[edale]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

I've said this before but I'll say it again: Here's how and why I bought a second home.

One fine day I wanted to go visit some friends in the suburbs so I went to my car in my building's parking garage I hadn't seen in weeks and found the battery dead for lack of being charged by driving the car. I said to myself, "Self, why do you have this thing?"

At about the same time, a friend came back from Tucson to San Francisco's drippy winter and told me how great it was being in the warm sunny desert. I decided to check it out. I went for a visit. I discovered not only was the weather great but the price of property was such that I could buy a small, quaint home with a mortgage payment of about as much as my garage payment in SF. I bought a home, drove the car to its garage, left it there and stopped paying for a space in SF--net cash flow = no change. The car was even useful in the Tucsion exurbs.

That was 18 years ago now. Prices for everything concerned have escalated--garage spaces in SF, homes in Tucson and especially homes in SF. Might not work now. I'm thinking I should blame millennials who must all be winners in their own minds.

If you can afford to own a second home, you can afford to pay the real tax burden on your property. I shouldn't have to subsidize your aspirational lifestyle.