Second Home questions

[riverdees05 Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close riverdees05]

We are looking at the option of buying a condo in Michigan close to our daughter and her family. If we do that what are things based on your history that we need to figure out how to handle? ie - mail, home security, etc.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Funny that you mention that.

I am engaged in a discussion with the USPS about their archaic mail-forwarding policy. They do not acknowledge the reality that tens of thousands of people have more than one residence, and that they are at each of them definite (m/l) timeframes each year. So, what they should is allowed those folks to designate where they want their mail delivered in those definite timeframes, until further notice.

(What would be so hard about telling a computer to deliver mail to one address May 1-November 1 and another address November 1-May 1?)

Instead, they treat a forwarding order as a permanent move. I won't go into all the problems that creates, but there are a lot. Our local postmaster up here just called yesterday and, since we are in a retiree/multiple residence area, she said this has always been a problem.

As an example, we have our auto, homeowners, and liability umbrella insurance renewals happening now, all with our Florida (primary residence) address. In today's mail I have five notices from out liability umbrella company, the oldest postmarked 21 days ago.

I did not even know that our auto renewal was due until I was talking to our agent (FL) about the PLU renewal. The person I was talking to just happened to mention that billing notices three and four weeks ago.

It's not unusual to receive one of our monthly bills until after it is due.

As far as security, there are local companies that do that, but they are not going to do any more than drive by once a week, if that. We have no security in Missouri, and some of our -------s neighbors do mess around with stuff. But, the sheriff is on notice, and they know the sheriff is on notice, so nothing too serious happens.

In FL we have good neighbors who look out for stuff. In addition, we have a lawn care guy who is there, and looking at stuff, at least as often as a drive-by security company would.

If it would make you feel better, look at web-based security cameras that monitor your place, and that you can access wherever you are. That way you can maybe see who messed your place after the fact.

If someone's gonna mess with your place, they're gonna mess with your place.

If one of your locations has homesteading, that's another factor.

Make a list of things you have to do to close each place up. Shut the water off. Shut the water heater off. Set the AC, or heat, on whatever you want to set it on. Empty the fridge. Get rid of perishables and bug-attracting stuff in the cupboards. etc.

[easyrider Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close easyrider]

I have some friends that have bought or rented property in other cities to be close to their kids. One even sold her house and moved but after she moved within a few miles of her son , her son moved to another state for work. Now they are stuck wanting to move back and real estate prices here have recently skyrocketed.

A different good buddy rented a very cool place about 15 miles away from his daughters family. His wife regularly watched the grandkids when they wanted. After a year or so they decided it was too much work to have two places and moved back home.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

One main issue is taxes, look into the laws to see where it pays you to stay longer. I have a close friend that lives 49/51 % in New York and Florida, He counts the days as they fly back and forth

[rapmarks Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close rapmarks]

We have had two homes since 1988. Not too much hassle except when something happens to the house that is closed up or it is time to pack up the one house and more to the other. I haven't had trouble with mail forwarding; in fact, the mail person has given me her cell number if I have any problems. When packing, I have to make sure I don't leave anything vital behind,usually some medical record or piece of paper with important information on it. this year we flew back for the first time, which meant we couldn't pack the car as usual, and I have discovered the old golf clubs I thought would suffice don't work any more. We are also learning to live with just one car. lots of bills, which I mostly pay on auto pay, but we feel the non state income tax savings pays for many of the costs of the second home

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

but we feel the non state income tax savings pays for many of the costs of the second home

Our first Florida home paid for our current Florida home.

Actually, each of our first homes became rental houses, which paid for our first second home, which later became our first home.

When we got another second home, it became our first home, and our old first home, which started out as a second home, became a second home again.

We then bought a third home. Then we sold our first home, which paid for our third home, and it became our first home.

[rapmarks Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close rapmarks]

I am talking that the income tax savings is enough to cover property tax, insurance, maintenance fees, etc. all the expenses of owning the home. Not the cost of buying the home.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

yeah

[philsfan Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close philsfan]

We also had a problem with mail forwarding but we found that if we could talk to our normal carrier in person before we went from one place to the other things went smoothly. One thing we did not realize is that we were not able to have a registered vehicle in both AZ and GA. We didn't find that out until after we had driven across the country and purchased our return trip airfare. We ended up moving to GA permanently so it ended up to not be such a big deal but you should check into the laws in your two states if you plan to have a car in both places. It just didn't make sense for us to drive all the way back every two years to get an AZ emissions check.

[rapmarks Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close rapmarks]

one thing my mail carrier told me, is to always mark entire family rather than individual on the change of address form. If you write down Ronald, and mark individual, they might not forward something addressed to Ron.

[SherryS Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close SherryS]

We are now Florida residents with a second condo in Michigan where we live for about 4 months during the summer. Michigan property taxes on a second home that is not your primary residence is an additional 18 mills each year. In Grandville, MI, that means we pay about $1200 ADDITIONAL property tax each year on a 3 BR 2 1/2 bath condo identical to my neighbors. The trade off is that Florida does not have a state income tax and also does not tax our Michigan teachers' pensions. Keep that in mind when purchasing. Then there is the on-going mail issue.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

It's easy to get confusing information.

To declare Florida residency, it is suggested that you switch everything to Florida. Bank, IRS returns, driver's license, voter registration . . . everything.

We did, and the cost of switching vehicle registrations is fairly expensive.

Then, well after the fact, out "former" insurance company said that we need to have vehicles registered, and insurance based, on where they are kept and used.

Stuff like that.

"They" need to get their stories together.

[riverdees05 Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close riverdees05]

Home owners insurance? Do you use the same company to insurance both places or a different company?

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Home owners insurance? Do you use the same company to insurance both places or a different company?

Depends.

Florida being screwed up like it is, most real insurance companies do not do home owners there. So, we have one in Florida and another one in Missouri.

But, your question opens up a can of worms because some companies frown on "unoccupied" dwellings.

Then there is the question of what coverage to put on it. We went with liability only on our "third" house, until it became our primary residence, when we put homeowners on it. Since 80% of the premium was "Hurricane", and the deductible was very high, we dropped "Hurricane".

You just have to make a decision as to how much risk you're willing to assume. To me, the only risk that could "bankrupt" us is liability, so we have a liability umbrella over everything, everywhere, even our ATV.

Our experience is that if you have to actually use your insurance, they're gonna screw you over anyway.

[SherryS Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close SherryS]

It's easy to get confusing information.

To declare Florida residency, it is suggested that you switch everything to Florida. Bank, IRS returns, driver's license, voter registration . . . everything.

We did, and the cost of switching vehicle registrations is fairly expensive.

Then, well after the fact, out "former" insurance company said that we need to have vehicles registered, and insurance based, on where they are kept and used.

Stuff like that.

"They" need to get their stories together.

The vehicle registration fee is one of the bigger Florida fees the state uses instead of having a state income tax. Another of the big fees is the 4.5% "doc" fee on any property purchase.