PLAN A STAYCATION

06.19.08

This was one of the front page headlines in last Sunday's Poughkeepsie Journal.

The article outlined the "pleasures" of staying home - or more local, and enjoying the areas' local attractions that could be accessed at (much) lower cost over that of an exotic location states, or countries away.

While many of us are not giving up our vacations, we may be scaling back due to the rising costs for such enjoyment. Instead of travelling across the country, or countries to reach some exotic vacation spot, many are deciding to stick closer to home and visit places reachable by day trips that are also much lower in cost. Instead of going for a month, many are going for a week, or two.

There is ample evidence that such decisions are being made by people across the country, now that $4+ per gallon gas seems to have become the norm. Air fares are also rising like gas prices, and just about everything connected to life’s needs is going up, causing many to confront a "new reality" in the costs of living, which includes travelling of course.

"Trip" flying is down; trip driving is down. "To do" lists get lumped together and packaged to necessary destinations so as to get multiple needs done in one trip, instead of many.

All this has hit some of us in the real estate business. Rentals have dropped from season-length to single months; from full months to a couple of weeks, when owners consented. The same is possibly happening to purchase decisions: that is size needs may be scaling down - a bit; price shopping certainly seems headed downward - in some categories.

There is no doubt that changes are here at lots of levels of life. Whether it is permanent, or just temporary, remains to be seen!

©2008, R. Leech features.