Anyone Else Desire The Two-Home Lifestyle?

[foxfirev5]

We've had two homes for 18 years. The second is our lakehouse 17 miles from our in town residence. At this point it is partially a vacation/ recreation site for the family and partially an investment. Our main house while impressive is one of our worst investments and the lakehouse one our best. However the situation is changing as our assessed value just went up 51% this year! This would present a problem for anyone buying the property for use as a second home. Summer houses are being torn down left and right with huge three story behemoths wedged into the 50 foot lots. Our neighborhood of weekenders and snowbirds is disappearing. I am quite confident we're in a serious RE bubble ( for Michigan). Maybe it's time to cash in.
We'll hold tight for awhile but it's just one example of the unlimited number of things that can change over time.

 

[socca]

I own stuff; my stuff should not own me. Owning a second home crosses the bright red line into being owned by my stuff. Ain't gonna happen.

 

[Mdlerth]

He will hold to the one and despise the other

I used to think the two-house situation would be fabulous. My parents lived that life for a few years before they retired, with one city house and one out in the mountains.

The city house was convenient to w*rk, as well as to the symphonies and operas they enjoyed, so they kept that house until they FIREd.

The mountain house was where they planned to retire eventually, and they went there most weekends. Scenic vistas, vast woodlands full of wildlife, clean air, quiet; it was lovely...

...except that my mom cried every Sunday afternoon when they had to drive back to the city. The mountain house was really where their hearts were. Those weekend refreshers probably hastened M&D's retirement by a year or two because it was so painful to leave the place they loved.

They never cried on Fridays when they locked up the city house. And when they finally sold it and departed the city for good, they were all smiles. It was a lesson not lost on me.

 

[tps7742]

We had a second home with acreage in the country 15 years pre retirement. It was allot of work and I wouldn’t want that again. We sold our home in the city, had a new home built in the country on our land and presently live here. But the idea of a second home isn’t too appealing to us.

 

[imoldernu]

On retirement, we moved from Lisle Il, and bought our Park Model on Bass Lake in Woodhaven Lakes in Sublette, Illinois, and then in (55+ park) Lake Griffin Harbor, Leesburg, FL. That was in 1989. In 2004, we bought in to our CCRC home in Liberty Village, Peru, Il... (still snowbirding in Florida 'til 2012).
Sold Florida this year, and still have our camp in Woodhaven 35 minutes away.
So, I guess three houses in retirement.

Compared to most multiple homes, probably relatively inexpensive. Dues, Insurance, Taxes, HOA and basic utilities for Woodhaven $3200/yr, Florida $6500/yr, and now, in our CCRC, $7000/yr.

 

[DAYDREAMER]

After owning a second beach home for 9 years, we learned our lesson. Having 2 homes to maintain is just a total PIA. Our beach house was only 5 miles from our primary. Couldn't imagine if the distance was 100's or thousands of miles! My recommendation: find your one utopia place, and go all in.

The other disadvantage for a second home like a beach house, it got boring for us going to the same place, but would feel guilty if we traveled, because we had soooo much tied up in the place.

 

[JDARNELL]

I am going to a pseudo 2 house set up this summer. One will be one of our rental townhouses where we will spend the summers. The other is an overnight rental in a tourist area where we will be spending 4 months during the slow season because we have some family commitments in the area. The rest of the time we will be traveling.

 

[kcowan]

We had a big home 5000 sq.ft on 1 acre with a pool and enclosed jacuzzi. No cottage.

Both our sons now have modest homes in the city and cottages.

We now have a penthouse in the city and a condo in Mexico. We travel extensively in both places. We find that gives us enough of a sense of home. The family comes to visit us and we visit them once a year.

 

[brett]

Absolutely no desire to own a second home.

After owning our various homes for 35 plus years, then renting for four years, and buying yet again led us to the conclusion that, for us, owning even one home is really not that important to us.

We enjoyed the four year rental that had absolutely zero encumbrances on our time, our financials,or our investment decisions.

 

[kcowan]

We hire property managers and outsource any maintenance needed. There is always a way if you are determined. If you think you can't afford them, then yes renting is for you. As an owner, you are a de facto property manager.

 

[moneymaker]

Even though we are about 7 years out from partial retirement, could be full, we talk about this quite often. We are both 36 years old and live in suburbs of Detroit Michigan and realy love Michigan. Current plan in 7-10 years is live in northern Michigan from April till just after the New Years and be on the Atlantic coast side of Florida the other three months. We would like a beach front condo during those months.

However, we really enjoy seeing new places too, so we kinda flip flop some on whether we really would want a 2nd residence in Florida or just vrbo or RV down there in the winter months and also be free to go many other places in an RV....

So am def enjoying reading posts from those folks that are already in these situations.

 

[Dash man]

Even though we are about 7 years out from partial retirement, could be full, we talk about this quite often. We are both 36 years old and live in suburbs of Detroit Michigan and realy love Michigan. Current plan in 7-10 years is live in northern Michigan from April till just after the New Years and be on the Atlantic coast side of Florida the other three months. We would like a beach front condo during those months.



However, we really enjoy seeing new places too, so we kinda flip flop some on whether we really would want a 2nd residence in Florida or just vrbo or RV down there in the winter months and also be free to go many other places in an RV....



So am def enjoying reading posts from those folks that are already in these situations.

This was my view this morning in Hillsboro Beach, Florida, about 20 miles of Ft. Lauderdale.

We love it here, and the traffic is mild compared to the west coast of Florida.

 

[pb4uski]

Our family had a lake "camp" since 1961 when I was 6. My dad bought the land in April 1961 and commenced building that summer. Early on, the interior walls only had drywall on one side, because that is what we could afford... later both sides. We would move to camp right after school ended for the summer and move back home on Labor Day. Camp was about 1/2 hour from where we lived so Dad would commute in the summer while we explored the fields, mountains, streams and the lake. My 88 yo mom still summers there.

We bought a camp 5 doors down the road in 2005 when we were 50. Over the years we replacd the septic system, put in a well (original was a shared spring), put in a foundation (original building was on cedar posts) and ultimately demolished and rebuilt on that same foundation. When we first moved in only had radio... no tv, telephone, internet, etc. .... it was a wonderful weekend getaway place. So wonderful that we decided to live there summers... which brought in tv, phone, internet, etc... still wonderful but less of a getaway.

Then we decided to make it our retirement home and sold our main home.... were down to one home! Retired... but ultimately added a winter condo in 2016 so now back to two homes.... but life is good.

 

[MarieIG]

I totally understand the appeal. My father's family had a second lake home while he was growing up. His family pulled him out of school June - Sept, and he loved it. (I remember him looking around for a lake home for a bit when I was growing up, but he and my mother never agreed on one.)

At this point, we need to get our retirement plan down with one home. My kiddos are currently in three states, so I anticipate that we will be doing a lot of visiting. I am also nervous about leaving a home locked, and DH has no interest in a condo; so I don't see two homes as part of the retirement program.

(I have two homes now due to an inheritance, but the plan involves selling the martial home first and my parents' home second. Selling my parents' home is going to hurt.) DH's father has also told him that he will be inheriting a house in Europe, but I anticipate that his brother who lives there will take that one.

 

[mexexpat]

I own stuff; my stuff should not own me. Owning a second home crosses the bright red line into being owned by my stuff. Ain't gonna happen.

One of our 2 homes is in Mexico. It has roughly the same FMV of our FL home (even though the MX home has a large pool, separate casita and is 2x the sq. footage, both homes within 1 block of large body of water). Est. FMV of each is 375K USD.

MX homes are cheap to carry....my annual taxes are USD equiv. $221
MX homes are cheap to maintain....we do nothing ourselves which is waaay different than what we do in US where we find FL contractors high priced and <sometimes> shady. Have had a great relationship with our contractor here in MX since 2008 (this is our 2nd MX home). Labor is cheap and with current exchange rate, materials are also cheap.

Solar is cheap, too....we put in an 8 panel system that produces on avg. 50-100 KWH monthly ABOVE our usage resulting in zero electric bills with a healthy credit balance to account for additional expansion/usage/toys. It cost us equv. of USD 4,200 for installation and all equipment.

We have a gardener who comes 5x a week for a few hours each day; he also keeps our pool sparkling. His pay is about USD equiv. of $37 USD per week. If we didn't have him maintain the pool his pay would be about $25 USD per week.

I'm not pushing living in MX (it's not for everyone!!), but it does make owning a 2nd home very affordable and takes the Harry Homeowner work out of the picture.

 

[gwraigty]

With so many interesting places to see, I don’t want to be tied down to the second home. It’s a personal choice.

+1

 

[Freedom56]

We maintain 3 homes now and it is working out okay. I always liked the idea of owning real estate in popular locations. We bought our first home together in Southern California after we married. We had a second home that we rented out but eventually sold that property. My father-in-law gave us a second home in Switzerland in the 90's and we visit them every year. We bought a new condo in Florida after the financial crisis for pennies on the dollar as an investment/flip and decided to keep it and we have nearly quadrupled that investment. We own all properties free and clear so the overhead is relatively low. All are geographically far apart so they serve as travel hubs as all are close to major airports and also driving distance from attractions. For us it's far better living in your own home than a hotel. We normally travel somewhere every month so it works out well for us. The big downside is that we have 3 times everything that you find in a home. My wife is doing a great job distributing her expansive shoe collection to all three properties.

 

[mexexpat]

With so many interesting places to see, I don’t want to be tied down to the second home. It’s a personal choice.

Our experience with owning two homes is that it gives us MORE opportunity to travel. We use our Mexican home as a base for exploring the rest of MX and Central America....lots of cheap flights out of GDL which is less than 30 minutes away. When in MX we go "somewhere" for a week every 6 weeks, or so.

Our FL house is under 30 minutes from TPA so we schedule our European trips when there, as well as visits with family elsewhere in the US.

 

[pb4uski]

.... My wife is doing a great job distributing her expansive shoe collection to all three properties.

Well, it could be worse... she could be replicating her expensive shoe collection to all three properties.

 

[unclemick]

26 degrees here today so plan to drive to the family farm 120 miles north to cool off later this week.

Now in prior decades did the pickup/camper routine for 'take it with you when you go' type lifestyle.

Wife is big on VRBO now a days. Owning a third house requiring 'work' is a no no.

heh heh heh - we are having enough trouble de-cluttering , unowning, and generally simplifying maintenance on what we have now.

 

[timemoveson]

+1

I agree and that's the advice I give to most normal people. But we aren't "normal". We have the good fortune to own two very expensive homes and also do whatever the hell we want in terms of travel, etc.

We had a third one for a short while, but that truly was a PITA. Not recommended!

 

[Octogirl]

I grew up in a family with a beach vacation home. I have many good memories from there and always thought I'd buy my own when I could afford it. Now, I don't want to be tied down by the expense and w*rk. Instead we own a SFH rental (5 minutes from our home) and use the extra income to travel where ever we want with no obligations. My brother has the beach property now and we can rent at low cost if we want.

In 2018, DH and I went SoCal x2, Maine , and Bay area. Lots of beaches !!

 

[HadEnuff]

I've been snowbirding in The Villages, renting...I have to admit that the idea of owning a place down here gets more appealing the longer I'm down here. However, when I run the numbers, and realize that in a month I'll be home, and will only be coming her for 3-5 months..I think for me the reality is that I'd be better off renting and not tying up a bunch of cash in a 2nd home, 1200 miles away...

better (for me) to turn the key and walk away April 1

 

[Freedom56]

Well, it could be worse... she could be replicating her expensive shoe collection to all three properties.

That's true. I should be happy then.

 

[Murph]

We have a primary home in a bedroom community well outside of this northeast Ohio city, and a condo that I used to be close to work, saving about 50 minutes commute every day. I just FIREd, and we have grown to hate snow, so we are looking into two options: sell the condo and buy another one somewhere further south, or sell both and buy ine big dream home down south. Probably TN. I’m leaning to the former.