A reader, let's call her Anne, has lived in Florida since
the early 1960s. Her daughter was born there shortly after Anne moved to the
state. In the early 1990s, Anne's daughter moved to California.
Anne retired in 2011. To prepare for retirement, she
bought a second house in California, about a half-mile away from her daughter
and son-in-law. Anne doesn't keep a car in California, so she wanted to be able
to walk back and forth from her house to theirs.
Because Anne has strong ties in Florida, where she plays
in a community band and orchestra, the house in California was always intended
as a second home. Her music group schedule only frees her up to be on the West
Coast over the winter holidays and about three-and-a-half months in the summer.
"It's quite a chore and expensive to keep up two
yards," writes Anne, "but my daughter is my only living child and, of
course, means the world to me." Last year, Anne's daughter and son-in-law
moved about 30 miles south for work, so Anne only sees them about once a week
when she's in California.
"I have wonderful neighbors out there," writes
Anne. Some have visited her in Florida. Others keep an eye on her Florida house
when she's not there. Anne now also plays in three community bands when she's
in California. She's established a life there.
The California town where Anne has a house is very short
on rental housing, she writes. If she were to rent out her home there, Anne
figures her mortgage payments would be covered. But then she wouldn't have
access to the house. Also, as a rental property owner in Florida, Anne says she
knows "how tenants usually treat houses."
Anne has thought about options such as Airbnb.com,
whereby she might rent out the California house on days when she's not there,
but she knows such short-term rentals are "not popular with the
neighbors." Also, using this option fails to address the issue of making
more rental housing available where it's in short supply.
"Can I ethically continue to own this second home
near my daughter, using it less than half the year but not renting it out to
those who need rental housing?" Anne asks. "I hope you won't tell me
that I'm selfish to keep this little house 'on ice' so it will be ready for me,
in the condition I left it, for my next visit."
Anne is doing nothing wrong by owning two homes. She's
paying her property taxes, involving herself as an active community member, and
taking good care of both properties.
While renting out the California home might provide
relief from mortgage payments and provide some much-needed rental housing, the
right thing for Anne to do is to continue to be a responsible homeowner.
If Anne decides she'd like to rent out her house in
California because it's too much work to keep up two homes, she wants to defray
mortgage costs, or she wants to cease her bicoastal life, that's her choice.
But if owning the California house allows her to be closer to her daughter and
engage in the life of the community, she should sleep easy, regardless of which
home she's sleeping in.
Jeffrey L. Seglin, author of The Right Thing: Conscience, Profit and Personal Responsibility in Today's Business and The Good, the Bad, and Your Business: Choosing Right When Ethical Dilemmas Pull You Apart, is a lecturer in public policy and director of the communications program at Harvard's Kennedy School.
Follow him on Twitter: @jseglin
Do you have ethical questions that you need answered? Send them to rightthing@comcast.net.
(c) 2014 JEFFREY L. SEGLIN. Distributed by TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.
2 comments:
She bought it and uses it as sees fit. That is enough.
When she wants to sell it, it will go. Renting is a poor idea unless the person is a landlord type and CLOSE to observe.
Jeff is 100% on this one.
Alan Owseichik
Greenfield, Ma
Anne should have no concerns about the ethics of leaving her second home empty while she is in Florida. What would a long-term renter do in this case? Long term renters don't want to rent a house and move out when the owner calls and tells them she plans a visit. Short-term renters might not care for the house as the owner would expect, and while long-term renters could abuse the house as well.
Anne is fortunate to be able to own and use two homes. She pays taxes on both houses, pays utility bills on both, thus supports the local economy year-round, plus supports the retail economy of the location she is occupying at the time.
Anne should choose and support charities that provide help to those less fortunate in both locations and consider she is a good citizen in two states. (Just don't vote in both states!)
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