As Second Homes Get Far More Use, the Question Is: Where Do You Live?

Of course, owning one home comes with its challenges. But the challenges may mount even higher when owners split their time equally between two or more properties. In these cases, owners face tax, legal, financial, and personal challenges. 

The Rounds family have recently faced these challenges since they have began to spend an extensive amount of time at their second home in the Teton Vally region on the Wyoming/Idaho border. 

Mr. Rounds and his wife closed on a $2.5 million house in Idaho, and although the family planned on splitting their time equally between their home on the East Coast and the new home, they have already spent six months in the new home. 

The family has had to figure out how to "ship cars halfway across the country, find a second pediatrician for their 11-mont-old-daughter, and get their three Maltese dogs back and forth between the two homes." These challenges are not typically encountered by people who only spend weekends and the occasional vacation week at a second home. 

This "co-primary home" lifestyle has been the norm for the ultra-rich. But due to the pandemic, working remotely has become more of the norm and has made the co-primary home lifestyle a more realistic lifestyle choice for second-home owners who are less wealthy.

For those thinking about the lifestyle, it is important to consider the tax, financial, legal, and personal challenges that may come along with it.

See E.B. Solomont, As Second Homes Get Far More Use, the Question Is: Where Do You Live? , The Wall Street Journal, October 14, 2021.

Special thanks to Joel C. Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.