Buying a Vacation Home in the Country
What to Know and Ask Before Investing in a Second Home
May 30, 2009
It can be tempting to turn a vacation into a house-hunting expedition. Who hasn't fantasized about what it would be like to live in beautiful country home, even if only for part of the year?
A vacation home is certainly a dream for many urbanites, who picture quiet nights, bird-song in the morning, and the unhurried camaraderie of the local country store. But the dream can quickly turn into a nightmare, if pipes burst in the middle of January when the house is unoccupied, or the squirrels move into the attic in November.
Prospective second home owners need to consider several factors before making the big move – and investment – to the country.
Considerations for Prospective Second-Home Owners
Most people who can afford a second home are busy, with limited vacation time. One of the first questions to ask: How much time can realistically be spent in the second home? Is it truly feasible to do that two-hour drive every weekend? And is this really the place to spend precious vacation time year after year?
If the answers are an unequivocal yes, then consider the following issues:
- Does the investment need to be liquid, or can the buyer afford to wait out market ebbs and flows? Vacation homes can be profitable investments, but that doesn't mean they can easily be sold on short notice, especially if vacation communities are hard hit by real estate cycles.
- Who will take care of the property when the owners aren't in residence? Pipes burst. Lawns grow. Snow falls. Storms cause flooded basements. Heating systems break. Vandals break in. Are management companies available to take on the job of checking the property and solving problems?
- What about the cost of upkeep and maintenance? Urban dwellers used to paying a lump sum every month for condo maintenance may be unaware of the cost of landscaping, mowing a one-acre lawn, or snowplowing a 1/4 mile-long driveway.
- Will the property be rented when the second-home owners aren't in residence? Who will deal with the tenants? Will a management company take on the responsibility (and a percentage of the proceeds)? How will this work?
Evaluating a Second-Home Property
Once a buyer has settled on a property, the inspection is a crucial next step. In many areas, older country homes were not subject to the building codes that have been typical of urban areas for a long time. This means that the home may have substandard wiring, a dicey woodstove, or an antiquated plumbing system. The flaws may be "grandfathered" – meaning they existed before codes were in place and don't have to be fixed – but that doesn't change the fact that they are still flaws, and possibly dangerous ones.
A home inspector can help identify structural problems, but don't take a real estate agent's recommendation. Find an inspector independently so that the inspector is answering to you alone. If any large issues crop up, or if obvious problems need to be addressed and the current homeowner won't pay for them, call contractors and get estimates before finalizing an offer.
More Tips for Buying a Country House
- That house at the end of a dead end road might look like a quiet idyll, but homes that are vacant attract vandals. Better to choose a house that has neighbors within view.
- Don't be seduced by a pretty country road past the local dairy farm. Farms can be noisy, with tractors, machinery, and barking dogs. They can also stink. The stench of some liquid fertilizers is not something anyone would choose to live next door to.
- Who is doing the snowplowing? Is the house on a private road? Who maintains it? What happens if there is a flood, or a tree falls? Don't take the real estate agent's word for it, or the homeowner's: If they tell you the neighbor up the road does the plowing, call the neighbor up the road.
- What is the zoning? Zoning dictates what homeowners can do with their homes. That big tract of open land across the street could be sold to a Walmart. The neighbor's field could be used for dirt-biking.
- What about Internet connections? Many rural areas don't have high speed Internet, and satellite Internet is not an option for some technologically-dependent workers, because it is slow on uploads. Double check everything: If access depends on the phone company, call the phone company. If access is via WiFi, have the company come out and certify that WiFi indeed transmits to the actual house: In many rural areas, trees and mountains obscure the signals, and one neighbor may have access, while the other doesn't.
A final word of advice: Make local friends. Becoming part of the fabric of the community means having people to ask for recommendations when the heating systems breaks at 2 in the morning. And it also makes the experience of rural living more enjoyable and rewarding.
Source: Profit from Your Vacation Home Dream: The Complete Guide to a Savvy Financial and Emotional Investment , by Christine Karpinski (Kaplan, 2005). .
