Almost anyone will tell you that unless you have money to blow, a vacation home is never a good idea. For the amount you pay for the home, factoring in how often you actually use it, you could easily buy into a hotel fairly regularly. Services like AirB&B have lessened this burden in recent years, but you have to be willing to accept that your vacation home wont always be available, especially in the highly desirable months for your location, and you will need to put in the leg work for cleaning, maintaining, and hosting. Me personally? I don't like to share.
Let's be realistic, I am probably never going to own a vacation home anyway, at least not anytime soon, but that doesn't stop one from dreaming. Lucky for me (ha), my dream resides in one of the most expensive housing markets in the nation: Laguna/Newport/Balboa. Yes, I know, it's crowded, there is extreme traffic in the summer months, and it's largely overpriced per square foot. The allure for me lies in the environment, space, and culture. Laguna Beach was largely founded an artist's colony in the 1900's (previously part of Mexico, inhabited by Native Americans, and finally succeeded to the United States in the 1840's) and still hosts The Pageant of the Masters, Festival of Arts, Sawdust Art Festival, Art-A-Fair, Bluewater Music Festival, and Kelpfest every year. In addition to the wonderful art events, there is a protected marine reserve and conservation area, miles of small businesses in the shopping district, and a vibrant restaurant culture. All of this exists in a total land area of just under 10 miles.
Part of the reason why I have such an affinity for this small stretch of coastline is that we used to vacation here in the summer of my youth. We stayed often at The Surf and Sand, or the Inn at Laguna, frequented Forest Avenue for shopping and dining, and wondered why everything closed at 8:00PM. We were from Las Vegas, after all. One summer we rented a beach house on Bluebird Canyon Drive. It was the epitome of coastal; A renovated white barn with so much paint on the windows that they barely opened and it was riddled with Fleas (this is where the name of my family shop, Flea Bag's, came from, actually), but we loved it. Even now, when I spend hours looking at the listings on Trulia, I look back on that street to see if our barn is for sale. Sadly, hopping along Google's street view, I was unable to find it. I wonder if was razed?
One of the homes I found recently that is even remotely "affordable" is a 595 sq. ft. cottage for $979K. Yes, you heard me right. I am not even sure it has room for a bed, but it's within walking distance to the village/beach and has a great midcentury styled kitchen. Is it absolutely crazy to pay $1645 per square foot? Probably, but I don't think you get any more quintessential Laguna than a beach bungalow. Sure, everyone would want the modern beach home, right on the water, for 14M but there is no history there, no style. Here is a link to the cottage on Lombardy for anyone who wants to take a look.
So, if I were to ever buy a vacation home I would want to buy it outright. I don't really want to, nor do I think it is smart, hold two mortgages with monthly obligation. It's bad enough there would still be a tax bill every so often for the property, plus maintenance and whatever else comes with owning a home outside of your state, so why have to worry about even more? That begs the question, where does one get a cool, spare million? I'll have to brainstorm that idea a bit more...until next time, Mahalo for reading.
Comments