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?

I live in Cornwall and I am not pleasant to second home owners. I don’t owe them politeness and enough of us hate them to justify that.

May I ask what sort of place you live in. Is it town/village, country/coastal?

Penzance

I don't blame you. Penzance has had a definite change and not for the better and I expect its due largely to second home owners who don't invest emotionally or physically in the area.

No jealousy here I assure you, I wouldnt live in Cornwall for a pension. No offence meant to the Cornish but the location and beaches etc would not make up for the hell it becomes in summer.

🙄 They will just think you’re pathetic and ridiculous if you’re deliberately unpleasant to them.

Oh no, they won’t will they?

I live 5 minutes walk from this beach and quite often am the only one on it. If we want to go into town, we walk, take the bus or a gorgeous scenic train ride.

I love it summer and winter - and I really like it when visitors come up to me asking for directions and places to visit. Yes, they can check Google but they won’t get the same enthusiasm 😊

Ok.

So buy a house at that point. When he retires.

You won’t see locals as they will have been priced out of the area - thanks for that

people don’t have first homes and people buying more than they need is part of that problem. But you know that and don’t care

I am local and could not afford a house by the sea 40 years ago. We started married life in Redruth. At that time, people with more money than us were buying in Padstow and St Ives etc. I would get the West Briton every week for its property pages - and dream.

I honestly cannot make it any clearer.

The spite on this thread is something to behold. It really isn't healthy to hold such venom towards random people you don't know. I'm interested in their philosophy though so local homes for local people only? Do the Cornish property owners who sell to outsiders hold any responsibility in your view? Who is an 'outsider'? Anyone born beyond a 5 mile radius? 10? Defined by county? Devon or Somerset okay? What about outsiders such as mine (not from UK) who have lived in Looe since the 60s? I assume their adult kids and grandchildren born there are also on your hate list?

In your opinion, should all people only live exactly where they are born? What about Cornish people who take up properties and livelihoods elsewhere? Should we be awful to them?

Has it occurred to you, at all, that the problems faced in Cornwall are not unique to Cornwall, sadly? We have a growing older population. Should we go around hating all the younger people who didn't breed?

I understand the particular frustrations of second home ownership in scenic parts of the country. And I believe the tax changes are trying to address that, as they should. Equally, I'm aware of the issues around holiday homes/airbnbs. Not sure what the answer is there.

However, it does seem this thread has become an excuse for some to have a 5 minute hate to those they don't know in a bid to vent their frustrations about much wider societal issues.

I have a friend who moved to a large town in Cornwall for work (a very specific role needing her professional expertise) and, during Covid, was refused the jab because it was for Cornish people only, according to her (then) GP. She was recovering from Cancer and considered vulnerable. I cannot understand this dehumanising mentality - or imagining yourself to be a good person whilst having this level of hate towards somebody else.

BTW: I don't live in the area I grew up in or was born in (two different places). And both my parents would be first gen English. I wonder where I would be expected to "go home" to if I met some of the judgemental posters here.

When I was training I moved to Wales. I am a HCP and was working in the local (ish) hospital. There was a lot of the speaking in Welsh when I walked in, minor hostility (including significant unhelpful behaviour when I needed jobs done) and it was made very clear that I was an ‘outsider’. I was renting a home, working in the local economy and living there FT. It definitely put me off considering being an incomer to a rural area again …

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?

I have read the whole thread and agree there has been some strong opinion. Some of that has strayed off the main theme, though - it is about a second home that will be largely empty for six years. This is in an area with particular, recognised pressure on housing.

Would that have been YG ?

I don't think there are that many nasty Cornish out in the wild though, just this week I have seen people post on local Facebook pages to explain they are moving into certain areas from out of the county, the response has overwhelmed them from people in the areas with ideas of groups they can join etc etc If you are moving into the area and joining our community then fair enough, we have been used to people doing that for a very long time.
The real issue is the second home owners who leave properties empty, or those who buy to turn property into a holiday let to make huge profits.
There needs to be balance, there needs to be enough homes for people to live in to actually work in the holiday industry alongside all the holiday lets. And there needs to be enough infrastructure to support all the people, whether they be tourists or the local population.
I don't for one minute think the issues are exclusive to Cornwall, it's relevant to all seaside/pretty/postcard perfect dream type areas all over the world.

@Boopydoo I don't for one minute think the issues are exclusive to Cornwall, it's relevant to all seaside/pretty/postcard perfect dream type areas all over the world.
Yes, it is. I had booked a room for a few nights in a small hotel on a Greek island. When we arrived they upgraded us to a spacious apartment, a few streets away, with breakfast still at the hotel. It was interesting to live among shops and other businesses and, yes, flats where the others were Greek. But, one less apartment for Greeks now.

Where will they be living?

Did you see many homeless Greeks?

I commented earlier on the thread about buying a holiday specific property.
i wonder if this is away that local authorities could boost housing availability for locals whilst still keeping some tourism?

I’ve been really put off buying eg a lodge or static because of which service charges and pressures to renew vans every x years etc.
perhaps if this industry was better regulated and service charges were limited by LA these would be more attractive?

locals have left the area , gone inland, to the city or living with mum and dad

it happens so many places and then the visitors complain at the lack of amenities - amenities that can’t survive the lack of everyday custom

I saw many homeless in Greece. From the number of locals on mopeds it looked rather like @backformoreofthesame said about Cornwall - they have gone inland.

As I was a mere visitor, I wouldn't be a good authority on the situation there. I would be on Devon and Cornwall.

Were they Greek nationals or from somewhere else?

Chances are most would have headed for the cities anyway, the smart ones live with mum and dad because they can save a ton of money instead of taking part in an overheated property Ponzi scheme, leave that to the holiday home buyers, the locals are laughing at idiots paying top dollar for these properties.