Did you know that about 9 million American citizens live abroad? Who wouldn’t want to spend time outside to relax and enjoy life?

Regardless of your reasons to buy a vacation home, know that you must think about some things first. This ensures that you’ll get the most out of your investment, whether it’s within the country or overseas. But if it’s your first time buying a vacation home, you won’t know what to look out for.

Don’t feel hopeless yet.

With this guide, you’ll learn some factors you must consider before you get a vacation home. This ensures you’re dealing with reputable people that care for your investment. Read on and find out more:

1. Spend Some Time in the House First

If you contribute to the 1.9 billion person-trips for domestic leisure travel each year, you’ll have no problem doing this trip. That’s why never think about getting a vacation home until you stayed in the area for a while. This is a basic tip, but it’s easy to neglect when you felt really good during that one trip.

That’s why you must be sure that the locality of your vacation house is something you adore. Do it before you commit to buying it since you’ll spend lots of your free time there. If you own a vacation home, you won’t have the flexibility to change your destination in case you tire of its scenery.

2. Think About All the Associated Costs

You must treat your vacation house like your primary residence. This means understanding the total price of your ownership. This includes various costs like property taxes, insurances, and other associated costs.

Always remember that you still incur utility bills even when you aren’t in your vacation home. This means you’ll get bills for water, gas, electrical, landscaping, and other services related to maintaining its peak shape. With this, you must think about it whenever you’re budgeting your money.

You don’t want to ruin your image of a perfect vacation home by driving yourself to a corner financially.

3. Consider Your Caretakers When You’re Away

Aside from the costs mentioned above, management fees are one specific expense you must consider for vacation homes. It’s especially when you have no plans to visit your home frequently. Regardless of whether you’ll rent the place out while you’re away, find a property manager based locally.

This will make your wallet a little lighter, but you’re assured to have someone who will maintain your home. Having a property manager is cheaper than dealing with home damage like leaky roofs and frozen pipes. These problems can get more expensive the longer it goes on unnoticed.

4. Learn That Not Every Day Is a Vacation

In some cases, your first weekend of the season will deal with various home maintenance and repairs. It’s especially when you opted not to get a property manager. You’re likely to spend some vacation days to buy various home improvement implements.

It’s because a vacation home is vastly different compared to a hotel. That’s why it needs the same amount of upkeep as your main residence. You’ll deal with this all year round.

5. Think of a Rental Income Option

If you want a smart vacation home purchase, you must think about its potential as a rental. If you manage it well, you can offset some of your costs. You can do this by allowing renters to use your home while you’re elsewhere.

You’ll build equity using the rental income, enabling you to pay the property off eventually. This is a great move if you consider it as a long-term investment. To start this, you must analyze the vacation homes nearby.

You have several ways to do this: ask local agents and vacation rental companies or look on the internet and see what people are willing to rent for. Aside from this, never forget to look into occupancy rates within your desired area. That way, you’ll know whether it’s a good place where people often rent homes.

6. Check the Holiday Situation of the Area

If you’re planning to get a vacation home in popular areas, know that they’re localities with a high season. For example, Florida’s high season is winter. This means visitors will see a drastic increase in visitors from December to February.

This seasonality type will become a conflict, especially when you’re renting out your house. It’s because the timeframe between peak rentals and your vacation period will collide. So, if you plan to get the most out of your home’s rental income, you must give away some of your peak-season vacation days.

7. Think Whether the Area Is Easy to Access

Whenever you go to your vacation home, think about how easy it is for you to get to it. This also applies to the people looking to rent your place. This is the reason why you must pick properties with the most accessible routes.

A good thing to consider is the time it takes for you to travel to it from a major city. As a general rule, the maximum time is two hours. Always think about this since you’re unlikely to go to it if it takes a couple of flights and a four-hour drive to get to your vacation home.

Regardless, consider getting a property on Saadiyat Island. It’s because it’s only 20 minutes away from Abu Dhabi International Airport. If you’re coming from downtown Dubai, getting to this island takes an hour at most.

Flip side, for those looking for something remote – Corn Islands real estate might interest them. This is about as polar opposite as you can get and located off the coast of Nicaragua. It’s the ultimate escape, just realize the pros and cons which come with both.

8. Consider Regulations

Investigate the local laws since some communities have strict restrictions for vacation homes. It’s especially when you’re renting it out for the short-term. If you violate any of these, you’ll get fined or lose your license to rent the place out.

Start Buying a Vacation Home Today!

These are some things you must consider when buying a vacation home. Use these to guide your purchase, ensuring that it’s worth your investment in both the short- and long-term.

Do you want to buy a vacation house now? Of course, there are a few other factors to consider before you move out. To learn more, we invite you to continue reading our other posts right here, today.

Jane