As a real estate professional working in Mesquite, Nevada I have helped many people purchase second homes. I have also been there a few years later when they sell their vacation home because they did not use it enough or plans had changed. Here are a few tips to think about before jumping in and buying a second home.
First, age in my opinion makes no difference. The vacation homes I have sold over the years have been to all ages. Some are retired, others not, still others that never will retire. One factor that does matter is proximity. Too far away and it gets little use. Having it too close you are not able to get away. I have not had many people that are closer than a 2 hour drive. At the same time I would not recommend much over 7 to 8 hours. A good half day drive works great.
If you are going to get a second home flexibility in your work schedule or occupation is a must. When you go to your second home and you are on call for work, it is hard. With today’s technology many do their work from laptops and cell phones, this works great for a vacation home. I bring this up because many have set schedules that employers are depending on employees and if you only have 3 weeks vacation per year and work 8 to 5 Monday to Friday, a second home may not be practicable.
A second home or vacation home is for enjoyment and is not an investment. An investment is something that makes you money. Your vacation home will not make you money each month. You will most likely have utilities, taxes, insurance, home owners dues etc. Hopefully what you gain from your vacation home is enjoyment. If and when the time comes that you want to sell, and if the market is right, you may make some money but do not buy a second home on pure speculation.
After all, you should buy a vacation home when you are ready to use it. And then use it often and enjoy it.
Brandon Park is a Certified Residential Specialist with Bowler Realty in Mesquite, NV. He specializes in Mesquite & surrounding areas areas and is a member of the MesquiteGroup.com team. Access Mesquite homes for sale and relocation info at http://www.MesquiteGroup.com
Brandon_Park
Last 5 posts in Buying
- How to Receive Up to $15,000 For a Down Payment on a New Home - June 1st, 2009
- Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness - Seeking Home Ownership - May 31st, 2009
- Get $8,000 Now! - May 31st, 2009
- Jurisdictional Wetlands Prohibit Residential Development - May 31st, 2009
- How to Get $15,000 to Make a Down Payment in the Form a Free Government Grant - May 31st, 2009
Do you need money to start in the real estate business or do you need money to buy a new home? The government has put programs in place where people have been awarded over $275,000 to get into the real estate investing market, over $15,000 to help pay for a down payment on a new home, $10,000 for a brand new roof on your house among other home program grants.
In order to qualify for a grant, you only need to be 18 years of age and a United States citizen. There is no credit check to qualify for a grant… Continue reading
Are these still the common threads that run through our society? Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are our rights. They are what have made this country the greatest on earth. Sure, it has problems but it has been a power house for many years. With some of the economic happenings in the past few years, it’s been harder to attain some of these. One of the basic pursuits is to own your own home. Some people have even picked out their ranch house plans and some land to build it on but due to the economic downturn, they… Continue reading
You might have heard about the $8,000 tax credit first time home buyers could receive. Have you heard that you can apply it towards the purchase of your new home? On May 29, 2009, the secretary of the U.S. Housing and Urban Development agency (HUD) announced two new ways that you can receive this tax credit.
If you use an FHA-approved lender, you can use the tax credit towards the down payment and closing costs of the home. While your tax credit can be used for a substantial part of the down payment, FHA still requires that you put up 3.5%… Continue reading
Jurisdictional Wetlands Prohibit Residential Development
Finding the ideal location to build your new dream home can be a wonderful experience. However in the United States buyers need to be on the alert to watch out for a new scam that involves the sale of non-developable land to the public. The properties are sold in new subdivisions by unscrupulous developers and licensed realtors that advertise “residential home-sites”, “lakefront lots”, permitted “home sites”, etc., but the land cannot be legally developed. According to one victim’s official website “Florida Land Scam Victims”, many others have already fallen prey to such a con job, known… Continue reading
November 10th, 2008 at 11:32 am
Hey
sory to write to you like this, but i could not find the contact form. I really like your blog and i was wondering if you would maybe like a link exchange with my website http://www.sayeconomy.com . My site has many good articles and gets many new visitors each day. I think we would both benefit out of this exchange alot.
Next to link exchange i would like to offer you an option to publish some articles of yours about economy on my blog, send them to me and i will publish them. You can add link to your blog under each article and i will publish it as a source.
Well let me know on info@sayeconomy.com . I would really like a link exchange with your blog (i like it alot).
Thank you in advance for your reply.
Cheers,
Matt