Vacation homes

Tiny Houses for SERIOUS Downsizers

These are for SERIOUS downsizers! Houses/sheds/spheres from 89 to 500SF, Plus a unique bed that rises to the ceiling to create living space underneath. Includes links to manufacturers if you want one

I think this one from local Modern Shed is the best looking, and the Zero House (#7 in the slide show) is amazing in it claims to be completely self-contained off the grid, including water and waste.

See slideshow of  Tiny Houses here

 

 

Backyard Cottage Design Challenge

Inspired by Seattle’s new backyard cottage ordinance, Method homes sponsored a design competition for backyard cottage designs that could be built as pre-fabs (to lower costs).

It drew a lot of entries from tiny to big, modern to craftsman, and all were pretty cool , take a look.

Now you can be just like the Kennedys and have your own family compound! Backyard cottages are fantastic solutions for extra living space or a studio, multigenerational housing for returning kids or parents. As years go by, you can even move the kids and their family into the main house, and you can downsize to the smaller one out back. And they will have free babysitters!

Another scenario can have the new cottage as an Accessory Dwelling Unit, which can be a legal rental as long as you live on the property.   The Backyard Box website has examples of cottages with prices. From a financial standpoint, these are a make-sense real estate investment in that they would provide a positive cash flow from the start, and provide an decent return on investment.

Cabins are selling in Washington

Three times in the last two years, I have received calls from clients who are wanting to buy a summer cabin or recreational land. Seems that prices for those have fallen too, and like everywhere else, some sellers are motivated. After showing a few, I realized that there are cabins all over the Puget Sound area.

I researched sales for the past year, and found that 124 cabins had sold in King, Island, Skagit, and San Juan counties only. They ranged from falling-down shacks to original cabins on Lake Washington waterfront property, from very nice traditional log cabins to modern pre-fab structures. Some were in the mountains, others on lakes or Puget Sound. Locations included rural areas, resort areas, and some were in small towns like Langley on Whidbey Island or Port Townsend.  The median sales price was $238,000.

Another option is to buy land  or a lot. There are now very nice prefab structures available that you can have put on your lot, for an almost-instant cabin.  I ran across Backyard Box in Seattle and IdeaBox from Portland in my research.

If you think a water or mountain getaway of your own at a great price may be just what you need, contact me. I enjoy working with rural properties as well as in-city. Tell me what or where you’re thinking of, and I can send you some listings.

Boomers are buying homes to retire in

Most of the news we have seen is about how the echo-boomers are saving the housing market by buying their first home. Now we are seeing a trend of boomers buying their next home now, and taking advantage of lower prices, (especially in resort areas)  and dirt-cheap interest rates.

The strategies have changed, as the above article reports. In the anything-goes market of a few years ago, it was nothing to take a 2nd on y0ur primary residence and buy a transitional home. Now it takes a 2nd home mortgage and an actual down payment, along with professional management if it is out of town.

Another way is to buy your next home in an IRA using a special trust company. This gets a little complex, as the house is strictly an investment that you or relatives can’t live in while its in the IRA. However, when it’s time to retire and move in, the house is taken as a distribution from your IRA.

Popular Conversion Tax Holiday has Ended

It used to be a tax loophole, now the loophole is closing. sometimes called a conversion, I am referring to the ability to avoid capital gains tax on an appreciated investment home or vacation property by converting it to a personal residence. Up until Congress started looking for sources of tax revenue to pay for last summer’s housing bill, you could buy an investment property, or 1031 exchange into one, have it increase in value, then move in to it. After living in it for 2 years, you could sell it as your residence, and use the regular exclusions of $250,000 of gain for a single person. or $500,000 of gain for a married couple, thus eliminating the capitol gains tax on the combined gain of all the propertes! But…now the party’s over.

From now on, you will owe capital gains tax on the total gain times the ratio of time it was an investment property or second home divided by total years of ownership. This tax on the period of time you occupied the home falls under the $250,000 and $500,000 exclusions. Here’s a Kipplinger article on the subject.

Yakima comes back to life

See the Seattle Times Story about Yakima.

Mexico, with a personal touch

Mexico is a big place, with many opportunities for owning a home or condo for vacations, or part-time or full-time retirement living. Dollars go much, much farther there for everything to everyday goods and services to health care, and real estate too. The best part is it’s a big place, with many opportunities for every budget and lifestyle. The challenge has been finding the best place for you. Until now.

DownsizeNW has recently teamed up with some Re/Max agents who know Mexico…all of it. From the different areas to consider..from beach resort cities to small colonial towns to university towns centers of art and knowledge. They also know the ins and outs of the real estate industry there, from buying new homes or condos from developers, or restored older homes, or building your own, not to mention the legalities of making sure you have good title, and wading through the bureacuracy of buying. They even know how to connect you with buyer’s agents to make sure you are getting the best deal and paying the lowest closing costs.

For more information, or to sign up for one of their local seminars or trips to Mexico, let us know!

International Living’s World’s Top Retirement Havens

Ever been on vacation somewhere, and thought “I would love to live here when I retire!” If so, you should visit International Living.com . It is a very exciting magazine, with a fantastic website all about living abroad. It has tons of info and great advice about living in locations all around the world, for the future ex-pat! I could spend hours on this website! It has blogs, discussion forums, data about all kinds of locations where Americans are retiring, as well as a feature they call “Post Cards” wherein those living abroad describe life in detail in the places they have chosen.

Their Top-rated Retirement Havens for 2007 include Mexico, Ecuador, and Italy.

Fractional Vacation Home Ownership

There has been talk lately of this new form of vacation-home ownership. It’s similar to a time-share in that you don’t need it all the time, so why pay for it for all the time? Unlike a time-share, you own a specific piece of real-estate, an appreciating asset over time, with tax advantages and everything, instead of the time-share dissapointment that many have experienced. So, instead of buying an $800K waterfront vacation home that you won’t use all the time, you can own a part of it for much less.

I have noticed some available in Chelan, that include concierge service that prepares the home they way you want it for when you arrive, including grocery shopping!

Here is a WSJ article describing more about fractional ownership, including some links for further info.

The Fractional concept is not just for buyers either. If you own a vacation property, it can be listed and sold as a fractional property too. This increases the pool of prospective buyers, and usually brings a higher sales price.

For more information on buying as a fractional owner, or selling a property as fractional, contact us.