The family advantages of buying a vacation home

Family holidays tend to involve packing up and heading off to an exotic destination en masse, staying in all-inclusive resorts, or getting out into the wilderness on exciting hiking trips. While a family vacation is a wonderful experience, and a great way to bond as a family, they can end up being expensive, or overly constrained by budgetary considerations.

And sure, a family cruise to Cabo San Lucas can be a magnificent way to spend your summer vacations. But what if there was a way to enjoy a convenient, enjoyable, comfortable, and affordable summer vacation without the hassle of planning and the expense of accommodation?

If this sounds like a great idea, why not consider buying a vacation home?

For many people, vacation homes sound like a luxury, and one that, at the end of the day, they just won’t get enough use out of. But for a family, particularly a large family, a vacation home can be a wonderful way of having fun trips without having to worry about researching destinations and finding (and paying for) adequate accommodation.

Plus, a family vacation home can even pay for itself, providing rental income while you aren’t using it!

So whether you fancy a cabin in the woods, or want to get dual citizenship in Panama with a beachfront condo, here are a few of the family advantages of buying a vacation home.

Convenience

Look, we all love vacations with the kids, but they can be complicated. When you’ve got a large family, planning a vacation can be enormously complicated, with loads of moving parts and an awful lot of potential for things to go wrong. A vacation home offers a ready-made, convenient destination, with everything you need already in situ. It is also familiar, with favorite places, things to do, and restaurants to eat at, which is great for pickier kids!

Comfort

One of the worst things that can happen on a family vacation is to get to your destination and discover that you were mis-sold your hotel or resort. Uncomfortable beds, small rooms, or closed amenities – these sorts of things are sadly more common than you might expect. With a family vacation house, you have all the comforts of home to hand, with everything arranged just the way you like it, and no concerns that things won’t live up to the brochure. Plus, as you spend more time there it will only get more comfortable!

Perfect for get-togethers

Family reunions are great fun, but organizing a truly memorable one abroad can be a nightmare. From finding enough accommodation to choosing where to go, planning a family get-together can be tough. A family vacation home, however, offers the perfect place to gather and celebrate as a family, and a wonderful location to start to build new traditions and family customs that can be passed on from generation to generation.

Rental income

A family vacation home isn’t only advantageous from your own travel planning perspective. Unfortunately, we can’t all travel all the time, but with a small amount of careful effort, your vacation home can bring in extra income during the times you aren’t staying there, helping you pay for your own vacations! In addition, real estate is always a great investment, and the value of your vacation home will only increase in the long-term.

Tax breaks

Finally, there are some interesting and surprisingly significant tax incentives that come with owning a vacation house, particularly if you use it as a genuine second home. Mortgages and property taxes on a second home can be tax-deductible, making your vacation home the perfect place to plan on retiring to!