This is the first year that my husband and I have been snowbirds. We rented a condo in Venice, Fl. and we love it down here (well, I do, hubby is not adjusting as well, so I flew him home for a week!). This place is a little small and the furniture is so uncomfortable that I just want to buy a place down here so I can get more comfortable furniture. My mother and sister-in-law have been down to visit us and both want to come back for longer next year and would kick in for rent.
We have a main home in Michigan that my husband will not entertain selling, a cottage about 40 min from our house that is bigger than our main home and is owned with my sister in law. We also have a rental property. My kids and grandkids all live in the same town as our main home, and I babysit one day a week when I am in town.
What I would really like to do is sell the rental, do a 1031 (?) exchange, buy a rental down here and then eventually inhabit it as a 2nd (3rd!) home. I'm trying to get husband on board, but so far he isn't buying it! He doesn't seem to want to be tied down in one place every winter, but rents are really rising fast down here, so I would like to buy something. We really should just sell the main house because we could actually live at our cottage as it has 2 separate units. I could just drive in to babysit once a week. We spend 3-4 days a week between both places in the summer. But, as I said before, hubby just stubbornly won't entertain the idea of selling our main house. We built it and he put a lot of sweat equity into it and he is very proud of it. We do have a renter in our basement apartment and rent out pole barn space for storage of cars/boats etc, so it doesn't cost us a whole lot and we have enough stash to live comfortably.
I have become quite attached to this area because I am volunteering to prepare taxes down here and the volunteer opportunities and the weather and everything are just heaven to me! When hubby gets back he has agreed to try some volunteering and get involved in something, but he really just likes to tinker in our garage at home and visit the kids and grandkids. I think he would eventually adjust.
Good idea, bad idea, too many houses (not very mustachian although they are mostly making us money and we may rent our cottage out on AirBNB and daughter may hold scrapbooking parties in the fall there). Just anyone's thoughts in general. I know I have an obsession with owning houses and maybe we should just keep renting.
Thanks in advance. Miss Prim