Let me first say, I have owned two homes at a time in the past. We decided to rent out our home in 2012 while buying another in a suburb where we wanted our kids to go to school. Our homes were 20 miles apart and we had long term renters. It was a pain at times when my renters had a request that we had to fulfill on a short timeline…such as, “could you come and change an outdoor lightbulb” or “the closet came off the track, can you fix it?” Really?! I didn’t love it, but I have never tried the short-term rental market. Now I’m wondering if that could be even more painful? I’ve heard some horror stories from friends…
I also realize it’s not safe to rely on VRBO to save me from a mortgage payment. I just read an article about a couple who bought a $730K home and now can’t sleep at night due to worrying about their payments. That is a tough spot to be in. My #1 requirement is that this is affordable and not too risky for our financial situation.
WalletHub says Minnesota is the #1 most financially literate state and we also have the highest median credit score in the country at 749. People here have money to spend! There’s a lot of competition for lake real estate.
We have looked at cabins on large lake chains (which my husband prefers), in popular areas, on smaller lakes in quieter areas and everything in between. It has been challenging to get to the point where we agree on our requirements. It has definitely changed over the past couple years. What a real estate agent’s dream we are to work with!
Since my husband is handy and has some building skills, he’d prefer a fixer-upper that we can rent or sell in a couple years. A lake chain vs a small, individual lake is preferable to him so he can cruise for hours on the pontoon and find a restaurant to pull up to for fun. Plus, he loves to fish and wants plenty of options😊. He’s always telling me, “Don’t look at the house, we can fix that…but you can’t change the lot or the lake.” I get that, but it’s hard to see a total fixer upper and picture beauty when you don’t have that vision. It’s good he does!
My plan= a cup of coffee, a good book and hours spent on the deck, hammock or grass gazing out at the water. Let’s be honest, I’d also love an A-frame log cabin with a flat yard, mature trees surrounding the property on a popular lake at a great price. A girl can dream, right?