Wheres agood place abroad to buy a two bed flat, ideally near a sandy beach with a bit of life?was thinking palma or Barcelona but know of anywhere similar but cheaper

[RobertaBeckett]

Any ideas where would you look

I like Cyprus alot but flights sure add up there

Thanks for your experience, will certainly do a few long term rentals 1st
But a hell of alot of people,e do buy abroad, so not like we are reinventing the wheel or doing something crazy

Renting might be better tho

Wow these look insanely nice, but I'm after sunshine

This. And how you'll be able to organise repairs, legal issues etc. I don't think it's easy or straightforward or everyone woukd do it

Lots of people manage it, just like lots of people buy houses here

You've inspired me to have a look at properties for your budget in an area of South Eastern Spain that I know quite well. San Juan de los Terreros is about an hour's drive from either Almeria or Murcia airport. I saw a flat on Idealista on Calle Guadalahara for 250k. (For some reason I can't do a link?) It was right in the middle of town on the seafront, minutes away from the beach. I really liked the private annexe on the top of the building - extra shower and storage space.

The town gets busy in summer with plenty of Spanish families. But there are still people around off season too. Foreign owners are mostly Brits, Belgians and Scandinavians.

Thinking about it though you said you wanted a bit of life about the place. For that you could go to Aguilas just over the border into Murcia. Bigger town but obviously not on a par size-wise with Barcelona or Palma.

Further North but what about Valencia?

How about one of the resort towns on Costa Dorada which are within striking distance of Barcelona? Coma-ruga/El Vendrell and La Torre might be worth a look. I reckon you could rent to digital nomads in that location

I agree, £250k is a great amount, and if the timing is right (i.e not the school holidays), you will be able to stay in the best places all over the world to suit the weather for the rest of your life Airbnb offer significant discounts to stay the best part of a month, which then don't invalidate any insurance (often 31 days). I get that it is nice to have a home from home, but at what cost ? As others have said, it is a costly mistake if you decide you don't like it - or you are invested, and then things change. I agree with @VanCleefArpels plenty of great places on offer from those that have invested.

Please don’t do it. For the many sensible financial reasons others have mentioned but also as holiday homes are decimating communities in a number of countries, including the UK.

You don’t need to buy a holiday let to go on holiday. Rent the same place every year if you like familiarity.

If you have spare money to invest there are plenty of other ways to get a return on your investment. Property investment is the main reason for homelessness and poverty in England right now.

250k may get you a tiny 1 bed flat in a not great area of Barcelona. Or Palma As a non resident you pay 30% tax on any property purchase along with all the other taxes and charges. You arent allowed to rent out properties now in Barcelona for holiday rentals so you won't have that income stream. If they are left unoccupied squatters move in (huge problem in Spain) I would use that money to have great holidays to be honest without any of the hassle

I might be wrong but I think that a lot of the people, from the UK anyway, who bought property abroad did it some time back when it was possible to find things dirt cheap and before a lot of the new property rules were put into place.

I totally get that you may want to spend extended time somewhere where it’s warmer, particularly in the winter, we do that ourselves. But we have changed from being the people looking in the estate agents window 15 years back to being in a position where we could now afford it, but find it so much easier to rent what we want, when and where we want it. And interestingly, the owners of wherever we stay are always local.

I'd opt for Canary Islands, just because of the winter sun.

Here's a link to a particularly nice one. I've been in this apartment and know the complex well, having owned there previously for 20+ years.

https://www.tenerifepropertysales.com/r/TPS2210/

Having owned and rented ... there is no place like your own place. Miss our apartment but advantages to renting too.

Well we almost might end up kinda, Iiving there, just gradually over time as the kids get older and move on etc
Plus alot ofmit is form inheritance so I feel like I can't just fritter it away and many many rentals, where as buying somewhere, will also be for the kids when we're not here anymore

But will look into canaries as I've actually never been there

Tbh I don't personally agree with that at all, but respect all opinions

Jurmala in Latvia.

24 mile long beach, beautiful houses, very affordable.

So what’s your view then? Do you disagree with the protests across Spain due to people buying up properties for Airbnb or even worse, to sit empty half the year? What do you think holiday homes do to communities?

Well my opinion is, there's not enough houses because the goverment are not building enough, also I don't feel entitled to live somewhere if I can't afford it, I couldn't afford to live in Chelsea, or st ives
I don't feel like I'm entitled to either even if I have family connections

But I do agree that second homes are heavily taxed which they are, because if you can afford that you should be paying in more
Also happy to pay 60 percent tax too

I just think people don't own areas
And they are not entitled

So if you couldn’t live in the area where you have always lived, work, your kids grew up etc because it was full of holiday homes that were empty half the year, that would be ok for you?

@VanCleefArpels Absolutely agree. We had a 2 bed holiday home in the UK and it was a nightmare in the end. Everyone thinks they can use it for free. ,eaves it a mess wants to take a load of friends or even wants to stay in your main house whilst you are there. It was an absolute relief to sell it. We also never rented it out but that makes it worse imo

Don't want to derail this thread but the issue isn't really about people being entitled to live anywhere.

It's about £65 billion worth of property in the UK being owned by trusts as investments. It isn't sustainable to treat residential property as off shore investment. Not when millions of people live below the poverty line as a direct consequence of the astronomical rise in rents/house prices. Wages could never have kept up with that rise.

This is happening across European cities - people cannot afford to live within a reasonable distance of where employment is focussed. They can't simply opt to live somewhere cheaper - they have to live where the work is.

If you have inheritance to invest there are other options - or you may in the future want to buy a home for your children when they're grown up, as the likelihood of them affording one without parental help is slim.

Yes because I don’t feel entitled to it or like I own the area

just my opinion

if I couldn’t afford to live where I live now
I’d accept it I’m not a fan of this is a local shop for local people
no one owns areas

Surely now most households have two parents both working out of the home that’s pushed prices up a lot as well as the prices will also way rise to what money is a available