While the group of second home owners most often flees to their second homes just to get away from it all, their profile is steeped in family values.

In what amounts to a virtual peek through the windows of a special group of second home owners, a "2005 Survey of Splitters" found that fun and family are two of the biggest reasons a full third of second home buyers take the plunge.

The publicly traded, Bonita Springs, FL-based WCI Communities Inc., to better understand trends in second home ownership, used 35 questions to survey 408 home owners living east of the Mississippi.

Those surveyed qualify as what WCI calls "Splitters" -- a breed of second home owners who split their time between a primary residence and a second home.

WCI is a home developer building in Florida, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia and sells about 30 percent of it's homes to so-called "Splitters" and found them to be, in many ways, the more traditional second home owner, making the purchase more often for recreational use rather than as an investment.

WCI also says Splitters reflect the trend away from life in the traditional "home town" and a migration toward a more varied lifestyle based on needs associated with work, play, health, education, retirement and the shift of family and friends away from each other.

The survey found:

• A relaxing getaway, cited by 49 percent of Splitters, was the number one reason Splitters visit their second home. Respondents were allowed to choose more than one reason for the getaway.

• Nearly as many, 37 percent, said family vacations or family get-togethers and 35 percent said recreation was the reason they traipsed to their second home.

• Further making the point about the reason for Splitters' second home ownership, an open ended question, "What is the best thing about owning two homes?" found 22 percent answering "getaway/vacation"; 22 percent cited 'investment income"; 16 percent said "investment for appreciation"; 8 percent said as a "travel convenience" and only 6 percent said "location."

• Six-in-ten (59 percent) of Splitters visit their second home with their spouse the majority of the time, but 44 percent visit their second home with their family.

• Women (50 percent) are more likely than men (38 percent) to say they always or frequently visit with family.

• Splitters visit their second home an average 18 times per year or a median of 5 times a year. On average Splitters with first and second homes in the same state visit an average eight times a year, out-of-state Splitters take off only an average of three times per year.

• Over half (55 percent) of Splitters stay at their second home an average of 1-3 days per visit. Eight-in-ten of in-state Splitters spend an average of 1-3 days per visit, while 47 percent of out-of-state Splitters spend at least one week per visit.

Published: November 22, 2005

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Broderick Perkins parlayed a career in old-school journalism into a contemporary digital news service that really hits home. The award-winning consumer journalist, originally from Wilmington, DE, is founder, publisher and executive editor of the bootstrap DeadlineNews Group, a Silicon Valley-based editorial content and consulting service specializing in residential real estate, consumer news and related editorial consulting services. The DeadlineNews Group includes the website, DeadlineNews.com, offering real estate editorial content and consulting services, and its back shop, the Deadline Newsroom, an open house on news that really hits home. Perkins obtained his formal journalism education from University of Delaware and a journalism boot camp, the Institute of Journalism Education at the University of California-Berkeley. He went on to 20 years of service as a daily newspaper journalist at the Wilmington, DE News Journal and San Jose, CA Mercury News. Perkins covered housing on the San Jose Mercury News reporting team which earned a General News Reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. He has also produced real estate, consumer and small business content for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, RealtyTimes.com, Nolo.com, Better Homes and Gardens, the National Association of Realtors, Homestore/Move and Intuit/Quicken among more than three dozen publications. In addition to managing the DeadlineNews Group, Perkins most recently served as chief editorial consultant for Nolo's Essential Guide To Buying Your First Home, Nolo, and writes real estate television scripts for RealtyTimes.com.