By Laurie Tema-Lyn of Practical Imagination Enterprises,
Reva Dolobowsky of Dolobowsky Qualitative Services & Marcia
Mogelonsky of Mintel International Group © 2001, Dolobowsky,
Tema-Lyn & Mogelonsky
Two homes
are better than one? The roaring economy has led to a housing
boom -- more than 60 percent of households are homeowners-- an
all-time high. But there's another housing boom going on as well
-- 13 percent of home sales in 1999 were for second homes, an
increase of five percentage points from 1996.
Second homes
are being bought by mid- and late-career baby boomers who are
looking forward to retirement. The homes are most likely to be
in seaside or mountain areas such as Honolulu, Hawaii; Big Bear
Lake, California; Captiva, Florida and Lake Tahoe, Nevada/ California
-- good places to retire. The median price of a second home in
1999 was $92,000, an increase of 19 percent from 1996.
About one-third of second homes (38 percent) were bought without
a mortgage, meaning that purchasers paid cash -- that's unusual
for first home purchases, but not an impossibility for well-heeled,
older boomers
