Many seniors close to retirement aspire to finally buy a second home in a vacation setting. Surprisingly low mortgage rates make that goal seem all the more viable at present. Yet because the volatile economy is now eroding savings accounts, many want to be doubly sure they’re making a safe move.

Take the case of a self-employed couple in their early 60s who dreamed of building a mountainside cottage. But before signing a contract, they first reviewed their finances.

To be sure they were on solid ground, the couple headed to the office of Shawn Koch, a certified financial planner. She helped them compare their savings against their expected future cash flow needs in retirement. She also factored in the Social Security benefits they could collect to help cover their income needs during their non-working years. This gave them the confidence to move forward with their plans.

The reason this self-employed couple could afford to fulfill their home-building plans was that they’d lived frugally and built a sizable retirement portfolio. Equally important was that both could qualify for substantial Social Security benefits once they reached 66, what the government currently defines as their “full retirement age.”

“Although it will never make you rich, collecting Social Security is like purchasing a government-backed annuity with built-in cost-of-living adjustments for the rest of your life,” Koch says.

Lesley Brey, the founder of a fee-only financial planning firm who’s developed an expertise in Social Security, urges anyone contemplating retirement to wait beyond age 62 before starting to collect their benefits, assuming they can afford to do so.

“Social Security benefits are for the rest of your life -- however long you live. People shouldn’t give up this longevity insurance lightly,” says Brey, who’s worked in the financial planning field since 1997.

Here are a few home-buying pointers for those nearing retirement:

-- Seek help to outline a retirement budget.

Eric Tyson, a consumer expert and co-author of “Personal Finance for Seniors for Dummies,” recommends that before they start shopping for a second home, seniors ask an accountant or financial planner to help them develop a retirement budget. Alternatively, they can create their own budget with the use of one of the free retirement calculators available on the internet through such companies as Vanguard (vanguard.com) or T. Rowe Price (troweprice.com)

In making your calculations, Tyson, who formerly worked as a financial counselor, strongly recommends you assume you’ll survive into your 80s or even 90s.

The only people who can afford to assume an abbreviated life span, Tyson says, are those diagnosed with serious medical issues.

-- Avoid claiming Social Security benefits just to fund your second home.

Brey says once they’re eligible, many people find the notion of tapping benefits tantalizing. This is especially likely if they’re anxious to purchase a second home.

“At age 62, the temptation to start drawing Social Security benefits right away can be very, very strong,” she says.

But Brey urges anyone who can hold out for larger retirement benefits at age 66 or beyond to do so. And she says it would be particularly unwise to claim early, with lesser benefits, for the purpose of helping fund a second home purchase.

“In case you live to 94, you want to be sure you have a sufficient financial buffer,” she says.

-- Factor lifestyle preferences into your second home decision.

For many who’ve long been attentive to the need for retirement savings, Tyson says Social Security represents a relatively minor component of their retirement plans. Those with a large nest egg can typically afford to wait until age 66 or even later to start collecting benefits.

Moreover, many in this group can consider the purchase of a second home without reliance on Social Security to help cover their mortgage payments.

As Tyson notes, some financial planners are biased against buying real estate in the years prior to retirement. After all, many planners (except those who work on a “fee-only” basis) make their living on commissions from the sale of investment products, as well as insurance, and not real estate.

But Tyson says people who’ve amassed a large war chest of retirement assets or who are entitled to benefits from a healthy traditional pension program, or both, could now be well-positioned to actualize a second home purchase.

“Preparing for retirement is not all about numbers. It’s also about having a great quality of life going forward,” he says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)

Mortgage rates are spectacularly low, yet many wannabe homeowners are feeling anxious about their odds of scoring a successful purchase. The list of their fears is growing ever longer.

Buyers are fretting about the steady rise in home values, causing them to fear they’ll be priced out of the market. As of December, prices across the country rose 3.8% on an annualized basis, and many popular metro areas reported even bigger jumps, according to the widely watched S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index.

Meanwhile, economists say buyers are now petrified they’ll lose out to fellow purchasers due to a serious shortage of available property -- a shortage that’s especially acute in metro areas where first-timers wish to live and where the job base is very strong.

“Low mortgage rates have brought buyers back into the housing market, but a lack of listings means buyers are having to compete with one another to secure a sale and lock in a mortgage rate,” says Daryl Fairweather, the chief economist at Redfin, the real estate brokerage firm.

Added to these concerns among wannabe homeowners are general uncertainties about the U.S. economy.

“It’s not as carefree as it once was to contemplate a first-home purchase, which many still consider the centerpiece of the American dream,” says Merrill Ottwein, a longtime real estate broker.

Yet Ottwein -- who works primarily with buyers, not sellers -- says many young owners who faced their fears squarely are glad they bought as soon as they could.

“Don’t let worries divert you from your basic objective of homeownership,” says Ottwein, a past president of the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents (naeba.org).

Here are a few other pointers for buyers:

-- Take counsel from your elders who bought homes years ago.

Ottwein, who’s sold homes for decades, encourages you to listen to older friends and family members who bought property years ago. It’s very likely your parents were happy they bought a place as soon as they did, despite fears about paying too much.

Also, with mortgage rates hovering near record lows, your elders will likely remind you there’s no guarantee that rates will always remain in the low single digits.

Of course, no adult American of any age can forget the real estate downturn that occurred around 2008, causing properties to drop in value and foreclosures to occur in numerous cases. But the reality is that foreclosures are now rare and that in most neighborhoods, property values have more than rebounded in the intervening years.

-- Look to a trustworthy mortgage lender for guidance.

In this era of conservative lending, most mortgage lenders are going to great lengths to ensure that the loans they originate are solid. This means borrowers must be very prepared to respond to the lender’s requests for documents.

“The right lender will help make sure you assemble every single document needed to get your loan approved,” says Sid Davis, a real estate broker and author of “A Survival Guide for Buying a Home.”

As proof of income, many lenders now insist on much more than the customary pay stubs and W-2s. For example, they’ll likely ask you for tax returns. In addition, they’ll probably want assurances that the funds you’ve amassed for your down payment have been in your savings or checking account for some time and weren’t borrowed from a family member five weeks ago.

“Lenders are more risk-averse now on how much they’ll lend. But the good ones can offer you a lot of guidance as you go through the process,” Davis says.

-- Hold out for the right property, even in a tight market.

In the most coveted neighborhoods -- especially those that are considered “walkable” to restaurants, stores and public transit -- many buyers feel under pressure to bid quickly on homes that surface in their price range and to offer even more than the asking price to outdo rivals.

“Competition pushes up prices, which means that even though buyers can get a good deal on a mortgage now, they are often paying a higher sticker price,” says Fairweather, the Redfin economist.

Still, veteran real estate pros caution against competing for any home that’s an obvious poor choice for you. For example, no matter how attractive the neighborhood, a couple with three kids is unlikely to do well in a two-bedroom house.

“Those of us who’ve worked with buyers for many years know that you don’t want to jump the gun on property selection, regardless of the market. Have faith that if you wait a short while, a house that’s a better fit for your family will soon become available. I’ve seen a reasonable level of patience rewarded countless times,” Ottwein says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)

It’s been a half-decade since an engineer in suburban Minneapolis lost her husband to a fatal stroke. Until now, this widow couldn’t bear the thought of selling the cedar-sided contemporary she and her husband had custom-built back in the 1970s.

But now that she’s entered her 60s, the engineer feels a sense of urgency about items long on her bucket list.

Due to her elaborate plans, the engineer has reluctantly decided it’s time to let go of her house and move to a place with lower upkeep demands. However, her listing agent cautions against putting the property on the market until its dated decor has been upgraded to appeal to young buyers.

Ashley Richardson, a longtime real estate agent, doesn’t know the engineer in this true story. But she understands the rationale for updating an older home before attempting to market it. That’s because millennial buyers -- those born between 1981 and 1996 -- now make up the largest cohort of purchasers. And they’re very visual.

The good news is that many key updates are relatively inexpensive.

“Don’t be intimidated by the changes you need, because most are quite easy and cosmetically based,” says Richardson, who’s affiliated with the Residential Real Estate Council (crs.com).

Having an updated kitchen is one key to attracting young buyers. But it’s rarely necessary to do a major kitchen remodel. Still, it could pay you back to have dark wood cabinets repainted in white in order to brighten the space.

Many older homes have wall-to-wall carpet, another turnoff for young buyers, who vastly prefer hardwood flooring. Yet if you don’t want to spend what it costs for new hardwood, at least replace dark-colored carpeting with a lighter, neutral shade.

Before sellers decide where to invest in pre-sale home improvement, Richardson suggests they ask their agent for a checklist of cost-effective projects. Often, some of the least costly improvements -- such as painting -- can have the biggest impact.

“Look for guidance from real estate pros to make worthwhile decisions,” she says.

Here are a few other pointers for sellers:

-- Consider removing traditional furniture.

Though it’s unlikely you’ll sell your furnishings along with the house, it’s important to adapt your interior decor to the tastes of younger people, most of whom favor contemporary furnishings over traditional ones.

“They’re not revolting against tradition. But they don’t want to be reliant on tradition, either,” says Jeffrey Levine, an architect who works with both residential and commercial clients and heads his own Washington, D.C.-based firm, Levine Design Studio.

To get a feel for the sort of room layouts that typical young buyers like, Levine suggests you visit the website of IKEA, the Swedish home furniture retailer with a customer base heavily weighted toward young singles and families with school-age children.

At a minimum, you’ll want to remove bulky, old-fashioned pieces, such as large recliners, before your place goes up for sale.

-- Focus on your windows.

Levine recommends that sellers trying to appeal to young buyers, who like light, bright rooms, should remove all their heavy draperies. Often, the only rooms that need window coverings are bedrooms and bathrooms, and, even there, simple shades should suffice for privacy.

Another key step to bright, sparkling rooms is to thoroughly clean your windows, says Sid Davis, a real estate broker and author of “A Survival Guide to Selling a Home.”

“A dirty house, including one with dirty windows, is the kiss of death for anyone trying to sell,” Davis says.

-- Make your bathroom lighting more contemporary.

In their bathrooms, many older homes still feature Hollywood-style lighting with globes set on a chrome bar. But Davis says such fixtures seem dated to many young buyers, who typically want something more stylish and less cliched.

“Look for bathroom lighting with a fresher, more current look. It shouldn’t cost too much to replace bathroom lights. Often you can replace any bathroom fixture for under $100,” he says.

As to the look of bathrooms, Richardson advocates replacing the kind of pink tiling still present in many homes built in the 1950s. (Though the retro look of pink bathrooms appeals to some who relish mid-century modern architecture, it’s unlikely your young buyers will share this devotion.)

-- Freshen your home through repainting.

One sure bet for adding appeal to your interior is to repaint walls and trim throughout.

Yet Richardson says you’re much more likely to appeal to young buyers if you avoid repainting your rooms in the sort of bold paint tones that some agents call “commitment colors.” Instead, she urges you to pick paint colors that are muted, near-neutrals -- the sort of shades shown in the Pottery Barn catalog.

-- Remove family photos and other memorabilia.

There’s nothing that will date your place faster in the eyes of young buyers than personal photos.

Davis says any personal photos can make it psychologically difficult for young buyers to picture themselves living in your property.

“A fresh start is what people of any age want when they buy a house. They lose the concept of a blank canvas when they see all your memorabilia,” Davis says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)