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Second homes. Thoughts?

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Second homes. Thoughts? JJ 12-11-2006
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Posted by DK on December 11, 2006, 2:43 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,

Sounds fun.

Find a couple of neighbors or three that will do chores for you and
pick the best one and reward him/her handsomely for their caretaker
duties.

In addition, I'd install a web cam so I could watch the place 24/7
from the 'other' place.



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Posted by Charles Schuler on December 11, 2006, 6:23 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?

We did it for several years. It did not work out well, in our case. We
found it to be more expensive and frustrating than we anticipated. I won't
list our problems here, because some of them were odd and peculiar to our
situation. Also, we new live full-time in Naples, FL where thousands and
thousands of snowbirds are thriving and happy ... so, indeed it can work.

My checklist:

1/ Check with your insurers.
2/ Do not rely on neighbors.
3/ Plan for minor disasters (e.g. what if the power at your Wisconsin home
is off for two weeks?).
4/ Security systems are worth considering.
5/ Make it easy for folks to contact you.
6/ Message recorders that you can access from any telephone are a must.
7/ Check into tax issues. Which will be your full-time residence? Here,
there is a tax advantage for FL full-time residents (6 month + requirement,
FL driver's lic., etc.).
8/ If finances are not an issue, then that is a plus for you. I mention
this because many snowbirds are shocked at the fixed costs involved that
they somehow overlooked.

Good luck and enjoy.



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