If you have a vacation home that you had hoped to retire to some day but have since changed your mind, don’t jump to sell it…consider renting it out instead.

For many, it seemed like a great idea to buy that vacation home or condo 20 years ago.   The plan was to vacation in the mountains as often as possible, then some day sell your primary residence and retire  to Highlands or Cashiers.   But lifestyle changes or financial situations might now be causing you to consider selling it instead.

However, as a member of the Top 5 in Real Estate Network®, I have seen many clients successfully rent their retirement home instead of selling it.  Author Christine Karpinski, director of Owner Community for HomeAway.com (HomeAway.com), offers some good reasons to consider renting your second home:

1. Circumstances have changed. Maybe grandchildren have arrived on the scene and you can’t bear the thought of moving hundreds of miles away from them. Or your parents are in poor health and need you nearby.

2. You’ve suddenly realized there’s no place like home and you’ve simply changed your mind. You’ve decided you like being near your friends and you don’t want to leave your current community.   Renting your second home out during the time you are not staying there makes it financially feasible to keep both homes.

3. You’ve decided to “retire” from retirement.   Nowadays, it’s not unusual for people to test-drive retirement and find that it’s just not for them.   Work can provide many rich rewards—structure, social interaction, mental stimulation, a sense of purpose, and so forth—that people keenly miss when they retire. And, let’s be honest—sometimes people simply can’t afford to retire.

4. Your fixed income hasn’t kept up with your lifestyle.  Even when you’re happy to give up the daily grind of your job, losing the paycheck that comes with it can be pretty painful.  Factor in inflation, rising taxes, and unexpected “new” expenses, and you may find that what seemed like a manageable cost of living five years ago doesn’t seem that way anymore.  Your second home, even if it’s paid for, may start looking like a liability due to property taxes, homeowner’s association dues, and maintenance costs. Not if you rent it out, says Karpinski. Then it becomes a source of new income.

So don’t give up and seek to unload your Highlands or Cashiers second home just yet!    There are still many ways to make this investment pay off. For more information on renting or buying a second, potential retirement home, please send an email to info@meadowsmtnrealty.com or give us a call at 828-526-1717.    We have a great rental department with a rental website at www.renthighlandsnc.com.

Highalnds NC offers some amazing hiking, complete with spectacular views

Hiking is a great way to enjoy Highlands North Carolina.  Highlands North Carolina is a resort community with a great deal to offer its residents and visi tors alike.  Located in the southern Blue Ridge Mountains, this western North Carolina area has an environment that is meant to be enjoyed.  Among the activities afforded by the great outdoors in Highlands NC are golf, fishing, mountain biking and hiking.

The hiking in the Highlands area encompasses all ability levels as well as length and time commitments.  Whether you are looking for a leisurely stroll through the woods or an extreme and steep climb, the mountains around Highlands have it all.  The one thing that all of the trails have in common are their breathtaking views.

Click here for a list of hikes and their descriptions.

For more information about Highlands North Carolina, and for access to the Highlands NC MLS, contact Meadows Mountain Realty today, 866-526-3558.

The concept of a “media room,” as a space specifically devoted to home theater and audio systems, is more popular than ever. New home designers and builders, responding to the demand of their buyers, have incorporated media rooms into the floor plans of many new homes, all along the price spectrum. Such rooms are designed for comfortable television and movie viewing and are acoustically separated from the rest of the house.

Yes, the media room has also become the game room, again driven by homebuyer demand and a host of new (mostly electronic) toys. Builders are educating their buyers about the lifestyle advantages of including such a project and the value it adds to their property.

Consider some of the special features that a true Game Room encompasses, all of which are easily accommodated in a new construction project:

• Acoustics. Sound transmission in or out of a game room can be disruptive. Builders incorporate products that block or deaden sound through the walls, floors, and ceilings. Special membranes and laminated drywall and plywood panels meet the need without adding a lot of extra cost, rendering the Game Room almost a separate acoustical zone within the house.

• Light and shading. Everyone enjoys natural light … except when there’s a movie playing. Windows are a prime consideration that maintain flexible use of the room when the house is sold. The home’s exterior appearance must be considered, as well. To create the optimal movie-watching experience, builders turn to motorized screens and draperies that smoothly draw across the windows. Controlled by remote devices or wall-mounted panels, such screens retract into the wall when not in use or disappear into a subtle housing to retain the room’s overall aesthetic design.

• Multiple displays. One screen may not be enough in the modern Game Room. Though builders usually leave the purchase of consumer electronics up to the homebuyers after the house is finished, high-tech game rooms must be designed and wired to accommodate several displays and multiple signals. These may include satellite, wireless and wired Internet, cable, personal computers, and (don’t forget!) electricity.

• Seating, storage, and snacks. Like its media room predecessor, the new Game Room is a gathering place for family and guests, often engaged in multiple activities at the same time. Space for several zones of comfortable seating is very popular, as is built-in cabinet storage for all of the game players, audio and video equipment, and other components. Small kitchen setups, complete with sink, under-counter appliances, and counter work space, provide family and guests with additional convenience in this self-contained haven.

Media rooms are among the new wave of distinct, specialized areas within today’s new homes. The “Game Room” reflects the development of high-tech consumer electronics and the consumers’ desire to maximize enjoyment of these new toys.

This article was contributed by Zac Koenig of Koenig Homebuilders in Highlands.

For years, Southern families have found the perfect mountain resort escape for summer or fall in the Highlands NC region.  If you and your family are planning on escaping this fall season, take a look at some great places to stay to enjoy mountain resort getaways.

Highlands Inn is elegant and historic as the centerpiece of Main Street and is open from April through November.

Inn at Half-Mile Farm is located on a 14 acre lot and is a 1870s farmhouse that has been refurbished to represent the best of both the modern world and charming days gone by.

Old Edwards Inn and Spa is also notable as a redone historic inn and relaxing, fresh new spa.     The Old Edwards Inn offers a variety of accommodations from historic rooms in the old inn to luxurious spa suites.

Learn more about vacation rentals in Highlands NC here, or click here for recommended dining while you enjoy Western NC mountain living.

And think of Meadows Mountain Realty for vacation rentals, exclusive mountain living, and custom built homes in Highlands and Cashiers NC.