So if you find yourself, in the cold wet dark days of winter, fantasizing about amazing vacation homes in warm, sunny, palm-and bougainvillea graced settings where the balmy breezes carry the whisper of breaking surf through your windows, you're not alone.

If just hearing the names of Santa Barbara, or Aspen, or Gold Coast or Lake Como floods you mind with pictures of amazing vacation homes to which you can return each evening after a day on the beach or on the slopes or water, and a dinner at a world-class restaurant accompanied by some of the world's best wine, you're not alone.

Amazing vacation homes have traditionally been seen as the special domain of the world's rich and famous, but as the Baby Boomers are reaching retirement age, and have more time to travel, and the money to buy a second home in which to spend their winters, the market for those looking for amazing vacation homes is growing rapidly.

And there are amazing vacation homes to suit any taste; from mountain lodges, to beachfront condos, to apartments in the heart of the world's great cities with easy access to sporting events and cultural venues. There are country retreats where those with a yen to develop their green thumbs can turn humble farmhouses into amazing vacation homes with gardens paths, waterways, and hidden floral delights.

Build Your Own Amazing Vacation Home

Many amazing vacation homes, in fact, have been constructed from other edifices from barns, railroad depots, schoolhouses, lighthouses, and old country stores. If you think the idea of taking buildings with decades of built-up character and turning them into amazing vacation homes has its appeal, you can start by calling realtors in the area where you'd like to spend your vacation time. Historical societies are also good sources of information on interesting properties and whether or not they the can be used for residences.

Transforming quaint old structures into amazing vacation homes is, above all, a labor of love, and can require significant financial resources and years of time. But if you start when you're young, and spend part of your vacations creating your amazing vacation home of the future, by the time it's complete it will be full of family memories and uniquely your own.

If at all possible, look at a house in person before you rent it. At the very least, find out when the pictures of the house were taken, and don't rent anything without seeing recent pictures of the kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms and main living area. If the hosue is shown with views of a nearby natural attraction like a beach, find out if a zoom lens was used to minimize the distances involved.