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.

I am really enjoying this thread. We live in a tiny central London flat, and ideally need to upsize but i often mull over the option of a bigger house (means becoming a commuter and a move out of London) vs staying in our lovely shoebox but buying a bolt hole in the sun (or UK). I wonder what would improve our quality of life more...

I watched a few of those "A place in the sun" programmes now, and I must say I always find the idea of owning a holiday home quite appealing. However, given the fact that most employers give people somewhere between 24 and 30 days of annual leave (plus public holidays), I keep wondering how cost effective it is to maintain another home overseas.

I looked into it once and decided it wasn't for us. At least not yet. Mainly because of all monthly outgoings associated with the upkeep of the place. I would want to be in a position to spend up to 6 months a year in my holiday home to feel like it's genuinely being used. Realistically, this can only be done when I retire or if I become self-employed. Neither is likely in the immediate future.

My neighbours own a place in Spain. They are retired and go away 5-6 times a year for a week or two at a time but they said the upkeep of their flat costs more than 10K per year and if it's true, then that, to me, is just not worth it as I can easily go on holidays more than once a year with that kind of money! And it will be to a different place every time!

Supersop your experience sounds very much like ours.
We have an apartment in southern Spain. We’ve holidayed out there every year for 14 years with the dds. They love it and do do I, but it was supposed to make us money by renting but that hasn’t happened. It’s cost us a fortune really. The cost of 4 flights in school hols weren’t cheap so we couldn’t afford to go more than once a year so on the whole, it’s stood empty.
We have now put it up for a long let so there’s someone living in it. We’re using the money to pay off accrued debt!

We have a second home here in Canada. It’s in Canmore in the Rockies. It’s an 8.5 hr Drive. It’s warm in the summer and we go hiking, Paddleboarding etc. In the winter we go skiiing. Banff is 25 minutes away and Lake Louise about an hour. It’s also an hour from Calgary Airport.

We try to get there every 6 weeks or so, for a week. I’m planning to spend the whole summer vacation there this year with DS(7), whilst DH commutes.

Great thread. My parents had a place in Spain and I enjoyed going there but it did get a bit boring after a while.

I have no urge to buy a holiday home (apart from when I'm pissed on hols) as I like going to different places and discovering new stuff.

We have investment property in London instead which I hope will make us some money in the long term. But every time I have to deal with a maintenance issue there I think having to do this from hundreds of miles away in a foreign country would be a nightmare.

Also I like hotels!

We build a house in a Greek coastal town with all year around flights. We spend a weekend there at least once a month/6 weeks.
We live in South of London and it’s just over 4hrs door to door via Gatwick. We have easyjet fast track membership and hand luggage so from car park to gate is less than 30 mins.
We love it. We built it to our specs, right in front of an almost private beach. We had an English Project manager and local builders.
It’s lovely in the summer where by Saturday lunchtime, you can be swimming in warm crystal sea and planning a taverna lunch.
Negatives are the upkeep. Even in an new house, you either do the cleaning or you pay someone.
And we had to up the security as we got burgled twice by Romanian gypsies. Both times, they were on camera and later found with the goods.

I inherited a house in Southern Spain.

Ownership probably costs us about £4500 a year. This includes local taxes, community fees, house insurance, non residents taxes, insurance and MOT for Spanish registered car, bank charges for Spanish bank account, that’s all before we even set foot in the place.

Add to that electricity (very expensive in Spain) and daily living costs plus the cost of actually getting there. I haven’t even touched on maintenance costs for a property built in the 1970s.

We don’t rent it out, it’s our home and full of our stuff, also we would need to do some serious upgrading to meet other people’s expectations!

Pluses,
The house has been in the family for over twenty years, we know all our neighbours, it really is a home away from home. We go other places for a holiday.
The weather is mostly great - although when it’s not you really feel it with no central heating!
We travel light, everything we need, including clothes, is already there.
There’s always plenty to see and do, just as there would be at home in the UK.

Do I appreciate it? Every day.

Would I have bought it? Never in a million years.

When I was growing up my parents had an apartment in the Canary Islands. As a child I absolutely loved it and never got bored of going to the same place. We went multiple times a year and I got good at the language. I made friends over there who I kept in contact with when I was home and have very fond memories of long days in the pool. They sold it when I was a teenager, but I’m in the process of buying a holiday home in UK now as an adult. I learned from them that maintenance etc from abroad was difficult, the costs of flights multiple times a year would be unfeasible on current salaries, and with a changing political environment, things aren’t as easy as they once were! However, I still crave that bolt hole and want to give any future child what I had growing up. In the UK we can buy somewhere on the coast less than 3-hours door to door, meaning we can use it for weekends too. Win win!

I have had a holiday home in Cornwall for 30+ years, it’s in a holiday village so has a pool, clubhouse etc. I’ve used it about 6 times a year, sometimes long weekends, other times a week or two. Used to let it out to help pay for bills, clubhouse, ground rent, water rates, insurance, electricity etc.

I let friends and family use it now and don’t let it out to strangers, unfortunately I’ve had damage in the past, the site manager seemed to prefer for me to repair the damage rather than pursue the culprits.

Now try to use it monthly from March - October. December is a good month too for Christmas markets and lit up villages. My children now take their children a few times a year.

I recently said should I sell up or get somewhere abroad but they insisted I keep it as we have so many happy memories there. It’s a four hour drive with no stops from home or 4 1/2 with a stop. So doable for a long weekend, the minimum I’d go for now is 4 or 5 days. A week or two is nicer of course but not always possible.

I have a holiday home that I bought quite a few years ago. I never told anyone I bought it, just let people think I return to the same place each year because I'm selfish and didn't want to share it. I love it, it's absolutely my happy place. I'm a teacher, so spent most school holidays. I planned on retiring here (still a long way off), but I'm spending a year here with the possibility of making it a permanent move.

I still have my home in Germany which I return to every month for a long weekend and a couple of weeks in the summer and always for Xmas.
Also have an apartment in Turkey that belonged to my aunt, which I bought from her when she sold it due to age and ill health. We go there for a couple of weeks in early autumn and spring.
I won't let anyone else stay at either property regardless of who they are.
Second homes can be expensive, my home in Germany is just normal running costs that you would expect from a home. The one in Turkey is slightly more expensive due to local taxes etc, but it's not that bad in comparison to say what I would pay for a holiday in an apartment in the same area. Plus, I would only be having a two week holiday for more than I'm paying for a full year and I can go as many times as I like.

Loving all of these stories, certainly makes being at home on a sick day easier!