MarketWatch has the following report on how difficult it is to buy a vacation home in today's real estate market, especially if you need a mortgage to do so.

Many popular vacation-home destinations are in the same markets where property values tanked during the housing downturn and have yet to stabilize. Some lenders say they’re concerned about underwriting mortgages in areas where prices could fall further.

In other cases, lenders won’t approve mortgages if they receive a shaky appraisal report—for instance, one that includes sale prices from other towns when there’s a lack of comparable transactions in the neighborhood the applicant is buying into.