The obligations of owning a vacation home are the same as owning a primary home. Maintenance, repairs, and other expenditures are going to be your responsibility and no one else's. If you are renting out your vacation home and you don't live fairly close by, make sure you have a maintenance company available to handle any necessary maintenance and repairs for your tenants.

You'll need homeowner's insurance on your vacation home, just as you have for your primary residence. (See Chapter 20 for a discussion of homeowner's insurance.) You need to be protected against damages and destruction of property that may happen unexpectedly. Accidents can occur, and if you (or your renters) aren't at the property on a regular basis, you could be in for a nasty surprise on your next trip. Imagine a pipe bursts while no one is using the home, water floods the house and by the time you next visit the property, hundreds or thousands of dollars of damage has been done to the floors and furniture that have been sitting waterlogged for weeks. You must have insurance, not only for your dwelling, but for your personal property as well. And it's not a bad idea to have someone — you, your family, your friends, or your renters — visit the property on a fairly regular basis.