The Hottest Vacation Home Markets
The Wall Street Journal Online
By June Fletcher
Second homes are sizzling. We tell you where -- and why.
A year and a half ago, David Krahn had never been to the Jersey shore -- but he plunked down almost a million dollars to buy a house there anyway.
Why? The Philadelphia utilities analyst had heard home prices along the shore were booming.
So, for $990,000, he and a business partner bought a four-bedroom oceanfront townhouse in Brigantine, N.J., a barrier island about an hour away, to use as a summer getaway and part-time rental.
The townhouse appreciated so quickly -- local brokers say they can easily get $1.5 million for it today -- that Mr. Krahn is about to buy another, bigger place nearby. That house costs $1.875 million, but he hopes it, too, will be a gold mine.
"Sure it's a risk," he says, "but where else can you make this sort of money so fast?"
The phenomenal real-estate boom of the past five years is sweeping through the vacation-home market. Lured by relatively low interest rates and the promise of big resale value, investors and regular vacationers alike are snapping up second homes -- or, in some cases, third or fourth homes. And though rising interest rates could cool things off, the juggernaut shows few signs of stopping for now, even in upscale areas.
With the trend toward shorter mini-vacations rather than two-week breaks, the market is especially strong in slightly faded resort towns that are an easy drive from major cities, such as Sayville, N.Y., and Newport, R.I. Indeed, the entire Jersey shore is popular with buyers, due to its proximity to New York, Philadelphia and Washington, as is the coast between Los Angeles and San Diego.
The Wall Street Journal Online
By June Fletcher
Second homes are sizzling. We tell you where -- and why.
A year and a half ago, David Krahn had never been to the Jersey shore -- but he plunked down almost a million dollars to buy a house there anyway.
Why? The Philadelphia utilities analyst had heard home prices along the shore were booming.
So, for $990,000, he and a business partner bought a four-bedroom oceanfront townhouse in Brigantine, N.J., a barrier island about an hour away, to use as a summer getaway and part-time rental.
The townhouse appreciated so quickly -- local brokers say they can easily get $1.5 million for it today -- that Mr. Krahn is about to buy another, bigger place nearby. That house costs $1.875 million, but he hopes it, too, will be a gold mine.
"Sure it's a risk," he says, "but where else can you make this sort of money so fast?"
The phenomenal real-estate boom of the past five years is sweeping through the vacation-home market. Lured by relatively low interest rates and the promise of big resale value, investors and regular vacationers alike are snapping up second homes -- or, in some cases, third or fourth homes. And though rising interest rates could cool things off, the juggernaut shows few signs of stopping for now, even in upscale areas.
With the trend toward shorter mini-vacations rather than two-week breaks, the market is especially strong in slightly faded resort towns that are an easy drive from major cities, such as Sayville, N.Y., and Newport, R.I. Indeed, the entire Jersey shore is popular with buyers, due to its proximity to New York, Philadelphia and Washington, as is the coast between Los Angeles and San Diego.
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