Which is the RIGHT house V

I'm taking a little detour from the details to address the resort property/second home situation. With a non-primary residence you have different considerations. In a second home, hopefully in some ultra cool place, you're probably going to have a different array of lifestyle components--let's hope! Obviously the house should accommodate them. A cute beach bungalow may seem enticing, but remember the surfboards, kayaks, boogie boards, bicycles, jet skis, etc etc.. You can haul them all over to the beach place every time you visit, but with enough storage, they'd just be there waiting.

How many friends are going to help you enjoy your new place? You'll have more friends than you imagined. That may be fine or you may opt for a smaller bungalow and hand out vacation rental brochures to all but a few.

In coastal areas, prevailing winds are important, as well as sun path over the year, fog pattern, beach access (how far and how steep) and what works for local landscaping. The total money spent on plants that will not grow in cool, windy, salt sprayed areas could buy a nice oceanfront house. Look around at the yards of the locals--find a nice one--ask the owner who did the landscaping. You may decide the smallish lots are plenty big enough.

One of the ways to make the thrill of owning a second home sustain over the years is to pursue new activities during your use of the home with in the spirit of adventure and enthusiasm. Experiences trump objects in adding to a positive sense of well being (more on that later--yeah, I'm reading psych stuff again). The challenge is the find a RIGHT house that lends itself to some flexibility in lifestyle and as an activity base. In other words, maybe a house that seems to fit like a glove because it reminds you of the cottage you moved into when you first got married isn't the ideal choice.

The fun thing I've noticed over the years is that people buy and are quite happy with second homes that are quite diverse architecturally and in terms of interior design---let's say they can be rather exuberant! Not something that would even get consideration as a main residence, but among second home there is an opportunity for exploration.

Some people buy a second home and plan to move into it full time later on--that takes us back to the more conventional criteria--although in a rising market (remember those???) it's not uncommon to sell the vacation home for a profit and buy a different home for full time use. I think those folks find out that what was RIGHT for a second home isn't necessarily RIGHT for full time use.

Back to details next post.