Rent or Buy
If you buy and rent it out, it is a lot of work and the people who rent it will take little things as souvenirs. You have to leave your place semi denuded and it may take on a Spartan effect. You can keep one or two big closets locked ( with your personal items, effects and linens you don't want them to use ) relatively safe. But even then, sometimes they will force the lock. Many times I got the impression it was the work of children, what they thought they would find in there I have no Idea. Once, some one had obviously lifted the pins out of the hinges to access the closets contents. ( Linen, Soaps, Fishing lures and tools. They seemed untouched to boot ) All in all it didn't pay for itself.
Owning a place you don't regularly inhabit has its own specific draw backs. People are very comfortably walking on to your property to use the Tennis court, Dock etc. assuming through experience they will find no one home. People start to assume they have a 'right of way' to walk through. I my case they actually did, but to hear people yakkin it up as they walked through when you want to sleep a little late would anger me.
It was common for my neighbor to tie up to my dock. Or I would find some one sleeping/sunning on it. The amount of cigarette butts I would find let me know it was a common enough practice when I wasn't there.
Are you organized and comfortable enough to spend your last 8 or so hours there Winterizing it ? Might not be a fun way to end your vacation ? I used to leave separately, later and actually enjoyed the time alone*, You may not.
There are services that offer this in More commercial Vacation spots but they are not always reliable and it is more cost.
Then you
may have to consider your friends and family, In my case. My mother is cool and I got along with her new husband well enough. They would often take his Daughter and her husband to vacation with them. They asked if it was ok for them to arrive a day or two earlier then my mom. Now I had to put these two losers on the Realtors list. When I asked " no dogs please ! " I was the bad guy and it was obvious they brought their dog anyway.
Beach floats were missing Chaises were found broken. Condiments were not replaced etc. Given the value of the place and its weekly summer rates worth, I thought I had been pretty generous. But I came off as the bad guy. When I later said it was rented out the whole summer I became the villain.
Local people can be unfriendly to outsiders. I know when I lived in Vermont, the Town Board really looked down on vacation property owners and would give them a very hard time when it came to approving things like curb cuts, septic tanks and expansions. They smiled in your face, took your money and did their best to jam people up. So make sure you really have 'a feel' for the area before you make your move.
Now these are all my ex-wife's problems.
When I vacationed as a 'non owner' it was a lot more relaxing. Working on the Vacation houses was relaxing to in its own way but it did eat into my down time.
When I left on vacation, I even took a "Vacation ( Reduced version of my ) wallet". DL - CCs - Cash and that is about it. I didn't even rent a Car. I went to places where I only had to walk a few minutes to be any where I wanted to go. I felt more relaxed and looked forward to it more.
Until I had kids. Currently I travel to what I call
Hellcations spots. That have board walks, amusement parks, Para Sailing, Jet skis and it is a nightmare, wall to wall with Rubes.
So unless you really know and love the area and plan on spending allot of time there, I would not buy, Plus you can vacation in all different locations then.
* I guess that was a sign that I had one foot out the door of my marriage and didn't yet realize it.
Last edited by Hunter/Jumper (2011-01-22 18:43:55)
