Wisconsin Nesties
NicoleWI
member
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Cottage Up North
Do you have one or do your parents? Do you think it is worth the investment? Is it good for kids, or do they take it for granted?
I have wonderful memories from doing summer rentals every year with my family, and we STILL do this every year and we all still love it. DH and I both always wanted our own place. But, it's such a big investment, and I worry it won't have the same magic for kids if they can go Up North all the time. If you do have a place or grew up with one, what do you think? Is it worth the investment and the upkeep? Does your family love it, or do you struggle to use it?
Re: Cottage Up North
My family has had a place in Boulder Junction for 35 years. My mom lives up there in the summer. I am sad I only went 3 times this summer. This year was so much fun with DS. It is so expensive to keep up. We are very thankful that my mom loves it up there and wants to keep everything up.The real challenge for her is finding reliable contractors and having patience since everything takes a lot long up there.
I guess to answer your question I think most kids in their early teens go through a "I am too cool and bored to be here" stage. Once I got into high school and could bring up friends it was a blast again. Is it worth the investment? For my family it is. It only sits empty during hunting season and that is because my father passed away a few years ago. My mom had guests almost every week this summer.
My uncle built a place up there and rents it out most the year to offset their costs.
I know a few people that have a place up there and they love having it. It is a lot to keep it up but totally worth it if your family enjoys it.
My grandparents live there and all of us help and chip in with maintenance that might need to be done. For us it's totally worth the drive up to Minocqua because we love going and I'm sad if I can't make it there at least 4 times.
Once we are more established we'll definately be buy a cottage somewhere near there. Since we love being up there so much.
My dad has a cabin (ok, its a house) on a lake up north. Its the 4th one he's had, so I grew up going up north. I loved it. Besides that short "I'm WAY too cool for this" phase, it was amazing. I have such great memories. We even spent the holidays up there, just our little family. Its definitely something that DH and I would like to invest in at some point, but its out of the question financially right now.
It is expensive. Not only are you paying another mortgage, but also hefty property taxes (if you're on a lake), upkeep, utilities, etc. It will require either time to go up there for regular maintenace and yard work, or the money to hire someone to do those things for you. Its beneficial to make friends with your neighbors so they can check on the house after storms, etc. You also have to consider the cost of furnishing a second home.
Annelise 3.22.2007 Norah 10.24.2009 Amelia 8.7.2011
I don't think weird lodging is a problem. We just had 4 adults and 2 kids in the one bedroom guest cabin. It was a blast.
Ditto JC on basic utilities. I pay all the bills for my mom and even if no one is there it is a few hundred a month just to keep things on. You need to decide if you want a year round place or only summer place because that makes a huge difference also.
My grandparents have a house in Minocqua and I loved it growing up. My parents will get it when my grandparents pass and I'm hoping I will get it/part of it when the time comes. I think it is great to have a place like "home" even when you're on vacation. As far as how much it costs for upkeep, I have no idea since it is my grandparents house.
My other set of grandparents had a cabin near Holy Hill which is still "up north" for us but not quite as far. I really liked going there as a kid too. We didn't have money for big vacations and my dad was a police officer so we were limited by his schedule. It was nice to have a place to just "up and go" without much notice.
We don't have any in either of our families, though we sometimes think it would be nice if we did. We certainly enjoy ourselves when we get invited to other people's lake houses.
However, we would never buy a place, for the following reasons.
1. It's a commitment to going the same place on vacation almost all the time.
2. It's added costs in the budget, even when you don't get there.
3. You have to do yardwork/house maintenance while you're on vacation.
4. It's a lot of driving every weekend.
I might be swayed for a place that was really close (less than an hour from home), but I don't think we'd ever really do it.