Vacation home/cabin use?

[SJhawkins]

Being in the land of 10,000 lakes we do have some beautiful areas to be in. My question revolves around what years did you really use it?

We did not buy cabin in the early years, kids kept us busy between all the sports, band, church etc. We meet some great people in those years, lots of team trips etc. Would not have changed a thing. We rented a cabin a week or two all those years that was about all we could squeeze in.

Fast forward to mid 50s now I could see enjoying a lake place, at least for the next 10 years maybe. My guess knowing myself after about 5 years will be enough of that. As crazy as it may sound the more work the place is to get upto to speed the better, it's just what I like to do.

All that to ask how many years did you really like/use your vacation home, the really good years?

 

[folivier]

We had a couple cabins/camps throughout our working years. But raising 2 boys limited our use of them to just a few weekends a year. Last one I used more since it was hunting land.
Then when we retired we spent a few years traveling in our motorhome. I kept an eye on places we liked to eventually buy either an RV lot or cabin. We did that in 2020, bought an RV lot then the next year we bought our cabin. Now we spend all summer through October or November at the cabin. Then November, December, and part of January at our condo. Then late January, February, and March at our cabin, then back to our condo for April and May. We hope to keep the cabin until we can't handle the altitude (9400').

 

[Stormy Kromer]

We had a place in Northern MN for 10 years. Right next to Canada. Vacation place for 5 years and full time for the next 5.

It was fun and we came out well financially.

Here's my advice. Rent a fun place whenever you want instead of owning one.

 

[Keim]

Bought our cabin when we were in late 40s. Both kids were teens. Its been 6 years, kids are out of the house. Using it as much as ever. Planning to keep indefinitely.

 

[SJhawkins]

foliver

Thanks for the reply, did not mention been toying with getting a RV, travel trailer, we did have one when the kids were really young, enjoyed it. Current thinking we use it for a few years to bomb the countryside then that would be the end, being we already had a RV we kinda know what that's is all about.

 

[SJhawkins]

We had a place in Northern MN for 10 years. Right next to Canada. Vacation place for 5 years and full time for the next 5.

It was fun and we came out well financially.

Here's my advice. Rent a fun place whenever you want instead of owning one.

We like that area, around lake Vermillion, don't think it's close to Canda as your place but it's not that far. You bring up a good point that we have been thinking about too, it easy enough to just rent......see my next post.

 

[SJhawkins]

Bought our cabin when we were in late 40s. Both kids were teens. Its been 6 years, kids are out of the house. Using it as much as ever. Planning to keep indefinitely.

This is the flip side to my previous post, if the kids would use it that would make it worth it. Would love to see them take their friends up and use the place. I'm sure at some point they would not have much time to use it either.

What I'm trying to gauge is how many years is it really enjoyable, my thinking is 10 years give or take but that is just a WAG.

 

[Stormy Kromer]

I was a short snowmobile ride from Lake Vermillion. Just west of Ely. We enjoyed it a lot, We had it 10 years and realized it was too far from our parents and children for a permanent home and at age 55 realized we didn't want two places and would rather live close to family and travel to where we wanted to go each year.

 

[street]

I have a cabin at the ranch I spend a lot of time at. I don't spend a lot of nights there but is a very livable for three seasons. Wintah would be rough, so I go and spend the days there and enjoy nature and the warmth of the wood stove.

The trick I believe for cabins/vacation pads is living close to them so you can get there often and at the drop of the hat. I live about 25 minutes from paradise and go can fish for the evening or just work on projects there.

When I'm not there I want to be there so if I lived to far away it would be a struggle for me to find the balance.

 

[6miths]

We put a pool at the house and said we wouldn't buy a lake place when we were first married. We then lived overseas for 3 years and had summers off so returned for a good part of summers and rented lake places. Four kids who were all below 10 at the time really enjoyed it so when we returned we purchased a four season home on the lake. We have used it very frequently since. My elder daughter is just returning from 4 days there with her current partner. We were there 3 weeks ago. During COVID we were there for extended stays and now that I am retired also there for long periods May to October. It is definitely a luxury but with COVID prices have absolutely exploded so glad we bought 20 years ago. The children are 25-30 now and all use it periodically. No grandchildren yet but looking forward to sharing it with them. Definitely very happy with the decision.

 

[Sunset]

.......

The trick I believe for cabins/vacation pads is living close to them so you can get there often and at the drop of the hat. ......

When I'm not there I want to be there so if I lived to far away it would be a struggle for me to find the balance.

+1

Our family cabin was fantastic to use when I lived 1.5 hours away, I could go every weekend for ~ 6 months of the year.

Now that I'm ~900 miles away, we go for a month or two at a stretch and it's a long trip with extensive planning and packing.

Was a LOT nicer when I lived close.

 

[OldShooter]

Our family compound dates from 1915 . The last adjacent piece was homesteaded in 1895 and just came up for sale a couple of years ago and two of us bought it. DW and I added another house. Now the family owns about a quarter mile of contiguous lakeshore and 8 houses or cabins, enjoyed by 10+ families, 3 generations.

 

[Backpacker]

We've owned a Canada cabin for about 20 years. The last 5 have seen very limited use. So in answer to your question I'd say 10 to 15 years of usefulness. It's boat access only can't drive to it so that's a limiting factor. When kids were younger we got the most usefulness. Now they're all married and established they seem too busy to get to it.

 

[old medic]

foliver

Thanks for the reply, did not mention been toying with getting a RV, travel trailer,

I wasn't going to reply about our 'cabin" being on wheels, but since you brought it up.... Our escape camp has been used on nearly a monthly basis for many years, and used at home for company a couple times a year. We have had several different ones Pop ups to our current toy hauler. Even in the last year we still managed 5 trips.

 

[Music Lover]

We bought our lake house 3 years ago when I was 58 and she was 54, both of us retired. It was 3 season place in Canada (an hour from our house) so the usable season was about 7 months if you didn't mind hauling water a month at either end of the season.

We use it about 30% of the time in season and I've since almost fully winterized to the point where we can use it almost all year and no longer have to haul water. This summer I expect to finish the winterizing to make it a full 4 season home.

We plan to sell the main house in 3 years or so and live at the cabin most of the time likely keeping a small apartment in the city. I expect that we'll use it regularly for at another 10 years or so.

 

[LateToFIRE]

We bought our vacation home about 11 years ago. After living in NYC for a couple decades, our sanity was at stake. We desperately needed an escape valve. We also had the intention of test driving our ultimate destination for retirement.

We have used our second home extensively, spending at least 50% of our weekends there in the first few years. Then, during the pandemic, the vacation home became the primary home for a couple of years. For retirement, we'll sell the city home, fully relocate to the vacation home.

 

[ivinsfan]

We're from the same state and managed to find the perfect solution, for us anyway. Dairy and crop farmers, always thought we'd buy a 2nd home out West and use it to snowbird.


Well things happen that's life. First we waited until the dairy part was done which took longer then expected. OK, let's buy that house..oh the grand kids start coming, well let's enjoy the baby toddler years before we start snowbirding. Four grandkids later we are about ready to buy. First my DS who has lived in Utah her entire life gets a new job and moves out East. Then my DB buys a winter place in AZ, 3 years later he decides to move there full time. So I would have had a home in UT with no family nearby and my DDs raising small kids and working.



We pivot and buy not a lake cabin, but a nice park trailer at a small family run resort at one of the premier fishing lakes a couple hours North of our farm. As an added bonus our unit is located next door to youngest DD and our 2 youngest GK...it's a nice resort with lots of lakefront, lots of green space and it's quiet. The owners take care of all the basics, the yearly fee is more then reasonable. At our age it's exactly the right amount of time commitment and money. The little resort also has rental cabins, which our 2nd DD books at least twice during the summer so we get family time for everyone.


Now on the other side of that equation a very dear friend of DH, actually sold his home and farm and bought nice lake shore and built a very nice home on the same lake. It's great for us as we often get together at both our "homes" When visiting at our park trailer which is a nice newer unit, his wife comments, this is perfect, you have a nice place here and when your kids come they each have their own space so you don't have 24/7 contact with everyone all the time....


But to each his own, a person has to do quite a bit of looking to find the right resort,but so far it's been perfect for us.

 

[RetiredHappy]

We buy 3 months' worth of timeshare and use it to travel to wherever we want to. No maintenance headaches for when you leave your vacation home empty.

In the winter, we usually spend 4 to 8 weeks at Palm Desert, CA area and Scottsdale, AZ. In the summer, we usually spend a month in coastal California. Last year we went to Carlsbad area, and this year we are going to Monterey. We also use it to spend 2 to 4 weeks in Hawaii every other year. We have used them in many places, Hilton Head, NY, Florida, Newport Beach, Depoe Bay OR, Victoria BC etc etc.

We have the flexibility of booking a 1BR or 2BR, or even 3BR. When we book 2BRs, we invite friends to come with us.

 

[LateToFIRE]

We buy 3 months' worth of timeshare and use it to travel to wherever we want to. No maintenance headaches for when you leave your vacation home empty.

In the winter, we usually spend 4 to 8 weeks at Palm Desert, CA area and Scottsdale, AZ. In the summer, we usually spend a month in coastal California. Last year we went to Carlsbad area, and this year we are going to Monterey. We also use it to spend 2 to 4 weeks in Hawaii every other year. We have used them in many places, Hilton Head, NY, Florida, Newport Beach, Depoe Bay OR, Victoria BC etc etc.

We have the flexibility of booking a 1BR or 2BR, or even 3BR. When we book 2BRs, we invite friends to come with us.

Can you say which timeshare companies you've had positive experiences with?

 

[brett]

When we retired 12 or so years ago we considered buying a winter home in Mexico or Costa Rica.

Decided against it. Too many other countries we want to visit during their warm weather. We did not want to feel compelled to spend time in one place because of ownership.

Simply a personal preference.

 

[RetiredHappy]

Can you say which timeshare companies you've had positive experiences with?

First of all, do NOT buy from the developers. Secondly, the best way to educate yourself about timeshare is to go to tugbbs.com. We are a friendly bunch of folks there whose sole purpose is to help everyone and especially newbies on timeshare usage, and how to get the best deals, aka resale.

There is way too much for me to explain timeshare usage here as there is an entire forum on it (tugbbs.com).

I highly recommend Marriott Vacation Club resale weeks ONLY, not points as points are expensive to own and use. With resale weeks, you will need to use Interval International to exchange into other properties. You can also own mandatory Vistana weeks (5 locations of Westin) where it allows you to use internal point system to book into a dozen or so Westin/Sheraton properties without a fee, or use Interval International to go to other properties.

If you are in the West Coast and like to visit West Coast but ok with 3-star experience, Worldmark is it. Worldmark has 90+ locations and mostly in the cities, along the west coast and National Parks. It has the lowest cost to stay (low maintenance fees) and the best flexibility. There is no fee to pay when you book at any of the 90+ locations.

I own MVC (both Marriott and Vistana) and Worldmark. MVC weeks get you priority in exchanging in Interval International into very nice MVC Hawaii, Mexico and Caribbean properties, plus a ton on the mainland and a few internationally.

I also own a medium size contract at Worldmark to get us into cities and along the West Coast (ocean).

If you want to travel mainly to East Coast, Wyndham (3-star) works similarly as Worldmark. It is not my forte, but you can learn more about it on TUG.

One last reminder: do NOT buy from the developers.

Full disclosure, we did buy all MVC ownership from Marriott and Vistana but it was strategically done and got us to Chairman's Club level. I would do it again (bundling etc) but it is not for the majority of people.

I own resale Worldmark contract twice (sold the first time and bought again last year). WMOwners.com is a dedicated forum for Worldmark owners only. You can pick up very inexpensive contracts there (almost free).

 

[SJhawkins]

Thanks for all the replies thus far

 

[DrRoy]

My parents had a cottage on a lake in Quebec that we went to every year when I was young, and they continued to use every year. My sister continued to go every summer for long stretches, but we went there less so. She has it now, and we have not been for 7 years. We just want to go other places.

 

[misanman]

We bought a lake house 22 years ago when we were in the mid-fifties. It's about 1/2 hour away and I think it's been key for us that it is that close. We went out there yesterday for the eclipse, for example. Another aspect is that we bought half and our two local kids chipped in for 25% each. We each share 1/3 of the expenses. Since they are working and we are retired we end up doing many of the chores except that we have a "all hands on deck" for opening and closing. It has been a blast for family gatherings and I'm sure that all ten GKs have made lifetime memories there.

 

[Cassius King]

We have lake property in my family that is no longer used. It's about an hour from my house. I would love to take over ownership and keep it in the family.
From my experience lately though, it seems like every time I'm able to make it there I'm doing nothing but working all weekend. Always grass to cut, brush to clear, maintenance, etc. It would really have to be a very frequently used property to make worthwhile.
Anyone else have a situation like this? Lot's of family to help? Thanks.