With summer's arrival, many people will feel the familiar tug of a question they face every year: Does it make sense to buy a home in the place where they vacation?

At the beach, the lake or the mountains, vacationers may ask whether it's time to put down roots in their favorite getaway or if it's more prudent to keep paying for hotels and rentals year in and year out.

The answer lies in financial and lifestyle considerations, including how much time they want to spend in their chosen paradise and how important rental income is to them, real estate experts said.

"We're finding that most people are definitely buying for recreational interest first," said David Hehman, chief executive of EscapeHomes.com. "But it's very common that they will rent it out when they're not using it to defray the cost of ownership."

Last year, Americans bought and sold an estimated 445,000 second homes, according to the National Association of Realtors. The United States is home to 6.6 million vacation dwellings, with the stock projected to grow an average of 125,000 a year in the next decade.

A vacation home is an emotional purchase that should be approached cautiously, Hehman said. "It's not for you if you can't get the enjoyment out of it or if it's going to be a financial stretch," he said. "If it's got to be too far away from you, difficult to get to, if you have kids that have soccer games every weekend and you were planning to make it there, you have to match your use pattern up with reality."

About 55 percent of second-home buyers expect to pay less for it than their primary residences, a recent survey shows.

Tax breaks can make owning a vacation home more affordable, depending how often it's used versus rented out.

Personal use alone or renting it fewer than 15 days a year is the simplest scenario because in those cases you don't have to declare rental income on your taxes.

That's why owners need to keep good records of the days they occupy a second home and the days they rent it out, she said.

They also are encouraged to rent in the area where they are considering buying for several years before committing.