Carpediem
Full time employment: Posting here.
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2016
- Messages
- 770
DW and I are starting to think about the possibility of purchasing a 2nd home in our desired 'reverse snowbird' location (MN). We moved to the Gulf Coast a few years ago leaving behind 3 adult children. Although nothing is official yet, we know there will be weddings and grandkids coming up in the next few years so we're thinking we will end up spending more time in MN (summers only hopefully).
Our thinking is that we'd like to buy a place in MN and spend 3-5 months there. However, when I think about the process of prepping our current single family home down south to leave it for several months, it seems almost overwhelming.....and possibly expensive. Of course the same goes for the future new place in MN when we get ready to return down south.
I was hoping to get some feedback from other members who are doing or have done something similar. Some questions/concerns that come to mind include:
- What was more expensive than you were expecting to own and maintain 2 properties? What are some of the gotchas you didn't expect? Is it worth it or is renting a place in MN for 3-5 months a better option?
- Do you have a guesstimate on the monthly cost of leaving a single family home for several months in the summer? (I keep thinking about lawn care.)
- Is it a major pain in the rear to prep your primary residence to leave it for several months?
- Did you rent out either of the properties when you were not using them? I know beach condos are easy to rent but what about single family homes on a short-term basis (i.e., VRBO, Airbnb, etc.)?
- Did you do anything specifically to prep for possible storms, tornadoes, hurricanes? IOW, did you put on hurricane shutters prior to leaving if you were in an area prone to hurricanes?
- Any tax gotchas or pros/cons of owning 2 properties like this?
I sure would appreciate any and all thoughts and opinions about this. Thank you.
Our thinking is that we'd like to buy a place in MN and spend 3-5 months there. However, when I think about the process of prepping our current single family home down south to leave it for several months, it seems almost overwhelming.....and possibly expensive. Of course the same goes for the future new place in MN when we get ready to return down south.
I was hoping to get some feedback from other members who are doing or have done something similar. Some questions/concerns that come to mind include:
- What was more expensive than you were expecting to own and maintain 2 properties? What are some of the gotchas you didn't expect? Is it worth it or is renting a place in MN for 3-5 months a better option?
- Do you have a guesstimate on the monthly cost of leaving a single family home for several months in the summer? (I keep thinking about lawn care.)
- Is it a major pain in the rear to prep your primary residence to leave it for several months?
- Did you rent out either of the properties when you were not using them? I know beach condos are easy to rent but what about single family homes on a short-term basis (i.e., VRBO, Airbnb, etc.)?
- Did you do anything specifically to prep for possible storms, tornadoes, hurricanes? IOW, did you put on hurricane shutters prior to leaving if you were in an area prone to hurricanes?
- Any tax gotchas or pros/cons of owning 2 properties like this?
I sure would appreciate any and all thoughts and opinions about this. Thank you.