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Posted by JJ on December 11, 2006, 12:53 pm
This is kinda home repair related.
I'm retiring soon and my wife and I are thinking about becoming snowbirds in
Nevada to escape these dreadful Wisconsin winters.
I've given a lot of thought to owning two homes and the details that need to
be taken care of such as snow plowing, shoveling, mail, junk mail, security,
plant watering, trusted neighbor, furnace failure/freeze alert etc.On the
other hand, I have no experience on what it takes to close up a desert
property for the summer.
Just wondering if anyone has practical experience with the snowbird thing?
Thoughts about both, the cold weather and warm weather aspects?
I know when we owned a lake cottage in northern Wisconsin, every tool I ever
needed was always at the other house! Didn't matter what it was, or which
house we were at, it was always at the other house! That was just 150 miles
away, now we're contemplating 1,000 miles for 6 months at a time.
Any thoughts or experiences, negative or positive will be appreciated!
Thanks all,
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Posted by on December 11, 2006, 1:08 pm
Two things:
1. Check with your home insurance agent about leaving the Wisconsin
house vacant for months at a time. This will void many home owners
policies.
2. What part of Nevada? We Californians travel to Nevada to go Skiing
so I advise spending a winter there before you buy. You may decide to
do your snowbirding somewhere warmer.
JJK
JJ wrote:
> This is kinda home repair related.
>
>
>
> I'm retiring soon and my wife and I are thinking about becoming snowbirds in
> Nevada to escape these dreadful Wisconsin winters.
>
> I've given a lot of thought to owning two homes and the details that need to
> be taken care of such as snow plowing, shoveling, mail, junk mail, security,
> plant watering, trusted neighbor, furnace failure/freeze alert etc.On the
> other hand, I have no experience on what it takes to close up a desert
> property for the summer.
>
> Just wondering if anyone has practical experience with the snowbird thing?
> Thoughts about both, the cold weather and warm weather aspects?
>
>
>
> I know when we owned a lake cottage in northern Wisconsin, every tool I ever
> needed was always at the other house! Didn't matter what it was, or which
> house we were at, it was always at the other house! That was just 150 miles
> away, now we're contemplating 1,000 miles for 6 months at a time.
>
>
>
> Any thoughts or experiences, negative or positive will be appreciated!
>
>
>
> Thanks all,
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Posted by professorpaul on December 11, 2006, 1:17 pm
Noted the comment about homeowner's insurance. My carrier didn't give
me any problem with this. Last time around, there was some issue if I
was going to be away for an extended period. Insurance companies are
getting pretty picky these days. Were concerned about dogs, firearms,
all sorts of stuff. Tread carefully here.
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Posted by JJ on December 13, 2006, 11:46 am
Las Vegas, Mesquite and Pahrump are where we are focused at the moment.
> Two things:
>
> 1. Check with your home insurance agent about leaving the Wisconsin
> house vacant for months at a time. This will void many home owners
> policies.
>
> 2. What part of Nevada? We Californians travel to Nevada to go Skiing
> so I advise spending a winter there before you buy. You may decide to
> do your snowbirding somewhere warmer.
>
> JJK
> JJ wrote:
>> This is kinda home repair related.
>>
>>
>>
>> I'm retiring soon and my wife and I are thinking about becoming snowbirds
>> in
>> Nevada to escape these dreadful Wisconsin winters.
>>
>> I've given a lot of thought to owning two homes and the details that need
>> to
>> be taken care of such as snow plowing, shoveling, mail, junk mail,
>> security,
>> plant watering, trusted neighbor, furnace failure/freeze alert etc.On the
>> other hand, I have no experience on what it takes to close up a desert
>> property for the summer.
>>
>> Just wondering if anyone has practical experience with the snowbird
>> thing?
>> Thoughts about both, the cold weather and warm weather aspects?
>>
>>
>>
>> I know when we owned a lake cottage in northern Wisconsin, every tool I
>> ever
>> needed was always at the other house! Didn't matter what it was, or
>> which
>> house we were at, it was always at the other house! That was just 150
>> miles
>> away, now we're contemplating 1,000 miles for 6 months at a time.
>>
>>
>>
>> Any thoughts or experiences, negative or positive will be appreciated!
>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks all,
>
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Posted by professorpaul on December 11, 2006, 1:12 pm
We owned two places for a numbr of years until we retired to the area
where we had the summer place at the DE Atlantic shore, sold that
condo, and built a single-family house. Also owned two other summer
places, one in Vermont, the other in the Poconos, but not all at the
same time, however. Thoughts:
1. Get two sets of tools. This avoids not having the right stuff when
needed. When we consolidated the two house, kept the best from each and
gave the remainder to my sons. I also had a pretty good workbench in
the two houses, and took over one closlet at the condo for tools,etc.
You are at least going to be doing minor carpentry, electircal, and
plumbing, as well as painting, papering. A couple of decent tool boxes
will suffice. You need at least a good electric drill.
2. Keep enough clothes at the second place so you aren't always carting
clothing back and forth. At least shirts, socks, underwear, etc., for
as long as you usually stay there. Have at least a washing machine as
well, and a dryer if possible. Saves time of trips to the laudromat.
3. I used the place in Vermont for skiing, so would call a local guy in
advance if the drive needed to be plowed out. Didn't bother in the
Poconos... just parked in the street.
4. A neighbor needs to have a key, and keep an eye on it for you. Did
have one breakin in the place in the Poconos. More aggravtion than
anything. Don't keep anything valuable there, like firearms, jewelry,
money.
5. I shut off water and drained the systems in cold weather. Put
anti-freeze in traps in sinks, toilet. Get most of the water out first
with a "plumber's friend."
6. Only when I was staying for an extended period > 1month, would I
have mail forwarded to the summer place. In the Poconos, I didn't even
bother to have mail delivery set up, as it was only 1 1/2 hours away
from my permanent home in Lancaster, at that time.. Might want to have
a local PO box at the second home, instead of mail delivery.
7. Make it a point to clean out the frig pretty well before you leave.
Mice were always a problem, so kept staples in metal containers, and
ran a "trap line," as well as warfarin.
8. Minimal telephone service is a good idea, but with current crop of
cell phones, might not bother.
9. Set up a local bank account at the second location. You can then
deposit checks from your home account and draw against that, avoiding
foreign ATM fees. When we moved to the DE shore permanently, my banking
was already set up, as well as most other stuff.
There are undoubtedly other things that will come to mind. We will see
what other posters might add to my list. It reflects my experieces.
Your milage will vary.... A lot seemed to have depended on just how
much time you spent as the second home. If short periods, treat it like
a motel, if longer, then fit it out much like you would do for a
permanent residence. You don't want to spend your "vacation" time
running errands.
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