Types of Vacation Homes
There are many types of vacation home to consider. When you first hear the term “vacation home,” it may be a single-family house that comes to mind. While this is certainly one option, there are other choices you may find even more suited to your lifestyle.
Table 17.1
The 2007 National Association of Realtors Profile of Homebuyers and Sellers
Land can be used in a number of ways to provide your vacation home. It is quite popular these days for urban dwellers to acquire farms within range of the city where they live so they have a different environment they can get away to easily. But farms require the same kind of maintenance as any other property — with acres of grass you have an obligation to mow and keep up. If you buy land on which you are capable of growing crops, you may offer a neighbor the chance to farm your land. Some people keep horses on their land as well.
Condominiums make nice vacation homes. That's because the condominium association or the town home association will provide maintenance for the common areas of the building or complex — leaving you one less thing to worry about while you're back at your primary residence. You won't have to deal with finding someone to shovel snow (if your vacation home is in a snowy area like a ski resort) or to mow the grass. They may often be capable of managing and leasing your property for you for a small fee so you're retaining income during the months you are not physically at the property.
If you buy a vacation home in a tropical area, make sure you have a way to safely protect your home from damage from tropical storms and hurricanes when you are away.
Timeshares, or vacation clubs as they are now often called, are a very popular form of vacation home. With a timeshare, you buy membership in the club, which guarantees availability of a certain type of property available to you the world over for a particular week every year. You can buy a week in California, for example, and return each winter to a sunny beach there. With a timeshare, you also have the option of trading your week with other members — you might trade your week in California for a week in Aspen one year, if you like to ski. Some vacation clubs even offer time on a cruise ship as an option. Thus, you have practically unlimited choices of destinations, all for the fixed price of membership in the club.
With a timeshare, you benefit by having the opportunity to go to different places or to return to your favorite place again and again.
The many vacation clubs/timeshares that are available range from Hyatt, Marriott, and Hilton programs to the programs offered through the Walt Disney Company. When choosing a timeshare, read all of the materials carefully and be sure you fully understand what your obligations will be before signing on the dotted line. There are also agencies reselling timeshare and vacation club memberships. You may want to do some research on the Internet for site locations, as well as visit local offices in prime vacation spots. You may find you can get a better deal in a timeshare buying a resale than you can buying directly from the primary source of the vacation club.
Of course, with a timeshare, you don't have the luxury of leaving your own things in the home year round, but you do get access to great vacation homes without the obligations of owning a single-family house or a condo you have to maintain from hundreds of miles away.
