Vacation Homes
Vacation Homes
Whether you love tropical beach-combing or hitting the powder on a ski slope, if you find yourself vacationing in the same locale year after year, you may have considered purchasing a vacation home there. If not, perhaps you should. Let Stanley Homes help you with your decision. Like many things in life, there are advantages to owning a second home, and like any investment, buying a vacation home requires taking stock of your finances and your plans for the future.
Vacation-Home Buyer
The National Association of Realtors® conducted a survey of over 2,300 owners of second homes. The information gleaned from the survey allowed the association to compile a profile of the average vacation-home buyer. Let’s see how you stack up:
- Vacation-home buyers earn significantly more than the national median household income.
- The typical vacation home is located 435 miles from the homeowner’s primary residence.
- About 60 percent of second-home buyers purchase a detached single-family home rather than a condo or townhouse.
- The majority of buyers claim that the financing process wasn’t more difficult than they’d imagined it would be.
- The number of cash buyers has increased significantly. About 70 percent of vacation-home buyers used a mortgage.
- The majority – 80 percent – bought the vacation home to use for personal vacations or as a family retreat, rather than as an investment.
Advantages of a Vacation Home
Tax advantages to owning a second home depend on how you plan on using the home. If you reserve the home for personal use and don’t make any money off of renting it, you may be able to deduct the interest on your affordable home payment.
If you do rent it out, but for less than 15 days out of the year, you may be able to avoid taxes on the income, but you won’t be able to write off the expenses, such as maintenance.
Deciding On A Vacation Home
Before making a final decision, ask yourself the tough questions, and separate the dream from the reality of owning a vacation home.
- Do you want a vacation home or an investment property? The National Association of Realtors® cautions that you should be quite clear on your primary reason for purchasing a second home. If you plan to use the home as a recreational property for your personal use, then consider it a vacation home. If, on the other hand, you are purchasing the home with the aim of renting it out, it’s an investment property.
- How much will you use the home? If you already visit the location several times a year, the answer to this one is easy. If the location is inconvenient, on the other hand, you may find that you will rarely use the vacation home. A related question is how you’ll handle maintenance, especially emergencies, if the home isn’t located within a few hours’ drive.
- Is it affordable? Aside from what it costs to purchase, you’ll need to factor in maintenance costs, management fees and many other costs that accompany homeownership.
Stanley Homes Is Your Vacation Home Choice
We look forward to showing you first-hand the reason why Stanley Vacation Homes in FL is indeed a “Relationship Built” Stanley Vacation Homes in FL is the leading builder of quality new homes in FL inside most desirable real estate markets across Florida.