In2Deep

Curious aobut 2 things:

1. how many of us own 2nd homes that are lake or oceanfront houses, that are in a different state from your primary residence -- and too far away to drive for a weekend? So these houses aren't used much, and get used mostly on long holidays?

2. For those that fit this profile, I'm interested if there are any major headaches/anxieties of your far-away 2nd home ownership that you deal with on a regular basis -- and how you deal with those.

Thanks for your thoughts.

I2D

BUIZILLA

i've had one in middle TN for over 16 years, nice tri-level

lately it hasn't been used much

up for sale now or rent for vacations is what I'm gonna do,,,,

950 miles from this desk

damm

Alpha Tango

IMO it depends on the personal value it gives you when you are able to make it. I have a place that is a 14 hour drive and not easy to fly into. But the times that we are able to go is worth every penny.

Regarding issues that come up with the house we have someone that checks it weekly and handles repairs on an hourly basis.

mjpcowboy

I have had a lake house at LOTO for 7 years with a 5 hour drive and wouldn't want to be without it. Is a little far for two days but with a day on either side works great. Somewhat a pain to do work on two households but many friends like to visit so great help

Quinlan

iTrader: (1)

Couple times a yr would suck.
50 miles door to office. There Every weekend.
Well we miss 2 or 3 a yr
Shootout and KW.
COLD ride comming up for Christmas boat parade this weekend.
Sorry not what you were asking I know!


Ok its actually 70 miles, Timed it today. Guess I drive faster than I thought. Hr n 5 min.

bajaholic

We have been weekenders at a few differnt properties we have owned.(15+years)

We had a cabin in Northern WI (was 4 hour drive) for snowmobiling (discovered they even have summer there after we bought it) and had a couple of condos at LOTO (9 hour drive) before we built the house and moved in on a more permanent basis.

For our cabin in the north woods, we never had any real problems, just need to plan accordingly for the heat/air conditioner and dehumidifier in the winters/summer season change. We always kept the heat on in the winter (as low as it would go) and turned off the water. We also hooked a freeze alarm to our phone, this was cheap and it took the worry out of it for us. In the summer, we hooked the dehumidifier drain hose directly into the drain, kept everything nice and dry...

The condo, was never a problem because the maintenance people came in monthly to bug spray/check out for us and if there was a problem, they would notify us of it, or just fix it if that is what was needed. (luckily we never needed anything fixed, but it was nice to know that service was available)

There is 2 schools of thought depending on where you are looking, when we had the cabin, we needed to visit more often to mow the yard etc, but when we had the condos it was always taken care of for us. You can always hire a property "checker" to come buy every couple of weeks to check on things, or get a security system... These all take the worry out of not being there...

Having multiple properties have always worked for us, and now is a great time to be looking in most markets! Good luck.

fountain4play

We've owned our lake house down at LOTO since 2000 and try and get down every weekend during the summer and every other weekend through the winter... It's a little over five hours one way but we love it.

I have several web camera's down at the house and it helps with checking things out when your a few hundred miles away, that and we have friends that live close by to check on things if something seems amiss.

THEJOKER

One at the beach and one in the mountains. We never get there often enough. We have a baby and another in 5th grade and that keeps us home too much. We do live on Lake Lanier though.

Osageparty

We have a vacation home at LOTO. We live in California. 1720 miles door to door. We make it out there 2 or 3 times a year and usually stay 2 or 3 weeks. It's a long azz drive but we just love it there. We rent it out for vacations all through the summer except for 3 weeks we are there. With the vacation rentals it almost pays for itself. We have a maid and handyman on speed dial for cleanings and emergencies. We have owned it for almost 10 years now, best thing we ever did. My wife does woory about weather damage, frozen pipes, trees down, etc. but thats why you have insurance. Life is only what you make of it and knowing I have a beautiful place to go to makes getting up and going to work worth it.

Dd24skater

70 miles door to door, we are there every weekend plus one week a summer. Wouldn't own something that I couldn't use every weekend.....would be cheaper to just rent a few weeks a year and you can go to different locations. Just my .02