Vacation home/investment

[Morris Zapp]

Optimal distance is an hour and a half. I can get in the car in my jammies and make it all the way to our second house without having to stop anywhere along the way to pee, etc. If you take the dog you can also make it the whole way without pit stops. It's also a good distance for a quick trip to supervise a repair, or if you leave your cell phone on the kitchen table by accident (ahem).

We love our vacation house but didn't buy until we were empty nesters. We also bought a fixer upper so spent way too many restful weekends laying tile and flooring and painting. It was cheap because it was a dump which means we don't have to airbnb it, etc. I love the short distance and not having to pack. We just keep old clothes there, etc

Biggest hassle is remembering what you left in the fridge. Seriously thinking of getting a "smart" fridge.

[Hegemony]

I have two suggestions for having a vacation home:

1) Prepare two list prints-outs: "When Arriving" and "Before Leaving." Post them on the fridge or by the back door. They should be things like:

1. Turn off hot water heater in basement, number 13 on circuit breaker.
2. Take all trash.
3. Check fridge for perishables.
[etc.]

2) Get the same microwave for your regular house and your vacation house. This saves you having to peer at the microwave in the new place saying to yourself: "How in the heck do I heat water? Which one do I press??"

[Morden]

Optimal distance is an hour and a half.

I'm jealous. We are an eight hour drive/one hour flight away. It's too far/expensive for regular weekends. But sometimes if you want a significantly different environment, that's what you get.

OP, as you think it over, maybe imagine what your kids are likely to want now, in 5 years, in 10 years. We've noticed that families with kids often go through dramatic usage changes as the kids age--including years where the teens don't want to come out at all and then again later when the kids want to be there without the parents.

[apl68]

Nobody has yet mentioned an increasingly important consideration when it comes to beachfront properties--will the property still be there in 15-20-30 years' time?  It is becoming increasingly apparent that many beachfront properties in the U.S., especially in Florida and Louisiana, won't be.  No, they won't be submerged like Atlantis, but even eight inches or so of sea level rise--and some places are looking at as much as a foot and a half within the next two decades--can make some properties so flood-prone at every high tide and moderate storm as to be effectively untenable, unless there's work done to jack up the whole house and flood-proof all necessary roads and utilities. 

Many Florida beachfront communities worry that within a few more years the dawning realization that these properties are no longer good long-term investments will become so widespread that it will torpedo the property values that support most of their tax bases, just as they're really going to need more money to raise roads, build sea walls, etc. to adapt.

[downer]

Nobody has yet mentioned an increasingly important consideration when it comes to beachfront properties--will the property still be there in 15-20-30 years' time?  It is becoming increasingly apparent that many beachfront properties in the U.S., especially in Florida and Louisiana, won't be.  No, they won't be submerged like Atlantis, but even eight inches or so of sea level rise--and some places are looking at as much as a foot and a half within the next two decades--can make some properties so flood-prone at every high tide and moderate storm as to be effectively untenable, unless there's work done to jack up the whole house and flood-proof all necessary roads and utilities. 

Many Florida beachfront communities worry that within a few more years the dawning realization that these properties are no longer good long-term investments will become so widespread that it will torpedo the property values that support most of their tax bases, just as they're really going to need more money to raise roads, build sea walls, etc. to adapt.

I agree with all of this. But in turn, the problem of climate refugees will be so major by then, with huge political ramifications, that we can expect economic and political turmoil.

So maybe live for the present and let the future look after itself.

[dismalist]

Nobody has yet mentioned an increasingly important consideration when it comes to beachfront properties--will the property still be there in 15-20-30 years' time?

That will be in the price.

[lightning]

Nobody has yet mentioned an increasingly important consideration when it comes to beachfront properties--will the property still be there in 15-20-30 years' time?  It is becoming increasingly apparent that many beachfront properties in the U.S., especially in Florida and Louisiana, won't be.  No, they won't be submerged like Atlantis, but even eight inches or so of sea level rise--and some places are looking at as much as a foot and a half within the next two decades--can make some properties so flood-prone at every high tide and moderate storm as to be effectively untenable, unless there's work done to jack up the whole house and flood-proof all necessary roads and utilities. 

Many Florida beachfront communities worry that within a few more years the dawning realization that these properties are no longer good long-term investments will become so widespread that it will torpedo the property values that support most of their tax bases, just as they're really going to need more money to raise roads, build sea walls, etc. to adapt.

I agree with all of this. But in turn, the problem of climate refugees will be so major by then, with huge political ramifications, that we can expect economic and political turmoil.

So maybe live for the present and let the future look after itself.

Some climate refugees, anticipating the future, became mountain people <ahem>. Now some of those mountain people out west are getting scorched.