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Old 03-05-2019, 11:21 AM   #41
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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
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Old 03-05-2019, 11:33 AM   #42
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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.
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Old 03-05-2019, 11:38 AM   #43
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Originally Posted by HillCountry View Post
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.
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Old 03-05-2019, 02:57 PM   #44
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.... 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.
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Old 03-05-2019, 03:22 PM   #45
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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.
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Old 03-05-2019, 04:06 PM   #46
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+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!
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Old 03-05-2019, 04:59 PM   #47
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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 !!
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Old 03-05-2019, 05:34 PM   #48
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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
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Old 03-05-2019, 07:04 PM   #49
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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.
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Old 03-08-2019, 04:34 PM   #50
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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.
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Old 03-08-2019, 05:06 PM   #51
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We had a 2nd home (a condo on the top of Mt. Spokane) in Spokane, Wa. Had it for 6 years and sold as we found we just didn't spend enough time there for what we were paying. Doubled what we had paid for it.

Now we just use our RV as our 2nd home and are "at home" wherever we go. We have met so many people from all over the world and love visiting the not usual touristy places. Life is good.
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Old 03-08-2019, 05:30 PM   #52
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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.


Timely post, as we just returned from a week in Mexico (45 minutes north of Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo). While there, my sister and her DH bought a condo. They can afford it, and will have the property maintained while away. I think if you really love an area, and you have the money, why not? I’m just glad we have someplace now to stay for our yearly Mexico getaway. Works for me!
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Two homes for a while at least
Old 03-08-2019, 05:52 PM   #53
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Two homes for a while at least

We live in a wonderful home is Uruguay a short walk from the beach. But found ourselves missing home a bit. Recently bought a lovely riverfront home in Connecticut which we are fixing up and hope to use 4 months a year and rent out when we aren’t. We also find that traveling from there is much easier than traveling from there and we will continúe to do lots of that.

Ran all the numbers and looked at expectations and fully know this is not forever but should be fun for the next 10 or 15 years. So while the value of the house will not appreciate as other investments might the principal should still return to our Retirement funds and might be considered as diversification. We fully expect the rentals to cover the costs and give us a great get away several times a year.

Conversley renting homes in this area for 4 months a year would likely cost the same when you figure all costs including opportunity but it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun or comfortable, not to mention how DW and I love a Project and this helps keep us busy.
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Old 03-08-2019, 06:34 PM   #54
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There is the "snow birds" idea of spending warm weather in your main home location (where it gets cold in the winter) and spend the winter in your second home where it is warm in the winter. Ex: summer and early fall in New England and winter and early spring in Florida. You could also spend the winter time in Central America/South America
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Second Home or RV
Old 03-08-2019, 07:01 PM   #55
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Second Home or RV

DW and I find ourselves going back and forth on the merits of second home. My wife sells Real Estate and we can't help but think we are in another bubble as far as house pricing. In Columbus, Ohio homes sell the minute they go on the market and often well over asking price. New and existing inventory is limited with home buyers competing with each other, as well as, flippers and housing investment firms. New apartment construction is high and it seems we are headed to a renter society for most people. Really sad for next generation steep in college tuition debt and rent rates are outrageous.

By selling now we could certainly fund two downsized condos with one in Columbus and another in Florida. It makes sense to do it now and sell at a possible peak in a sellers market. Maybe buy a condo in Columbus and wait for a possible correction to housing market for a vacation home.

However, we really like living in our existing house and city & college town location with great hospital access. We have a first floor bedroom and this house would work well as we age. We keep coming back to the same fact that you can only live in one house at a time. And if not rented out it just does not seem to make any financial sense. Although DW parents had a vacation house and loved the weather advantages and lifestyle. We too enjoyed using their vacation home in the Summer, and it was nice knowing exactly what you would do when you arrived.

I traveled International for work and I really do not care if I get on an airplane the rest of my life. We do have an interest to travel in the US. We have an RV that we take to Lake Erie for vacations. Our RV 27 ft comfortably sleeps 4 and is just the right length to fit in our driveway. This means we do not have to pay a monthly fee to store RV. I actually enjoy doing the maintenance and cleaning or hanging out in the RV like a man cave. RV is set up to pull a car; however, we really prefer keeping it simple with bicycles (electric). Or we just rent a car at location. I use Google Map to plot my strategy as to where to park at restaurants, or we we just go early when it's possible to park a RV. With a Golden Buckeye card for seniors, we are able to stay at State Parks at a 50% discount $20 range per night. RV's are still an expensive lifestyle. The trick is to buy used with low miles in the off season and travel anywhere to purchase the right RV. For lots of people a RV purchase is like exercise equipment. They buy the dream and do not use. I also really like Class C for size, safety and utility.

So at this stage, it appears the RV lifestyle and flexibility of different locations is winning. I might have just figured that out by writing this response. Our RV is a Lazy Daze which is not common in mid west and a fantastic airstream-like quality Class C - they claim they invented the Class C. A new coach looks just like one that is 15 years old except for the front end ford truck. With Climate Change threats, I'm also not sure I want to be invested in costal property, and hope my concerns are not warranted. We are looking forward to taking the RV to someplace warm in the winter for a few months when my DW retires.
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Anyone Else Desire The Two-Home Lifestyle?
Old 03-08-2019, 07:24 PM   #56
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Anyone Else Desire The Two-Home Lifestyle?

We lived out of state for about 8 years and keep our primary home vacant and throughout the year went back for a few months to make sure all was well, we rented a condo during that period which I may of regretted not buying it but then again the hassle for me making a few hundred dollars every month was not worth the the trouble once we left to come back home. Paying the up keep and maintenance along with renter issues as an absentee owner was not something I was looking forward to doing in my case.
If I want to visit or extend a vacation for a few months there's plenty of homes or condo's available furnished ARNB's we can afford and enjoy without the added costs of paying more property taxes, renter issues and upkeep.
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Old 03-08-2019, 07:40 PM   #57
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At one point, we owned a house in Phoenix, two houses in Louisiana, plus one in Hawaii where we live, & another that we rent out. Today, just this house, with the paid-off rental on the market, & I couldn't be happier!
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Old 03-08-2019, 08:07 PM   #58
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We have owned three houses for 18.5 years and two for a decade. I am not a fan of three for sure. One we VRBO and it breaks even, the other we rent out full time but all three need to be maintained and it is a huge pain in the butt. We will keep two for a while in retirement as they are five hours apart and one has better winter weather being further south on the Ca coast. But I have to agree with one of the folks here...its a great way to torpedo the firecalcs. Ultimately, ONE HOUSE, ONE CAR, ONE WIFE. Gotta simplify at some point.
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Old 03-09-2019, 06:52 AM   #59
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We have 2 homes, one in Florida, one in the NC mountains. Florida is our home butt we like NC better; nicer people, easier, less crowded great summer weather. We have been in the Fl home for 30 years and this will be the7th year of going tho the mountains for about6 months.

We like it. No mortgages really helps and good neighbors too check on things are important. It costs very little tho maintain the NC house over the winter. The only bill is electricity, which can be $125 or as low as $25, depending on the weather. Taxes and insurance are cheap compared to Florida.

I and my wife really look forward to heading up tho the NC in spring. It's already started and we have 6 weeks or so to go.
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Old 03-09-2019, 07:06 AM   #60
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Grew up in the northeast where summer Sundays were spent picnicking at several local lakes, where I met families who were summer-home residents. I equated that with the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.

After marriage and moving to DC-Metro, I envied those who had weekend homes. We struggled just to buy our first home, but as our careers grew, I realized we could afford a modest beach house or a cabin in the Blue Ridge.

DH saw this idea as more work for us (neither of us wanted a low maintenance condo, even for a weekend). And as DC grew, so did the Friday afternoon drive times to the mountains or beach. We settled instead for one Big House, and took a lot of vacations to memorable places. In hindsight it was a good decision, with my often 50+ hour work weeks and his construction business that made it tough to get away on weekends in the summer.

After we retired we fell in love with Central Mexico, but did not want to abandon having a US home. So in 2008 we became a Two-Home couple and do not regret it to this day.

Anyone else have or desire that lifestyle, either pre- or post- retirement?
We have 2 homes, our main home is in the suburbs of Chicago and we have a condo in Florida. I don't have issues having 2 homes. While it is expensive, it is really no burden. The HOA fees on the condo take care of all the maintenance, so we really don't have to do anything except show up and enjoy the amenities of the complex. We only use the condo 4 months per year from January through May to get away from winter so there is really no outside maintenance at the home in the Midwest. With the exception of the HOA fees getting too expensive, I cant ever see selling the condo - the location has too much to enjoy.
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