In the meantime, he’s renting out his future retirement home, reaping the tax benefits and getting a step up on the retired baby boomers who he hopes will flood the housing market in years to come.

“And they’ll be looking for their place in the sun,” he said.

Kelner, a CPA for the accounting firm Schechter Dokken Kanter in Minneapolis, has already found his. He’s among a growing number of boomers who are buying retirement homes now, but using them as vacation homes or investment properties until they can live there full time.

While most second-home purchases are for immediate use, the 2006 Baby Boomer Survey by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) shows that those born between 1946 and 1964 are more active than any other group in the second-home market — they own 57 percent of all vacation/seasonal homes and 58 percent of rental properties. And many of them plan to use them as their eventual retirement homes.

Where are the hot spots? Typically by water and near the mountains. A 2008 NAR survey says that the sunny South had the largest share of second-home purchases, with the West coming in second.

A rising number of those second-home buyers are boomers who plan to use their investment as primary residences when they retire, said NAR spokesman Walter Molony. He attributes the trend to changes in tax laws, changing demographics (more baby boomers) and a desire to diversify investments.

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/homegarden/20559634.html?location_refer=Prep%20Sports

• Retirement Planning 101 It is a really good idea for you to have plans when it comes to your retirement. Planning is really only one of the steps that are involved in achieving the life you intend for yourself after work. A plan is going to serve you well when it comes to......
• Personal Retirement Plan Investment Options Good financial management consists of two different distinct facets, the first of which is learning how to make the best use out of your limited earned income in order to best meet your current expenses, and the second of which has to do with learning how to implement strategies that......
• Should You Rent or Buy a Home in Retirement? Rent or buy? This is a question that is taking on more significance for those of us preparing to retire. Owning your own home in retirement used to be an assumed goal. That was when having paid off your mortgage was also assumed. No more. Many boomers are still lurching......
• Tips for Retirement Planning Some days I think that I get so bogged down in dealing with our day-to-day finances that retirement seems too far away to even think about. I know that my husband and I won’t be old enough to retire for almost thirty years. Who has time to think about retirement......
• Common Mistakes in Using Retirement Planning Tools Online retirement planning tools are all over the Internet. Many baby boomers use these  tools to help them get back on track or to assess where they are in being prepared for retirement. I have discussed a number of those online tools here at Go To Retirement. Some are free......