DW and I don't agree on many things, but we both like the idea of traveling to a warmer climate in the winter months.
We will start by renting, but I very much like the idea of purchasing a second home.
I don't want to start a discussion about buying vs renting. I'm interested in how others have financed a second home for snow birding, and how it worked out.
Our situation as we get close to FIRE (2018?):
- If we sell our existing home and downsize, we could come close to paying for two smaller places.
- We could potentially pay for a cheaper snow bird place and keep our home, but a majority of our savings is in taxed deferred accounts. I'm assuming a new smaller mortgage would be required to avoid a big tax hit from withdrawing a large sum.
- I lean toward spending most of our equity from our existing home on a nice place down south, and going low cost where we live now. DW isn't on board with this, but she might change her mind as we move forward.
- Is there some other approach that I'm not thinking of? Maybe a combination of downsizing and a smaller mortgage will be the final answer.
I would like to hear how others have accomplished this, and how it has worked out.
Thanks for your comments.
JP
We will start by renting, but I very much like the idea of purchasing a second home.
I don't want to start a discussion about buying vs renting. I'm interested in how others have financed a second home for snow birding, and how it worked out.
Our situation as we get close to FIRE (2018?):
- If we sell our existing home and downsize, we could come close to paying for two smaller places.
- We could potentially pay for a cheaper snow bird place and keep our home, but a majority of our savings is in taxed deferred accounts. I'm assuming a new smaller mortgage would be required to avoid a big tax hit from withdrawing a large sum.
- I lean toward spending most of our equity from our existing home on a nice place down south, and going low cost where we live now. DW isn't on board with this, but she might change her mind as we move forward.
- Is there some other approach that I'm not thinking of? Maybe a combination of downsizing and a smaller mortgage will be the final answer.
I would like to hear how others have accomplished this, and how it has worked out.
Thanks for your comments.
JP