The Second Home Muse

Renting Out Your Vacation Property

We've talked lots about the benefits of renting out your vacation home when you are not using it. So it pays for you to be up on what's available to help you. Here's the latest news about the Internet world of vacation rentals.

According to a recent article, there are a few big players coming up to support homeowners in listing their vacation rentals. We are neither endorsing nor not endorsing these, as we have our own rental business at EscapeHomes.com. However, we want to always live up to our promise to educate consumers. So here's latest:

HomeAway, in business for two hears, has just acquired VRBO (Vacation Rentals by Owner.) That's a coup!
Travelocity has a new partnership with LeisureLink Inc listing vacation condos and time-share units
Expedia has been listing vacation rentals since 2003, and also has B &B's
Hotels.com lists rentals that are managed by realtors

From what I see in the lay of the land, if you, the homeowner , want to be directly involved in the rental, HomeAway/VRBO still offers the best deal, (other than, of course, ourselves.) The most important thing to evaluate is the overall cost per rental contract, and the geographic reach that the service offers.

Our advice: do some comparison shopping first, and then make the best financial decision. For more information, read our library of articles on renting your vacation home.

TreeHouses Are In...the Trees

A friend of mine just let me in on one of the coolest vacation home ideas ...a treehouse resort. "Out and About", located in Oregon, satisfies all my childhood wishes of really living up in a tree. Just as good as staying in the resort, is the fact that they also run workshops on how to build a treehouse of your own.

What is so neat about the treehouses is that they allow you to create your vacation dream without interfering with nature and the trees that have taken so long to grow. At the resort, some of the treehouses are actually 35 feet high, nestled in a redwood. They even have wonderful catwalks to get to the houses and back to the level ground.

As for the merits of building a treehouse as your vacation home, to quote my friend Meera, "It's just really awesome." My question is... does the house get higher as the tree grows taller? In any case, check it out.

Tahoe Development

With ski season upon us, an frequent thought is, 'if we just owned our own ski condo...' So here's a quick look at one ski area that apparently is 'under-developed.' That's Squaw Valley, in the Lake Tahoe area. Lake Tahoe itself is huge, and surrounded by lots of potential vacation spots, in both Nevada and California, from South Lake Tahoe to North Lake Tahoe and all points in-between. However, the best skiing, according to some, is at Squaw Valley, the site developed for the 1960 Olympics. It's been growing ever since. A recent Nevada newspaper article points out that it is still growing...most of the Placer County new developments are taking place in Squaw Valley. One reason they mention is that the other areas have a surfeit of (and therefore, vacant) vacation homes, making it less attractive to build more.

Whether you pick Squaw Valley for your own second home, or any where in Tahoe, remember our advice: stay there for a vacation in all seasons first, and be sure you like it. Happy trails!

Things to Think About Before You Move

It's easy to feel that there's a better place somewhere else...especially when you see the value of your house rise, the property taxes go up as well, and you know you could buy an even better place for a third of the price...elsewhere. But as a great article by Susan Swartz, a writer for the Press Democrat points out, we don't really move just for the house. Moving is "about context and culture, values and community," she writes.

That's why it is so important to take to heart the advice about spending vacation time in places where you plan to buy a second (or primary) home. What's it like in the winter? How far are the cultural events you want to enjoy? What's the transportation like? Where's the nearest Whole Foods or Trader Joes? Seems obvious, but so often we can get distracted simply by the economics of it all. In today's market, where you are surely bringing in way more than you paid for your house, the idea of putting the money into a house that needs no mortgage is surely an appeal, especially if you are retiring. But do look before you leap... that same high price you get to sell your house, is what you'll have to pay if you change your mind and want to return to where you started. And that will not be fun.

Baby Boomers and Second Homes Revisited

There have been a number of articles back and forth about the issue of baby-boomers and their second home buying habits. A recent report had debunked the idea that they were buying more than the previous generation, saying that the 15% second home buyers over age 50 is the same percentage as 1992. This puzzled many of us, who do see boomers getting more second homes. An article in the Baltimore Sun gives the most useful explanation. They write, "Although, proportionately, no more boomers are relaxing at second homes than their parents did, sheer numbers are higher. The boomers are a huge generation -- about 78 million compared with about 63 million in their parents' generation."

I'm not so sure why people have been rushing to claim the boomers are not leading the way with second homes. It's not a helpful point. The Baltimore article goes on to give a clear  picture of what is ahead, from an investment point of view. They point out that the next generation is only about 44 million, so what will happen is that the second home market will decline later. They feel the next 10 years are great, and second home demand falls off between 2030 and 2035.  Now that's helpful information.