Would you quit your jobs?

[TulipVictory]

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Without being too outing, someone close to us is buying a small holiday complex. We could possibly have the opportunity of living on site and running it for them. They will pay our wages. We think this could be a good opportunity to give up the slog of our day jobs. For reference we have three young children. I feel like I can't think straight as have never had such an opportunity. Does anyone have any experience in this field ? Would you do it ? Does anyone have any positives/negatives? Thankyou

@TulipVictory

It's not huge, around ten holiday cottages but they do have three bedrooms each. Our wages would match our current ones. What I would like to do eventually is sell our house (as we would be living on site) and buy a house to do up (in winter months) and make money that way. Keep doing up until we make good money and the opportunity to be able to do something up is an opportunity we wouldn't have had otherwise.

I would not dismiss this 10 cottages is not a mad amount. You have a house and can keep your hand in with your old job during the off season.

A woman I know and her husband do the property thing.
They have a very specific formula.
They buy unrenovated 3 bed semis in about a 3 mile radius of their in laws for approx £600-650k "live" in them (This makes profit tax free) then renovate and sell for 750k-800k they make about 50-80k each time.

Her husband and dad can fit kitchens though and they do a lot themselves (painting and decorating)

With the first place they got beautiful furniture. Doing similar houses each time means it is crazy easy to stage as it's the same each time and they can use left over materials from previous projects.

They have 2 kids and a good life and don't work that hard tbh!!! Slightly jealous...

You have a house and can keep your hand in with your old job during the off season.

They don't know that for sure.

Lots of areas don't have an "off season" and are fully-booked all year round.

Maybe the majority of you are right. I've drawn up a list now and to be honest; the majority of them are negative. My main positive was the ability to have the money from our house to get another house to do up 😬 my Husband is handy by the way. My current job is part time and doing this would be constant wouldn't it 🤔

It sounds like something I'd think I would like - a job where you don't have to worry too much about targets and outcomes. But in reality I think it might be relentless. Cleaning 10 full houses in a day is a lot.

@TulipVictory

Maybe the majority of you are right. I've drawn up a list now and to be honest; the majority of them are negative. My main positive was the ability to have the money from our house to get another house to do up 😬 my Husband is handy by the way. My current job is part time and doing this would be constant wouldn't it 🤔

Why is it so important to buy another house to do up? The property market is fickle, and the current overheating will stop soon. You could be left with a second house you can’t make a profit from. Is your current mortgage paid off? Do that first. If you take on these jobs you’ll have no time to spend on renovations, especially if you want to do it yourselves. You’re massively underestimating the time both renovations and the job on the holiday site will take up.

It would pretty much be constant, yes.

You could say goodbye to your weekends and Bank Holidays - they're the busiest times in the hospitality industry. The same goes for the school holidays - you'll be rammed and won't get your time off during the busy periods. Your six weeks off will probably end up being at the end of November or January when it's cold, damp and dark.

You'll need to be prepared to drop everything in an emergency - a leaking sink, a broken oven, lost keys, late guests, early guests, complaints - you'll be expected to be there to provide good service and sort the problem out without delay.

My other concern for you is having small children - who will look after them at weekends or on Bank Holidays when childcare tends to be closed (or limited and expensive)? What will you do if you want a family day out?

I also wouldn't assume that problems are rare. I'm an easy guest in that I'm not an arsehole, but when I've arrived somewhere at 6pm in February with no heating, I expect it remedied immediately. Likewise when the pipe under the kitchen sink is hanging off so I can't wash up and the cleaner somehow hasn't noticed, I'm disturbing you after hours...

Aside from what has been mentioned previously I think there's always a risk in becoming employed by a friend. If something goes wrong from a work perspective, you could lose the friendship too. Not to be pessimistic but it's a real risk. As well as the other things to consider.
In saying that, if you're doing it but leaving yourself a bridge back to your former employment and you have property, you're going about it the right way.

Stop watching bloody property shows and focus on how you can get your mortgage paid off rather than flipping houses with three young children. That can wait. Picking up more hours at your job is far more realistic than working for family or friends in such a role. It's not relaxing and with three small children?!