Thanks, Tigerwife92!
Colorado_mom -interesting - are these differnt from a time-share because there are fewer people involved? That could make a vacation home affordable!
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Iām curious about that as well; when we started looking in our area, I found some beautiful lake homes for around $500k; I clicked out of curiosity and saw they were 1/4 ownership 
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This is a listing for a property in Northern Michigan. 1/12 ownership, you get 4 weeks a year.
You can buy properties with different ownership fractions. Another place Iāve seen is 1/4 ownership, you get one week a month. At that place, if can rent the weeks you wonāt use. Iām not sure about The Homestead.
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I prefer to stay in a hotel rather than in someoneās house. But thatās me.
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My DH is a colon cancer survivor. But his body has not been the same since, and he requires privacy as his life is very unpredictable. For that reason, we always book a hotel when visiting friends. Iāve had pushback, but I donāt usually explain our reasoning. Itās not my story to tell, and DH usually prefers not to discuss.
I hate it when people get salty or take it personallyā¦itās not personal.
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Our primary house is in Massachusetts and is about 3,600 square feet with a full in-law accessory in the walk out basement. We have a second home in Maine, southwest of Portland, and this will be our go to location at some point. Itās not a cabin per se and more like a regular home and nicely accommodates guests but is more low maintenance than our MA home. Juggling has been ok during the past decade, until right this very moment, when we learned of a break in. Not uncommon in areas with seasonal homes, but itās always something to consider. I despise how cold it is here in Maine today, and I hope to hit the road someday each winter in a Leisure Tavel Van, but thatās nearly ten years out.
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A hotel can be way easier
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They are timeshares. Theyāre hard to rent out, especially if itās one week per month. Not everyone wants to arrive on the one day a week that your week starts. Maintenance fees are huge.
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Are fractional ownerships the same as timeshares?
I thought they were somewhat different.
I donāt know why renting a fractional ownership would be any different than any other rental in that area. Always in the summer but increasingly popular all year, every rental I know is on a weekly basis, starting and ending on the same day.
The difference in fractional ownership and traditional timeshares is that traditional timeshares were only 1 week per year or every other year. Fractionals generally come with 4 or more weeks per year. Otherwise, they are the same. If you want to rent out a timeshare or fractional and your time is only 1 week per month, then you have to find that unicorn of a renter who wants those exact dates. Maintenance fees can be anywhere between $600-$3000 per week. Advertising costs can eat up another 8% of the total rental fee.
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Yes, we donāt want to check in on Monday and check out seven days later. We like the flexibility of being able to travel whenever. Iām sure there are plenty of folks like us!
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Iām not interested in a timeshare or fractional ownership. I was just showing an example of a question asked.
But I will say this. Iāve vacationed in the area of the place I referenced and rentals are always weekly from the same day. I can understand that people donāt want to do that. But itās a very popular place that is full all summer with few vacancies.
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Weāve had a fractional ownership in Central Oregon for 15 years. We have a 1/5 interest so in theory we could be there 10 weeks a year (the other 2 weeks are "maintenance " weeks where the resort does major maintenance stuff. We pay a quarterly fee that handles all maintenance/upkeep/management issues. We love having the place even if we donāt get out to use it very often.
For weeks we donāt use it, the resort will rent it for us and they take a cut. TBH though we dont do it very often because having rental income in another state turned into a bit of a pain
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Saw this interesting WSJ article on downsizing (and āre-downsizingā) that might be of interest to those on this thread! (paywall if youāve read more than a couple of WSJ articles thoā¦)
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Very true. Personality and finances matter a lot.
We know some people who are moving to a retirement community in Arizona with a ton of friends. Theyāre all buying homes on the same street. They hang out together all the time, vacation together, etc. Thatās nice for them, but itās not our style. H and I tend to be a little more introverted. And while we have close friends that we love to spend time with, we donāt like to socialize all the time and do everything with friends.
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So have been looking at some smaller ādownsizedā homes in areas Iād like to live - theyāre all quite pricey! (no surprise since seeking proximity to kids, gorgeous nature, active/mixed-age/progressive community, access to culture- not too much!).
Started looking at buying land - itās not cheap but far more affordable than buying a house.
Wondered if anyone had experience with (or heard about?) building a log-cabin (or other) type home from one of the companies that provides all the materials? I found one I love for $70k but Iām not sure whether the cost of all the āother stuffā (water hookup, eletric install) would make the final ticket super pricey? Or there may be other downsides?
It seems a little bit too good to be true, but I love the idea of a fresh house (particularly after reading the āCC Flip this Houseā stories from Coralbrook on another thread! 
).
https://www.logcabinhomes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/LCH-0360-Mill-Creek.pdf
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Iām no expert, but I just looked at that website a bit and basically looks like you are buying the material for a framed house. You still need to hire a builder to pour a foundation, put the thing together, add water, electric, sewer, and then you need interior walls, flooring, kitchen cabinets, appliances, bathroom fixtures, etc. Iām not sure how much all that would cost but I think it could be pricy.
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me29034 - you are probably right! I got prematurely excited by the idea, lol. I knew there was more, just didnāt know how much more. Iām sure itās (as you said) a ton of other stuff that will add up. The pictures were just so pretty and the prices so low LOL!!!
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We considered building one of those kit homes but decided it was too expensive. We ended up designing our own log cabin and finding a good local builder. We did a lot of the finish work ourselves.
I would recommend talking to several builders with log cabin experience and get their thoughts and estimates. They might have a floor plan you could use. Our builder liked ours and asked if he could use the plans for other people and we said sure.
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Interesting, MaineLonghorn! Thanks for sharing. My hub has a lot of expertise in the building arena so that might be a feasible option. He doesnāt want to talk about the kits Iāve shared here - maybe for the reasons you stated, lol.
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