Do you have one?

Would you ever want one?

If yes, what is it like (or hypothetically what would it be like)?

No I don't want your timeshare

Yes.

Yes. More for Air B&B income.

Hidden cameras everywhere.

We have a Condo in Corpus. It's awesome, but, we can't do rental less than 3mo so it's not an income producing property. The benefit to this is we can leave all our crap out and don't have randos banging in our bed. The down side is we have to handle all the costs out of pocket. We are down there at least twice a month and take many extended weekends as well so it's absolutely worth it to me

"Yes. Up North. Right here" (points to a spot on right hand). -- Every Michigander with two homes

Old guy here. Never own anything that you are not permanently living in.

I don't care if it is weekend condo at the beach, mountain cabin or a place in the country.

There is always some guy that owns one and would be happy to rent it to you. He pays the insurance. Fire, Hurricane, flood or vandalism are all on him. Most likely the taxes will be more than your rent. You sleep well every night while he has to worry about the next catastrophe on the horizon.

Unless it is just for ego, rent what you want, when you want and for how long you want it.

Aquin said:

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There is always some guy that owns one and would be happy to rent it to you. He pays the insurance. Fire, Hurricane, flood or vandalism are all on him. Most likely the taxes will be more than your rent. You sleep well every night while he has to worry about the next catastrophe on the horizon.

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I owned a beach house for eight years. Long-time dream come true.

It was awesome. Nothing like being able to get away to your own place. We put our hearts and souls into making it unique and comfortable.

But there were plenty of downsides, as you articulated here. Trying to manage personal use/rental time was a nighmare. Renters tear up everything. Weekend visits are filled with work. The financial impacts were way more than anticipated. And there was always the threat of a hurricane or trop storm.

I will always miss the house, but I don't miss the stress or the expense.

We have had a lake house my entire life. Grandma built it in the late 50's. Been in the family ever since. Currently, it is a shared ownership between me and my siblings. I can't imagine life without it. Some of the best times in my life have been spent there.

Now my grandkids are starting to enjoy it.

No

Yes

Remote but easy to get to. Good fishing. Mountains. Whitewater streams.

No sense having a vacation home unless you can realistically get to it at least once a month, and spend more than 30+ nights a year in it. Life isn't quite there right now, but when I get to that point, I'll have one. Until then it's better to rent.

Quote:

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Unless it is just for ego, rent what you want, when you want and for how long you want it.*

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*subject to availability.

We are considering one on the Oregon Coast since we live so close (about 2 hours) and occupancy rates are super high in the summer and pretty high all other times.
If we do, I think we'll hire a property management company to help.
Also trying to decide if we want to go solo or partner up with some other couples. I think that sounds like a recipe for disaster, but it would be nice to split the unexpected costs.

Travel trailer.

My vacation home is wherever I can tow it. Not "my" place, but I'm usually just eating and sleeping in my accommodations and out doing stuff all day wherever I am vacationing.

I've been considering getting some land on a lake to eventually build. If you build something big (sleeps 10+) and furnish it bare bones, it can generate at least the taxes you pay on it. You wont find much on BnB that sleeps 10 for less than $500 per night.

I know folks that own a large cabin in Broken Bow, OK. They cleared $10K/month during covid.

Same. We considered a vacation property but ultimately a very nice travel trailer fit our needs much better. We go somewhere every month. Leave for the coast for a week with it next week. Next summer we are taking it to Yellowstone.

EclipseAg said:

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Aquin said:

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There is always some guy that owns one and would be happy to rent it to you. He pays the insurance. Fire, Hurricane, flood or vandalism are all on him. Most likely the taxes will be more than your rent. You sleep well every night while he has to worry about the next catastrophe on the horizon.

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I owned a beach house for eight years. Long-time dream come true.

It was awesome. Nothing like being able to get away to your own place. We put our hearts and souls into making it unique and comfortable.

But there were plenty of downsides, as you articulated here. Trying to manage personal use/rental time was a nighmare. Renters tear up everything. Weekend visits are filled with work. The financial impacts were way more than anticipated. And there was always the threat of a hurricane or trop storm.

I will always miss the house, but I don't miss the stress or the expense.

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I have two other homes and do not regret either one of them. One is in Steamboat Springs so I do incur some expenses (snow removal, weekly house checks, lawn care, etc.) with that one but so be it. The other is at my ranch and I am able to deal with everything myself there. I've had condos in the past that we would rent out. Bottom line is you're going to have people tear them up. I do not rent these houses out for that reason plus I just didn't like the idea of strangers staying in our homes.

Aquin said:

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Old guy here. Never own anything that you are not permanently living in.

I don't care if it is weekend condo at the beach, mountain cabin or a place in the country.

Unless it is just for ego, rent what you want, when you want and for how long you want it.

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My ego is not tied up in our Condo, my quality of life is. We spend north of 50/nights a year so we wouldn't have near the coast time I do now if we were renting. It was also a godsend during Covid as we could rotate locations during the shut down.

We go down having to pack little more than a light duffle, sleep in our own beds, kids bring their friends, & I don't have to deal with the hassle of trailering a boat so it even gets me on the water more often. Some time down the road, we'll retire and use it even more plus have a place for our kids and hopefully grandkids to visit one day.

Finally, our property value has increased at a rate that exceeds our annual spend so it has been a better place to put our money than the bank or the market.

If I had more free cash, I might buy a parcel in a place that I visit often and set up to stay longer term in my trailer there, or maybe even a little vacation cabin type thing but it would have to be a nice bit of land I really enjoy spending time at often.

Central air etc. single wide with deck and pool on 4 acres 20 miles from residence on treed creek side. Use 30-40% of year. Need to make sure vacation property has good value increase potential (as opposed to income potential) wherever it is located. Have (small) travel trailer too but so do a lot of other folks these days.

Inherited ocean view property on Martha's Vineyard. Private beach. House itself is not winterized so it's a June to October destination. We've put some money into it over the years, so it's in decent shape for ninety year old summer cottage. Some of the houses around us get up to $15K a week for rentals, but they are actually houses, not unfinished cottages like ours. So it's not worth it for us to rent it out. It's at the top of a hill, about 100 yards from the beach, and has a large screened in porch with an unobstructed ocean view. Nice property, but not the most comfortable accommodations in the world. My wife spent every summer there when she was growing up, so it's home to her.

Have a house in Surin, Thailand. We use it as a vacation home currently, will spend 4-6 months a year there after retirement.

Year six of retirement. Travel quit a bit, but usually Nov-Apr in Austin and May-Oct in Chicago. Perfect for me. Both places are lock and leave condos.

Cabin in Blue Ridge GA and Beach house in St Augustine Fl. Surprisingly the cabin brings in more rental income. There are people that will actually rent it for $1,000/night to see different colored leaves. I love those type people.

We've chosen not to have a vacation home. I don't think it's a bad idea, but we have seen friends with kids spend 18 years going to the same "special family place" while we've spent vacations in VRBOs all over the country. There are great memories and family bonding both ways, but with us the house isn't part of the family, and the scenery is always new.

Just the condo in downtown Austin. Don't rent it out. With all the **** going on down there, may be time to look to sell it.

I've gone back & forth for years about my interest in owning a vacation home. I have always wanted something but keep talking myself out of it for various reasons...

A) I do not want to rent it out. I don't like the idea of strangers in my personal vacation home. Meaning that if I buy it has to be something I can afford with no chance of offset income.
B) I want it close enough that I can go to often (ideally 2hr or less drive).
C) Has to be on and very near to the water. Preferably salt because I like salt water fishing much more than fresh.
D) Has to have very good internet availability. This is so I can "work from home" while also doing the things I want to be doing.

Have my eye on a property at the moment but the price tag is a little outside my comfort zone. Hoping that it stays on the market long enough for the housing market to come back down to reality.

Leeman said:

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Just the condo in downtown Austin. Don't rent it out. With all the **** going on down there, may be time to look to sell it.

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Be a good time to sell it with the current inflated real estate prices if you can get someone to bite. I'd just throw a large number up and see what happens.

I think its a personal preference thing. For us we found the place we liked most and would've bought a vacation place in (mountain town, small ranch) and live there full time. We also like to vacation different places so a permanent non-full time place for us didn't make sense.

Came to toss a joke about LOLPOORS and not having at least several estates across the globe managed by household staff.