Anyone Else Desire The Two-Home Lifestyle?

[mexexpat]

Grew up in the northeast where summer Sundays were spent picnicking at several local lakes, where I met families who were summer-home residents. I equated that with the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.

After marriage and moving to DC-Metro, I envied those who had weekend homes. We struggled just to buy our first home, but as our careers grew, I realized we could afford a modest beach house or a cabin in the Blue Ridge.

DH saw this idea as more work for us (neither of us wanted a low maintenance condo, even for a weekend). And as DC grew, so did the Friday afternoon drive times to the mountains or beach. We settled instead for one Big House, and took a lot of vacations to memorable places. In hindsight it was a good decision, with my often 50+ hour work weeks and his construction business that made it tough to get away on weekends in the summer.

After we retired we fell in love with Central Mexico, but did not want to abandon having a US home. So in 2008 we became a Two-Home couple and do not regret it to this day.

Anyone else have or desire that lifestyle, either pre- or post- retirement?

 

[lampshade]

I’d love to do this! I think the only way we would be able to afford this is one permanent residence and one “cozy” RV.

We discuss this frequently. I hope we can make this happen ����.

 

[Live And Learn]

We had a weekend getaway in the woods many years ago, before retirement. I loved loved loved our second home (900 sq ft log cabin in the woods). The reality is that I was escaping the main house, which was nice but not quiet enough. After ER we bought a small home in a 55+ community. Quiet and pretty with lots to do. No need for a second home anywhere.

 

[HillCountry]

With so many interesting places to see, I don’t want to be tied down to the second home. It’s a personal choice.

 

[Nick12]

My friends who live in Chicago are Mexican-American. They have homes in Chicago where they live and work and also they have homes in Northern Mexico. The homes in Mexico are rented out to gringos different times of the year. When my friends visit Mexico and their second homes in the summer and Christmas time they drive in a 4-5 vehicle caravan from Chicago straight to Mexico. Safety in numbers since the local police and cartels may stop and search them at different roadblock checkpoints.

 

[gauss]

Only if I had some type of professional manager who would take care of the non-current house, so that I wouldn't need to be constantly worried about it.

I doubt that I could find someone to do this for the price I was willing to pay, so I guess my answer is no.

Public Service Note to the Early Dreamers - IMHO, Maintaining multiple homes is a common way to torpedo FIRE plans

-gauss

 

[brucethebroker]

Am partial to 8-9 month home North or Midwest (in low property tax areas) and modest/affordable snow bird place down south. Offers a 12 month cycle of spring, summer, fall, spring. Nice!

 

[HadEnuff]

My folks did this in retirement, maintaining a condo in Florida and another in Cincinnati. Even though they were condos, and Dad had no yard chores, it was still expensive, and there were details to be handled, and worries x2... Mom would not agree to being stuck in one climate all year long. Too cold in Cincinnati in the winter, and too warm and too many hurricanes for her, in Florida in the summer.

I had two homes about 50 miles apart the last 15 years I worked. One in the small town I worked in, and one on a lake. 2 years post-retirement, I got rid of the one in town, and live at the lake. This is in the Finger Lakes of NY, very cold in winter. I don't want to be in NY in the winter.
This is my first winter snowbirding. I'm in The Villages. I have friends who have homes here and in NY. I am renting.
It would be a lie to say there is zero appeal to buying and owning two homes. However, prices here have really appreciated the last few years, and I am reluctant, (DW is more than reluctant) to tie up the money in order to buy more responsibilities. So far we have managed to not "drink the Kool-Aid" as they say here.
Financially, by the time you pay for the amenity fees, and taxes, and fixed maintenance costs like pest control, lawn control, utilities, etc...the break even point (not counting principal on a mortgage) is around 6-7 months vs. renting costs.
For me it's all about the transition months. I know I want to be in Florida Dec-March...and in NY May-October... April, and November? Even if I'd prefer to be in Florida, I can certainly be happy enough in NY those months to avoid the hassle and expense of two homes.

In a sense I'm glad to have seen my Dad struggle with the two homes, and I'm glad I've lived the hassle of two homes, and the relative ease of only having to worry about one home, as I think this helps me to make a smarter decision (for me).

Financially, my parent's Florida condo was on a beach in Bonita Beach, which they bought at a great price, pre-construction, in 1992. It appreciated wildly in the years they owned it, so it turned out great. I can't see that kind of appreciation happening in an inland 55+ community that is still being rapidly and aggressively developed. I could be wrong, but I wouldn't ever want to get into a two house scenario with the idea that it would all work out as an investment.

 

[mexexpat]

We have house managers for each home when we are away. I pay $45 per visit (2 per month) at the US home. At the MEX home we pay $ 20 per visit (once a week) and that includes additional service of paying our gardeners.

Our homes are both one block from a large body of water in desirable tourist areas where vacation rentals are sought after. However, we choose not to rent out our homes, though we let family use the FL home at no charge, when we are in MEX.

No fear of safety in MEX for expats unless they are looking for trouble.

We are 30 minutes from Guadalajara airport and fly all over MEX as we explore it.

Having 2 houses does not keep us from traveling elsewhere; we go to EUR at least once a year (heading to Lisbon in April) and take a trip every other month elsewhere within MEX (and recently, Guatemala).

From 2008 to 2013 we drove from our AZ house to MEX (21 hour drive each way). We now own a home in FL and fly between our two homes.

 

[HadEnuff]

Am partial to 8-9 month home North or Midwest (in low property tax areas) and modest/affordable snow bird place down south. Offers a 12 month cycle of spring, summer, fall, spring. Nice!

absolutely agree. While April in NY can be cold and snowy, at times, it is definitely a transition month to Spring. I'm looking forward to being back home in April and watching the world warm up and wake up.

And Autumn is also wonderful in NY...so for a while, while my health holds up, I'll enjoy what I guess would be called The Best of Both Worlds...with just one home to fret over.

 

[Col. Klink]

With so many interesting places to see, I don’t want to be tied down to the second home. It’s a personal choice.

+1 to this comment. My feelings exactly. I can understand how folks with long family ties may want to have two homes, but MegaCorp had me moving 9 times during my career. I prefer to wander and explore.

 

[Bamaman]

We inherited a lake house that's been in our family since 1945, and it's 30 minutes away from our city house. The lake house is modest in size and not large enough for our family. But with grass to cut and maintenance, I spend many days out there 3 seasons out of the year. Utilities and property taxes are only about $200 a month, so it's not terribly expensive or a big financial drain. The family comes on weekends.

We also keep a RV in the Blue Ridge Mountains 90 minutes from Atlanta, and get up there often for 4-5 days at a time.

With those three places to stay, our 50 week out of the year travel budget is about nil because we go nowhere else. 2 weeks a year are spent in Europe, however. I traveled so much in the U.S. before ER that we have little need for domestic travel.

 

[Dawg52]

With so many interesting places to see, I don’t want to be tied down to the second home. It’s a personal choice.

I certainly understand this way of thinking. But there are many like me who do not like to travel a lot. So a 2nd home(condo) is a good way add a little variety to life w/o traveling long distances. I do enjoy one trip a year outside of visits to my vacation home.

 

[ckelly78z]

My DW and I have been pondering this for awhile now. We have a nice 10 acre farm in rural Northern Ohio that has two large barns, a nice creek/woods, and good neighbors down the road. This area is getting much faster paced than it used to be, and it seems like the frigid Winters are lasting longer/colder every year.

We have the idea of finding a decent 50+ acre property in Southern Kentucky near rivers/lakes/mountains that has much more moderate Winter weather, and is pretty isolated from unchecked sprawl. I believe we can afford to keep both, but it remains to be seen about our farm animals that need care. This area would be approximately a 6 hour drive South of where we are now.

 

[bada bing]

I've been a two house occupant since 2010, when I bought a short sale house in Tucson, AZ. My primary residence house is on the Kenai peninsula, AK. It makes a nice break to have options to escape the Alaska winter cold and the Arizona summer heat. I intend to keep two houses into retirement, although I may swap the house in Tucson for something in Havasu city, AZ.

It works better for me than it would for most people in that I have worked remote for the last 24 years, first as an Expat and the last 11 years in Arctic Alaska. I can't live near work and have to have a home that I long distance commute to anyway, so I can choose whatever location(s) appeal to me. I love Alaska, but find the winters less tolerable than I did when younger. I've found I really like the desert when it isn't hot. So it works out pretty well.

 

[Aerides]

I think about it, but probably never will. I live in S Fla, so the idea of shuttering up and going somewhere cooler for the summer/storm season is nice.

But that means finding somewhere that stays nice/cool in the summer (idk, cabin in maine?). Which means leaving it empty for long winters... So arriving each summer to find out what damage I got from the winter.... eh no thanks.

Everywhere I think I'd really want a home, if I take the season, out of the equation, is the same as here, in that the best times are the fall/winter/early spring, so then I have two places to be at the good time, and nowhere perfect for the summer.

Also, cats... so nope.

 

[Ronstar]

We’ve had the Illinois house / Arizona townhouse combo since 2002. It’s great because we can enjoy good weather year round. But I’m getting the urge to simplify my life as I get older. At some point, I’d like to downsize to one place. Finding the ideal place and getting DW to agree is another matter.

 

[Dash man]

We have three. Our primary home is in southeast PA. We have a Florida condo (where we are now) and a Jersey Shore home. We rent out the Jersey Shore home during high season to pay for the taxes, utilities, landscape maintenance and insurance. We enjoy it mostly in spring and fall, and maybe a few days in summer if not rented. We’re happy for now. If we choose to sell in ten or fifteen years, they’re in desirable locations and should sell quickly.

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

I love the concept of having a home, away from home, and the associated comfort and convenience.
However, I don't think we've found a locale yet that we'd want to and would be able to return to frequently enough to make it worth or while. Having a second home in Whistler would be interesting but we long missed that boat from a financial practicality perspective.

 

[brewer12345]

Where we live is pleasant, but it is becoming too crowded, increasingly urban, and frankly the state is becoming dominated by busybody politicians who want to poke their noses into everything. I am becoming increasingly pissed off about living there. I would be happy to pick upstairs, but the kids are within 5 years of college and dw is unlikely to be happy in a place with more room. A couple buddies and I are talking about buying a tract of land with a cabin in more pleasant areas. We will see if this happens, but I am in need of an escape.

 

[W2R]

I think about it, but probably never will.

+1

When I was working, I liked the idea of going on vacations to get away from it all.

Now that I am retired, there is nothing to get away from. I love my mundane, boring little life and routines here in my Dream Home, next door to F. I have no use for a second home if I am going to just stay here and enjoy life all the time. And that is really what I'd rather do. He feels the same; we were just going over that this morning to make sure we were on the same page.

Besides, I'm into simplifying my life as I grow older, and making it more complicated just has zero appeal. That includes dealing with a second home that I am not living in for half the year or more.

 

[Alan]

It was something we planned to do after retiring, a second home in England to spend summers there within easy reach of Europe. First we needed to do all the extensive travel we wanted on the USA side of the ocean so we spent 6 years traveling for several months a year during the summer. We then set up a house in England in May of 2016 but by the time we cruised back over to the USA we decided that the 2 home situation was not for us and we closed up our place in Texas and moved fully over in 2017.

We still enjoy traveling and are currently on our way to Florida then a Panama Canal cruise to LA where we will stay with our daughter for a couple of weeks. In May it will be the Scilly Isles for a couple of weeks with friends, and in July two weeks in France with relatives.

 

[robnplunder]

I've thought about it but DW and I are two lazy to maintain two dwellings not to mention the extra cost. We also live in mild climate, relatively short way from everything. I.e, there is no need to find another place to stay for an extended period.

 

[FIREd]

When I grew up, my parents had two homes, one in the city (which served as a base during the work week) and one in the mountains (for weekends and vacations). I thought that it was a great setup. In fact, I know many people who have a second home at the beach or in the country and enjoy the two-home lifestyle.

During my adult life, however, I have only owned one home at a time. I often get tempted to get a second home and I sometimes go as far as shopping for one. But I can never pull the trigger. I value simplicity too much.

 

[DrRoy]

With so many interesting places to see, I don’t want to be tied down to the second home. It’s a personal choice.

+1
I grew up in a vacation home family, and thought I would always do that. Now, I don't want to be tied down by the expense and prefer to travel widely. My sister has the property.