Oh, and I forgot homeowners insurance, which is pricey for a home that sits unoccupied much of the hear.

Property taxes, cable tv/internet, heating/cooling, security alarm system, landscaping help and grass cutting (and snow removal where we vacation), maintaining systems, painting, association fees, feeding and entertaining houseguests. And as others have mentioned, the cost of setting up a new household in the first year or two: beds and other furniture, vacuum cleaner, towels, sheets, dishes, you get the idea. (I'll swear I made 30 trips to the hardware store the first summer for brooms, rakes, hoses, buckets, etc.) We love our second home, but it a serious expense.

Anonymous wrote:When buying a second home we opted for a condo (4 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms, town house style) to help mitigate the costs of pool person, yard person, etc.
Ours is a 10 hr drive from DC, or about 4 hours via plane and car and we use it regularly for vacations and long weekends.
We rent it out when we are not using it and it covers the cost of the mortgage, taxes, condo assoc fees, assessments etc.
We put 20% down payment (I think that may be the minimum you can do on a vacation home) and then budgeted about $30K for furnishing and renovating(ours mostly needed new paint and fixtures, new appliances and kitchen countertops).
It's been worth it for us.

Where?

When buying a second home we opted for a condo (4 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms, town house style) to help mitigate the costs of pool person, yard person, etc.
Ours is a 10 hr drive from DC, or about 4 hours via plane and car and we use it regularly for vacations and long weekends.
We rent it out when we are not using it and it covers the cost of the mortgage, taxes, condo assoc fees, assessments etc.
We put 20% down payment (I think that may be the minimum you can do on a vacation home) and then budgeted about $30K for furnishing and renovating(ours mostly needed new paint and fixtures, new appliances and kitchen countertops).
It's been worth it for us.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a house on the Cape (Cod). We have a caretaker for the off season who checks on the house once a week. We leave the heat on low in the winter so have highish utility bills for a couple of months. We have a landscaper. We have a housecleaner in the summer (in addition to the housecleaner in DC, who we pay year round). There are periodic repairs (hot water heater, kitchen appliances, etc.), although we haven't had anything big happen in 10 years.

We basically live there in the summer so yes we are doing laundry or whatever but we would have to do laundry if we were home, or if we returned from a week long vacation somewhere. Unlike the PP, that doesn't bother me. I actually consider it more of a second home than a vacation home- we do go on vacations to other places.

Hey everyone: she does her own laundry so, there's that.

Huh?? I was only commenting on another post that you have to do "projects" and chores like laundry at both houses. I have not found that to be an issue because we would do laundry or grocery shopping or whatever no matter where we are.

Not the PP who posted the "hey everyone", but I think that poster was making a joke of the fact that you have a full time cleaner in both homes, a landscaper (not to mention caretaker) so, of course, you don't mind doing your own laundry. Unlike us peons who have none of that and therefore "mind" doing laundry amongst all the other drudgery tasks you pay other people to do.

Sorry - I guess I should have been clearer. I have someone who comes in every two weeks to clean. That is not full time. But it is, at least for us, a cost of having a second house, which is I believe what the OP was asking. And yes we have a landscaper because the house is 9 hours away and the lawn needs to be mowed even when we aren't there. So it's not a luxury, it's pretty much a requirement for a second home, unless it is one that you plan to be in every single weekend and want to spend the time while you are there mowing the lawn. I don't choose to do that in either house. Same with the caretaker - where we are pretty much everyone has one because you need someone to be checking to make sure there aren't any water issues, break ins, whatever. It costs us $60/month so I don't consider it an outlandish cost.

Bottom line - a second home, at least one that is not a short drive away, does require more outsourcing because you just aren't there to do all the work. That is a cost of having a second home, which was, again, the OPs question.

You may have chosen to manage your second house differently - good for you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a house on the Cape (Cod). We have a caretaker for the off season who checks on the house once a week. We leave the heat on low in the winter so have highish utility bills for a couple of months. We have a landscaper. We have a housecleaner in the summer (in addition to the housecleaner in DC, who we pay year round). There are periodic repairs (hot water heater, kitchen appliances, etc.), although we haven't had anything big happen in 10 years.

We basically live there in the summer so yes we are doing laundry or whatever but we would have to do laundry if we were home, or if we returned from a week long vacation somewhere. Unlike the PP, that doesn't bother me. I actually consider it more of a second home than a vacation home- we do go on vacations to other places.

Hey everyone: she does her own laundry so, there's that.

Huh?? I was only commenting on another post that you have to do "projects" and chores like laundry at both houses. I have not found that to be an issue because we would do laundry or grocery shopping or whatever no matter where we are.

Not the PP who posted the "hey everyone", but I think that poster was making a joke of the fact that you have a full time cleaner in both homes, a landscaper (not to mention caretaker) so, of course, you don't mind doing your own laundry. Unlike us peons who have none of that and therefore "mind" doing laundry amongst all the other drudgery tasks you pay other people to do.

We just did this in May. Remember to factor in the cost of setting up a whole different household: furniture, rugs, mattresses, dishes, the whole ball of wax. We did it on the very cheap-got almost all furniture from craigslist, but it still cost us about 10 grand. Ditto what PPs said about entertaining: we had guests almost every weekend, and loved it, but it does add up. You won't cook there as often as you think you will.

However, we had the best summer we've had since having kids, and I heartily recommend it. Just make sure your kids are good travelers, and you keep the destination within a reasonable drive (ours is three hours.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a house on the Cape (Cod). We have a caretaker for the off season who checks on the house once a week. We leave the heat on low in the winter so have highish utility bills for a couple of months. We have a landscaper. We have a housecleaner in the summer (in addition to the housecleaner in DC, who we pay year round). There are periodic repairs (hot water heater, kitchen appliances, etc.), although we haven't had anything big happen in 10 years.

We basically live there in the summer so yes we are doing laundry or whatever but we would have to do laundry if we were home, or if we returned from a week long vacation somewhere. Unlike the PP, that doesn't bother me. I actually consider it more of a second home than a vacation home- we do go on vacations to other places.

Hey everyone: she does her own laundry so, there's that.

Huh?? I was only commenting on another post that you have to do "projects" and chores like laundry at both houses. I have not found that to be an issue because we would do laundry or grocery shopping or whatever no matter where we are.

Anonymous wrote:We have a house on the Cape (Cod). We have a caretaker for the off season who checks on the house once a week. We leave the heat on low in the winter so have highish utility bills for a couple of months. We have a landscaper. We have a housecleaner in the summer (in addition to the housecleaner in DC, who we pay year round). There are periodic repairs (hot water heater, kitchen appliances, etc.), although we haven't had anything big happen in 10 years.

We basically live there in the summer so yes we are doing laundry or whatever but we would have to do laundry if we were home, or if we returned from a week long vacation somewhere. Unlike the PP, that doesn't bother me. I actually consider it more of a second home than a vacation home- we do go on vacations to other places.

Hey everyone: she does her own laundry so, there's that.

We have a house on the Cape (Cod). We have a caretaker for the off season who checks on the house once a week. We leave the heat on low in the winter so have highish utility bills for a couple of months. We have a landscaper. We have a housecleaner in the summer (in addition to the housecleaner in DC, who we pay year round). There are periodic repairs (hot water heater, kitchen appliances, etc.), although we haven't had anything big happen in 10 years.

We basically live there in the summer so yes we are doing laundry or whatever but we would have to do laundry if we were home, or if we returned from a week long vacation somewhere. Unlike the PP, that doesn't bother me. I actually consider it more of a second home than a vacation home- we do go on vacations to other places.

1. if on the water, be prepared to replaced outdoor lights and fixtures every 1-2 years, roof every 5-6 years, paint every 2-3 years, and that is WITHOUT hurricane/tropical storms
2. Having to buy everything for a second home really adds up: consider random things like lightbulbs, baby Tylenol for the kids, spices for cooking, batteries etc etc that you collect over the years that you have to buy all at once for a new home.
3. Doing chores/repairs for at least one day a visit
4. You will spend more on entertainment that you would at home, even if you (we) thought you would just cook at home, when you have houseguests (which you will!) you will be entertaining
5. Cost of travel, wear/tear on car

insurance.
caretaker (rather nice to have someone to check on the place periodically, especially after major weather events, and to notice if there are squatters or vandals).
General maintenance budget (painting, new roof every XX years, new HVAC every YY years, etc).
Yard service for both homes.

And by the time your kids are 8, you will have birthday parties, sleepovers, and games to attend on weekends. I don't think a child's schedule should truly rule the household, but it needs to be taken into account.

The reality is that you can do a LOT of nice vacations for the annual costs of a vacation home. And I have yet to see anything that convinces me that vacation homes are a good long-term "investment". And ocean-front property is a pretty big long-term risk with rising sea levels.

OP, you're on the right track. I'd STRONGLY recommend staying within a 3-hour drive. We have a place in Rehoboth, which I like because it's a year-round town.

And it's a smaller one-time expense thing, but you'll be stocking a kitchen and buying linens, etc.

weather damage - Hurricanes will hit the year after you finally decide to get new carpet, complete with flooding on the 3rd floor. (Carpet wears worse at the beach for some reason also.)

HOA extra costs - Elevator repair fees, pool repair fees -

the energy cost. You spend all week doing project at your own home, and then you have to do projects at your second home. If you are away for the weekend at the beach, you didn't mow the lawn or do laundry like you usually do when home. It's kinda drain on a dual income household where time is the most valuable commodity.

With toddler DD and hopefully another on the way soon, our once far-flung travel agenda has contracted. We're fine with this, and are considering buying a 2nd house as our major destination. I think it will be great for our family, especially in these early years when kids don't have activities coming out their ears. We don't want to rent out, so we're trying to figure out what we want to afford given that we'll have to take that 20% down out of savings. So - mortgage, utilities, replacing stuff that breaks, possibly HOA if we go for a community with a pool ... what am I missing?

And on a related side note, recommendations? We want to be on the water (preferably beach, open to lake) -- love Corolla but I think we max out at a 3 hour drive since I want us to get a lot of use out of it. And yes of course we would vacation there first before buying, but we're in the exploratory phase now.