How did you retire to two locations (or advice on how to)

February 6, 2023 3:08 PM

Retirement is looming, and one attractive scenario is that we split the year between two locations. Buying two houses is not really in the cards. Do you live this way in retirement? How did (or how would) you do it?

We are still paying for the larger-than-we-need house we are currently in. But we do have roughly $650K in equity. We are pondering the idea of living in two locations, each for roughly half the year (possibly Denver and San Diego). Owning two houses, or even townhouses/condos does not seem viable.

Have you multi-location retired? Or perhaps you have insight on how people manage this sort of thing?

Thanks in advance for any input!

posted by ecorrocio to Work & Money (15 answers total)

So my parents did this for about 10 years - owning a home in the U.S. and an apartment in Paris. Obviously, this level of distance, expense, etc. might not be an option but the apartment was really a great thing for them. They spent 6 months in Paris and 6 months in the U.S. I would look after their house in the U.S. while they were in Paris in exchange for unlimited use of their cars, house, etc. When they were in the U.S., they had a service take care of the apartment.

They sold it a few years back having made $$$ on the investment and many many fond memories of their time there.

The key for their success was that they found a small apartment that worked for them and committed to using it for at least 10 years. They ended up getting 12 years out of it before the visas and maintenance became too much of a hassle.
posted by tafetta, darling! at 3:21 PM on February 6, 2023 [4 favorites]

Lots of people do this with RVs or campers. Some even forego the fixed 'primary' location, and just have a really nice portable housing system and live in several places (or a favorite handful, etc).
posted by SaltySalticid at 3:33 PM on February 6, 2023 [3 favorites]

I have two sets of neighbors who have approached this differently:

Pair One sold their house in a VERY expensive area, and bought another house in a picturesque but vastly cheaper part of the US. They now stay there Spring/Summer. In Fall/Winter they go to various places in the southern hemisphere -- right now they're somewhere north of Auckland (Whangārei maybe?). They manage by keeping their stuff in the US and having a property manager just check the place every week or so (no risk of freeze, so it's a simple task).

Pair Two kept their house, went traveling. After about two years of that they sold their house in Denver and just kept traveling; they've been practically everywhere now (it's been five years and they're still at it). Last I heard they were headed to Lalibela, so they're fairly sturdy travelers. Once they're no longer able to travel they expect to take the proceeds from their house sale and use it on elder care until their deaths. They managed by essentially disposing of everything they owned -- mementoes to the kids, everything else sold or given away.

Neither set has pets, all children are adults with their own lives. Pair One has the property company to help handle US-related entanglements (USPS Informed Delivery is a lifesaver; when important mail is arriving they can see it, have the manager pop by to pick it up, scan it, and send it to them electronically). Pair Two no longer has any US entanglements aside from citizenship; they changed their address to one of their children so that things like Social Security letters don't get stolen or something, but otherwise they don't have to care about it.

One of my key takeways was that I should definitely sign up for USPS Informed Delivery, as well as having accounts at FedEx and UPS so that I get alerted to packages and can redirect them. Which turns out to be quite handy even if I'm not retired.
posted by aramaic at 3:36 PM on February 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

My grandparents did this as snow birds in Florida and then rest of the year in Iowa. They accomplished this by buying in Florida when it was one of the first condos being built in the 90’s (I think?) at an excellent price. Off season maintenance isn’t that big of a deal because the condo building management takes care of the big stuff and then my Aunt would also visit sometimes to check on things/use the space. They would also do month long rentals to what would eventually become long term (over many years, but still only a month or two) renters. I’m not entirely sure how they handled being away from the house in Iowa over the winter. I think a combo of full winterization/it being a small town where neighbors happily checked in and they were on a first name basis with anyone they’d call for maintenance (plumber, handyman, etc).

I think the real secret was buy real estate at the right time and be a WWII vet and retired college professor with the medical insurance that comes with both. I’m not sure it’s possible for “regular” people today unless you’re moving from a high COL area to two low COL areas. Also be prepared to rent one of the spaces for part of the year.
posted by raccoon409 at 3:50 PM on February 6, 2023 [2 favorites]

Here in Mexico we're always surprised the winter migration from the North doesn't disrupt the axial tilt. Where I live specifically most snowbirds don't own their own places but rather rent them for 3-6 months of the year. Many of them know the owners at this point and are able to return to the same home year after year.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 4:38 PM on February 6, 2023 [2 favorites]

One of my sets of parents does this. They sold their house, bought two smaller apartments in two locations, and I believe that they do seasonal rentals of whichever one they're not living in to help recoup some of their costs, with a local property manager in each location so they're not dealing with being long-distance landlords. That does of course require you to be okay having someone living in your space for months; I believe they gave a lot of their valuable family stuff away to my siblings before embarking on this so they wouldn't lie awake worrying at night that a renter was going to abscond with the family china or something.
posted by Stacey at 4:39 PM on February 6, 2023

My grandparents sold their longtime home in Ohio when they retired, and bought a place in Sarasota. They stayed in Florida from October-May and then lived in a camper in Ohio for the summer. I believe they paid a fee for the camper to stay at the campgrounds while they were in Florida. Couldn't have been too costly, they definitely weren't made of money.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 6:02 PM on February 6, 2023

My parents have gone the "nice camper" route. They both love hiking kayaking and state/national parks but my stepmom hates actual camping, so after paying off the mortgage they bought a meerkat camper and a big jeep to tow it before retirement when they had more money. They travel the US and Canada probably a quarter of the year in it.

My neighbors own two homes. One is a really comfortable log cabin in rural Vermont that they built about 20 years ago. The other is an off grid piece of property in Florida with a stationary mobile home on it. They're big foodies and at both places they grow most of their own food and have friends who raise meat animals. Every growing season they freeze and preserve food for the following year, and one of them works part time. They live pretty frugally but at least here in VT it seems like they have a really nice life that they find fulfilling.

San Diego at least is really expensive. I assume Denver is too. I have some family friends who live in Denver during the non-ski season and rent out their house to skiers during the season, which pays for a lot of their expenses.

I think the first step is thinking about what you would compromise on from your current life in order to have two places.
posted by Summers at 6:25 PM on February 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

My parents did it by owning two homes, but in much cheaper places than Denver and Colorado; pre-pandemic each house was valued at around $200K. So choosing less expensive locations is one way to go.
posted by metasarah at 7:25 PM on February 6, 2023 [2 favorites]

My parents own two homes. They have a *very inexpensive* patio home in NYS (completely paid off) and they bought a condo in FL (now also completely paid off.) The condo is not in a prime location--it's not right on the ocean or anything special like that--it faces out into a swampy wooded area. But you can hear and smell the ocean from their balcony and it's a 5 minute walk to get to the beach. The key for them was to have extremely low maintenance on both of their homes and to buy less than prime properties that still gave them access to every activity they wanted. Their lawn in NY can be mowed in less than 10 minutes and they pay a landscaper to maintain their outdoor plants. For the FL condo they pay someone to come in monthly to check for mold and moisture, prep for hurricanes, that sort of thing. They let relatives stay there for free whenever they want--my aunt is currently saving $5500 by staying in their condo rather than renting another unit in the same building for a month. They do the USPS informed delivery thing mentioned above and schedule all their medical appointments in one location rather than handling two sets of doctors and practices. In cases of emergency (cancer diagnoses, stent installation, etc.) they just shorten their time spent in their non doctor location as necessary.

They looked into other possibilities. For a few years they rented a place for 6 months every year, but it cost almost as much as owning their own condo year round but with no equity. They also considered an RV situation, but they didn't feel physically up to it for the long term and didn't want to do something for just 5-7 years before starting back at square 1 while potentially being stuck with an RV they no longer wanted. (They had do several trades to get out of being boat owners many years ago and just had no interest in doing the same thing with a land boat.)

In summation: I don't think you need to discount ownership if you consider making some tradeoffs on locations, home sizes, etc. Renting/rvs/glamping are still excellent alternatives to owning, but you should do some deep thinking about the pros and cons of each in the context of your own health, lifestyle, and long term retirement goals.
posted by MagnificentVacuum at 8:49 PM on February 6, 2023 [3 favorites]

Where my in-laws (RIP) used to live, the planned development had a rental program - retirees bought a home there, but lived in their home state part of the year. When they were in their home state, their home was available for vacation rentals. This worked because the development had many golf courses and was a popular destination for that reason. These days a VRBO-type situation would work as well I'd think.
posted by TimHare at 8:50 PM on February 6, 2023

I'm not retired, but work remotely, and have spent extended time in other cities while petsitting or housesitting (so I didn't pay for housing). On the platform I use, people often take short vacations, but it's not uncommon for someone to need a housesitter for a few months or even six months. You might be able to find someone who wants a housesitter at the same time each year while they travel for the winter, or you might be able to find someone who wants to swap with you every six months. I could imagine finding someone in Denver who wants to spend each winter or summer in San Diego.
posted by pinochiette at 6:26 AM on February 7, 2023

I'm trying to figure this all out now. After spending 15+ years in the US South I retired and moved back to upstate NY a couple of years ago to be near kids and grandkids. I cannot tolerate the winters there, too cold, too grey, too icy. So I've left for the past two winters. I don't have much money so I've camped and stayed with friends. I camp in my minivan, very basic. I intend to find a more permanent solution. Last winter when covid was raging I rented a room for two months in coastal NC, that worked well. I've thought about maybe buying a small condo near the beach in NC with some kind of rental management in place. I would use it for three or four months in the winter, then rent it out.
posted by mareli at 8:23 AM on February 7, 2023

I think of owning a second home as like owning a timeshare, but you're on the hook for all 52 weeks.

I would start with some cheap-ish month-long AirBnBs and see how you like your prospective retirement locations. Talk to locals, learn about the area. Think of it like a long vacation and not a second home. You'll have to maintain a domicile in a primary location anyway.

Consider that it'll cost $6000/month for a modest home in San Diego. For that, you could instead spend the month in a resort in Mexico, take a cruise to Alaska, whatever. Unless you have special needs that require a specific living configuration, it might make more sense to be flexible.
posted by credulous at 10:41 AM on February 7, 2023

Oddly enough, I just got some spam that you might find mildly interesting -- Pacaso. It's sort of like a timeshare, except that it's utterly unlike most timeshares. They buy/build a fancy house in a fancy place, furnish it, then create a corporate entity which holds the house (and associated upkeep services), and then you buy a share of that corporation. YMMV, but I thought I'd mention it -- there do seem to be other companies doing the same sort of thing. So, if you own 1/8th of the holding company, you get 1/8th of the time at the house, with a scheduling app that aims to give all of the owners equal access to desired blocks of time at the property.

...but we are talking mansions here, so the amount of money involved can be fairly large for some of the more sought-after locations (a 5bdr 6000sf mansion at Incline Village Tahoe isn't cheap, so 1/8th of the mansion is still a lot of money). Again, I'm not saying it's a flawless system, just that it is interesting and arrived in my inbox.
posted by aramaic at 11:08 AM on February 7, 2023