5 Reasons to Buy a Vacation Home

They say that the happiest day in a boat owner’s life is the day that he sells it. It’s mostly a joke about the fact that, although a ton of fun, boats can often bring more headaches than happiness.

But what about vacation homes? It truly depends on whom you talk to. Those who go in blindly could very well have a horror story to tell you, while those who were mentally and financially prepared for such an investment would do it again in a heartbeat. If you’re on the fence, read on for five reasons to go ahead and buy that vacation home.

1. Buy it For Your Enjoyment

Many assume that the extra rental income should be the number one reason to buy a vacation home and, although crucial, it really shouldn’t be the main reason. That’s because you might have some off years that don’t prove fruitful when it comes to rent, but you’ll always enjoy your home if you bought for your vacationing purposes. Choose a spot that has become a tradition to travel to with your family, or one that you could easily see becoming a tradition. Ideally, this home will be a car ride away, so you can take weekend jaunts there whenever “real life” is bringing you down. This will also ease the pain of having to go there to check on it and handle any maintenance issues. Most of all, choose a place that you love—one that will always have a special place in your heart. If you already have a place in mind but it’s not the peak time for that vacation home, you might have to find someone who sells houses during the off season.

2. But It for the Extra Rental Income

Most likely, you’ll need this to be able to afford having a vacation home in the first place. This means that you have to be okay with the idea of strangers being in your vacation home, and touching your things. Most importantly, though, those that are successful in this realm know that they have to spend some time each week to dedicate it to handling renters and home maintenance. It does take a bit of entrepreneurial know-how.

“I bought a vacation home because Lake Tahoe was either too expensive to book for a last-minute weekend or I couldn’t find any vacancies,” says Sabrina Robinson of Santa Cruz, CA, via this Wall Street Journal article.

Robinson rents her vacation condo to tourists year round, carving out about two hours to a week to dealing with renter inquiries and house cleaners, etc. If you don’t have the time to dedicate to these property management tasks (or have someone to assign this to) perhaps now is not the time for your vacation home purchase.

3. You Can Avoid the Hassle of Renting in Your Favorite Spot

If you’ve found the ideal location for your vacation home, you’ve likely spent hours scouring the Internet for good rentals here in the past. Not only is this time consuming, online ratings can only get you so far. You’ve likely ended up with a place with that wasn’t worthy of a second visit (or your first visit for that matter), and you can avoid this by having your own home in the area.

4. It Could Serve as Your Retirement Home

Avoid the time and energy you’ll need to find a home once you retire and buy your vacation home in an area that you can see enjoying in your later years. As this BiggerPockets.com article notes:

“For one, it allows you to buy a fixer-upper and have plenty of time to get the work done. Secondly, you can actually spend a few weeks a year in the area before you are ready to move there. This will allow you to get used to the area and meet quite a few new friends.”

The other great thing about this is that, if you have it for years before you retire, you can gradually make improvements to it, so it’ll be just how you want it when it comes time to hang up your shingle.

5. You Can Use it as an Investment

As long as you are in it for the long haul, real estate is almost always a sound investment. This is particularly true if you’ve got a son or daughter going to college in a town that you love. Buy a home in that area that he or she can live in while she goes to school, but that you can enjoy at your leisure, too … all while avoiding throwing the rent money out the window.

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Naysayers will tell you that vacation homes are never a good idea. However, we disagree. If you do your research and consider these five benefits before pulling the trigger, it could ultimately be one of the best life decisions you’ll make.