Your Own Vacation Home: Why now looks like a great time to buy...

These are just some of the joys that can be yours on a regular basis when you own your own vacation home.  And if you've

recently come back from the Jersey shore, the Cape, or Eastern Long Island, I'm sure at some point you said to yourself: "Wouldn't this be great if we could do this all the time?"

I'd like to suggest that you can do it all the time.  In prime vacation markets, say two to three hours from Manhattan, prices have stabilized and are starting to rise.  Mortgage rates are still historically low, and with dips in the stock market, people are investing in real estate again.

The upshot is that if you have the money and plan on owning for a reasonable length of time, now looks like a good time to buy your family a vacation home.

A second home in a quality area can be a great investment and can become your primary home when you retire.  It can also pay for itself with rental income. 

I have clients who rent out their vacation home on the Cape for only four weeks during the summer, and that pays their costs for the entire year!  Peak rental time is Memorial Day to Labor Day.  So, even if you rent the house out the whole summer, you and your family still have nine months to enjoy your vacation home any time you want.

Great websites such as VRBO (Vacation Rental By Owner) make listing your rental property a snap and reduce your costs. I can also recommend local management companies that will keep an eye on your property and fix things when you're not there.

I'm very familiar with many of the hot areas for vacation homes - from the beautiful tip of Cape Cod to the Victorian splendor of Cape May on the Jersey shore.  Let me do all the research and legwork and find you the perfect spot for making your family memories.  Call me at 914.761.7878 or email me at peggyshea@kw.com