Q. If one is in the year of aveilus, is he permitted to buy A) a cottage to be used as a vacation home or B) any other investment property that may also serve as a vacation home?
Thank you
A. The period of avelus for one's parents, based on the obligation to honor them, extends to twelve months in regards to attending festive occasions and even for wearing new clothes (Remo 389: 3). Da'as Kedoshim (7) rules that making new clothes is also forbidden not just wearing the new clothes.
Horav Shlomo Miller's Shlit”a opinion is that if the main reason of the buying of the cottage is to have a good, usable investment while owning a functional vacation home too, it is permitted. However, if one is not very concerned about the investments value, rather the primary purpose of the purchase is for the use of it as a vacation facility, one should avoid buying it during the year of mourning.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit”a
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