The reality hasn’t quite lived up to the dream
Buying a second home is a dream for many Americans but it appears things may not always work out the way they hoped.
For those who have bought a secondary home, 49% have not made the good use of it that they intended according to a new survey from LendingTree.
The secondary homeowners’ survey found that investment properties are the most popular, accounting for 39% of secondary homes, followed by vacation homes (36%) and rental properties (26%).
Almost half of vacation homeowners bought their home with the intention of renting it out but just 30% of those who are current or former owners of an additional home aside from their primary residence — whether a vacation, investment or rental property— rent it out year-round, while about 4 in 10 (41%) don't rent out their additional home at all.
For 49%, there is guilt about not using their home as much as they intended with 37% only using it a maximum of once per year; and of those that decided to sell, 31% said it was because they didn’t use it enough.
More than a third of vacation homeowners said they vacationed in the area for one to three years before buying their home.
