My sister and her family own a second home in the mountains, and it’s a constant source of stress in the family. Her two teenage kids never want to go there, and every weekend trip ends up being an argument about everything. They’ve had issues with plumbing, and the roof that’s ended up costing lots of money and time, and even though my BIL loves the place, I think my sister is hoping they can sell it as she’d never want to retire there down the road.

I’ll take our one primary home and the ability to vacation in different places while my sister is driving up to their house to assess damage from another roof leak any day of the week.

OP, I’m guessing you don’t do much actual maintenance on your home? You seem clueless as to the level of challenge a second home requires. It’s certainly not all relaxation…

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know a soul who grew up with a second home who would trade their childhood. Summers were magical. Bouncing around hotels and creepy STRs is for the birds.

What a condescending thing to say. Be lucky that you came from a family wealthy enough to afford a second home.

Agree. Entitled too.

I grew up camping at the beach we bounced around the backseat with the dog and the cooler to an electric hook up site. I thought it was great. My mom made pancakes every morning on the camp stove.

Anonymous wrote:I don't know a soul who grew up with a second home who would trade their childhood. Summers were magical. Bouncing around hotels and creepy STRs is for the birds.

What a condescending thing to say. Be lucky that you came from a family wealthy enough to afford a second home.

*real drip who was born on 3rd and thought he hit a triple (thank you Molly Ivins) or who hasn’t made it out of his parents’ basement despite the fact that he was born on 3rd.

That post about bouncing around hotels was gratuitously mean.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know a soul who grew up with a second home who would trade their childhood. Summers were magical. Bouncing around hotels and creepy STRs is for the birds.

No doubt it was magical, PP, and you are very lucky to have had it. No need to mock those of us work a day adults whose parents didn’t have a second home. We, the work-a-day adults in DC, instead must make do by “bounc(ing) around hotels.” Congratulations to you and I truly hope you were able to give the same magical summers to your kids.

PP - you are a nice person. Anyone mocking those of us who bounce around hotels sounds like a read drip.

Anonymous wrote:Depressed that you don’t own multiple homes when so many people in our country can’t even afford one home and others don’t even have any roof over their head at night? Wow…

We know three families with second homes, and I can say for a fact that the grass is not always greener. Get some perspective, OP.

This. OP, get a grip…

Anonymous wrote:I don't know a soul who grew up with a second home who would trade their childhood. Summers were magical. Bouncing around hotels and creepy STRs is for the birds.

No doubt it was magical, PP, and you are very lucky to have had it. No need to mock those of us work a day adults whose parents didn’t have a second home. We, the work-a-day adults in DC, instead must make do by “bounc(ing) around hotels.” Congratulations to you and I truly hope you were able to give the same magical summers to your kids.

Anonymous wrote:This thread is hilarious because we spent the entire pandemic in our only home, which is a 1000 sq ft condo (three people, one dog). We know people with vacation homes. They honestly don’t seem happier or more personally fulfilled. Some don’t even seem to like their second home.

Nobody is going to rub their wealth in the face of a dinky condo dweller.

I don't know a soul who grew up with a second home who would trade their childhood. Summers were magical. Bouncing around hotels and creepy STRs is for the birds.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet”

― Helen Keller

This is just bull sheet that is tossed around to make the lower class feel bad for being upset about the advantages the upper class hoard for themselves

+1

Depressed that you don’t own multiple homes when so many people in our country can’t even afford one home and others don’t even have any roof over their head at night? Wow…

We know three families with second homes, and I can say for a fact that the grass is not always greener. Get some perspective, OP.

We have a second home. There is good and bad.
It's a small cottage and we bought it 10 years ago when there was a dip in the market post hurricane Sandy.
It's tiny but 2 blocks from the ocean.

Good: we really haven't had any major expenses in a decade. Really---none. It's cost us nothing more than the mortgage. Same roof, same AC, no major repairs, etc. The salt air hasn't been damaging like everyone warned us it would be. It's lovely to have a place to escape to without any thought.

Bad: we've never really established a community there. Part of this is our fault as we didn't spend whole summers there as the kids had commitments back at home (sports, friends, school things, etc). As a previous poster mentioned, once the kids are in junior high and high school they really want to be around their friends during the summer. I have one kid (of 3) in particular that has never really liked the beach. He thinks it's boring, hot, etc. He's gone plenty of times but it's just not his thing (fair enough).

Anonymous wrote:Everybody I know who has escaped to a second home does not own it. It is owned by a family member (usually their parents).

Is this supposed to be a knock? Prized real estate is passed down by smart families. Very few people in their 40s or 50s can go buy a multi-million ocean front home, not to mention the most prized properties never even hit real estate listings, it's all insider cash deals.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a second home for ten years. I was so glad to see it sell -- I thought the kids would have happy memories of the place, they sort of did, but it would have been far better to have a different vacation each year, so each would be unique and memorable on the individual merits. A little more work to keep finding a new vacation but that is the fun part. Paying the bills all year or trying to rent it out between times was NOT the fun part. Driving there every time was not the fun part. Cleaning the place and taking trash to the dump after every trip was NOT the fun part.
It was a wasteful expense and I would never do it again, pandemic or not.

+1. Renting is so much nicer. Drop the keys in the box, and if the plumbing or the roof leaks, the A/C need replacement, etc etc etc, it's not my problem. We won't buy another second home until we can spend half the year there (and maybe not even then).

Posts like this are Airbnb and VRBO bots.