How hated will we be?

[SecondH]

DH and I are looking at buying a second home by the coast. I would love to hear from other second home owners and people who live in areas where there are lots of second home owners. How hated by the locals would we be? Do neighbours ignore you etc?

@Troublein is pretty much spot on though, whether you like to hear it or not.

Some of this just sounds like ignorant bigotry and jealousy of incomers. Not sure why it is acceptable in this context but not in others.

I think that local bakeries, grocers and shops are not so unhappy about second homes or summer rentals as the occupants keep them going. From what I've seen most of the locals drive to shop in supermarkets in town.

Having lived in Cornwall for most of my life I really don’t think people understand the realities of what it’s like to retire down here. People with mobility problems often struggle due to the hilly topography. Many of the picturesque villages that people fall in love with on holiday often have very few services, lots of villages have lost their GP surgeries, pubs are closing at an alarming rate and the shops don’t sell items that are needed for everyday life. Public service are stretched to almost breaking point, there is only 1 district general hospital and no NHS dentist. If you are no longer able to drive public transport is sporadic at best and can be non existent during the winter. It’s not an easy place to spend your twilight years unless you have a support network of friends and family.

If the plan is to buy it, use it as a holiday home for now then move into it in a few years...

And you get involved in the community, you put money into the local economy, using local traders, local services etc...

Chances are that'll work out just fine.

We had a holiday cottage in Wales when I was a kid.

We hired local builders to do work on it, we shopped locally rather than bringing food with us, we didn't rent it out to strangers but lots of friends would stay there and they would also put into the local economy when there and not be unpleasant neighbours whilst staying..

As it became clear we weren't going to move there (parents marriage broke down, plans changed) it was sold at a reasonable (below market rate) to a local couple moving out of parental homes.

The hatred in small communities is for those who turn up, bring trades and services from elsewhere, spend all their money somewhere else, are loud and obnoxious and expect things to work exactly as they did in whatever big city or town they came from and are unpleasant when that's not how things work... and rent it out to arseholes who behave the same way and then sell it on for a fortune to some other similar sort.

You are overthinking this.If you are friendly get a bit involved locally...use local shops etc no problem. It's up to you.

Of course, we could argue that the Cornish lawyers, accountants, medics, IT specialists etc aren't stupid enough to buy such an overpriced property. It's either a second home which the emmets are trying to offload as the dream was nice during covid or a probate sale from a couple who did what you plan to do.

Having lived in Cornwall for most of my life I don’t think many people understand the realities of moving here when they retire. Anyone with mobility problems often struggles due to the hilly topography. Many of the picturesque villages that people fall in love with when they come on holiday are very different when you actually live there. They often have very few services, GP surgeries are closing at an alarming rate, pubs are struggling and shops are geared towards tourists so it’s hard to get everyday items. Public service are stretched to nearly breaking point, there is a GP recruitment crisis, only 1 main hospital where the ambulance bay is nearly always full and no NHS dentists. If you have to give up driving public transport is sporadic and often non existent in the coastal/rural villages in winter. Unless you have a large support network it’s not an easy place to spend your twilight years.

So, only people who rent make "sometime" shitty neighbours then?
I did not know that.
Thanks for the info. 🤔

Statistically a greater risk of an Airbnb being used as a popup brothel. Not funny when you’re living next door, but whatever you say.

Why not buy a holiday lodge or static caravan? You can use it for (most) of the year, rent it out when you aren’t using it but not taking a home from a local?

I have thought about thy is a lot as I’m desperate to have a holiday home by the sea but I can’t bring myself to buy a house/flat.

I am interested to hear what locals say about the holiday parks.

My Cornish family member will have about that much to spend after selling their farm. I showed them the listing and they laughed - so overpriced and nothing special. You can get much better quality in much nicer locations by the sea, elsewhere.

Cornwall’s tourism was at a 10 year low in the last year or so. Alongside the double council tax on second homes and other government policies making it less appealing to have airbnbs to rent out, renting is harder as there are less visitors. Holiday homes are crippling the county too which just doesn’t have enough homes. It also destroys villages as they’re just ghost towns in winter

I live in an area with one of the highest rate of second homes in the UK. You will be hated, unless you choose an enclave which is almost all second homes, then you will just be hated from slightly further away.

Why do families who have lived in Cornwall for generations have any more rights to the area than new people who move in. You could say the 'locals' have paid their council tax for years & contributed to the economy. The new residents would in effect be doing the same albeit starting from scratch as did the locals at one time in their family history of living there.

Ultimately those who call themselves locals have no more rights than newcomers, therefore their opinions of them are totally unjustified unless they are antisocial.

What did I actually say then?

"I did not know that."

This was my only response to what someone else had quoted.

Framing the question as "How hated will we be?" rather than "How annoying will we be?" speaks volumes.

I agree with this. In my area a lot of the property on the market is deceased estate property. The owner retired here and died and now the family are selling.

You can spot the houses in this category because they are a) in need of renovation as they were last gussied up when the previous owner retired 20 years previously. b) they have been on the market a LONG time because c) the deceased's estate whacks on a silly price to attract DFL. A DFL they dream of will not know the market and be bamboozled by the view on a warm July afternoon into paying well over the odds because the price looks like a snip compared to a town house in Fulham. This happens with sufficient frequency that the people inheriting will wait a very long time for that kind of pay day.

The local lawyers, accountants, medics, IT specialists etc aren't stupid enough to buy such an overpriced property and anyway, they want to buy in a spot where people live in their homes, not where half their neighbours will only be there for two weeks in August (and will be Sarah Vine and David Cameron).

They also know that the street will be packed with 'off grid' camper vans from April to October.

How so?

We live in a seaside town / not the popular Devon Cornwall area but I busy seaside resort on the east coast. I am 5 mins from the beach and there is a small hotel next door and the flat upstairs is for sale but also air bnb. Because of its proximity to the beach a lot of the houses in my street are b and b, hotel and holiday flats as well as permanent residents. I have to say we don’t mind eitherway, holidaymakers are good for the town as as long as they treat the town with respect we don’t mind at all. Having said that my favourite time is autumn winter when it’s quiet!

It’s interesting that over the years, we and lots of friends went down to Cornwall for holidays. Yet in the last five years, I don’t know anyone who has gone there for a holiday, and we have stopped too. Just anecdotal of course but I wonder if the message is getting through that tourists aren’t welcome, and people are going elsewhere now? Good news for locals I guess.

What a silly little comment. Most people in life don’t think they are being annoying, and the OP knows exactly how annoying or not annoying she is! Asking how others around them will react is the important question and is fair enough for her to ask that here.

I wonder if people from Cornwall ever leave and start up a new life elsewhere? I presume not because then their attitude would be hypocritical.

No the tourist industry is very important to Cornwall. There was a boom after the Covid restrictions but people have returned to going abroad again.

When walking the coast path I have found there are a lot of visitors from overseas who are enjoying their holiday - I have stopped to speak to people from the US, Hong Kong, and many from Germany.

I’m in Cornwall. I moved here and live here. People are generally lovely but I live in a place that has hardly any second homes and real community.

If you want neighbours and to actually move to Cornwall I wouldn’t choose Mawgan Porth. Mainly (60% ish?! Not sure but a lot) second homes there so what the ‘neighbours’ think of you would be fairly irrelevant as they aren’t there, they are in their first homes most of the time, up country somewhere.

So 6 years down the line and after a lot of money invested in your overpriced second home… you live there year round, mainly surrounded by empty houses in winter and holiday makers in summer. I think better options exist.

Nice views though!