Too old to purchase vacation home?

[RockyMtn]

In the summer or winter ? I have pondered renting in the summer for a few weeks


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

In our case we rent in the summers as it gets a bit toasty here in North Scottsdale.

 

[Danmar]

Question 1. "Am I too old". Answer definately not. I bought a vacation home at 57 and another at 61. Currently 66. Both places working out very well. Paid cash and wouldn't want to mortgage these. Especially at my age. But I'm Canadian with a different mindset.

Question 2 "Should I buy a vacation home". Tougher question. Would you use it? Can you afford it? Suits your lifestyle? If you answer yes, then get going.

 

[Danmar]

For the operating costs, don't forget to include taxes, insurance, utility, and last but not least, maintenance.

High-country or snow-country homes cost money to maintain, particularly if they are constructed with wood that needs to be stained or repaired often. My home is in its 10th year. In the last 3 years, it cost me $22K for repair. I do yearly maintenance myself with the staining, but some wood still rots and cracks.

Composite siding and deck cost more, but are worthwhile in the long run. Some say they like the natural look of wood, but they are either ignorant of the maintenance cost, or rich enough to keep writing checks. These locations have a contingency of carpenters and builders to service the weekenders' homes. There's nothing else to make money on around here.

Agree. Our lake house is constructed of wood as well as large cedar deck/stairs. Very expensive. But in my opinion worth it. I budget for this expense every year.

 

[45th Birthday]

Agree that you are not too old. Should you? That's another question.

We have had at least one second or vacation home since I was 38 and our kids were five and seven. Financially, the one we have had the longest has been a home run because it has tripled in value in the 17 years we have owned it, with manageable expenses and maintenance.

At first, it might not have made complete sense, but we wanted a place to spend nine or 10 weeks in the summer. With young kids, it wasn't as if we would be doing huge amounts of travel, although we also always averaged two trips a year abroad, and numerous others in the States. We never avoided traveling for financial reasons.

Fast forward 17 years. The kids are post-college and single. They both much prefer to visit the two homes we have now (both would be considered vacation destinations). Over the years, we used the first second home differently as the kids aged. We outgrew that one, but have many very fond memories that we could never put a price on. Its successor will we hope be filled with more as the family expands.

Perhaps best to rent first to see if the change in your life makes sense, but don't necessarily plan to know how you will spend your time in the vacation home in the future. The changes will surprise you.

 

[kcowan]

Question 1. "Am I too old". Answer definitely not. I bought a vacation home at 57 and another at 61.

We bought our snowbird condo when I was 65.

Question 2 "Should I buy a vacation home". Tougher question. Would you use it? Can you afford it? Suits your lifestyle? If you answer yes, then get going.

Just don't include your kids in the decision, as in they will be active participants. They might be but make your plans independent of them.

 

[Drake3287]

Thanks for the continuing suggestions. As for being "to old" to buy a vacation/second home, I guess what I meant is that it would have been nicer if I could have purchased something when my family was younger and our kids would have enjoyed growing at this vacation spot. Like most of us, it's not until our kids are older and out of college that we can afford things like this.

As for all the Pro's and Con's, I've been racking my brain with these questions non stop. No easy answer and I'd hate to put it off if in fact I ever do it.

I might add that having mortgage interest to write off certainly helps a little with the sting of buying something. Certainly not a reason to buy real estate but with our primary residence paid off and kids out of college, any write off would help.

 

[jabbahop]

We are sitting in our vacation/summer camp looking out at the lake. No regrets here. Bought it 3 years ago and love being here during the summer.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[FI by 2024]

I doubt you'd find many on this forum think that 57 is "too old" for just about anything. Assuming reasonable healthy, that could be your vacation for another 30 years, so if you can afford it and would use it, start shopping!

+1

Especially if you have tons of extra money lying around. 57 ain't old (says the early thirties girl)

 

[Markola]

To old to purchase vacation home?

We rent a lot of VRBOs at beaches, lakes, ski mountains, wine country, domestic, foreign, big, small, short term, longer term. There is no way we could afford to buy the beautiful places we rent, and I love handing the keys back without so much as vacuuming. Personally, I'd look at that $400,000 + run rate and think about how many trips anywhere in the world that equaled, but YMMV.

 

[languagefan]

57, too old?!

Okay, ever since retiring a couple of years ago I've gone back and forth on whether to buy a vacation home or not. I tend to overly worry about big decisions like this. (my life story!)

In a perfect world I would have loved to buy one when my kids were younger but I always worried about saving for college expenses plus wondering how I'd be financially after I retire. Fast forward 2 years and I'm now retired with no financial worries, college costs all behind me and I find that I have an extra couple thousand dollars each month just going into an already large enough bank account.

Currently rethinking the possibility of buying a vacation home again but now my worry is that at age 57 we might be to "old" to start a new adventure like this. My 3 kids are all in their early 20's, single and of course have life's of their own although I'm sure they'd still visit this vacation home.

I guess my question is if anyone else has purchased a first time vacation/second home at this age and found it to be still worthwhile? Currently my wife still works full time but is a virtual employee who could bring her computer with her to the second home and still do her job.

You must be joking. The world is your oyster. You are still way too young to ask yourself such a question.
However, it's a question of preference whether you like to choose a place and become a local and keep returning, or that you want to spend that money travelling to various places.
The super conservative person you sound like tells me that the former would be your most suitable option.
There is a lot you and your family can enjoy about a nice vacation house one way or other.
Good luck

 

[Teacher Terry]

I would rent and not buy. I think you might get tired of going to the same place. We bought a RV about 8 years before we retired because we got a used one for a good deal from someone we knew. We figured we would do what they did and travel at least a year in it. Well I found out pretty fast that after a month I am done being in that small space with 4 dogs and my DH and want to go home. At the rate we have used it we could have rented one and been ahead. Plus of course it has greatly depreciated.

 

[RobbieB]

You can get a nice house in Tahoe for 400 grand. Not real big and not on the lake and not on the NV side, but you can't smoke pot legal in NV either.

I'm actually thinking about it.

 

[Dawg52]

We are sitting in our vacation/summer camp looking out at the lake. No regrets here. Bought it 3 years ago and love being here during the summer.

Nice. Nothing like a water view. View from my vacation pad.

 

[ivinsfan]

Thanks for the continuing suggestions. As for being "to old" to buy a vacation/second home, I guess what I meant is that it would have been nicer if I could have purchased something when my family was younger and our kids would have enjoyed growing at this vacation spot. Like most of us, it's not until our kids are older and out of college that we can afford things like this.

As for all the Pro's and Con's, I've been racking my brain with these questions non stop. No easy answer and I'd hate to put it off if in fact I ever do it.

I might add that having mortgage interest to write off certainly helps a little with the sting of buying something. Certainly not a reason to buy real estate but with our primary residence paid off and kids out of college, any write off would help.

Well, most posters here are either in the VRBO, buy or don't travel enough to want a vacation home....I really don't see how anybody here will really influence your decision. Just because you wanted one years ago, doesn't mean you have to buy one now.I think it's kind of like getting married, if you aren't really sure, don't do it. You can always do it later, why not try renting a place first and see how that works out for you.We rented a place on VRBO for 6 years and became friendly with the owners, who lived the same town. We got great prices and could call last minute. After 6 years they asked us if we wanted to buy the place as it was not working out for them. We declined and just moved on to another rental.

 

[jeffmete]

We bought a condo on a lake up north ten years ago when we were 53. Financially its unjustifiable, but I like it and my wife loves it. With a pontoon, jet ski and sailboat there is always something to do. Grandkids love fishing off the dock. My job had me traveling world wide enough that I have zero interest now in traveling (which may change after a couple more years of retirement ) and enjoy not having to pack anything to go on vacation.




Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum
Jeff

 

[Drake3287]

You can get a nice house in Tahoe for 400 grand. Not real big and not on the lake and not on the NV side, but you can't smoke pot legal in NV either.

I'm actually thinking about it.

I wish this was true. I've been checking the daily real estate listenings for months now and anything half way decent even far from the lake is over $400,000. I've even though about going the condo/townhouse route but then I have to take the HOA into consideration. And still, nothing decent for under $350,000.

If I was younger I might be up for getting a fixer-upper but not so much now.