Your Vacation Home, but Better
Having a beautiful vacation home is one of those things that people dream about. Some people achieve it via a time share. Other people save up for a vacation home that will later become their retirement home. This does not mean, though, that your vacation (and future retirement) home is perfect from the beginning. No, you have to make it that way. Here are some tips on how to do that:
Location Matters
The location you choose for your vacation home is important. It needs to be some place that you can see yourself truly enjoying every time you go there. For most people this means choosing a home in someplace that is warm. This does not necessarily mean a desert environment. Humid areas like those surrounding the Gulf of Mexico, Florida or in Southern California are also good choices.
Easy In Easy Out
If you aren’t sharing your vacation home you need to be able to close up the house whenever you aren’t using it, which—until you retire—is going to be most of the time. This means that you need to have a way to store the things you keep in the house when you are not there (keeping the house fully functional while you are away increases the likelihood that it will be burglarized). This can be done easily, affordably and quickly (no matter if your home is in Portland, ME or in Orlando, FL) by using a secure, offsite local storage unit. Safely keep your things there when you aren’t using the home.
Make Changes Each Visit
It takes time to make your vacation home perfect and you won’t know what will make the home perfect during your first few visits. When you find yourself truly missing something that means it is time to have it installed. For example, if your vacation home is in Florida, you might want to have the house’s porch screened in so that you can enjoy the heat and humidity without having to worry about the legion of bugs that might want to invade. If your home is in upstate New York, you might want to change your fireplace from one that is gas to one that is wood burning to reduce the risk of carbon monoxide damage when you aren’t using the home.
The great thing about a vacation home is that you can choose to make changes slowly and you can have the work done while you are gone so you don’t have to worry about tripping over contractors and equipment or having your life disrupted for months on end (make sure you have a trusted local friend on site to supervise, just in case). Use these tips to help you make sure that every trip you take to the house is as smooth and as relaxing as possible.
