To ask about your holiday home?

[evaperonspoodle]

Just feeling glum due to a virus and the weather and watching A Place in the Sun and it has given me an instant uplift. I have probably another 30 years before retirement and we can't afford it but would love a holiday home somewhere, preferably with winter sun.

Please tell me about yours and the realities of owning a second home in another country.

We have a small apartment in Spain. We used my inheritance money as a deposit and took out a Spanish mortgage. Because we went through a Spanish estate agent, all the legal stuff was conducted in Spanish (the translator they offered was pretty useless). We had to go to the police station to get a National Identity number, and open a Spanish bank account.
It was quite a lot to deal with, but the apartment is very cute and in a great location.
In the first few years when the DC were preschool, we were out there all the time, and the exchange rate was in our favour.
Then, my fixed term job came to an end and wasn't renewed as I had been expecting. I had to start again looking for work, and ended up with bits and pieced of freelance. Nowhere near enough money.
We took in guests at the apartment, but it needed new beds and completely modernising to be up to standard.
Somehow we managed that. Then 2008 happened and the exchange rate went mental, and I had to pay huge amounts into the Spanish bank account.
By this time, the dc were at school, so we could only manage school holidays - more expense.
10 yrs later - the DC are bored with going to same place all the time. I, myself want to see other places.
I'd love to sell (there will be no profit) and use the money, but DP wants somewhere he can live during the winter in his dotage.
OR he wants to live out there permanently, and let out our house in UK.
Honestly - the apartment has been a millstone round our neck, and we have been very very broke because of it.
HOWEVER. If you could afford to buy outright - do it!

super that's a shame that you won't make anything. Apart from the small fact that we can't afford it, we wouldn't consider buying somewhere now as the dc are still school aged and would get bored returning to the same place.

We started taking our family holiday over christmas now and were in Spain this year. We looked at apartments for sale and I couldn't get over how expensive things were, I thought there was a recession in Spain? Can I ask what area/region your apartment is in?

We bought an apartment in the Algarve nearly 20 years ago, we sold it last year at a good price, and it had rented well every year BUT, the bureaucracy involved has got more and more cumbersome and I’d had enough of being squeezed between clients/govt regs/listing sites etc.

It did us well while we had it, and as we moved here nearly 16 years ago, we looked after the bookings, cleaning, maintenance ourselves. If you’re going to rent commercially and need someone to do all that for you, there’s very little money to be made, especially now

We have a house in the Algarve, it was a very popular and profitable rental before we bought it. We kept that going for the first year but now we don't need to let it out. We do let friends rent it at mates rates, I'd move there tomorrow but DH isn't as keen as me. We were there for Christmas 2018 and it was fantastic, so laid back and relaxing and very different from the U.K. for me it's like being at home but with sunshine. I like the familiarity of it and the town is big enough to have plenty of places to eat out. We're about 30 mins from the beaches and 30 mins from the mountains. We're going out there in 2weeks time, I can't wait to be there again. One other fabulous thing is it's hand luggage all the way for us. This is very outing so Hello.

Would you not get bored of going to the same place every year?

My parents have a house in the languedoc roussillon. Bought outright & never let out (except to friends & family). They did a lot of work to it (old farmhouse) but learnt some hard lessons. Knowing the language helps a lot. Things can move very slowly, you often need to get permission from the Marie. Tradespeople are expensive, notice on escape to the Chateau how Dick often brings his over from England. You also have to be very clear with your instructions as a builder won’t necessarily put a sink in with a toilet for example.

In terms of getting bored with the same place we never did & would go for a month every year. We did a lot of exploring though & going to different areas & do still have city breaks etc to other countries. I will be going for 3 wks with my dc this Summer, it’s easy so why not.

Just bought a place in Spain, bought outright so no mortgage, found the paperwork very easy with a Spanish solicitor. We are looking forward to returning time and time again and exploring the area both near and far.

My in laws bought a 3 bed apartment in Majorca a few years ago.

It's lovely to just go out there when we fancy and it's a proper home from home. It's in a very popular resort and would go for €1000 euros a week if they wanted to let it but they're our there so much there's not really many free weeks.

They said it's the best thing they've ever done and we agree!

I never get bored going to the same place, because we're not just there for 2 weeks there is no rush to visit the surrounding areas. Lisbon is about 2hrs away and so is Seville. So it's a few days relaxing then a bit of sightseeing then the beach, then the pool and barbecuing on the terrace. It's like being at home but with sunshine and something different to do each day. Also we have a maid once a week, all the laundry is collected and returned. We don't have that at home, so there are few household chores to do.

We bought a cottage on the shores of a loch in the west of Scotland. Obviously the weather is a bit iffy at times, but summers are gorgeous, and it's wonderful to escape to.

I'm loving all of these, keep them coming

Can I ask if you all keep cars out there or just manage without a car?

You need a car in the French countryside, my mum either drives down & sometimes leaves a car there if she’s going back quite quickly or hires one. Some of my aunties have apartments in Spain & no need for a car there.

Op - it's in Andalucia (on the quiet end of the Costa del Sol)
Recently we've used it more as a base to explore other places. Re prices - it's mainly the exchange rate that affects those. In 2004 You could get cake and a coffee for 2 euros, which was about £1.40. Now 2 euros is £2 almost. It soon adds up.
Weather is about 20 degrees and sunny in January. It is nice, but all I can see is the money pit. (utility bills, local tax, building administration levy)

I've pondered this very subject at times.

Does anyone with a holiday home close enough to go for weekends or short breaks? I guess it would need to be in the same country to really work.

W0rriedMum you need to chose somewhere close to an airport & ideally live close to an airport if wanting to go for short breaks.

I can be at Gatwick in 35 mins & a flight to Toulouse is approx 1hr 45 min with a 40 min drive to the house & we have the option of flying to Carcasonne which is closer but I’m not a big fan of Stanstead or Ryanair.

A relative has a lovely apartment in Carcassonne. It's a bit old and battered in places but has great character, like high ceilings and french (of course) windows. Lovely balcony too. She said it cost E60k. That was 8 years ago now. There are ongoing costs like our own council tax and so on. Not sure how much that is, I think it depends on the rate struck by the Town Hall or something, and location.

The best part of the location is the ease of access from Carcassonne airport to the city - a fiver on the bus, well last time I was there anyway. Then you can then take the train to Toulouse, or Narbonne and places in between, and down to Limoux (wine country yay!), and Quillan in the foothills of the Pyrenees. No car required unless you feel you want one. All facilities available within ten minutes, like supermarkets, train station, buses etc. Nice spot.

I've been a few times and never felt the need to have a car at all. YET!

Relative does not let it out, it is for family only. Best solution all round. Not much to be made otherwise and lots of hassle. I love my lovely relative!

I'm toying with the idea of buying a tiny place in France myself, but not absolutely sure yet. It would have to have good transport links though, as I am not confident driving on the left. Sorry but that's the truth, I may as well be honest about it.

Languedoc. Bought in 2005. Renovated over the years and now have some gites that we let. Location is outstanding; drive is long or we fly into Barcelona. We let main house for at least 10 weeks. Just about breaks even.

We employ a couple to look after it and guests. The plan was that it would be our second home for 4-6 months from about 2023 but who knows post brexit.

May not break even moving forward. Contemplating selling depending on brexit/exchange rates. Who knows.

We have loved it though.

One of the French property taxes, can’t remember which one takes into account the surface area of your pool & terrace if the pool is in the ground. One of our neighbours (across a few fields) got burnt as they put in a huge pool. That’s why you often see wooden pools above ground as they are I believe they are exempt.

We have a coastal cottage in East Anglia. A 2.5h drive from London and we can be by the seaside. It was a godsend last summer. We both work from home a lot so we decamped there for 2 months and swam in the sea every day. It gets pretty cold in winter but the coast and countryside round there are lovely, not to mention the cosy pubs.

My parents had one and still do. Us kids got utterly bored of going to the same location especially when all our friends were jetting off all over the place. Parents go there more often now retired. We've been maybe twice in the last 10 years - there are so many places we want to see we don't want to always go to one location. Even in the small country it's in there are other places I would like to stay, Maybe when we retire it would be nice to have a home abroad to stay for long periods but I would never want a holiday home

Our DC have enjoyed inviting friends and did enjoy the month of family time we had every year. DS more than DD. But wouldn't have if they hadn't had other holidays; I can see that but DH dislikes holidays to new places.

But how many families go to Tokyo one yr, SA the next, Australia after that etc. Most families do a 2 wk break in the Med in a self catering apartment or hotel, pretty samey to me.

We spent holidays skiing in the Pyrenees, exploring Barcelona, Switzerland & have been all over France; the Loire, Marseille, Normandy, Dordogne, Paris, Provence etc

Perhaps because we grew up in London we really appreciated the freedom & open spaces as it wasn’t something we had. Obviously as teens we wanted to have our friend holidays to Ibiza,etc sans parents !

We were given a cottage on the Isle of Wight many years ago. A little Victorian cottage overlooking the sea on the south of the island. We were so grateful to use it when the children were young although it wasn’t ours then.
They went through a few years of griping that it was boring but now as young adults they queue up for weekend use. It’s easy to get to for a weekend but has a real getting away feel.
We have a local person manage it from a caretaking perspective. Costs are covered by a few holiday rentals. We use it quite often as it’s easy to get to and fabulous walking coupled with restaurants within walking distance (which we don’t have at home).
We’ve also got a boat in France but that is managed on our behalf as it’s too far to go to for less than a week.