Would like to live in 2 places after retirement...

My! Are you neighbor with the Bush family in Kennebunkport ?
 
If you plan for it, owning two homes is very doable. In our case, renting was out of the question because of pets. We bought our florida home yrs ago and used it as a rental before retiring. As we age, I imagine we will sell and downsize to an over 55 rental community. As far as a hassle in furnishing two homes, it was much fun as we have completely furnished our 2nd home with estate/yard sale finds.
 
We have owned two home not counting the full time rentals for five years.

Both are fully paid for. We did not buy the second one until we could pay cash. I know that there are arguments to be made on both sides of this issue but for us not debt has always been are mantra.

Our second home is on a lake about 60 miles from our primary residence so we can use it on short notice and any weekend we want to. We spent over 100 days there last year which was the most ever. The year before we rented it out as a vacation rental and literally had to stop taking rentals to keep taxes under control. Since I am just ESR and work part time I can work from that home just as easily and I actually have about 20% of my clients in that area.

I do all the Maint on both homes and I do occasionally get tired of the work but at my age I need the exercise anyway. This however is just one area of many that two homes can cost you. We do feel it has been a good diversification for our investments and the property is still up considerably in value from what we paid and there are still buyers but I really do not see it primarily as a investment.

We are not planning on keeping both homes once we reach our 60s. at that point we probably will sell our current home and move to the lake full time.

I have run the numbers every way I can think of and the only way we could possibly come out better owning two homes versus investing the money is if we rent it as a vacation rental some. That of course means we cannot use it as much during prime season but knowing we can if needed helps. So for us it comes down to the fact that owning more than one home is a toy and we have to view it as that. I do not think it makes financial sense to own two homes but as long as we can afford it we really do enjoy the toy.
 
fisherman said:
...
I do not think it makes financial sense to own two homes but as long as we can afford it we really do enjoy the toy.
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Yes, that's the way I view it too. Holding the 2nd home for 10-15 years, if I break even after expenses, I will be happy already. I get some use out of it, and that's enough. Profit, if any, is just gravy.
 
NW-Bound said:
Yes, that's the way I view it too. Holding the 2nd home for 10-15 years, if I break even after expenses, I will be happy already. I get some use out of it, and that's enough. Profit, if any, is just gravy.
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I think this is key. Some hate having even one home; some would hate 2, and others like you like having 2 homes. Horses for courses.

Ha
 
Well, for now, at my first phase of ER.

I can see myself at 70, if I last that long, consolidating to a condo in Seattle where I can just walk down to shops and restaurants at street level. There's an allure to that too, which I like to try at some later time.
 
NW-Bound said:
Well, for now, at my first phase of ER.

I can see myself at 70, if I last that long, consolidating to a condo in Seattle where I can just walk down to shops and restaurants at street level. There's an allure to that too, which I like to try at some later time.
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Bring your raincoat. :)

Ha
 
As an Arizonan, I do not have a raincoat. Will buy one in Seattle when I get there. ;)
 
We went through an evolution. We owned a timeshare with fixed time and place so it was similar to a cottage with the same neighbors each year (in January). When we retired we would augment the TS with rented weeks. We eventually developed a wider circle of snowbird friends and stayed 12 weeks.

Last year (2007) we bought a condo and sold the TS weeks. We are in the process of nesting for 6 months. We rented our home to a friend until June 1st. Being retired we kind of enjoy the nesting process. It is such a treat to no longer live out of a suitcase for months. Some of our former landlords are now friends because we are now here at the same time.

We employ housekeepers in both places and that helps a lot. But we are still learning.
 
We had two homes pre-retirement due to a multi-year period when H had a job in Southern California. It made more sense to buy then then rent - so we did. It's a small house and we are able to handle it financially. We bought it before the recent explosion and subsequent collapse in local home values.

We have good neighbors (in both locations) so we do have folks who will let us know of any catastrophes. It's great to be able to not even need to pack when traveling.
 
Very interesting thread. We have been retired in Vermont for 3 1/2 years. Although we're not there yet, we can see a time when a 1 - 3 month winter getaway might appeal to us. With real estate prices down, I've vaguely thought it might be a good time to buy a condo in a warm place, but reading the majority of the posts on this thread has reinforced my gut instinct that renting initially (and probably forever) would be the way to go for us.

For example, we NE types generally think of Florida or the Carolinas as "the" warm weather getaways and I'm sure we would like to try some of those places. But the Southwest also has appeal. Before buying in one place, we'd like to try a month in FL, maybe a month in the Carolinas and perhaps a multi-month drive across the country with a good stint in AZ or NM.

If we actually do that over the next 5 - 10 years, it may be time for a continuing care community anyway so buying a second home would be a moot point. :)
 
We kinda have two homes--a regular stick-built house in town (Portland), and we have a fifth wheel trailer parked on 120 acres of timberland located about 90 miles away, on the eastern side of the cascades where it is a lot sunnier. It has worked out well--we don't worry about it like we would a cabin, and yet it has all the comforts we need.
My aunt and uncle have a similar idea: they have a home in WA state, and then they drove a fifth wheel trailer down to CA or AZ for three months each year. Now they are too old to drive, they just store the trailer at the RV park, and it's ready for them when they need it each winter. I know RVs aren't for everyone--but they make cheap vacation homes, especially when you park them on land you own!
 
rocketdog said:
We kinda have two homes--a regular stick-built house in town (Portland), and we have a fifth wheel trailer parked on 120 acres of timberland located about 90 miles away, on the eastern side of the cascades where it is a lot sunnier. It has worked out well--we don't worry about it like we would a cabin, and yet it has all the comforts we need.
My aunt and uncle have a similar idea: they have a home in WA state, and then they drove a fifth wheel trailer down to CA or AZ for three months each year. Now they are too old to drive, they just store the trailer at the RV park, and it's ready for them when they need it each winter. I know RVs aren't for everyone--but they make cheap vacation homes, especially when you park them on land you own!
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Something I have always wondered: how do you get power, water, and sewer for the RV if it is parked on your land?
 
Ronstar describes a not uncommon arrangement in the PNW. Power is rarely an issue, sometimes a well is necessary, septic is almost always necessary. Check zoning.

We have a travel trailer as our get-away abode, built a canopy over the trailer so we didn't need to worry about leaks (often it is wise to check with an engineer to make sure you aren't building a land-sail. Only issue we had is when the power was out for a day during the last freeze and the water heater tank froze and split. When DH went to repair it he found that drain-downs were not functional.

Although we didn't buy one (we are cheap and didn't expect to use the trailer as long as we have), I think Arctic Fox is constructed to cope with the elements.
 
brewer12345 said:
Something I have always wondered: how do you get power, water, and sewer for the RV if it is parked on your land?
Click to expand...

We have a solar battery charger which supplies our limited electric needs, a year-round creek provides water, or we bring our own--we filter or boil the creek water (ever since we found the dead deer laying in the creek one spring:p), and we either bury or pack out the "sewage". How does one pack out sewage, you ask? We have a plastic tote that is designed specifically for moving RV sewage around.
 
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