36 - Sunday, Februury 28, $O88 - North Shore News THINK TWICE BEFORE BUYING Recreational homes come at high price MANY PEOPLE consider owning a summer home or a ski chalet to be the ultimate joy. What greater success symbol can there be than owning two homes? I don’t want to spoil anyone's fun, but there are a few things you might consider before you grab your lottery winnings and invest in that little “home away from home.’’ As one owner of a condo at Whistler complained, ''I wish to hell we'd considered the costs in- volved a little more closely.”” By the time he tallied up all the extras he was paying, he concluded that they could rent any time they wanted and have enough cash left over to finance a‘ yearly: trip to Hawaii. Here is a brief list of the ex- penses he complained, about, on top-of a monthly mortgage pay- ment: * Heat. Even when their unit is unoccupied, the thermostat must be kept at 55°F to protect the pipes. , © Electricity. Their unit is modern, no little shack in the woods. That means the electricity bill, just to keep the refrigerator humming, builds up every month. * Condo Association fees. Condos aren’t fJike houses. They have . Managers’ who require salaries. Managers like to prove that they are doing a great job so they are alway's finding things that need to be. repaired. Or planted. Some of these bills are covered by your fees, Guess what. happens to ones that aren’t. * Breakdowns. Just like home, hot water tanks burst, stove. elements pack in and refrigerators die. The problem is usually “.more acute -because it. may not’ be discovered for some time. Imagine the joy of discovering a burst tank after a couple of wecks. _ © Taxes, water rates and insurance. _ There’s more to owning that se- cond little home- besides the cost involved. ‘Another: friend of mine and I were comparing notes.. Their vaca- tion property \is- truly a- summer home, located in Birch Bay. Every fall, they must: close it down as it:.- ‘isn’t comfortable to use during the winter. That means pipes. must: be drained, bedding -’stored,- cup- boards cleared’ and the . fridge defrosted. Every spring the process is reversed., _ During the suinfner, they spend every weekend at the cottage, which would be fine if it ‘was a holiday. “How I’d- weekend in a hotel with maid ser- vice,’ she griped.’‘‘t do more work down there than I do at home.” Aside from the hordes of drop- in guests (plus the hordes her hus- band invites); every meal .is twice as hard to prepare even if it’s only for two. Her equipment is antiquated and she hasn’t half the tools she needs. The nearest supermarket is miles away. Dishes. have to be done by hand. All the laundry must be carried home to be washed: and hauled back on the next visit. Since they have just one set-of everything to fit the ‘summer. home’s — beds, love to spend a. they’ve learned from experience not to forget the laundry bag. Her husband is a golfer and she isn’t, “If he golfs at home, I’ve got my friends and kids to keep me company. Have you any idea how many books I read from April to travel wise Barbara McCreadie October?”’ I can’t believe the foolishness of some other friends of mine. They have a cabin on the lake — but not just any old lake. This one requires a ferry trip plus a couple of hours drive to get “there. They visit once a year, for three weeks in the summer. The rest of the time it stands idle, at the mercy of passing transients, both two- and four-legged. One year it took the first week of the holiday just to repair the damage done. Another year they — “had to make an emergency mid- winter trip when the police called to report vandalism. And then there are those inno- cents who feel that there’s money to be made by renting the place out when they aren’t using it. Maybe this works for some people but it certainly didn't for us, Lured by the hope of getting some return on our investment, we agreed to lease our condo to what appeared to be the perfect tenant. Who could be better than a mid- dle-aged, single, semi-retired business man. Any teenage psycho with a pet chimpanzee, that’s who. To begin, we invested in a special lock for one of the closets to store personal belongings. Then, one of my daughters and I made a trip down to make surc that everything was spotless — J even cleaned the oven. It took an additional several hours to do a complete inventory, Still more time was involved with signing rental agreements and checking with our insurance com- pany. Finally everything was done - and our perfect tenant moved in. One month later, he moved out and we returned to our little home. The brand-new blinds were completely torn out of the wall in the living room. The TV table was smashed. The carpet was stained and a large hole punched in the dining room wall, It took me two days to com- pletely clean the unit. On yes! Almast forgot — he stole all the plastic coat hangers in the closet. But the final straw came weeks later when we got the phone bill. Would you believe long-distance calls to Cairo? [t’s true! Eventual- ly, we managed to collect the money. Another problem with owning vacation property comes with hav- ing kids. We've been very lucky on this score because all our daughters are neat-freaks. I've heard some ‘horror stories from other parents who have let their kids use their cottages. The SI! BCAA Travel Cruise Specials.. Choose from over 150 sailings with discounts up to 50% off Including — 40% savings 17 days from. Ft.Lauderdale to Vancouver: . Sailing on the SS Noordam Departing: May 7, 1988 Inside cabins from $1968 US Outside cabins from $2247 US Prices include FREE Airfare. No Registration Fee!!! Rates quoted are In US, funds aud include free alrfare. Rates are per person based on two people sharing subject lo avallabillty at Ume of booking, (Port lax $51 U.S, not included) Cali any of our BCAA Travel locations today! BCAA Travel Ga West Vancouver 908 South Mall Park Royal Shopping Centre 922-33 61 kids, in turn, invite 200 of their closest friends to share the fun. Disaster never seems to strike when the owners are visiting. One See Try Page 39 HASTINGS TRAVEL YOUR TRAVEL CENTRE WITH “SWISS EFFICIENCY” TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS - WORLDWIDE FOR BUSINESS OR PLEASURE Prompt — Personalized — Multilingual Service V6C 1A5 catt: 689-0461 VERENA FURRER — Owner — i EVERYBODY LAUGHED! “Dear Mr. Tilley, "| Last year t went salmon fishing at Rivers Inlet, B.C. -"T Everypody laughed at my Tilley Hat, This year | went . | back and nobody taughed after | landed this 62 tb. i| Chinook. | had oumerous offers 10 buy my lucky fisting hat but | wouldnt sell. i may mount the Hat beside the fish.” in McCallum. D.M.0, Peterborough, Ontario The Tilley Hat floats (i's used in America’s Cup, but! doubt they go back for it!}, tles on with tuckaway cords (/ore and att, as an inteligent hat should!), repells rain, won't shrink (machine washable. HOT.) comes in EVERY size (as a matter of principle, there's no adult we Cannot fit), has a tour-page owner's manual (because the Hat's NOT perfect — no matter what they say!) and a lifetime free replacement guarantee. Drop in, Phone or Write Alex Titey Closed Monday, Feb. 29th Barbara Tilley 1537 West Broadway Hours: Mon-Sat. 10-5 Vancouver, B.C. V6J 1W6 Ph. 732-4287 or SEA-HATS ignites nite ri CARLEE & KENT THOMPSON This week we are pleased to feature a brother and. sister team as our stars. Carlee and Kent Thompson deliver the Wednesday and Friday News ‘in our Delbrook Zone. They ‘ have been with us for over 5 years now and their delivery oo record is excellent. Carlee is 13 years old, a grade 8 student at Balmoral School’and her favourite subject is Math. She hopes to become a teacher in the future. Carlee plays soccer, enjoys music, collects special pins and buttons and also collects some coins. With earnings from her route she is able to pay for her own telephone and buy the clothes she likes. Kent is 15 years o'd, attends Balmoral School, is in grade 10 and likes photography. His hobbies are music and electronics and bz has been able to purchase his music system with ea:nings from the News. We enjoyed meeting our double stars and for being selected, they received complimentary movie passes, North Shore News baseball caps and a special thanks to Carlee, Kent and also Grandmother who helps a lot. Joan Cripps Distribution Dept. 1139 Lonsdale Ave., NN. 986-1337 Reema has gs AB aie Sack ch ron eae ae Re ene