With the improved weather, I'm lusting after a lakefront cabin. I went so far as to browse listings, but realized I'd never buy one while still working... too much hassle. So I stopped looking.
I barely have time to do the stuff I need to do on my regular house, let alone maintain another place a couple hours away. Then there's the cost of the cabin itself. Best lakeside prices I could find nearby are in the $300-$400k range, which would be a major drag on finances. Maybe once I'm FIRE and want to move there permanently.
Instead we booked a rental cabin for a week later this summer. Much better value proposition.
I've done the same. Went to the cabin with my parents every year as a kid. Do I owe that experience to mine..? But for the interest payment alone we could rent a great place for a week every year! Not or mention the maintenance, hassle, taxes etc etc.. I tried but really couldn't make it make sense. Buying a cabin must be a purely emotional decision I think.
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Both my step-mother and my ILs had vacation homes on the water. While they loved the properties, they became such a burden and in many ways drove a wedge into their families. I would watch them feel like they were obligated to be at the vacation house every weekend in the summers, so that they could get their money's worth out of them. As their kids got older, that became more and more of an issue, with kids wanting summer jobs, staying with their friends, their own activities. When the kids got married, it was a total shock to my MIL and step-mother that their new DILs didn't want to spend every weekend confined to a small house with their mother-in-law.
When the houses became too much work for the original owners, both families wanted their kids to take on the places in a joint-ownership situation. That became an endless source of contention. Some of the adult kids had moved too far away to get there often. Some couldn't afford to maintain a second home. Some had no interest in owning property with their siblings. (If my husband had agreed to own a house with his disgustingly slovenly brother, I would never have set foot in it. Not happy times.)
I would much rather rent for a couple of weeks. Much cheaper, no hassle, so much more flexibility.