A house in London and a house in Mallorca, a flat in Zurich and a chalet in Gstaad, a townhouse in Düsseldorf and a finca in Andalusia: the second home is the most common luxury of the families we write for and the most underestimated in effort. The problem is not the money. It is that a family of five with a nanny, a dog and three schools cannot simply be in two places, and that the second house is usually managed by nobody until something breaks in February.
One house in two places
The families who run it well think of the two houses as one household with two addresses. One house manager or family assistant runs both calendars, both sets of suppliers and both payrolls. One set of systems: the same inventory list, the same cleaning standard, the same first-aid kit, the same coffee. One folder, digital and shared, with every code, key, contract, warranty and telephone number for each house, accessible to the staff of both. And one rule: every house is left ready for the family to arrive tomorrow, every time.
The staff
The second house needs a housekeeper who lives locally, is paid year-round, visits weekly when the family is absent, and has the authority to call a plumber without asking. Not a cleaner who comes when the family does. A gardener and a pool man on contract. A local caretaker or property manager for emergencies at three in the morning. The travelling staff, the nanny, the chef, the driver, move with the family and need their own rooms in both houses, which the second house was probably not built for. Our Household Staff Budget shows what a housekeeper and a house manager cost in the countries where the second homes are.
The seasons
Most second homes have a rhythm: the sea house from June to September and at Easter, the ski house from December to March, the city house the rest. The rhythm decides everything: when the boat goes in the water, when the pool is opened, when the heating is serviced, when the housekeeper takes her holiday, when the children's summer clothes move south. A family that writes the rhythm down in September has an easy year. A family that discovers in July that the pool pump died in March does not.
The children
Children need their own things in both houses: a full set of clothes, books, toys, the second bicycle, the second helmet, a bedroom that is theirs and not a guest room. Nothing makes a second home feel like a hotel faster than living out of a suitcase. The school kit travels; everything else stays. A duplicate of the medicine cabinet and the first-aid kit in both houses, and the paediatrician's number for both countries.
The paperwork
Two countries mean two tax residencies to worry about, two sets of employment law for the staff, two insurers, two utilities, two car registrations and the question of where the children are officially resident for schooling. A family office or a good adviser handles it; the family who tries to do it from the kitchen table in August makes a mistake that costs more than the adviser.
Security and privacy
An empty house is a target and a house that is empty on a predictable schedule is a bigger one. Alarms monitored locally, cameras that the housekeeper and the family can see, lights on timers, a neighbour who is paid to notice, and the family's social media rules applied with special care to the second home, which is the one the children photograph.
The test
The family arrives on a Friday evening. The beds are made, the fridge is full, the pool is warm, the boat is in the water, the bicycles have air in the tyres and the housekeeper has gone home. If that is what happens, the two households are being run. If the family spends Saturday morning at the supermarket and Saturday afternoon on the phone to the pool man, it is time to hire the house manager.
