Vacation homes for the FIRE'd

[M Paquette]

I found myself looking at some real estate web sites last night, scoping out vacation homes. There's some cheap stuff out there. I've gotten some feedback in the past that I'm 'too old' to go have a vacation home, now that the kids are grown. Heck, I'm not quite 56, so I have a few good years left!

Being in California, a state currently in withdrawal from the 'Everybody's got three mortgages' binge, there appear to be some good deals out in the low-midrange vacation home market. I've been looking at places on the Web, checking out the old South Lake Tahoe and Guerneville (Russian River) areas. Both of these are fairly easy drives from my current location. I had fond memories of South Lake Tahoe from camping as a child, and later family cabin rentals in the Bijou and Al Tahoe areas. There were also those fun days tubing in the Russian River.

Aside from the risks of a second childhood, maintenance expenses, and property taxes, what else should I look out for in a FIRE'd vacation home? Am I worthy? Any real grounds to that 'too old' argument?

I could always just rent, but I like the idea of a more permanent place to have my stuff, so I can just get me there and not worry about if I brought the right stuff, or enough stuff.