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Originally Posted by JimJoe
Excellent post. I am in the same situation. Here are few more thoughts.
1. You may be surprised how often during the summer you end up "visiting" your winter home, especially if you make close friends in TV.
2. Home prices will continue to drop for a year or so BUT they will go back up, and if you believe inflation is the only way the national debt can be handled, the increases could be huge.
3. There are no income taxes in Florida. If you live in TV more than half the year, you could make Ohio your summer home and be State tax free.
4. You cannot personalize a rental home. You cant have permanent things stored there. It wont be like home, it will be a rental home.
5. You never know what is going to happen to rental costs.
6. Would you rather invest money into a safe haven like gold or real estate. (Real estate has ongoing costs but you get to enjoy it. Gold has purchasing and sale costs and I do not get a thrill out of looking at gold shares or even a gold bar.)
7. You can always sell the home in TV if it does not work out. You MAY lose some of your investment by declining costs or sales costs, but yhou still had the enjoyment and will KNOW what was the best decision.
Now some negatives.
1. When you buy in TV, your winter home is always in the same place. If you rent, you can change to various locations each year or even during the same winter.
2. Do not forget that you not only have to have your TV home watched while you are gone, but you have to have your Ohio home watched while you are in TV.
3. There are more expenses in maintaining two homes than you have thought of.
4. The IRS issue (which is not a deal breaker for me but is a concern) MIGHT be decided, but it seems it might go on for years. Do you want to wait years?
5. There are complications with two homes, not just expenses... mail, doctors, weddings and funerals, voting. etc.
6. Are there things about Ohio you cannot live without, grandkids. friends, recreations, church activities, hometown feelings or connections.
Close your eyes and visualize yourself in your home in TV and thinking about your home in Ohio, and vice versa. How financially difficult will it be?
My bottom line has been very well stated by others here. It is a HUGE decision for me. Can you sleep at night owning two homes?
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Wow, this is a terrific collection of ideas!! Especially some things folks don't always think about. VISUALIZING life here/there is so important.
Here's a couple of extra thoughts:
Of course dollars are important, but after all is said and done, if you can afford to own two houses then my thought is: DO IT!
But not this year. Rent this winter, more than one place would be better, because you can get the different flavor of what houses, neighborhoods and people are like and what you really prefer. Living here and at this time in your life IS DIFFERENT! You must experience it. If you wonder what a courtyard villa would be like, maybe one on a golf course, with a pool/spa, rent one for a month. (mine is available, but only in January). If you want to experience different areas, rent in the gorgeous, established northern villages. If you want to experience the excitement of brand new, go south. I'll bet my socks you will answer most if not all of your questions over a three month experience.
Your rationale about rent and ownership costs (without a mortgage) being about equal is correct. But I really believe that house prices in TV are going to accelerate from 2011 on. It's speculative that the housing segment of the economy will improve generally, but there's no denying the enormous number of boomers thinking the same thoughts you are. Word of mouth and the Developer's effective advertising have made TV far more widely known as a place with a very desirable lifestyle image (funny how the truth seems to get out).
Ordinarily I would say that if you are nervous about what's going on in the 'other' house, forget buying and keep resting easy. But we were in your shoes, bought here in 2004, and decided to go completely nuts. That is, we decorated our place exactly as we wanted it. Then we hired a terrific management company to take care of it AND rent it. It has been a perfect arrangement. The rental income has allowed us to do lots more than we thought we could afford. The guests have been fabulous. Nothing has ever been broken or disturbed. It's actually comforting to know that the house is lived in and cared for. Our management company folks are total 'detail nazis'. We wonder if we would notice as much as they do.
If you just can't handle someone in your house, there are excellent home watch services here. You got a post above from Redwitch, who said the same thing, but was too modest to say that she is famous for her home watch services. The good ones look at EVERYTHING while you're gone. I think the next thing they are going to do is contact clients monthly by computer and take you on a video tour to assure you that everything is just fine.
Because of our parent care obligations up north, we are only here for a month or two a year, in the winter. But we have snuck down (from upstate NY) other times for brief periods. The periods available for rent keep shrinking. We feel so fortunate to have our place in TV. Every time we go it is a wonderful reunion with our neighbors. We feel like kids at Christmas when we go through the gates to our village.
Send a private message if you have any specific questions. Good luck. You're on the right track!