With mortgage rates still topping 6% and the economy noticeably pinched, a primary home purchase seems out of reach for many people. But what if you bought your second home first?
That’s exactly what New York City resident Katie Cline and her husband, Joe Horton, did in 2023 after returning from a stint living abroad. And now, in just three years, their portfolio includes three vacation homes upstate while they continue to rent and reside in Manhattan.
“Buying my ‘second home’ first has been revolutionary for me,” says Cline, a former PR and communications executive in the hotel industry and current award-winning speaker and podcast host.
“I think of it a lot like a 401(k) or an investment account—growing in value, building equity, and even providing income—but with two major differences: First, my mortgage is paid by short-term renters, not by my own contributions. And second, when it’s not booked, I get to enjoy my vacation homes now, not someday in the future.”
Read on to learn a little more about how Cline made her “second” (and third and fourth) homes a reality, and her best advice for anyone thinking of doing the same.
How a return ‘home’ led to a new house
After living in the U.K. for six years thanks to her dual Irish and U.S. citizenship, Cline returned to the U.S. with her husband to be closer to her mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
“After we had my daughter, we decided to move back to the U.S. to be closer to her to help with her care,” says Cline. “We had saved for a down payment, but had nowhere near the amount that a $1 million-plus apartment in New York City would require. Plus, even if we could save that much, the monthly payment on that mortgage would be astronomical—almost two times what our current apartment costs to rent.”
So they decided to do something untraditional: They chose to rent their primary residence and buy a “second home” first.
Lake George, a popular vacation destination about 3.5 hours upstate of New York City in the Adirondacks, had always held sentimental value for Cline since she and her husband used to camp there when they were dating.
Cline had spotted the home they eventually purchased online right before they moved back to the States. Unfortunately, it was sold before their return. Then, as luck would have it, the deal fell through, and when it returned to the market, they quickly went to visit and made an offer within days.
“We moved back to the U.S. on Dec. 30. By Jan. 2, we were touring the property and making an offer, and on Jan. 3, our offer was accepted,” says Cline. “We purchased the home for $500,000 with 10% down at 6.125% interest, with the sellers covering our closing costs.”
At that time, homes in the Bolton Landing area were much more affordable.
“When we bought in January 2023, I believe the median sold price in Warren County was in the $300,000 range, while the median sold price in Manhattan was $1.2 million,” says Cline. In other words, by buying their vacation home first, they got more bang for their buck. They also ended up with an unanticipated benefit: rental income that exceeded their mortgage.
How one vacation rental turned into 3 properties
Before purchasing their Lake George–area “second home,” Cline had done her due diligence. Using her hotelier background, she calculated what they could possibly earn if they listed the home as a short-term rental (consulting sites such as AirDNA, PriceLabs, and BNBCalc).
“But since this was our first time ever doing something like this, we were ultraconservative,” says Cline. “We made sure that if no one ever rented our home, we’d be able to cover the cost of our New York City rent and our mortgage.”
After some minor renovations (which mostly included updating the kitchen and appliances, painting, and purchasing some new furnishings), the home was ready to list on Airbnb as a short-term rental (STR) by May 2023, which was the beginning of peak rental season in Lake George.
“Our rental business did so well that we never had to pay that mortgage from our personal account,” says Cline. “So the money we had earmarked in our own personal budget to cover that cost was able to be saved again.”
As such, they were in a position to put an offer on another home a year later in Saratoga, an area that also has strong STR demand. They closed on that house, now known as Gallant Fox, in February 2024 and finished its renovations by the end of April.
“On both houses, we spent every weekend for three-plus months driving back and forth—with a baby in tow—to do all the work ourselves,” marvels Cline.
Once their Saratoga property went live on Airbnb, it was booked every single weekend from May through November.
“That’s when I realized this is not a fluke,” says Cline. “It’s a wealth-building strategy.”
A year and a half later (July 2025), when Cline was two months postpartum with their son, they closed on a third property, this time in the Finger Lakes.
“We chose to buy here because we love spending time on the water, and waterfront real estate is still fairly affordable here,” says Cline.
Now, with three rental properties, two kids, and one New York City apartment, Cline is living the dream—one she couldn’t have even imagined when she started this “second home first” adventure four years ago.
In fact, the process taught Cline so much about the wealth-building potential of real estate that it led to her launching the “Second Home First” podcast and a forthcoming book on the subject.
Insider tips for buying a second home first
While Cline shares all kinds of tips with her listeners and interviews other people who have taken this route to homeownership, she was happy to offer the following insights now to Realtor.com®.
Here are some of her top tips for anyone considering buying a second home first:
- Know your numbers: “The biggest thing that gave me the confidence to try this in the first place was knowing my worst-case scenario: If no one ever booked my home, I could afford to pay the mortgage each month,” says Cline. “That empowered me to take the risk.” Cline encourages people not to buy unless they have a backup plan, should things go wrong, or to account for seasonality.
- Check regulations: If your goal is to own a vacation home that pays for itself, you need to be able to use it as a short-term rental legally. But regulations are constantly changing and often hard to find. To check regulations, Cline suggests you pop a property’s address into the U.S. Census Bureau’s geocoder site. This is going to tell you which village, township, city, country, etc., the property is in. Then, once you know who’s in charge, find their official website to check short-term rental rules, regulations, and processes.
- Manage set-up costs: “Many people, myself included, save enough for the down payment but don’t have much cash left after that,” says Cline. “Applying for a 0% interest credit card—with a minimum term of 15-18 months—has been a huge unlock for us.” Cline says they use the card to buy all their furnishings and replenishables (e.g., coffee, tea, etc.) and to pay for repairs and minor renovations. Then, once the property goes live, they’re able to apply any profit straight to this balance. Just be sure to have it entirely paid off before the introductory 0% rate expires.
The best part of this whole endeavor for Cline is not only that she’s making a financial profit, but that she gets to enjoy the properties herself since they’re only renting them out about 90 days a year.
“We’ve hosted many milestone moments there—my daughter’s first birthday, the last Christmas with both my aunt and our dog of 10 years, my husband’s annual golf trip, a writing retreat, and so much more,” says Cline. “These homes grow my wealth, offset my taxable income, and best of all, give me a place to vacation for free—what 401(k) can do that?”
