I have a vacation home. It is in a rolling, wooded lake area in the upper midwest. I might be jaded, but I think it is a maintenance pain.

We are now considering getting a mountain place. I'd definately do a condo. The association fee would be a small price to pay to know that I didn't have to worry about all that little crap!

I inherited one. We had been taking care of it for years. I sold it as soon as I could.

Vacations are supposed to be for relaxing. Not for doing chores. We couldn't even enjoy it for long weekends. There was just a lot of upkeep on the property and dock.

I would love to have a vacation get-away, IF I could afford to pay someone to keep the grounds clean, the inside clean with a stocked fridge and clean linens, and all repairs done as needed.

The enjoyment we received simply wasn't worth the yearly tax bill.

GoTravel - one of the other reasons we did not seriously consider buying investment property in Savannah is stories like yours.

Do not know what landlord is thinking, but someone just rented a house in Savannah to our son and 4 friends for next year.

This thread is making me want to buy a house on some water, not tell anyone where it is, and run off.

After several visits to Belize, we just made an offer yesterday on a small condo on the ocean. We'll rent it out for a few years, then spend our winters there.

The hardest part of the decision was it will use up some of our disposable income for travel, but we still should be able to do at least one trip a year to a 'new' destination. Most of our other trips were to Belize anyway.

Now, I just hope we can agree on a purchase price....

"This thread is making me want to buy a house on water, not tell anyone where it is, and run off."

Well mine, gail, is where most everyone knows it is, but it is ALL mine and when I'm there I really am in "sanctuary" so to speak. Mine is under 3 hours away, closer to 2 on a good day- and it's ALWAYS a good day when I'm there.

I would have never experienced another way of life if I hadn't bought MI, either. I'm basically a city girl who after 50 plus years, had never really experienced the kind of human relations that exist within small rural communities. It has great depth and isn't just about dining on Saturday night. I think that having your second home in a highly transient vacation spot with rentals and high sale mobility/turnover would be something completely different.

This home is like going not just 100 miles, but back to an era when people were more real and responsive to each other and it wasn't just all about "me" all the time. Their normal mode is trust. Some people don't even lock up. They open the city hall to get a paper for you. That's priceless and something I treasure more than the equitity. And the episodes with nature are not those I could ever have had on a vacation. It takes time for animals to "recognize" you.

These long term things are part of my equation, absolutely and would not be for everyone. I do think that most heavy travelers are too spoiled in service and short in attention to appreciate the long term in nature.

A big reality check whenever we rent a cottage is how simply we are able to live - I really don't need a full set of expensive pans and 3 different kinds of vegetable peelers to cook a nice meal.

But still wondering if I would be able to recreate this if we owned.

Most can't, gail. The perception of recreating is more commonly such that service and other things become more central than realized. My recreate is total mind and body release of tension. I can recreate the most when I piece together a 100 year old stone boat shed and paint it to look like a Etruscan ruin.

I think if you have doubts about what recreate is to you, and before you begin- then it probably will not be for you. It seldom grows on people unless it is a very strong pull from the beginning. For instance, under much negative commenting from all closest to me, highly prohibitive second house taxing in the second home state, and some other considerations- like maybe having public sewerage accessment in the future- all that didn't make one iota difference. My heart just stopped and I knew it was the place I'd always been seeking without knowing it.

And I still feel that way every time I turn into that winding road up the hill.

My wife and I have discussd this over the years.

We do not have a vacation home but we have memories, new friends and a large bookcase full of photo albums. :-B

There is it seems good reason to own a vacation home (or if you will summer cottage or condo or snowbird place like in Arizona). Or several good reasons as mentioned. But some definte drawbacks do crop up such as maintenance.

And I would put forth the question of going to one place instead of traveling to many places. Oh yes, that little cabin in the woods has its appeal. But over many years we took our "cabin" with us in the form of a fold down camper or a trailer and thus located our home in so many different beautiful spots.

Good friends and relatives do have permanent places they are attached to but we have chosen to see the country instead.

ozarksbill