Vacation Home ideas

[Edward Briley]

My wife and I have thought about buying a vacation home or homes in places throughout the US.  Now we are not people with a lot of money, and the dead end has been property taxes on the homes.  We own a timeshare in which has been a very good investment for us, mainly again due to property taxes.  Now we may have an advantage that most investors do not have due to our knowledge of flipping homes.  We know how to do them very cheaply and to local building codes.  Again our problem with buying vacation properties is real estate taxes.  Places we would like to buy a vacation home in local real estate taxes are 1500 to 5000 dollars a year.   Back again to the time share option.  Now many of you are going to tell me to rent it when we are not using it.   I do not want to be a landlord, and the upkeep of the properties with tenants occupying them is not an option.  The real shame is that there are properties that can be obtained very cheaply, but the property taxes do not make them worth buying. 

If it was possible to buy vacation properties with zero property taxes, I would own many of them.   People I am  telling you that the real estate market would really boom, if local real estate taxes were less than 500 dollars a year.  Now a friend of mine gave me a suggestion, but I am not sure that is something I would not want to get involved in. He suggested that we buy 2 properties side by side, rent one of them for the cost of the real estate taxes that cover both properties, and have the tenants of the single home to mow the grass and do the upkeep of the other.   This would work, but again, I don't want the hassle of the tenants, with them knowing that my vacation home is vacant more than occupied. 

I also want to tell you that last year I flipped a beautiful property I paid less than 25,000 for, and sold it for $85,000.  Not much profit in that property, but the problem was finding someone getting the financing for the property.  The shame in that is that they could qualify for just the mortgage, but after adding another 150 a month for real estate taxes, and another 75 a month for insurance they could not qualify.  I can see a further decline in home ownership because of these.  I can tell you now all, that the problem with real estate sales is mainly because of local real estate taxes being so high, and there is no escape from these.  So, for now, until things change, the only option for  vacation homes for most people like me are timeshares.   In closing just to let you all know that I found a perfect place to use is a vacation home. The home on the property is 1500 Sqft, and is on 9.6 acres of land, with a canal that has direct access to the Atlantic ocean.  Well, septic, included and even able to get cable television and high speed internet.  Cost of the property is $47,000. Problem, property taxes are about 5,000 per year.  Splitting up the property or leasing part of it is not an option in this case. 

Any suggestions?