on a travel team. Visits during the tween years were fewer because of rec league sports like soccer or lax and those games are all on weekends.

One PP is correct that you need to know what type of buyer you are - will you be okay if you don't use it or will you beat yourself up about it? We like our property so much that we don't care if we don't use it all the time. We know there is an ebb and flow. And we also don't feel crushed if we decide to go somewhere else on a whim. And you need to know if your family can handle that much togetherness. Some can and some can't.

We outsource cleaners, yard maintenance, boat upkeep and septic. They all come on a regular schedule. The boat people also will take any boats in the water or on lifts to the marina and pull them in case of an impending major storm. Other than that the property is pretty self-sufficient. The basic costs aren't that much for electricity and internet, and we use well water. Oddly, I think it is actually less expensive for us when we're at the river house because we don't go out at all once we're there. Anyway, our actual house is modest but the lifestyle itself is quite grand to be able to just get away from it all. We wouldn't trade it for anything. I don't think we'll ever retire there. We like just going there to get away.

We also have a River House (our name for it until we come up with a better name) on the Potomac down in Charles County and are so happy with it. The key is that it is just 1.5 hours away, and only that time on Friday afternoon in bad traffic, so it doesn't stress us out to sit in traffic to get there. There are days during the week when my spouse or I will go down for 2 days to work in peace. We have a boat and will eventually build a pool. Since we aren't there as often, it doesn't get as dirty and it doesn't take long to clean. It is a much bigger house than our DC house and 5 acres, and we have it set up with fun indoor activities and fun outdoor activities and we don't pressure our kids to be outside all the time. We find ourselves much more relaxed there. A view of a wide river is a great way to relax. We haven't been able to be there much lately, but it doesn't bother us, we just know that we can make it down whenever we want. I do think the short distance is key, though. Our realtor told us to do less than 2 hours if you want to be able to just pop down.

[Anonymous]

Do it - such good memories and so nice to go to a place that is stocked with your stuff. If your attitude is that it is to enjoy it, and you don't care about appreciation/flipping it, you will be fine. And if it is somewhere that you could see yourself retiring, even for a few months a year, all the better.

[Anonymous]

PP here - we love our second home. We also have another home at Western resort that we use in ski season and Air BNB in the summer, and it is working out okay - pretty much paying for itself without much effort.

[Anonymous]

FWIW friends parents had a home on the eastern shore when we were growing up and now the parents have retired there. The now adult kids adore it (as do their friends! we still get invited out) and the parents loved it so much they sold their house here and moved there once the kids were launched. It's really personal and depends on your family op.

[Anonymous]

Could you instead live on the Potomac in Southern Fairfax County? That's what we do, we can see the water everyday and go boating without a commute. Plus if you boat south, the Potomac gets very wide and the water is clean. There are multiple waterfront neighborhoods in Alexandria and Lorton to consider.

[Anonymous]

It's a mistake if you plan to stretch financially to do it, or if you plan to eventually make a profit or even break even. Have you already been renting a house there to see how much you will enjoy it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's a mistake if you plan to stretch financially to do it, or if you plan to eventually make a profit or even break even. Have you already been renting a house there to see how much you will enjoy it?

Offer has just been accepted! I don't think we are stretching too much. The mortgage on this property plus the mortgage on our current house will be about 120 percent of our annual HHI.

We didn't rent a house but we did spend three weekends around there this summer while we were looking, staying in hotels/with friends. Had a great time...

[Anonymous]

Yes, yes, yes, yes! Boating, crabbing, swimming, fishing,
sailing, hunting! Yes, yes, yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a mistake if you plan to stretch financially to do it, or if you plan to eventually make a profit or even break even. Have you already been renting a house there to see how much you will enjoy it?

Offer has just been accepted! I don't think we are stretching too much. The mortgage on this property plus the mortgage on our current house will be about 120 percent of our annual HHI.

We didn't rent a house but we did spend three weekends around there this summer while we were looking, staying in hotels/with friends. Had a great time...

Congratulations, I hope you have many, many years of happiness there!

[Anonymous]

OP, link to your new house, I’m curious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a mistake if you plan to stretch financially to do it, or if you plan to eventually make a profit or even break even. Have you already been renting a house there to see how much you will enjoy it?

Offer has just been accepted! I don't think we are stretching too much. The mortgage on this property plus the mortgage on our current house will be about 120 percent of our annual HHI.

We didn't rent a house but we did spend three weekends around there this summer while we were looking, staying in hotels/with friends. Had a great time...

Congrats OP! I hope you and your family make many great memories there!

[Anonymous]

We have family (retired) who own a waterfront home in the Easton area. They love it and it's a great place for family gatherings. You'll enjoy the area.

One cautionary note is I've noticed that houses can take a long time to sell out there. Just something to consider if and when you reach the point that you'd like to sell. Houses tend not to sit long in desirable DC area markets, but that's not true out there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am in the "DO IT" camp. We have a 2nd home on the Northern Neck that we share with my sister and her family. It was probably one of the best purchases we've ever made. Our "river house" is about 2.5-3 hours away, which is just about right for us. We can go down on a Friday night and come back early on Monday, and feel like we had a wonderful weekend. We also can go down just for a day trip. Our place isn't in a community and we pretty much never leave our property once we get there. When we're there we totally disconnect. We boat, swim, fish, crab and hang out. The kids have a ton of sports gear down there, too, so it isn't like they are cooped up inside if it is too cold to swim or we don't want them in a boat because of wind/waves.

As others pointed out, we use it more some years and less some years depending on what is going on with the kids. In the high school years we actually picked up a bit because the kids didn't have weekend sports anymore (yahoo!) unless they were on a travel team. Visits during the tween years were fewer because of rec league sports like soccer or lax and those games are all on weekends.

One PP is correct that you need to know what type of buyer you are - will you be okay if you don't use it or will you beat yourself up about it? We like our property so much that we don't care if we don't use it all the time. We know there is an ebb and flow. And we also don't feel crushed if we decide to go somewhere else on a whim. And you need to know if your family can handle that much togetherness. Some can and some can't.

We outsource cleaners, yard maintenance, boat upkeep and septic. They all come on a regular schedule. The boat people also will take any boats in the water or on lifts to the marina and pull them in case of an impending major storm. Other than that the property is pretty self-sufficient. The basic costs aren't that much for electricity and internet, and we use well water. Oddly, I think it is actually less expensive for us when we're at the river house because we don't go out at all once we're there. Anyway, our actual house is modest but the lifestyle itself is quite grand to be able to just get away from it all. We wouldn't trade it for anything. I don't think we'll ever retire there. We like just going there to get away.

We also have a River House (our name for it until we come up with a better name) on the Potomac down in Charles County and are so happy with it. The key is that it is just 1.5 hours away, and only that time on Friday afternoon in bad traffic, so it doesn't stress us out to sit in traffic to get there. There are days during the week when my spouse or I will go down for 2 days to work in peace. We have a boat and will eventually build a pool. Since we aren't there as often, it doesn't get as dirty and it doesn't take long to clean. It is a much bigger house than our DC house and 5 acres, and we have it set up with fun indoor activities and fun outdoor activities and we don't pressure our kids to be outside all the time. We find ourselves much more relaxed there. A view of a wide river is a great way to relax. We haven't been able to be there much lately, but it doesn't bother us, we just know that we can make it down whenever we want. I do think the short distance is key, though. Our realtor told us to do less than 2 hours if you want to be able to just pop down.

We really like Charles County due to the proximity to DC. Are you directly on the Potomac or a tributary creek/river? Has it been easy and affordable to find local help for maintenance and repairs? What’s your situation with owning a boat?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am in the "DO IT" camp. We have a 2nd home on the Northern Neck that we share with my sister and her family. It was probably one of the best purchases we've ever made. Our "river house" is about 2.5-3 hours away, which is just about right for us. We can go down on a Friday night and come back early on Monday, and feel like we had a wonderful weekend. We also can go down just for a day trip. Our place isn't in a community and we pretty much never leave our property once we get there. When we're there we totally disconnect. We boat, swim, fish, crab and hang out. The kids have a ton of sports gear down there, too, so it isn't like they are cooped up inside if it is too cold to swim or we don't want them in a boat because of wind/waves.

As others pointed out, we use it more some years and less some years depending on what is going on with the kids. In the high school years we actually picked up a bit because the kids didn't have weekend sports anymore (yahoo!) unless they were on a travel team. Visits during the tween years were fewer because of rec league sports like soccer or lax and those games are all on weekends.

One PP is correct that you need to know what type of buyer you are - will you be okay if you don't use it or will you beat yourself up about it? We like our property so much that we don't care if we don't use it all the time. We know there is an ebb and flow. And we also don't feel crushed if we decide to go somewhere else on a whim. And you need to know if your family can handle that much togetherness. Some can and some can't.

We outsource cleaners, yard maintenance, boat upkeep and septic. They all come on a regular schedule. The boat people also will take any boats in the water or on lifts to the marina and pull them in case of an impending major storm. Other than that the property is pretty self-sufficient. The basic costs aren't that much for electricity and internet, and we use well water. Oddly, I think it is actually less expensive for us when we're at the river house because we don't go out at all once we're there. Anyway, our actual house is modest but the lifestyle itself is quite grand to be able to just get away from it all. We wouldn't trade it for anything. I don't think we'll ever retire there. We like just going there to get away.

We also have a River House (our name for it until we come up with a better name) on the Potomac down in Charles County and are so happy with it. The key is that it is just 1.5 hours away, and only that time on Friday afternoon in bad traffic, so it doesn't stress us out to sit in traffic to get there. There are days during the week when my spouse or I will go down for 2 days to work in peace. We have a boat and will eventually build a pool. Since we aren't there as often, it doesn't get as dirty and it doesn't take long to clean. It is a much bigger house than our DC house and 5 acres, and we have it set up with fun indoor activities and fun outdoor activities and we don't pressure our kids to be outside all the time. We find ourselves much more relaxed there. A view of a wide river is a great way to relax. We haven't been able to be there much lately, but it doesn't bother us, we just know that we can make it down whenever we want. I do think the short distance is key, though. Our realtor told us to do less than 2 hours if you want to be able to just pop down.

We really like Charles County due to the proximity to DC. Are you directly on the Potomac or a tributary creek/river? Has it been easy and affordable to find local help for maintenance and repairs? What’s your situation with owning a boat?

We are directly on the Potomac, right where it curves. There are some nice wide tributaries that have pretty homes too though, and we boat to them often. We like Nanjemoy Creek. We have a lawn service and we have signed up for NextDoor Nanjemoy to find other services we might need. Our place already had a dock, and it was nice to have that built into the mortgage. We got a large pontoon because our house is large enough for multiple families and we wanted a boat large enough for all to go out together. The reason we chose the Potomac over the Chesapeake was because it appears to be much easier to have dock access on your property. And the proximity is really really nice.

[Anonymous]

It's a personal decision. Just realize that traffic is going to get worse over time (does it ever get better?). There is talk of adding a 3rd span to the Bay Bridge, but at this point it's only talk, and probably your kids will be in college before that happens, if ever.

We look at this but decided it would feel more like an obligatio to pack up each week and head over there, so instead we spent a tidy sum to renovate our current house and add a pool and great patio, so we just hang out in our backyard in the summer, and do 1-2 beach trips and then we just stay at a hotel.