Friday, May 28, 2010

battle of the sexes

John and I don't always see eye to eye about finances.  So let me pose a question to you and please, send me some feedback.  I am wondering if this is a "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" kind of question or if this is just a me and John thing.

Would you rather:

A)  Scrimp and save on your daily expenses and home improvement fund in order to purchase a vacation home at the beach (where you will only spend a week or two a year and then use it as a rental property the rest of the year)

or

B)  Allow yourself a little more money for the day to day and household expenses (alleviating much stress and giving the opportunity to go out to dinner and movies and enjoy here and now) and continue to vacation in hotels in different locations.

Seriously, would love feedback on this one!

10 comments:

Amy said...

B. All the way. I live with a tourniquet on daily expenses that leaves me choking. Of course, if the vacation property was an investment--marketed and purchased with the idea to bring in revenue in the way of rent, then that is another question all together.

Danielle said...

Go with B (I'm assuming your choice)! We have several rental properties (not at the beach of course) and it's a pain!!! You do realize that YOU will probably be the one stuck with dealing with finding renters. Stick with the Myrtle Beach rental vacation...sorry John...

Andrea said...

I'm for B. Renting would be such a headache. Unless, of course, you hire a company to do all the cleaning and upkeep and deal with the renters. But that might squeeze out your profit margin depending on how often you keep it rented. Good luck! You'll have to let us know who wins!

Kate Edmondson said...

I'm going with B also. Andy and I have a similar argument, where he would rather save our money for emergencies and never eat out, live in a shoebox, etc. I prefer having less day-to-day stress and see eating out as a way to celebrate the daily aspects of life.

Unknown said...

I'm for B. I hate making my lunch and demand at least one lunch out per week (not currently working with my Cyprus-oriented austerity measures!). But if you end up with A, I will happily rent your apartment!

Incidentally, Vivien's with me on B. But he's European, so that could be a confounding factor. :)

Becca said...

Definitely B, but by the way it was worded, I can tell B is your choice too :)

Anonymous said...

B! But like your other comments, I can tell by your wording that this is your choice, too. There are also tax consequences of owning 2 homes, plus for me I would never really feel like that "beach house" is another -home- because OTHER PEOPLE sleep there more than me/us. I would still feel like a guest or just another renter... kwim?

Rebecca said...

B. Definitely B.

Option A (rental property) would be quite the headache and only. The beach "home" will require the owners to make frequent trips to the vacation home (or pay an agent) to show it to prospective renters, clean between renters, and so on and so forth.

Jill said...

Just spent the weekend at the beach in someone's 'rental'. The owners had been there a month doing 'home improvement' projects. They were exhausted. They said, "Think of all the projects you need to do at your house. Now multiply that by two." I'm voting for "B" (especially b/c my husband has a "never spend a dime for anything that isn't a 'need'" policy!)

WhiteEyebrows said...

Generally speaking, I am for A. You are making an investment that you can also enjoy.

However - make sure it is a place you're going to want to go A LOT. Because you're going to be stuck feeling like every time you have a little vacation, you have to go there because you have sunk so much money into it.

I have this problem with mountain property in my dad's family. Since we constantly invest in it, we feel like we need to use it. It's like a timeshare gone wrong.

So... on second thought - bank the money and take awesome vacations to wherever your heart dictates year after year.