Home Sweet (Second) Home
Thinking about buying a second home -- a place to get away on weekends or during vacations, a future retirement location, a long-term family compound to be passed on to your children and grandchildren? According to The National Association of Realtors (NAR), you are not alone.
NAR has compiled the following statistics about second home or vacation home buyers in 2006:
- Last year, Americans bought a record 1.02 million second homes, far exceeding the 872,000 vacation homes purchased in 2004. Overall, there are approximately seven million second homes in the marketplace.
- The median price for a second home? $204,100 in 2005.
- Baby boomers take an active role in this market, purchasing 57 percent of all vacation homes and 58 percent of all rental properties in the U.S.
- Four out of ten who own a second home intend to someday live in their investment property.
- As it relates to retirement and purchasing second homes, most baby boomers say that green acres is the place for them, with 33 percent wanting to retire to a rural area and 30 percent wishing to end up in a small town.
- The number of people buying vacation homes has risen 36 percent over the last decade and is expected to jump to more than 50 percent by 2010.
- Median age of a second home owner is a youthful 46. Median income? $75,000.
- And most people who buy a vacation home have proximity in mind. The median distance from primary residence is a 185 mile radius, resulting in a manageable commute of no more than 3-4 hours by car.
- Second home buyers often do so as a savvy financial move, believing that owning homes in two different markets increases the chancees that home equity will continue to grow, if not in one market, then in the other.
BRCTalkback: Have you recently purchased or been thinking about buying a second home? Tell us more. Why did you make the decisions you did regarding the type of house you purchased? In which part of the country will it be located? How far is it from your primary residence? Will you use this location as a retirement home? Respond with your comments below or send an e-mail to BRCTip@backroadscharmingtowns.com and put SECOND HOME in the subject line.
