Althouse: "If It Causes Stress, Is It Really a Vacation Home?"

July 28, 2010

"If It Causes Stress, Is It Really a Vacation Home?"

Let me react to another NYT headline. The easy answer is yes — because vacations are stressful.

18 comments:

Fred4Pres said...: Annoying neighbors are a bane (in any circumstance). Fortunately my current neighbors are nice. I have had crappy ones in the past.

I agree about vacation homes, they are about vacation and memories, not investments.; 7/28/10, 9:40 AM
rhhardin said...: Little drops of water
Little grains of sand
Make a summer cottage
More than I can stand.

probably Dorothy Parker

I could google it I guess.; 7/28/10, 9:42 AM
traditionalguy said...: It seems like travels across distances to new places is a combination of excitement and stress from the constant decision making. A good vacation home can also be staying in a familiar place and enjoying sleep and down time together as batteries re-charge.For that we like the Hemlock Inn in Bryson City, N.C. next to the Smokies.; 7/28/10, 9:50 AM
Skyler said...: Another mindless article from the NYT based on the writer's personal experience and an axe to grind.

The world would be so much better if people ignored the NYT and Andrew Sullivan. Why anyone reads either one makes no sense to me.; 7/28/10, 9:52 AM
Opus One Media said...: Skyler said...
" Why anyone reads either one makes no sense to me."

oh you are just being silly; 7/28/10, 9:57 AM
Rich B said...: Yeah, I really enjoy sitting on my deck watching the Rolls shine in the golden evening sun. Sort of brings a guy closer to nature.; 7/28/10, 10:04 AM
Greg Hlatky said...: Take it from me, don't own a yacht.; 7/28/10, 10:06 AM
Unknown said...: Ann Althouse said...

...because vacations are stressful.

My God, woman, where do you go - Helmand Province?

I'd stick a 'some' or 'can be' in there myself.

Skyler said...

Another mindless article from the NYT based on the writer's personal experience and an axe to grind.

The world would be so much better if people ignored the NYT and Andrew Sullivan. Why anyone reads either one makes no sense to me.

But where would people like HD get their loony talking points?; 7/28/10, 10:44 AM
kjbe said...: If It Causes Stress, Is It Really a Vacation Home?

My answer is, "No, not so much." Keeping up with one place is enough for us and kind of ties you down to one place.

Our neighbor, who recently sold their vacation property about an hour north of Madison, would answer differently. They spent every chance they could there and viewed it as place of respite, not stress.

It was also, I might add, quite a good investment (for the 15 years they had it) AND a source of fond memories.; 7/28/10, 11:01 AM
DADvocate said...: Vacations are one of the more common times for a person to commit suicide. I guess it's having the time to sit back and look at how meaningless, empty your life is or what a failure you've been in one way or another.

I've never wanted a vacation home as I'd rather wander than go to the same place repeatedly. And, in the event I do want to go to the same place, hotels, cabins, etc aren't that bad.; 7/28/10, 11:19 AM
MadisonMan said...: The problem if I owned a Vacation Home is that I would feel obligated to go there.

If you have to do something, is it a vacation?

Not that I really go anywhere, anyway, even without owning a vacation home. We never go anywhere, as my kids will be happy to tell you.; 7/28/10, 11:27 AM
FormerTucsonan said...: As for our neighbor, I have decided that he is suffering from what I call the Naples Effect. Someone with this condition was rich in his hometown but has moved to an affluent place like Naples and realized he is just middle class.

Ok....

Some people are fine with this, realizing they are fortunate to be in a beautiful place and happy to reap the benefits made possible by the wealthy people around them.

Ok, if you say so....

Still, others can’t easily accept this. They become busybodies, like our neighbor. They sue fellow homeowners because of the angle of their outdoor lights, the color of their house or the pets they own.

Guess the fact that you're an elitist NYT prick has nothing do to with it, huh?

WV: uperp - I woulda called you a lot worse, trust me!; 7/28/10, 11:44 AM
Texan99 said...: A guy whose biggest problem is that he bought his vacation home in such haste that he didn't realize the dock wouldn't accommodate his yacht exemplifies the saying "A fool and his money never should have gotten together in the first place."

We live near the shore, where a lot of people like to keep second homes that they don't use very often. A whole industry supports them: people who "open" houses before their owners arrive, adjust the AC, stock the refrigerator, make the beds, and so on. As one of them described her clients to me, "They're super rich, so they can't do anything."; 7/28/10, 12:54 PM
Pastafarian said...: "The easy answer is yes — because vacations are stressful."

Well, I'm typing this from a (rented) vacation house on the coast in North Carolina, so I type with some authority.

Yes, vacations can be stressful, if they're the sort of vacation where you have an agenda, and you're trying to wring every last bit of vacation value from your money and time. I hate that sort of vacation.

This year, we rented a house on the coast for 2 weeks and we're just sort of kicking it. We've done a few things, some at the suggestions of commenters here (thanks, commenters!) We took the Haunted Pub Crawl in Wilmington last night -- great fun, until the womanfolk started vomiting. (Actually, even that was somewhat amusing).

We've come down here a few times, and it is tempting to consider purchasing one of these houses, but I do think that this would be very stressful.

As MadMan mentioned, you'd then feel obligated to come down a few times a year. And we'd have to rent it out the rest of the time to help pay for it, as it would be gut-wrenchingly expensive (the house I'm in now isn't any palace, and it would probably go for $1.2 million or so). And then you'd have to worry about the renters tearing it up, and hurricanes, and the AC breaking down, and sand erosion. Apparently, they can designate your lot "non-rebuildable", meaning that if a hurricane blows your house down, you won't be allowed to rebuild there if the erosion has gone too far.

And you'd have to bring in enough rent to cover property tax, and hurricane insurance, and whatever you have to pay the rental place to have someone clean up between renters, all the while hoping that property values increase enough to make it a good investment.

And then there's Al Gore's predictions about sea level. Hell, this entire island should be about 3 feet underwater by now. I guess we're just lucky so far.; 7/28/10, 1:39 PM
prairie wind said...: The vacation itself doesn't cause stress but--if you are traveling by air--getting through the TSA rigamarole sure is.; 7/28/10, 3:33 PM
the gold digger said...: We are renting a cottage on Madeline Island. Four hundred miles from Milwaukee, but it's a gorgeous drive here and we stop halfway to visit relatives. (Who also load us up with a year's worth of venison bratwurst.)

There is no stress. Just relaxing: sleeping late, listening to the waves and the loons, eating and playing tennis.

See? http://class-factotum.blogspot.com/; 7/28/10, 6:20 PM
MadisonMan said...: I love Madeline Island. The town beach is gorgeous. One year we brought back some lupine seed heads, and they're all over the yard now.; 7/28/10, 6:22 PM
dick said...: I keep thinking of my next door neighbor back in DC when it comes to vacation houses. His parents in Mass owned a vacation home in the Berkshires. When they went on vacation there the whole family would show up. His mother ended up spending her whole vacation either cooking or cleaning while every one else had a good time. When her husbad died, she sold the vacation home, bought an apartment on the Costa del Sol and came to visit the family every other year. She said let some other poor SOB do all the cooking. I'm done! I think she got it about right.; 7/28/10, 6:35 PM