More people are eager to spend some time in vacation spots such as Lake Tahoe, Cape Cod, and Palm Springs. But they want to remain safe from COVID-19 so they opted to invest in a vacation home instead. This ensures that they are still practicing social distancing while having a vacation. This is why the sales for second and vacation homes rose in the last few months. As reported by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), rose to 44 percent in just a short period between July and September 2020.
Given this urge to buy a vacation home, these are the things that you should consider first so that you’ll know that your investment will not go to waste.
The Worth of Your Expenses
After deciding on the location of your new vacation home, you’ll have to decide on what you’re looking for in a home. Of course, relaxation is the priority since this would be your home away from home. If you decide to buy a home in a sunny location, you might be looking for a house with a pool. And since vacation homes tend to be in the country, you’ll have more space to occupy and fill with rooms. You can hire a hardwood conservatory company to improve your lounge area with lots of access to fresh air and sunlight.
All of these things, though, do come with a cost. So you have to consider how much you’re willing to spend. You also have to think about how much time you’re planning to spend on your vacation home. It’s no use spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a home that you’ll barely spend time in.
Who Will Look After It?
Since your vacation home would sit empty for a few months at a time, it’s more susceptible to break-ins and theft. You might lose some of the furniture, appliances, and art pieces that you invested in. So it’s important to consider who will look after the house whenever you’re not staying in the vacation home.
If you can, you may hire a caretaker who will focus on looking after your vacation. This would be beneficial to you because they can make sure that your garden is always well-tended. If there are animals such as dogs or horses, your caretaker can look after them as well.
If you’re not interested in hiring a caretaker, you might have a friend or family that can check the house from time to time.
The Possibility of Opening it for Rental
If you don’t have a caretaker, friend, or family that can check the house every now and then, there’s still a way to make sure that the house doesn’t sit empty for long periods of time. You can consider renting it out while you’re away.
You can open your home to short-term renters. This way, you’re also profiting off of your vacation home. Who knows? You might even earn back the money you initially spent on the house through rental income.
You’ll need to do is to hire a local agent who can manage the vacation home rentals. They can manage the bookings, welcome the renters, and make sure that they’re comfortable during their stay. You’ll also need someone to maintain the home and make sure that everything is properly disinfected.
The primary purpose of having a vacation home is having a place where you can truly rest. It’s not yet fully safe for leisure travel because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But 2020 has been a very difficult year. This is why many of us are very eager to go on a vacation. We want to spend some away from home. It would provide us that much-needed respite while we wait for the pandemic to pass.
But it’s always good to consider first a few things before you buy a vacation home.