Quote:
Originally Posted by GregWeld
Mike.....
We looked for over a year at buying a house in the Napa Valley... a second home... I started at 2MM... nothing.... and raised that to 4MM... for which you got orange formica kitchen... or so far out that I couldn't take the drive into "town" (St Helena or Yountville) for dinner....
While laying in bed at our hotel (Meadowood Country Club -- you'd love it!) I realized the true cost of 4MM invested in a second home would cost me 200K in income loss (5% that I make off that now in TAX FREE bond income)... so that is "opportunity costs" which one has to calculate to see the true costs! I would need gardeners - and housekeeping - and property taxes and the gutters need cleaning and the windows washed - and more cars to make it "easy" to come and go... and furnishings.... so figure at least another 100K per year... so the income off another 2MM....
To which I said to the Misses.... "Ya know.... we could stay here a MONTH and our room is ONLY 60K".... so if we ate out every night for the month - we might spend 100K. Sounds ridiculous - until you compare the "loss" of ownership costs to just traveling and not owning or worrying about diddly squat. We're traveling.... I gave her a yearly budget (HA!) and we'll just blow that messing about rather than having a second house we'd rarely use since we're traveling anyway.
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Funny we/she started looking in Napa, and Calistoga...Since we love to travel there..But seriously, I am not that well off.. I am looking at REO's , etc... because I cannot afford anything else..
But my Wife's family are in Redding, I know it ain't Napa, but they have some nice Communities up there ,Gated and nongated, Golf course's ect.. Villa type properties.
But I am trying to factor the maintinence in. That is the worry.. I won't pull money from my Investments because that is my Income generator..
But my Wife knows that she will be responsible for it, if she wants to jump up to the Villa on the hill.. I am trying to keep emotion out of the deal..Easy for me, I am a cold basterd, but getting a Woman to not have emotion, is like trying to...well, you get the picture..Hence I am up at 2:30 am...
I need to figure, an extra grand a month ? Large Pool, Pond that is the size of the house, gardeners, home energy...Ahhhhhh....