It’s a great time to buy your dream vacation home!If the empty nest syndrome is near, or if you can count the years until retirement on one hand, then it’s the perfect time to consider a 2nd home in Leavenworth. With only a short, beautiful 2 hour drive from Seattle, Leavenworth offers endless summer and winter activities along with the postcard Bavarian alps scenery.According to the Wall Street Journal on-line, baby boomers with discretionary dollars to spend have fueled an increase in the number of vacation-home sales in recent years. In fact, the National Association of Realtors reported that a record 1.07 million vacation homes were sold in 2006, a 4.7% increase over 2005. According to the Realtors survey:-         79%, said that they bought a 2nd  home to use for vacation or as a family retreat-         34% said a reason for buying was to diversify their investments. -         28% percent said they planned on using the home as a primary residence in the future-         25% said the tax benefits were a reason to buy. -         21% bought because they had extra money to spend-         18% of buyers planned on renting out their homes nightly to help pay their mortgageYour 2nd home will be as popular with the children and grand children as it is with you. It’s a great way to bribe your kids to want to hang out with you! “No one is going to have fun basking in the light of their municipal bond,”  Â
Here is a link to the article we got the figures from. The percenatages don’t add up, so the study(ies) must have been taken from a larger group of Q and A that respondents answered and weren’t notated in the article, something like that…   http://www.realestatejournal.com/secondhomes/20070615-hoak.html?refresh=on   Stephanie CuthillPrudential Mike West Real Estate509.548.5802 Tel509.548.6325 Faxscuthill@prudentialmikewest.comwww.prudentialmikewest.com Â
