Educate me on owning a second property

[Acameron52]

Lake house man. The closer to home the better.

[Kossetx]

I think when you have a beach/lake house maintenance becomes just "work". When you buy land, even with a house, it doesn't seem like work. Many a day I would go back to my job in Houston for a break from the work of the farm...but it's happy work. Spraying, mowing, baling, fixing, digging, designing, feeding, trimming and most of all worrying about how your going to do it all...it's all good.

[CoachS]

I have a small place down at the coast we use on weekends. Nothing fancy, but a nice place to stay. Upkeep isn’t bad, I have a neighbor that mows for me and We knock out little projects when they arise. The place gets used quite a bit between us and friends/family that want to stay there.

But it sounds like you are outgrowing your primary residence. Might be better in the long run to do your second option. Figure out how much you can rent your home out for, do a cash-out refi leaving yourself a couple hundred in cash flow, and invest in a larger home that has your shop on it. Then your getaway is right out your back door.

Matt where are you located at?

[Drycreek3189]

I had another place, but as I’m retired, I found myself spending too much time there. I thought I always needed to do this or that. It was an hour away, so up early to get things done and be back home by 4/5 pm. I spent too much money there too, so I put it on the market. It took two years to sell but the upside is I made a nice profit on my sweat equity.

My point is, it may sound better than it actually is, but your vision may be different than mine.

[rvd]

We have a place in Rockport, 90 minutes from our primary residence that we bought to bring people together and enjoy. We use it, seldom goes more than a couple of days without someone being there. My whole family fishes and Rockport is a pretty fun place to be for any friends that don't fish. We bought big enough so that we don't have to turn anyone away that wants to go, which was a big part of our plan. I suggest you decide on your purpose for the purchase and then figure out what/where. If I were in your situation I would probably concentrate on getting my primary residence functional for the needs of my family before I bought a second home. My 2 cents