I was reading Realty Times today and came across an article which I thought might be of interest to those who have thought about buying real estate as an investment. Although investment property is Kimberly's area of expertise not mine, I still thought I would share it.

The article is titled, "Are More Second Homes Investments?" by Broderick Perkins and can be found on-line by visiting the News section of STLagent.com, or by going here:

http://realtytimes.com/rtcpages/20050223_secondhomes.htm

The basis for the article is a survey that shows 29% of people interviewed who purchased second (vacation) homes last year made the purchase for investment reasons over traditional reasons like vacation homes (18%) or retirement homes (26%). This is a considerable increase in investors over previous years. Although it should be noted that the survey was too small to be considered 100% accurate, there are plenty of reasons to believe this is an up and coming area for investors.

Investing in a vacation property has advantages (and disadvantages) over traditional investment property. Again, since this is Kimberly’s area of expertise and not mine, I won’t attempt to list them all here. However one of the more compelling advantages a second home has, over say a traditional apartment building or gut rehab project, is that it’s something you and your family can use or enjoy. For example, a lake front home is something you might be able to rent out at a premium during the summer months, and then enjoy yourself during the lesser winter months as a quite retreat. There is also some speculation that as we see more and more people from the “baby boom” generation retire, the demand for vacation homes as retirement property will increase (increasing property values along with it).

Of course all investments have some degree of risks, and this is no different. Traditionally vacation home markets appreciate in a vastly different style than your average ordinary single family home in the suburbs. But unlike that pets.com stock, if this one tanks you can still go visit it on the weekend.

Kimberly has long followed the secondary home market at Innsbrook (a vacation lake Northwest of St Louis). If this is something that interests you, please feel free to contact her at (314) 267-2691 and she can discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this with you in greater details.

As always, I suggest getting sound financial, legal, and professional real estate advice (from someone who understands and has owned investment properties) before making any kind of investment in real estate.