How many of you have 2 houses?

[NW-Bound]

Stateside, DW and I have decided to buy a RV instead of a second home. We are going to our first RV show in a couple of weeks to check out the latest offerings in person.

All right! For a travel lover, a motor home as a 2nd home makes a lot of sense. I wish I considered this option prior to buying my 2nd home.

We have long entertained the idea of buying a vacation home in France. Fortunately for us, my family has enough real estate there that we can borrow for free. So we'll save our money.

Well, as a class B is what you want, it can be shipped over to Europe when you are done with touring the US. Man, I still hope I will do that someday.

 

[kumquat]

We own a single house. I had a hankering for a getaway place for a long time and we scratched that itch in 2008 by buying a small travel trailer for peanuts. Now we are looking at relocating to an ESR destination in 3 years and I am starting to wonder if I want to buy a place there ahead of our target move date. Obviously it would cost more to maintain two homes (suppose we could rent the one in the future location, but it is 1800 miles away), but at some point the RE market will have bottomed and I can still get a 3.5% pen fed mortgage with no closing costs.

Thoughts? My initial reaction is that this would be too much hassle, but I would welcome any thoughts on the subject.

We bought our condo (in a city 400 miles away) because our kids were going to school there and buying was cheaper than renting. Maintenance would have been a killer if rented. DS could fix the odd thing and the kids were willing to put up with other inconveniences until I visited. After DS moved out, DD learned to replace tap washers via a telephone, a digital camera and in Internet connection. Tenants would want a plumber. At that time, a plumber charged $190 to come to the door and $100/hr thereafter.

When DD moved out, we rented it to a friend's son for a few months (more as a favour than a business decision although they were great tenants) and put it on the market as soon as they moved out.

As WTR has suggested, owning two could hurt. Perhaps ESR won't happen or will happen in another location. How about a double dip and the badness that entails? Assuming costs stay flat, what have you gained?

I did this a few months ago........... For me it was probably not the best financial decision

Time will tell.

 

[lauliza]

2 Homes Deeded and Mortgaged Separately

Has anyone done this, purchased two homes in the same town, one on the water one bigger and more residential, separately? My husband suggested selling our house (that we own jointly) and doing this but I can't imagine what the benefit would be. It makes me more suspicious than anything.

 

[Rambler]

Has anyone done this, purchased two homes in the same town, one on the water one bigger and more residential, separately? My husband suggested selling our house (that we own jointly) and doing this but I can't imagine what the benefit would be. It makes me more suspicious than anything.

With what I have seen "on the water" in the past 3 weeks turn into "under the water" I doubt I will ever be tempted again to own a home on the water.

Rambler, from Tokyo

 

[NW-Bound]

Has anyone done this, purchased two homes in the same town, one on the water one bigger and more residential, separately? My husband suggested selling our house (that we own jointly) and doing this but I can't imagine what the benefit would be. It makes me more suspicious than anything.

Why in the same town? Wouldn't a house and a boat work if you want to enjoy the water?

 

[lauliza]

Yes maybe I should suggest that! And I don't see the benefit selling our jointly owned home, taking the profits and mortgaging and deeding 2 homes under our individual names. I'd rather have both names on the deed at least. This is what people do in divorce I'm pretty sure...

 

[davemartin88]

We own two houses, one in Northern Virginia where we live now and the second we finished last fall about 2 hours away in West Virginia. We plan to move to the house in WV in a few months and are going through the fix up process for our house here to go on the market next week. My DW will retire in June if the house prospects look good, if not, will work one more year while living in the house til it sells. They are begging her to stay one more year so will have a spot if we don't sell by September.

I retired in 2008 so was able to spend a lot of time at the new place while it was being built, it's paid for so we have only one mortgage to worry about and taxes/utilities are reasonably low where we're moving. We had a travel trailer on site to live in and we use the house a lot on weekends and other extended holidays. DW works for the school system so nice breaks. I'd be uncomfortable if our second place was any further away, two hours makes it an easy trip to check in, spend some time on site, and get back in one day if needed.

Wish us luck on the house sale!

 

[jimnjana]

Our neighborhood real estate agent just informed us that the school districts have been realigned for our Atlanta home. We were just moved into one of the best high school districts in the county, from one that had a good sports programs and little else. She said we our property value just got a lift. Should be good news when we place it on the Market.

 

[Andre1969]

My grandparents on my Dad's side of the family had two houses. Well, the second one was technically a cottage, about 30 miles away, near the Chesapeake Bay. They inherited it from my great-grandparents (Grandmom's parents).

I remember as kids, we went down there all the time, in the summer, although the place would get closed up in the winter, as it had no furnace. As Grandmom and Granddad got older, it started to become a burden, and in 1993 when Grandmom started getting sick, they sold it. The proceeds didn't factor into retirement plans though, as they were both pretty well set with railroad pensions. It's just that it got to be too much to keep up, especially with Grandmom becoming ill. And, while I didn't think of it at the time, I just ran the numbers, and Granddad was about to turn 79!

My Mom and stepdad bought a second home in Florida back around 2001 or so, with the dream of moving down there once they retired. Well, Mom went out at the end of January this year, and my stepdad took an early-out yesterday. But, now, neither one wants to move down there! They had rented it out for awhile, but for the last few years it's just sat, although they'd go down and stay there pretty regularly.

I have no idea what they're going to do, as they don't want to sell the place up here in Maryland.

I've always fantasized about having a second home somewhere, but the more I think about it, I'd rather just stay in a motel! Or a tent!

 

[rescueme]

My father had two; one for his wife (and me), one for his GF ...

 

[NW-Bound]

Too bad he could not be LBYM and had everyone happily under the same roof, as men in some polygamous societies have done.

 

[Skimmer]

We have two houses, both in Florida, both on the water, both on opposite coasts. One is paid for, one was just bought as a short sale. We plan on renting both out in a few years, and buying a boat and cruising for a couple of years, and then settling down in one of the houses, to possibly RV. We would like to take a few years off around age 55 and hopefully not have to work again, but we'll see how that goes. I just hope we can keep up the insurance and property taxes on both properties and still live our dream of retiring early. I figure they're not making any more waterfront property, so our values should go up as the years go by.

 

[pb4uski]

Has anyone done this, purchased two homes in the same town, one on the water one bigger and more residential, separately? My husband suggested selling our house (that we own jointly) and doing this but I can't imagine what the benefit would be. It makes me more suspicious than anything.

Not in the same town, but about 25 miles apart. Our home is bigger (2700 sf) and in a residential area. Six years ago we bought a 900 sf "camp" on the water and have lived there in the summer for the last two summers. It wasn't insulated and was not capable of year round use (at least not without burning a lot of propane). We demolished it last October and rebuilt it, doubling the sf and are in the finishing phase right now.

We hope to move into the lake house year-round and sell our home. The only problem with two homes is that it is costly and it seems the tool I need right now is always at the other place.

 

[Hamlet]

Two houses? Man, half the time I'm wishing I didn't have the one house I do have

 

[NW-Bound]

Not in the same town, but about 25 miles apart... The only problem with two homes is that it is costly and it seems the tool I need right now is always at the other place.

So, I take it that you have not doubled up your tools yet.

Of course you would, if the distance is more than 25 miles.

And oh, yes, the "only" problem is the cost. Else, I would have had half a dozen houses instead of just two.