Vacation House or Vacation Condo? (Continued)

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

27 Feb 2008 05:03 AM

Now is a great time to buy a vacation home, as prices for second homes are very attractive to buyers. Also, vacation home can be used as an investment and/or to generate income. But is it wisest to buy a house or a condo for your vacation home? Here are five questions to help you make the right decision.

In the previous article, we discussed three of the five questions that you can ask yourself when choosing between a house or condo as your vacation home. If you missed that article, you can read it by clicking here: Vacation House or Vacation Condo? Five Questions that Will Help You Decide.

Now we will discuss our last two remaining questions. At the end of this series you should know which type of vacation home will suit you.

4. Are you a natural disasters zone?

If you are looking for a vacation home in an area that may be a target for natural disasters (and really, that isn't hard to find, since many vacation homes may be situated on a coastline, then you may have some insurance concerns. In these types of locations, stand alone houses will be harder and more expensive to insure than will insuring a condo. Usually, a condo association buys insurance for the entire structure, leaving you to insure only the actual contents of the condo, so your insurance is less expensive and easier to obtain.

5. How far is your primary residence?

Will your vacation home be in a place that is far from where you live? Stand alone homes require more maintenance, such as mowing the lawn. With a condo, landscaping and pool maintenance are generally taken care of by the association. Also, with a condo, you may have fewer security concerns, since other condo owners and association members are close by to look out for your property and sound the alarm if something out of the ordinary happens. If you can't drop by your property on a regular basis, a condo may be the better option.

Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.

Related Articles:

Vacation House or Vacation Condo? Five Questions that Will Help You Decide

Buying a Home with Bad Credit

Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat.

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