Nearly half of vacation homeowners say they feel guilty that they don’t use their home as much as they had intended, according to a new survey of 461 vacation homeowners from LendingTree. More than a third of vacation homeowners—37%—say they spend time in the home only once a year, or even less. About a quarter—26%—say they use their home more than five times each year.
Forty percent of respondents say they’ve felt pressure from family and friends about using their vacation home, according to the survey.
While vacation homeowners may feel guilty about not using it more, the majority did buy the property with the intent to rent it out. More than half—or 56%—of the respondents said they purchased the vacation property to rent out, although 59% surveyed say they had never rented out the property. A third of respondents said they rent the property year-round, 29% rent it out when they’re not using it, and 41% don’t rent out the property at all.
More than a third of vacation homeowners reported they vacationed in the area for one to three years before buying a home there.
The most common type of vacation home is near the beach. Forty percent of respondents said their property is near the beach, and another 20% said their home is near the mountains. Forty-one percent of investment owners said their home is in a city.
Source: “Nearly Half of Vacation Homeowners Feel Guilty About Low Usage,” LendingTree (July 31, 2019)
