I’ve done the second home thing as we had cabin at 7K altitude in S. CA. But it became a headache as every time we visited the cabin as it was all about working on the cabin. Found out homes don’t like being unoccupied and when you leave a home empty for long periods of time, it starts deteriorating and seems to require a whole lot of maintenance and $$ I really didn’t have. It was fun for about 4 years then it became a pain.
Lol...I’m fixing all the things the previous owners had let deteriorate and doing lots of improvements, too. It sure is a money pit! We are so fed up with CA that Idaho might become the permanent residence once my wife retires.