OP here. Thank you all for your thoughtful responses. I really appreciate the cost breakdowns.

Similar to last two posters. Old, small home near DC and nicer home at DE beach. Taxes very low; great place to retire. Renting covers expenses (low mortgage; we put a lot down).

^^ this is us too. Complete with the primary residence being smaller and less updated than my neighbors. I choose to spend my money elsewhere. Even the second home is pretty basic but it serves its purpose and that's all that matters.

We have the vacation home (which I actually call a weekend home since I don't actually really vacation there except over Christmas). Then we take vacations. This year we're doing three trips- Europe, California and a cruise. Our weekend home has zero impact on our vacations. It's a close by place to get away from the rat race, slow down the pace and decompress.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you for the replies. We are looking in Davis, WV. Definitely not a market you invest in to make money. We are looking to enjoy the area with our kids. I am not interested in renting it out except to friends and family. I love the idea of just leaving our stuff there and never having to pack gear. The market is pretty dead there so I'm thinking we could spend around 125K and get something decent. I'm not too sure on maintenance costs - maybe 3-5K a year. If anyone has an idea on what they plan for costs, feel free to share.

It's not just maintenance costs but also utilities. Are you going to have cable? I'd figure at least 10-20k per year for a vacation home in upkeep, landscaping, utilities, majntenance etc. what about cleaning supplies and furnishing the property? Bedding for each bed? Cookware and food? Add taxes on top of that. Of course you don't earn a return on any of these costs! Which is why I'd prefer to spend the 10-20k on vacations with my family and not deal with the hassle of a vacation home.

I have a vacation home and still take vacations. It's not an either/or.

Of course you can do both. I'm simply assuming someone who is buying at Bryce and budgeting 3-5k a year in maintenance costs maybe isn't going to plan on both vacations AND the vacation home.

Also my point is that I'd rather just travel the whole time instead of sink money into a vacation home. There are many people out there who have no idea how much the cost of maintaining a second home is and if they knew would probably just choose to stay at hotels or air Bnbs and not have the hassle of keeping up a second home.

Ok, great for you. However this is a thread started by someone asking people who actually own vacation homes. As the target audience for this question i'm here telling you that a vacation home is more than just a vacation. For us it's a place our entire family gathers, cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. It is really our home and back here in the souless sprawl of DC is where we work to live. When we arrive at the doorstep of our second home all the tension of DC leaves andnit becomes a weekend that focuses 100% on family.

When we vacation we vacation. We take a good 3 weeks off a year to travel. We peobaly only sleep in our primary residence 250 nights a year.

Agree with this 100%. We're the beach home owners above.
We have 3 states of being:
1) life in DC, 2 stressful jobs, busy community of friends and endless social commitments (which has it's positives and negatives).
2) travel to far away or new places (go for one 2 week vacation a year).
3) beach house. Basically a place we escape to from DC. It's small so there are minimal chores or tasks. Zero clutter. No jobs. No sports. Minimal social responsibilities. It's just much, much more simple, easy life. Plus there's the ocean.

It's a luxury to own a second home but it's a life line for us. Our primary residence in DC is smaller and less updated that most if not all of our peers. We don't splurge in other ways.
We aren't making money on this and people who are wealth-building or saving every dime or looking at the bottom line will find our decision foolish. However, it's how we chose to spend our money and it brings us great joy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you for the replies. We are looking in Davis, WV. Definitely not a market you invest in to make money. We are looking to enjoy the area with our kids. I am not interested in renting it out except to friends and family. I love the idea of just leaving our stuff there and never having to pack gear. The market is pretty dead there so I'm thinking we could spend around 125K and get something decent. I'm not too sure on maintenance costs - maybe 3-5K a year. If anyone has an idea on what they plan for costs, feel free to share.

It's not just maintenance costs but also utilities. Are you going to have cable? I'd figure at least 10-20k per year for a vacation home in upkeep, landscaping, utilities, majntenance etc. what about cleaning supplies and furnishing the property? Bedding for each bed? Cookware and food? Add taxes on top of that. Of course you don't earn a return on any of these costs! Which is why I'd prefer to spend the 10-20k on vacations with my family and not deal with the hassle of a vacation home.

I have a vacation home and still take vacations. It's not an either/or.

Of course you can do both. I'm simply assuming someone who is buying at Bryce and budgeting 3-5k a year in maintenance costs maybe isn't going to plan on both vacations AND the vacation home.

Also my point is that I'd rather just travel the whole time instead of sink money into a vacation home. There are many people out there who have no idea how much the cost of maintaining a second home is and if they knew would probably just choose to stay at hotels or air Bnbs and not have the hassle of keeping up a second home.

Ok, great for you. However this is a thread started by someone asking people who actually own vacation homes. As the target audience for this question i'm here telling you that a vacation home is more than just a vacation. For us it's a place our entire family gathers, cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. It is really our home and back here in the souless sprawl of DC is where we work to live. When we arrive at the doorstep of our second home all the tension of DC leaves andnit becomes a weekend that focuses 100% on family.

When we vacation we vacation. We take a good 3 weeks off a year to travel. We peobaly only sleep in our primary residence 250 nights a year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you for the replies. We are looking in Davis, WV. Definitely not a market you invest in to make money. We are looking to enjoy the area with our kids. I am not interested in renting it out except to friends and family. I love the idea of just leaving our stuff there and never having to pack gear. The market is pretty dead there so I'm thinking we could spend around 125K and get something decent. I'm not too sure on maintenance costs - maybe 3-5K a year. If anyone has an idea on what they plan for costs, feel free to share.

It's not just maintenance costs but also utilities. Are you going to have cable? I'd figure at least 10-20k per year for a vacation home in upkeep, landscaping, utilities, majntenance etc. what about cleaning supplies and furnishing the property? Bedding for each bed? Cookware and food? Add taxes on top of that. Of course you don't earn a return on any of these costs! Which is why I'd prefer to spend the 10-20k on vacations with my family and not deal with the hassle of a vacation home.

I have a vacation home and still take vacations. It's not an either/or.

Of course you can do both. I'm simply assuming someone who is buying at Bryce and budgeting 3-5k a year in maintenance costs maybe isn't going to plan on both vacations AND the vacation home.

Also my point is that I'd rather just travel the whole time instead of sink money into a vacation home. There are many people out there who have no idea how much the cost of maintaining a second home is and if they knew would probably just choose to stay at hotels or air Bnbs and not have the hassle of keeping up a second home.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you for the replies. We are looking in Davis, WV. Definitely not a market you invest in to make money. We are looking to enjoy the area with our kids. I am not interested in renting it out except to friends and family. I love the idea of just leaving our stuff there and never having to pack gear. The market is pretty dead there so I'm thinking we could spend around 125K and get something decent. I'm not too sure on maintenance costs - maybe 3-5K a year. If anyone has an idea on what they plan for costs, feel free to share.

It's not just maintenance costs but also utilities. Are you going to have cable? I'd figure at least 10-20k per year for a vacation home in upkeep, landscaping, utilities, majntenance etc. what about cleaning supplies and furnishing the property? Bedding for each bed? Cookware and food? Add taxes on top of that. Of course you don't earn a return on any of these costs! Which is why I'd prefer to spend the 10-20k on vacations with my family and not deal with the hassle of a vacation home.

I have a vacation home and still take vacations. It's not an either/or.

Ditto this. We own a beach house and also travel internationally (with our kids) yearly.
In a perfect world we'd travel all year long. However, we both work full time so we can't jet away to exotic vacations every weekend or even many times per year.
However, we can telecommute from the beach house and visit it on the weekends.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you for the replies. We are looking in Davis, WV. Definitely not a market you invest in to make money. We are looking to enjoy the area with our kids. I am not interested in renting it out except to friends and family. I love the idea of just leaving our stuff there and never having to pack gear. The market is pretty dead there so I'm thinking we could spend around 125K and get something decent. I'm not too sure on maintenance costs - maybe 3-5K a year. If anyone has an idea on what they plan for costs, feel free to share.

It's not just maintenance costs but also utilities. Are you going to have cable? I'd figure at least 10-20k per year for a vacation home in upkeep, landscaping, utilities, majntenance etc. what about cleaning supplies and furnishing the property? Bedding for each bed? Cookware and food? Add taxes on top of that. Of course you don't earn a return on any of these costs! Which is why I'd prefer to spend the 10-20k on vacations with my family and not deal with the hassle of a vacation home.

I have a vacation home and still take vacations. It's not an either/or.

We have a house in the shenandoah. Our PITI is just around 1,000. I track expenses like a hawk. In 2016 our total expenses were $18,500 and there were no major repairs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you for the replies. We are looking in Davis, WV. Definitely not a market you invest in to make money. We are looking to enjoy the area with our kids. I am not interested in renting it out except to friends and family. I love the idea of just leaving our stuff there and never having to pack gear. The market is pretty dead there so I'm thinking we could spend around 125K and get something decent. I'm not too sure on maintenance costs - maybe 3-5K a year. If anyone has an idea on what they plan for costs, feel free to share.

Here are some of our costs - this is on a pretty big house in the Northeast that we use primarily in the summer:
RE taxes: $8,000
Water: $150 (on the cheap side)
Electricity $3,000 (house has electric heat and even though we keep the heat at 50 in the winter the bill for last month was $400)
Cable/internet/phone $1,400 (we have it on vacation mode for 5-6 months a year but need good internet for working at home)
Cleaning $1,500 (summer only, plus annual spring cleaning)
Caretaker $1000 (9 months of weekly visits)
Landscaping $3000 (mowing, spring/fall cleanups, sprinkler maintenance - landscaping is crazy expensive in this location)

We also have done a lot of home improvement projects - renovated a bathroom, extensive landscaping, replaced some flooring. Last year that was about $50k.

Furnishings are pretty well in place now - but there are always expenses for small things along the way like a new appliance, or new towels, etc.

I forgot insurance. Ours is $2,500/year.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you for the replies. We are looking in Davis, WV. Definitely not a market you invest in to make money. We are looking to enjoy the area with our kids. I am not interested in renting it out except to friends and family. I love the idea of just leaving our stuff there and never having to pack gear. The market is pretty dead there so I'm thinking we could spend around 125K and get something decent. I'm not too sure on maintenance costs - maybe 3-5K a year. If anyone has an idea on what they plan for costs, feel free to share.

Here are some of our costs - this is on a pretty big house in the Northeast that we use primarily in the summer:
RE taxes: $8,000
Water: $150 (on the cheap side)
Electricity $3,000 (house has electric heat and even though we keep the heat at 50 in the winter the bill for last month was $400)
Cable/internet/phone $1,400 (we have it on vacation mode for 5-6 months a year but need good internet for working at home)
Cleaning $1,500 (summer only, plus annual spring cleaning)
Caretaker $1000 (9 months of weekly visits)
Landscaping $3000 (mowing, spring/fall cleanups, sprinkler maintenance - landscaping is crazy expensive in this location)

We also have done a lot of home improvement projects - renovated a bathroom, extensive landscaping, replaced some flooring. Last year that was about $50k.

Furnishings are pretty well in place now - but there are always expenses for small things along the way like a new appliance, or new towels, etc.

Our carrying costs for our Bryce house are around $7k per year but we own the house outright and don't have a mortgage. The house was fully furnished when we bought it. Our property taxes are $1450 per year. Insurance is $900. No TV but internet is $600/ yr. Electric is $1620/ yr (electric baseboard heat and no gas). No yard maintenance (wooded yard, no grass and we own and know how to use a chainsaw if needed). Water bill is $540/ year. The resort membership is about $2k. So with the resort membership we're just over $7k, without it just over $5k.

We did have to put a new decking surface on last year ($3400) and have a plumber come out ($200) but those have been the only maintenance costs in seven years of ownership. We may need some siding work at some point.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you for the replies. We are looking in Davis, WV. Definitely not a market you invest in to make money. We are looking to enjoy the area with our kids. I am not interested in renting it out except to friends and family. I love the idea of just leaving our stuff there and never having to pack gear. The market is pretty dead there so I'm thinking we could spend around 125K and get something decent. I'm not too sure on maintenance costs - maybe 3-5K a year. If anyone has an idea on what they plan for costs, feel free to share.

It's not just maintenance costs but also utilities. Are you going to have cable? I'd figure at least 10-20k per year for a vacation home in upkeep, landscaping, utilities, majntenance etc. what about cleaning supplies and furnishing the property? Bedding for each bed? Cookware and food? Add taxes on top of that. Of course you don't earn a return on any of these costs! Which is why I'd prefer to spend the 10-20k on vacations with my family and not deal with the hassle of a vacation home.

Why not take the chunk of money you'd spend yearly on this and just keep renting? That way you are flexible.