Comments on: Buying A Vacation Home But Renting A Primary Home.

By: Carnival of Personal Finance No. 177

Carnival of Personal Finance No. 177 — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 14:07:00 +0000

[...] from My Two Dollars shows why Buying A Vacation Home But Renting A Primary Home makes [...]

By: Cassandra

Cassandra — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:31:03 +0000

What a nice vacation cabin you got there, not only you are saving your money but also you have find a good place to relax and do your work even you are on a trip. Renting is good as long as you are working on a different places.

By: Weekly Roundup - Daylight Savings Edition | Cash Money Life | Cash Money Life

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 20:36:01 +0000

[...] Buying A Vacation Home But Renting A Primary Home. This may actually make sense for some people. [...]

By: david

david — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:18:26 +0000

Absolutely Lynnae, something to keep in mind if we have kids!

Thanks Heather, appreciate the support!

By: Heather

Heather — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:04:46 +0000

As a freelance writer in the Upper Midwest, I’m in very much the same situation. My husband and I both freelance, and we have been dreaming of buying a cabin in northern MI. They’re dirt cheap right now, (our local MI economy has tanked big time) and it’s incredibly tempting to buy when prices are so low.

We’ve been aggressively saving to pay off our mortgage, which we’ll do at the end of next year, so if prices can stay low until 2010 we could just take out another, much smaller mortgage and do it then. It’s hard to wait, but the thought of two mortgages is pretty scary, at least to me!

Good luck with your decision!

By: Lynnae

Lynnae — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 02:41:13 +0000

That’s pretty much what my aunt did. She was a teacher in a major city and bought a vacation home away from the city. It worked out well for her. She spent her school breaks at the vacation home, and now that she’s retired, she pretty much lives there full time.

One thing you might want to consider, though is how this might impact you when (or if) you have kids. My experience is that owning a primary residence was much more important to me after I had children. You’ll want to be able to decorate their rooms, build that play structure in the backyard, etc. So make sure you’ll still be able to obtain that primary residence mortgage down the line.

By: David

David — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 23:33:12 +0000

Sounds like a plan to me William!

By: William

William — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 23:07:42 +0000

I live in NYC, so I found this post particularly applicable. The cost of owning in NYC is quite steep, especially when you factor in property taxes and monthly condo/coop fees. Renting, even over the long term, can make a lot of sense. BUT, I don’t want to not own any property, so my current thought has been exactly yours: rent where we are, but own a vacation home somewhere else. Hopefully then you get the best of both worlds!

By: david

david — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:03:43 +0000

Thanks John, appreciate your thoughts on this. We will start looking a little more into this as we move forward!

By: John

John — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:42:41 +0000

David

The first thing I did with my wife was purchase a weekend home. I cant tell you enough how nice it is to go away for the weekend. Leave the regular day to day at you main home and get away and relax on the weekend. Does it have its draw backs? Well it does, double expenses, two homes to run. As long as you are secure enough to have these expenses it will be invaluable to you. Sleep is better. smells are better, work around the house is not a chore but a relaxing diversion from your routine.

Barbecue, fire place, coddle with the wife or spend time with the kids cant beet it not the same doing these things at main home to many interruptions and when you are in main house routine is hard to brake.

Go and enjoy your idea. Its something that you will always cherish and remember.