Vacation/Second Home

[dreamingat30fps]

Anyone own a vacation or second home far from where your primary home is?

Been thinking about buying something out in the dessert. I love the dessert and that whole part of the country like AZ, NM, NV, CO, UT even all the way up to Wyoming etc. Being bored out of my mind has me surfing zillow looking at properties out there. Mainly in AZ (Kingman or Flagstaff area give or take) since it's pretty central to everything out there, taxes are not THAT crazy and the home prices are ok. Looking in NV also but seems to be less options in my price range out there.

Would love to get a property with some land (1 acre or more) and keep our RV there. We could then go on shorter trips all around the area. From FL it takes us a day or 2 just to get out of FL and then at the pace we go it takes us a couple of weeks to get out west. Also my best friend lives in CA so it would be a lot easier to meet up and do stuff from there.

Anyways I guess those are the selling points. However on the downside it's 2 properties to deal with (maintenance etc). I would have concerns about the property security when we are not there. Here in FL we live in a gated community and have never had a single issue, but this second home would more than likely be out in the boonies. Stuff out in the dessert is weird, you have water delivery service and off grid homes and all kinds of weird shit I've never heard of. I believe I can just pay property taxes and have everything else stay in FL as it would still be my primary residence but not 100% sure.

Could maybe also rent it out when we are not using it to offset some of the costs but that probably opens up a whole other can of worms.

Anyways I guess I'm just looking to start a general discussion of pros and cons to a vacation/second home far away from your main home.

[kscarrol]

Not in the desert but we've toyed with the idea of a place at the beach but watching friends who have bought, we decided to pass. Several things tipped the scales for us...

First, when you own the property you some how feel obligated to us it to the detriment of going elsewhere. If you truly love the desert (in our case the beach) that much this may not be an issue.

Second, the obvious expense involved in owning two homes. You either are wealthy enough to handle it or you have to rent it out when you're not there to help cover expenses. While we might be able to swing it with out renting to cover expenses, that would likely bring us back to feeling obligated to use it rather than going elsewhere.

Third, with the rise services like VRBO or AirBNB, we would rather check out different places renting than being kind of tied down to using the second property.

Just my $0.02 worth! And we don't have an RV to park like you do!

Edit: I must have just skimmed your original post because we cover many of the same things! Either way I'd rather travel to different places. We've used VRBO with great success both in the US and in Europe so we'll stick to that plan.

[hubbahubba]

If you enjoy RV'ing, have you thought of just storing it out West at a storage facility? Would be much cheaper, and you would not feel tied to one place so far from home.

[dreamingat30fps]

Originally Posted by kscarrol

Not in the desert but we've toyed with the idea of a place at the beach but watching friends who have bought, we decided to pass. Several things tipped the scales for us...

First, when you own the property you some how feel obligated to us it to the detriment of going elsewhere. If you truly love the desert (in our case the beach) that much this may not be an issue.

Second, the obvious expense involved in owning two homes. You either are wealthy enough to handle it or you have to rent it out when you're not there to help cover expenses. While we might be able to swing it with out renting to cover expenses, that would likely bring us back to feeling obligated to use it rather than going elsewhere.

Third, with the rise services like VRBO or AirBNB, we would rather check out different places renting than being kind of tied down to using the second property.

Just my $0.02 worth! And we don't have an RV to park like you do!

Edit: I must have just skimmed your original post because we cover many of the same things! Either way I'd rather travel to different places. We've used VRBO with great success both in the US and in Europe so we'll stick to that plan.

I agree. In our case main house would be paid off by the time we did decide to buy another, although you still have taxes, maintenance etc.

Also we use to travel a lot and stay at hotels etc (before airbnb). However we have 2 dogs now and flying with them is a nightmare (gf wont even do it) even if you did you have to find a place that will allow them. If you don't take them the dog boarding places around here are super expensive and we are usually gone for months at a time. So basically whatever traveling we do has to be dog friendly.

That's why the RV has worked out so well for us. We can take them anywhere we go and the side benefit is you never have to pack and unpack because you always have all your stuff with you.

Actually that just got me thinking. I would like to leave the RV out there in the second house (not have to pay for storage here in FL).... but we still need to get back and forth from FL to AZ (or wherever)... soo maybe that can't happen because we certainly wouldn't make that drive without the RV. Hmmmmm

[kscarrol]

Our house is paid off so no issue there. We love to travel but not for months at a time, depends but usually one to three weeks max. We have dogs as well and just build in the cost of boarding into the budget though if we drive to the beach they come along.

[Tyga11]

Originally Posted by dreamingat30fps

Anyone own a vacation or second home far from where your primary home is?

Been thinking about buying something out in the dessert. I love the dessert and that whole part of the country like AZ, NM, NV, CO, UT even all the way up to Wyoming etc. Being bored out of my mind has me surfing zillow looking at properties out there. Mainly in AZ (Kingman or Flagstaff area give or take) since it's pretty central to everything out there, taxes are not THAT crazy and the home prices are ok. Looking in NV also but seems to be less options in my price range out there.

Would love to get a property with some land (1 acre or more) and keep our RV there. We could then go on shorter trips all around the area. From FL it takes us a day or 2 just to get out of FL and then at the pace we go it takes us a couple of weeks to get out west. Also my best friend lives in CA so it would be a lot easier to meet up and do stuff from there.

Anyways I guess those are the selling points. However on the downside it's 2 properties to deal with (maintenance etc). I would have concerns about the property security when we are not there. Here in FL we live in a gated community and have never had a single issue, but this second home would more than likely be out in the boonies. Stuff out in the dessert is weird, you have water delivery service and off grid homes and all kinds of weird shit I've never heard of. I believe I can just pay property taxes and have everything else stay in FL as it would still be my primary residence but not 100% sure.

Could maybe also rent it out when we are not using it to offset some of the costs but that probably opens up a whole other can of worms.

Anyways I guess I'm just looking to start a general discussion of pros and cons to a vacation/second home far away from your main home.

I think you're going to have trouble renting out anything in Kingman...but I could be wrong. Flagstaff is not the desert either. Those are two very different cities / towns. Honestly based on what you're envisioning you may want to look at Southern AZ or even some of the less populated areas in Phoenix Metro...like Gold Canyon.

[damnitBobby]

I’m glad I got over the dog owner phase when I was a child. Now that I have the money to travel, I would hate an animal being such a big liability and concern.

Anyways +1 on Airbnb. It’s made traveling much more affordable and you realize you don’t need all the useless stuff hotels have to offer.

[RickFLM4]

We bought a condo in Asheville last year. It’s about a days drive so we can take the dogs, or a 2 hour flight if I drive up and my wife joins me mid-week to maximize her PTO days. We visited there every year for quite a while and wanted something we can either drive or fly to.

The nice thing about a condo is not worrying about property maintenance and worrying less about security. We debated for a while about a small house vs. a condo but I just couldn’t deal with worrying about it when we aren’t there (which is most of the time). Definitely like having a base there, with clothes, toiletries, kitchen, etc. Plus a place to go if storms come to South Florida. Of course, as soon as we finished getting it all set up this pandemic arrived and now we aren’t sure when we will return but we’re hoping to get the at the end of June.

[zx10guy]

I have a vacation home near the beach. It's anywhere from 2.5 to 3 hour drive from my primary home. I've had the place since 2012 bought as new construction. Monthly mortgage (PITI) and condo/HOA fees is a little over a grand a month. Don't regret the purchase. It's a single family detached home with 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths plus a 2 car garage. I love heading out to the beach and the whole area is sort of my sanctuary from all the craziness I've been having in my life for the past few years. If I don't want to drive to the beach and deal with all the traffic, I can just kick back in my back yard on the patio and enjoy the artificial pond that has wild life in it.

Just as you are concerned about maintenance, my place is ideal for me. The condo/HOA fees covers grounds keeping and exterior maintenance. I've called the property management company a couple of times to fix exterior issues to my house. The neighborhood I live in have quite a few people that there year round. I've gotten to know a couple of the neighbors and they're good about watching my home and have my cell number if there is something they need to alert me on. I also have a monitored security system. I'll be adding some security cameras in a few months so I can check in on the property whenever I want to. I also had a motion sensing flood light installed by the builder which illuminates the back of the house.

[dreamingat30fps]

Originally Posted by Tyga11

I think you're going to have trouble renting out anything in Kingman...but I could be wrong. Flagstaff is not the desert either. Those are two very different cities / towns. Honestly based on what you're envisioning you may want to look at Southern AZ or even some of the less populated areas in Phoenix Metro...like Gold Canyon.

It's the desert compared to FL. Sure it's not like Phoenix or even areas outside Vegas. However I like that there are trees and you can find nice cabins on a cliff. We have spent maybe a month in total around Flagstaff and Williams. I mention Kingman because it's close, similar scenery, but less $$$ than Flagstaff. All that being said I'm not set on any one location.

Originally Posted by damnitBobby

I’m glad I got over the dog owner phase when I was a child. Now that I have the money to travel, I would hate an animal being such a big liability and concern.

Anyways +1 on Airbnb. It’s made traveling much more affordable and you realize you don’t need all the useless stuff hotels have to offer.

I've had a dog my entire childhood and adult life so I don't see that changing anytime soon. If we want to go to Europe or something for a week or 2 that's one thing. We can put them up somewhere, but not when we leave for the whole summer, even renting airbnbs for 5 months out of the year would get pricey.

Originally Posted by RickFLM4

We bought a condo in Asheville last year. It’s about a days drive so we can take the dogs, or a 2 hour flight if I drive up and my wife joins me mid-week to maximize her PTO days. We visited there every year for quite a while and wanted something we can either drive or fly to.

The nice thing about a condo is not worrying about property maintenance and worrying less about security. We debated for a while about a small house vs. a condo but I just couldn’t deal with worrying about it when we aren’t there (which is most of the time). Definitely like having a base there, with clothes, toiletries, kitchen, etc. Plus a place to go if storms come to South Florida. Of course, as soon as we finished getting it all set up this pandemic arrived and now we aren’t sure when we will return but we’re hoping to get the at the end of June.

We definitely want a house of some kind. Doesn't need to be a large house, but definitely a house with some land. Would be nice so we could have family come over also, could even have some hookups installed outside so the RV could be setup for more people to stay if needed. I have looked into SC, NC and TN since we like those areas also, they have a lot of nice cabins and closer to home... would also be easier to leave the RV there and just drive from FL. That would be doable without having to drag the RV with us each time. Dunno.

Originally Posted by zx10guy

I have a vacation home near the beach. It's anywhere from 2.5 to 3 hour drive from my primary home. I've had the place since 2012 bought as new construction. Monthly mortgage (PITI) and condo/HOA fees is a little over a grand a month. Don't regret the purchase. It's a single family detached home with 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths plus a 2 car garage. I love heading out to the beach and the whole area is sort of my sanctuary from all the craziness I've been having in my life for the past few years. If I don't want to drive to the beach and deal with all the traffic, I can just kick back in my back yard on the patio and enjoy the artificial pond that has wild life in it.

Just as you are concerned about maintenance, my place is ideal for me. The condo/HOA fees covers grounds keeping and exterior maintenance. I've called the property management company a couple of times to fix exterior issues to my house. The neighborhood I live in have quite a few people that there year round. I've gotten to know a couple of the neighbors and they're good about watching my home and have my cell number if there is something they need to alert me on. I also have a monitored security system. I'll be adding some security cameras in a few months so I can check in on the property whenever I want to. I also had a motion sensing flood light installed by the builder which illuminates the back of the house.

I'm not concerned so much that it would be a deal breaker just something to think about. Honestly apart from the roof (which I was told was on the way out when I bought it, but had no idea what a roof cost back then) maintenance on my house isn't that bad. Basic stuff I do myself and most of the things I've spent $$ on were to improve it not really maintenance items.

I would definitely need some kind of security system for the second house. I just have some blink cameras at my house, but honestly they have never even be trigged by anything of actual concern. Only thing that has ever happened in here is kids going into cars that were left open.

The more I think about it the more of an issue getting out west would be without our RV. So leaving it out there would probably not be an option. Would probably still have to drive it out there then use the house as home base. So instead of spending 5 months living in the RV we could live in the house and take week long trips or what not in the RV.

[UncleWede]

Eventually my dad's cabin in the mountains will be mine. I live at the shore and going 3 hours to the cabin, winter especially with the change in elevation of 6500' is a god-send

[floridaorange]

^same, ours it at 3,600 ft in NC Blue Ridge Mnts, and it is a godsend in the summer time - consistently cold mornings and nights with mild afternoons.

[vreihen16]

My family used to have a winter place in Daytona Beach for a few decades. I used to use it for 2-week spring break vacations every March, and my parents and other siblings would also use it for vacations (bike week, etc) or long weekend getaways. With a large family and small plane at our disposal, it worked out well as a getaway from the northeast.

A better example during COVID-geddon might be what my sister and her husband did when the housing bubble popped back in 2008. They paid cash (and not a lot of it!) for an older house in a really depressed southern beach town, planning to use it as a weekend getaway and then flip it once the market recovered. Her husband's company up north closed up, and he wound up scoring a sweet gig at a small defense contractor within walking distance to their getaway house. They sold their house up here, moved down there full-time, and are living mortgage-free. Taxes are about $850/year, which includes property, school, unmetered water/sewer, and garbage pickup twice per week!

Just something to consider if the market behaves similarly due to COVID-geddon.....

[Bongoxxx]

I’ve debated buying a property in south NJ, specifically Stone Harbor for a few years.
Been going there every summer my entire life and my family have been going for over 3 generations. My grandmother on my father’s side was born and raised in Philadelphia and they had a beach house that my father regrettably sold when he inherited it in the early 70s.

Our issue is we would likely only use it 2-3 weeks a year in the summer months, although I could likely swing working from there all summer, but my wife definitely couldn’t.

In the end it didn’t make sense for us as we would be looking at at least $1.5 million to buy something we like and the taxes alone annually would be substantial.

We just keep renting for a couple weeks each summer as it makes more sense financially. Much easier to spend $5-10k in rent for a week, then the hassle of ownership of a second property.

[KenB925]

I have a vacation home in Tahoe, its 200 miles from home, 3 hours without traffic.

We used to use it every other weekend, but with kids activities that has dropped off sharply.

a year and a half ago we started renting it out.

I don't think I would buy a house that I couldn't drive to if it was not very easy to rent out. If its not easy to get there you won't go enough. Depending on where it is, an empty house attracts critters, or worse.

My mom has a vacation house in AZ (Lake Havasu), and she has a neighbor that is basically the caretaker. It seems like he is always doing something for her, between the pool, ac, and refrigerator.

I have enjoyed having a vacation home, there are definitely costs and projects associated with it, but it is something nice to think about when you are having a shitty day. I have also enjoyed spending time with friends there, and making memories with the kids there.

I don't think I would do what you are describing, unless I could go and stay for a month or something, and I had someone or a friend that could check on the place for me.

[dreamingat30fps]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

My family used to have a winter place in Daytona Beach for a few decades. I used to use it for 2-week spring break vacations every March, and my parents and other siblings would also use it for vacations (bike week, etc) or long weekend getaways. With a large family and small plane at our disposal, it worked out well as a getaway from the northeast.

A better example during COVID-geddon might be what my sister and her husband did when the housing bubble popped back in 2008. They paid cash (and not a lot of it!) for an older house in a really depressed southern beach town, planning to use it as a weekend getaway and then flip it once the market recovered. Her husband's company up north closed up, and he wound up scoring a sweet gig at a small defense contractor within walking distance to their getaway house. They sold their house up here, moved down there full-time, and are living mortgage-free. Taxes are about $850/year, which includes property, school, unmetered water/sewer, and garbage pickup twice per week!

Just something to consider if the market behaves similarly due to COVID-geddon.....

That's another reason I would lean towards second house. We could just spend some $$ upgrading to a bigger more comfortable RV and just deal with living in that for 3-5 months out of the year, but these things depreciate more than a luxury car. I think a second home would probably be a better investment overall. I like having options, with a house we could rent it if need be, we could have family over, we could move into that house if for whatever reason we decided to leave FL, I don't see that happening, but who knows what the future holds.

Originally Posted by KenB925

I have a vacation home in Tahoe, its 200 miles from home, 3 hours without traffic.

We used to use it every other weekend, but with kids activities that has dropped off sharply.

a year and a half ago we started renting it out.

I don't think I would buy a house that I couldn't drive to if it was not very easy to rent out. If its not easy to get there you won't go enough. Depending on where it is, an empty house attracts critters, or worse.

My mom has a vacation house in AZ (Lake Havasu), and she has a neighbor that is basically the caretaker. It seems like he is always doing something for her, between the pool, ac, and refrigerator.

I have enjoyed having a vacation home, there are definitely costs and projects associated with it, but it is something nice to think about when you are having a shitty day. I have also enjoyed spending time with friends there, and making memories with the kids there.

I don't think I would do what you are describing, unless I could go and stay for a month or something, and I had someone or a friend that could check on the place for me.

I like Tahoe, definitely wouldn't mind a house there, but way out of my budget. We would be using the house at least 3-5 months out of the year or more (that's how long we spend in the RV now). That being said I'm starting to lean more towards something closer by in the mountains. Maybe SC or NC... I think it makes more sense given we could drive there a lot easier than out west.

[UncleWede]

Originally Posted by dreamingat30fps

That's another reason I would lean towards second house. We could just spend some $$ upgrading to a bigger more comfortable RV and just deal with living in that for 3-5 months out of the year, but these things depreciate more than a luxury car. I think a second home would probably be a better investment overall. I like having options, with a house we could rent it if need be, we could have family over, we could move into that house if for whatever reason we decided to leave FL, I don't see that happening, but who knows what the future holds.

I like Tahoe, definitely wouldn't mind a house there, but way out of my budget. We would be using the house at least 3-5 months out of the year or more (that's how long we spend in the RV now). That being said I'm starting to lean more towards something closer by in the mountains. Maybe SC or NC... I think it makes more sense given we could drive there a lot easier than out west.

Plus better still sites

[KenB925]

Originally Posted by dreamingat30fps

I like Tahoe, definitely wouldn't mind a house there, but way out of my budget. We would be using the house at least 3-5 months out of the year or more (that's how long we spend in the RV now). That being said I'm starting to lean more towards something closer by in the mountains. Maybe SC or NC... I think it makes more sense given we could drive there a lot easier than out west.

3-5 months is awesome! I bought my place almost 8 years ago, I have still never stayed for 6 consecutive days...wife and kids have...

For me a one day drive would be a requirement, I have made "emergency" trips to the cabin to check on it. (Crazy snow storm, unusually cold, power went out for a couple of days, I was worried about pipes freezing).

My dad was a big RV guy, he started off having his 5th wheel at a really nice RV Resort in Havasu, we were able to convince him to buy the house there, which was a great move. As you said, RVs are not a great financial investment.

Tahoe has gotten crazy expensive, but it is one of my favorite places that I have ever been.

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by dreamingat30fps

I like having options, with a house we could rent it if need be, we could have family over, we could move into that house if for whatever reason we decided to leave FL, I don't see that happening, but who knows what the future holds.

Whatever reason = hurricane evacuation?

Given that half of my family now lives in the southeast low country along the shore and has to evacuate every year now it seems, I have given casual thought to buying a getaway house for the family up on higher ground around Bristol for everyone to share.....

[dreamingat30fps]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

Whatever reason = hurricane evacuation?

Given that half of my family now lives in the southeast low country along the shore and has to evacuate every year now it seems, I have given casual thought to buying a getaway house for the family up on higher ground around Bristol for everyone to share.....

Not specifically, although yeah I guess it would be nice for that also. However with just the RV we are good to go if a hurricane comes. I'm not really that worried about hurricanes. It's more the inconvenience if it does hit and we end up without power for a few weeks. However I am not in a flooding area.

[eluded]

Originally Posted by dreamingat30fps

Mainly in AZ (Kingman or Flagstaff area give or take

Woah. Live in the Forest or live in middle of f'ning nowhere and cook meth. Quite the contrast.

[dreamingat30fps]

Originally Posted by eluded

Woah. Live in the Forest or live in middle of f'ning nowhere and cook meth. Quite the contrast.

Well I was looking in that whole area from Kingman to Flagstaff (and beyond). I have not spent much time in Kingman (like maybe a day or two), but just based on searches you could find some houses that at least looked to be in forestry areas in Kingman. A lot are were definitely meth cookouts, but Flagstaff is a little to rich for my wallet. Like I said I like to have options, so if the shit hits the fan and I gotta start cooking... at least I got a place.

Regardless I think I've decided if I get something it will most likely end up being over on this coast. Probably NC or TN up in the mountains.