Sadler House

Sadler House

Rockland, Maine

budget

All of the posts under the "budget" tag.

Vacation Home Expenses: Budgeting for Your Dream

I didn’t grow up with people who had vacation homes, so it seemed pretty ballsy to our friends and family when my husband and I started planning to buy our dream home in Maine. Naturally, a major concern was whether or not we could afford it. With all the time it took us to save the downpayment, I had years to crunch the numbers on our future vacation home expenses from here to Sunday. I figured out how much mortgage, tax, and insurance were likely to drain us monthly. I estimated how much more we’d need to add to our emergency savings. I did the figuring about how much it would help us if we could rent the house weekly to other vacationers.

Oh, I did the math.

Vacation Home Expenses: Don't forget furnishingsVacation Home Dreams Meet Real World Expenses

In 2013, we realized our dream of buying Sadler House, and I signed a thousand papers with very sweaty hands. With some self-control, we managed to buy a home that was within the budget I had allocated to us. We crossed our fingers and moved forward.

We’ve owned and rented this beloved home now for more than two years, and I have learned about expenses that even my copious calculations didn’t previously anticipate. All in all, we’ve been very happy with our decision. Based on my experience, however, I thought I could spare some future owners a little grief by sharing a list of expenses to consider when they budget for their own dream vacation homes.

First, the obvious. Read more →

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