Holiday homes...

[SnowBells]

Do you have one? Where? Why did you choose to get one?

Thinking about having one in future...

[Sunnyshores]

UK or abroad?

[fussychica]

We bought one in Spain years ago - enjoyed being there so much we moved over full time. Stayed for 8 years, moving to a bigger house in the interim before coming back to the UK 5 years ago. Miss Spain a lot and rent there for a few months a year but very tempted to buy a little place again.

[fussychica]

3 year ago.

[Costacoffeeplease]

We bought in Portugal 15 years ago, moved permanently 12 years ago, and still have the apartment as a holiday let

[HaveToWearHeels]

Yes, holiday home in Turkey, had it for 8 years. My daughter id 5, and has grown up knowing it as her second home knows more Turkish than we do.

[SnowBells]

Sunnyshores

Anywhere.

[molesbreath]

Yep. LAke district. Love it. Bought it as we had spare money and a growing family and apart from skiing we usually take our holidays in the uk.

Like others above our aim is to live full time in it in a couple of years.

What are your future dreams ?

[Marmitelover55]

V jealous of you all

[Mrsbaconandbeans]

Bought one four years ago at a seaside location in wales. Loved it so much we relocated here 18months ago. I love life at the beach :)

[SnowBells]

molesbreath

My dream is still 5-10 years away. We like the U.S., but California is way too far, so possibly East Coast instead where you can go all seasons (winter for skiing, fall for Indian summer, etc.).

Not sure whether that's going to be possible, but who knows??

[NotPennysBoat]

We've had one in Spain for 10 yrs or so. We love going there for holidays but it's hard work and managing any necessary maintenance (we have a garden and a pool) from back in the UK is a nightmare! Finding reliable people (cleaners, handymen, gardeners) etc seems to be an ongoing challenge...

[fussychica]

NotPennys part of the reason we gave up and sold - the house was too big with land and pool. When we moved back and only went for holidays we spent the whole time working on it and getting it back to perfect just before coming home again!

[Eastwickwitch]

We had a holiday cottage in South Dorset. It was great pre DC but bloodyhard work once they arrived. We always seemed to be carting stuff up & down the M3 and felt obliged to go every weekend.
Not for us.

[Hoppinggreen]

We have one in Spain, we love going but since the children started school we can't go as often. We rent it out over the summer as it's a bit hot for us and we usually have Summer holidays in The UK or Germany.
With hindsight though we wish we had bought one within 2 hours of home so we could go at weekends etc instead.

[Somethingtodo]

We bought and renovated a mountain lodge in the southern French Alps - so skiing in winter and hot in summer (when it is even more picturesque) for walking, cycling, white water rafting, lake swimming etc.

We rent it out some weeks to pay for itself and are lucky that there are two holiday seasons. Cheap flights or Eurostar for quick trips or we drive down (12 hrs door to door from London). Have lots of friends in the village now - locals, other holiday home owners of all nationalities and local business owners (small hotels/restaurants/bars etc).

[minipie]

We've thought about it but decided not to. Don't want the maintenance and don't want to feel obliged to go there for every holiday/weekend to make it worth it.

[MillyMollyMama]

We have a place in Cornwall but mainly rent it out. We bought it when our children were younger but now we are trying to sell it as we do not use it enough. It has been a terrible investment and has probably lost money. I like visiting different countries so we use the income for holidays elsewhere! The income isn't that great either when compared to the value of the house. If you want to only be in one area, all the time, then it's great. If you are more of a traveller, don't do it.

[OhTheAngst]

DBro has one in Devon. He and and DSIL worked every weekend for a year to get it beautiful, and spend every half-term there maintaining it. They use it for the allowed no of weeks in high season, and we get it at cost out of season. It seems like a good investment for them, both money-wise and place-to-go-wise.

[Philoslothy]

We have a cottage on the south coast in this country and a house in France.

We go on holiday a lot ( I used to be a teacher) and sometimes for a month at a time.

We rent them out so they pay for themselves.

[butterfliesinmytummy]

We built one on Koh Samui in Thailand when we lived in singapore. Now we live in the USA, we don't get to spend holidays there but it rents well and turns a profit and gets great reviews. It's for sale if anyone's interested?!

[homebythesea]

We have had one abroad but found we didn't get there very often - you can't be spontaneous when you need to book flights etc! We rented it out but the service charges etc (it was on a resort) got ridiculous so we sold (at a loss). We then Bought in a UK seaside town much closer to home clearly. However we don't get there as much as we'd like due to teens' activities/social life at weekends in particular. We don't rent it out but family use it from time to time. We dream of retiring there but are battling with the dilemma of having so much capital tied up in an asset that lies empty for many weeks at a time! We could sell and buy a couple of buy to let flats which could give us an income, but we love it so. Uh when we do get to go there.......

The moral of the story is that it is an expensive hobby and I certainly would not have done it had we needed a mortgage to buy either property as the stress of needing to make it pay its way would be too much for me. We pay all usual house expenses and bills with no return. Renting could be an option but anyone I know who does this barely makes any money after tax and housekeeping etc.

[Wellieswithaholein]

We almost bought one, we were going to use it and let it, but it fell through and we ended up buying a small ordinary house to rent out to tenants.
I think we made the right choice at the time. The idea is still with us and if we have the finances nearer retirement we may well still do it.

[Wellieswithaholein]

It was in the U.k.

[hereandtherex]

I come from an area on the north yorks coast that has a lot of holiday homes.

There's always been holiday homes in my home village -either second homes i.e. not rented, used by family - GrandPs, parents, kids, GKs etc or holiday homes rented out as a business.

Te last 15 years has seen the number increase to such a level that they are a nuisance and not popular with the people left living in the areas.

Some observations:

1. 'Will sleep x'.
   
   A house that you would think would comfortably house 2 adults and 2 kids will be advertised as sleeps 4 adults and 4 kids.
   Typically 5 or 6 adults will turn up and 5 to 8 kids.
   Its much more hell than it even sounds.
   Imagine a rainy day where the adults are drunk and the kids bored. These sort of situations end up in police, divorces, affairs, fights etc.
   
   
2. I would never live next to a rented holiday home. My cousin was one of the last locals left living i nthe old part of our village. He unwillingly sold up when both his neighbours became holdaiy homes. When he moved in (92) his neighbours and 60% of the other houses in his terrace were OO. When he left (06) he was the last OO left.
   
   In summer holidays it is like living next to a mad house from of drunks. My cousin had people puking outside his door, people BBQing at 3am.
   
   There needs to be better licensing off holiday homes just for the nuisance factor on the residents. A 3 strikes and removal of license.
   
   Its different for seconds homes. I know a few families who have been bought their houses several decades ago and now know their grandkids. You tend to not have problems with these. In fact my mums looks after a few houses keys for people and checks the house - thats checks not maintains - the house in winter.
   
   To make a seocnd home work you most live near (les than 100 miles) and have a large family to make use of it. Its just too expensive for a single family to do.
   
   
3. They really do affect the local population. My home town has seen a vast chunk of low paid residents move out 10 miles to a crappy, cheaper town. They say its not fair and I tend to agree.
   
   
4. AFAICT you cannot make money from a holiday home. Don't ry and justify it as an investment. If you are renting then you can only rely on the school holidays. Rightmove for the local area constantly lists holiday home that have been bought and their owners are trying to exit.
   
   
5. Unless you are cleaning the place yourself, you will need to pay someone a lot of money to do the changeover. Saturday changeovers cost £100. Thats for 3 hours cleaning. If your cleaner lets you down - and they will - you can get an emergency one but it'll cost you double.
   
   You can expect about one 'dirty protest' a year. See 1) and lots of adults getting drunk and going nuts. I've seen - I did not go in - a cottage that had had the entire ground floor's walls covered in shit. It was let to a couple of drunks on a last chance make up or break up holiday. They broke up. The bloke spent the next week drinking and smearing shit round the house. I've seen it in B+Bs and hotel rooms too.
   
   
6. Be honest about how much time and money you spend maintaing your own home. Double it - Triple it - see 1) Drunks + dirty protests.
   Going back to my cousins, me + brothers had to break into one place over winter as the pipes had burst and side path was flooding and freezing. We did not hav any contact. By the time we'd entered the ground floor roof had fallen in. The owner went bust. There is a reason why insurerance companies isnist a house is not left empty for more than 4 weeks.
   
   
7. Holiday rental companies will take 25% of the rent for doing very little. People complain about EAs. They should see shoddy practise from holiday let people.
   
   I expect most of the post 2000 holiday rentals to be sold at a loss. These places are gushing losses - I heard one pissed up owned in the pub complaining that their 'investment' was costing them 4K a year. They'd had to come over and do the change over as their cleaner had gone on holiday. They had to check themselves into an expensive hotel - the only one that had rooms - overnight. Nuts!
   
   You see holiday homes get listed on RM. And there they stay. The prices were bid up, way out of local pockets when the bought in. There are very few buyers left these days - you'll get laughed out of the bank if you try and get a mortgage for a holiday let these days.
   
   Look, end of day, the UK is not a good, all-round holiday destination. Its too expensive, too cold, too rainy. You can go on all all-inc 2 weeks somewhere hot + sunny for the cost of a 4 bedroom cottage + a few meals out.

[EveDallasRetd]

We have a static caravan rather than a 'holiday home' and it's absolutely perfect for us:

It's less than 2 hrs from home
It costs less to buy and to maintain
There is almost instant access to repairs that are beyond us (plumbing, heating) from the on site 'handyman'
It comfortably houses the three of us, but we could add another 3 at a push (1 double room, 1 twin room and a sofa bed in the living area)
It's cosy and practical
It's in a seaside resort where the house prices are ridiculous
We go down every school holiday and the odd weekend in between

Because of how well it suits us we are thinking of buying a static overseas (we like the look of sites in Spain and Morocco), using that for school hols and keeping the other one for weekend breaks. Once DD is grown we will definitely do it, right now we need to factor in her friendships/time away etc.