| Good morning! This week we're talking about vacation homes, forever homes and the easiest places to save for a down payment. | | | | Second home, first? | | | | | | Jose Velez / Money | If you know someone with a sweet vacation home, chances are they bought it after years of hard work. After paying for things like braces and college and weddings, maybe these homes seemed like rewards for successful careers, smart financial planning — and some good luck. For a long time, this was the dream. If things went really well, you'd be able to buy a place at the beach or in the mountains to welcome your grandchildren. Today, however, a subset of young homeowners are flipping the script, buying what used to be considered second homes, first. "This approach provides us with the best of both worlds," says Skye McIntyre-Bolen, 35, who lives in an Asheville, North Carolina rental and recently bought land on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina. McIntyre-Bolen and her husband plan to build a tiny home on the property. They will visit occasionally and rent out the space the rest of the time. "We're able to continue growing our savings for a down payment while establishing an investment property that will help pay our rent, and eventually, our mortgage," she says. As Aly J. Yale explains in her latest Money story, a combination of low interest rates, rising urban home prices and the flexibility of remote work, have made this type of arrangement possible — and profitable — for more people. "Younger homebuyers are extremely savvy financially," says Christian Wallace, head of real estate services at Better. "Staying in their rentals, but at the same taking advantage of historically low interest rates to purchase a home and begin building equity seems to be the best of both worlds." | | | | From our sponsor
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| | | | A true forever home | On the other end of the spectrum — this week, Curbed published a charming profile of architectural historian Andrew Alpern and the New York apartment he's lived in since 1962. Then a 21-year-old student, Alpern paid $3,000 (about $28,000 in today's dollars) for the one-bedroom in the now trendy Chelsea neighborhood. The median price for a one-bedroom in the area is now $1.2 million. There are some price controls in Alpern's building, but he would surely make a tidy profit if he decided to sell (though that sounds unlikely). Alpern's 60-year tenure is extreme, but the length of time people own homes has been increasing. As of 2018, the median length of homeownership in the U.S. was 13 years, up from 10 years in 2008. Low supply and affordability are driving the increase. More recently, the ability to refinance at very low interest rates seems to have kept some people in homes they might have otherwise sold. | | | | | | | | Easier to save | | | | | | Regardless of whether you are buying a primary home or a rental property, a forever home or a for-right-now home, some places will clearly be easier to buy in than others. A new report from listing company RentCafe, uses median income, median starter home price and capacity to save to highlight the 20 places where the typical buyer could save up a 20% down payment fastest. Here are the top 5:
- Bloomington, Illinois: 1 year
- Springfield, Illinois: 1 year, 3 months
- Cedar Rapids, Iowa: 1 year, 9 months
- Trenton-Princeton, New Jersey: 1 year, 10 months
- Ann Arbor, Michigan: 2 years, 4 months
| | | | | | | | | | Happy hunting,  | | | | Money's Essential Home Buying Resources: Winter 2022 | | | |
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