Home is where the Heart is.

[+ purplekow]

I a recent thread, a poster mentioned flying to two different homes.

During the periods of time I have owned two houses or had residence in two different places, I always thought as one as home and the other a something else....my ski house, my cabin, my vacation place. This was not always directly related to the amount of time I spent in each of the locations. It seems likely that there are more than a few posters here who have at least two locales in which they live, so to them I ask: What makes a place your home? Or is it, that just as the Temptations sang:

 

Poppa was rolling stone; wherever he laid his hat was his home and went he died all he left was alone (or is it a loan) http://search.myway.com/search/video.jhtml?searchfor=papa+was+a+rolling+stone&p2=^UX^xdm367^TTAB02^us&n=781bb1c5&ss=sub&st=tab&ptb=FA63E658-33A4-49A3-8A43-5404AA12884C&si=57310&tpr=sug&ts=1439216331646

[mike carey]

I consider that I have two or maybe three homes at the moment, although I am seriously considering whether I should maintain that point of view. One I have agreed to sell so that makes two, and of them I wonder if I have enough time and energy to maintain the 'homes' point of view rather than 'houses'. And I tend to drive between them rather than fly. (Easier than if they are in SFO, Portland and Salt Lake City.) Two of the three I have lived in for long periods over the past 20 to 35 years, and the third is my mother's house that I have inherited and in which I lived for my last years in high school.

 

To some extent they are all home, but none of them is. Having the three (now two) means that I haven't made as many local connections as I might have. Too complicated!!

[+ Charlie]

For a number of years I had a house in Philadelphia and an apartment in Manhattan. Although I had a much larger base in Philly, worked there and spent more time there, my heart was in NYC. That was mostly because I grew up there, came out there, and my spouse and I had lived there during the early years of our relationship, so I had a romantic attachment to the city. It was like having a wife and family in one place, but a mistress in the other, and I could never wait to get back to her. Eventually, of course, the mistress became too big a drain on money and energy, and I had to get rid of her.

[Boink]

Out of curiosity, for those with more than one home, how do you determine which locale is your 'permanent' state of residence? I.e. which state do you have your driver's license; pay taxes to; receive mail, etc.?

[thickornotatall]

I have 2 separate homes...one in Manhattan...one in Florida...I vote and pay taxes in Florida...and spend a bit more time in Florida...no state tax in Florida....I don't drive in Manhattan..no need to when there is great public transport...I claim Florida as primary residence and use my Manhattan apt for income by doing long term leasing with a major bank for executive stays....I save a certain amount of days to visit and live in NYC...I can't make up my mind to give up one or the other....I love New York....and really like Florida (North Florida)

[OneFinger]

I own a 5-bedroom home in Utah. This is considered my primary residence and where I vote. My niece and her family currently live there. This was going to be my retirement home until I moved to Portland, OR.

 

In Portland I purchased a 3-bedroom, 2-bath condo. I've now decided that will now be my retirement home. But, that project just completed and I was transferred to San Diego, CA.

 

Currently living in a very small studio apartment in San Diego. Renting here and not purchasing. I love San Diego but there's no way I could afford to retire here. So, my heart remains in Portland. That's where I plan to retire. I'll probably change my voting status to Oregon but not until I retire.

[+ Charlie]

When I bought the apartment in New York, I already was registered to vote, had a driver's license, etc., in Pennsylvania, and I didn't have any reason to change those things, so I continued to claim PA as my primary residence. Besides, auto insurance would have been much more expensive if I had re-registered my car in Manhattan, and since I earned all my income in PA, it was a lot simpler to do my taxes that way, rather than add another layer of state and city income tax filings on top of the ones I already had to do.

[YooperMike]

While my legal residence is Southern California, I have a home in northern Michigan as well. However, home is always where my dogs are.

[bigvalboy]

home is always where my dogs are.

 

Yes.....

[robberbaron4u]

I maintain my principal residence in a house "south of the Mason Dixon" line. It is a small house of good proportion and sound, solid stone construction suitable to my needs as a bachelor who now lives in retirement from the "worldly life". I occupy it in the autumn months. As it is located in the town of my birth, I regard it as "home"; it is furnished with "odds and ends" from grander houses occupied, in their times, by my parents and grandparents and sundry other "kinfolk" and the tables are heavy with photographs and mementos of family and friends, and, thereby, it is a comfortable and familiar place to me. Too, in a practical sense, one can things done in a small town which are improbable or impossible in the big city. I keep "houses" in Florida and Mexico, a condominium unit and a duplex, for use in the winter and summer months, but, I do not consider the properties to be "homes", rather, they are retreats from the cold and dampness and the heat and humidity of the respective seasons.

[Rudynate]

10 years or so ago, I gave serious thought to a second home. Lots of gay men in SF have second homes in Guerneville on the Russian River. A lot of other people have second homes at Lake Tahoe. Some people have second homes in the gold country or in the Sierra foothills. The problem that I saw with any of these places is that traffic is so heavy getting in and out of San Francisco, that I would spend most of the weekend getting to or from the weekend place and not a lot of time at the weekend place. I realized it would probably be simpler to get to and from a condo on Kauai. The condo on Kauai really enthused me. It turned out just to be one of those things that I thought about for awhile and forgot about. Most of our friends have retired and left San Francisco for Palm Springs or Sonoma County or Mendocino County. We're about the only ones left in San Francisco. My inclination, rather than moving to the country, is to double down on San Franscisco and buy a house in Saint Francis Wood.

[Boink]

Thanks for your responses on a topic I've always been curious about!

[Str8boyluvr]

While my legal residence is Southern California, I have a home in northern Michigan as well. However, home is always where my dogs are.

Amen to that!