Reply to Should I buy a beach vacation home?

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Reply to "Should I buy a beach vacation home?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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.[/quote]

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

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. [/quote]

That's not really a beach house.[/quote]

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. [/quote]

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. [/quote]

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. [/quote]

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.[/quote]

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.

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+1000

we had a real estate agent basically tell us in Maui that unless you plan to actually use the place yourself, it rarely is financially worth it.  Insurance and HOA fees (which include much of your insurance for a condo and TH) make it not worth it.  Then if you rent it out, you are paying 25-30% for a good management team, still have to pay for all repairs and utilities, etc.  It's stressful and you rarely make $$.  And if you rent it out, the times you make the most money (Hawaii it's xmas and Jan-March), you need to have it rented, not use it yourself or you wont' break even.  And if I have to plan 1 year in advance when I want to use my own place (and when I will have it rented), I might as well just rent a place to use for 10-14 days.  Much cheaper, leaves me choices of visiting other areas, other islands and seeing the world and I don't have to worry about all the added costs and stresses whenever there is a storm or fires or tsunamis etc.

[/quote]

It’s a way to build equity in something that - if climate change hadn’t come along - would’ve appreciated. I mean, if you even get some return it can help you buy an asset otherwise beyond your means that you can later sell, right?[/quote]

or you can just invest in the stock market/SP500 and do the same, without the stress of managing a rental.  And if you had bought in HI before covid you might have had trouble paying your bills for 18 months when you couldn't rent it out.  My market investments bounced back and are way up since then.    Most people I know have not made much from a rental home.  Most have had losses and tons of stress.  Especially from ones you are renting on a weekly basis.

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We still take other vacations. But what we can’t do without our second home is host others and spend time with family and friends in a vacation area. We are able to spend a lot of time with friends and family that we wouldnt otherwise. [/quote]

Well, you could rent a similar sized house and take whoever you want. Or go to Paris. Or the Vineyard, etc [/quote]

We’ve done that kind of trip a couple times and for us, it’s not the same as being in our own place. Also we host all throughout the year, no way we can do that in far flung locations [/quote]

Hey, if having the cousins down to Myrtle Beach is more your thing than visiting France… well… bless your heart![/quote]

Ha don’t worry! It’s a very upscale location. We are very very blessed :)
And managed to get to Paris this year too! [/quote]

So you’re a different poster from the one who said they tried Paris but would prefer to feel obligated to host people at their Myrtle beach house?[/quote]

I’ve never been to Myrtle beach. [/quote]

Right. And your extended family really enjoys you nagging them to please come for thanksgiving.[/quote]

Ha ha.  DP here and I thought the same thing.[/quote]

Sure, Jan [/quote]

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