We all enjoy a good vacation and some of us like to have our own property away from home to visit, such as a summer home. Here at the Memphis movers, we know the temptation of a vacation home can distract from our reality and our budget, so we want to help you ensure that the price, time, and location are right for a vacation home in your life.
If you are planning to buy a vacation home, you need to think of proximity. If you plan to use the home frequently, such as once a month or on holidays with extended family, it needs to be within two hours from your permanent residence. Then you need to consider maintenance, if you want someone living in the house for upkeep, and any fees such as HOA that the house may incur. There are certainly fees aside from the initial mortgage that will affect the overall financial burden of a second home.
If you plan to purchase for investment purposes, there are still a bunch of factors to keep in mind. We recommend talking with a professional accountant to learn the taxes involved in buying a second home as an investment property, and taxes that are placed if you are a landlord on the house.
If you choose to buy a vacation rental where you will have a constant flow of different people staying in the home throughout the year, you will want to have reliable people on location to manage the property. You will need to be thorough in creating an estimated cost/income sheet for the property and roughly estimate how many days per year you expect the home to be occupied.
Find out if owning a vacation home makes financial sense for you, and whether it makes sense to own a vacation rental for investment purposes. Answering these questions and determining exactly what you want and expect out of a property are essential to getting the most of your investment.
Remember, the right way to go about determining a second property is your current financial state, your intentions for the property, and if the move is a financially sound one. Don't live beyond your means via a second property.