Buying a second home is very exciting. Wherever it is, it is always a fun place to be because it is away from your home and is most likely a vacation spot. Many people get second houses on the beach in California, Hawaii, or maybe even Cabo. Wherever it is its probably a fun place to visit, even if that is just because its away from home.

When buying the second home, you probably imagined it being an amazing experience because you can invite your friends, and take your family there whenver you want. Well let me warn you, if you are looking into buying a second home, or just recently bought one, you may not realize a big problem in your future. Friends, family, and sometimes random strangers, who want to use your house.

It doesn’t seem like a big deal, and could potentially not even be on your radar, but it can get out of hand and become a big problem. I have had friends with beautiful homes inarea’s people want to vacation that have had several family members, some who are very distant or not close with them, just straight up ask if they can use their house. Although you may not have an issue with this, you could have a problem knowning where to draw the line. If you let one cousin use the house, then what is to stop you from letting other cousins use it? Beleive me, they will start asking.

If you are constantly saying yes to everyone around you who wants to use your house you will soon have a couple problems.

First, there is no stopping who will ask you to use your home. Its the snowball effect. Once you let one friend use it, other friends will start asking. It will be hard to draw the line because you have already let others use it. You don’t want to be known as the jerk who didn’t let one friend use their house but let another use it.

Your second problem is the wear on your home. If you are constantly letting people use it, it will soon get thrashed. We would like to hope that people will be cautious and take care of our things, but sometimes people just aren’t curtious and don’t leave things the way they should.

The third potential problem is that you might not get to use it as much as you would like. If you are letting other people use it, you have to make sure to schedule out times when you can go. You might not be able to go on a spontaneous trip with your significant other, or your family, because someone else is using the place YOU bought.

My advice to you is before things get out of hand, make sure you have a set of rules and that you stick to them. If you rule is that you let family use it and not friends, then always stick to it. Don’t feel bad saying no. Whatever your rules are, figure them out, and stick to them. That way no one can really feel bad if they are rejected.

Also, make sure at your second home that there is a cleaning list and be very serious about people doing it. Don’t be lax when you are there, and make sure others aren’t lax when they are there. The last thing you want to come to when you are going on vacation is to get to your home and find that it is a mess.