Holiday Home

[coulditbeme2323]

Does anybody have any experience of having a hoiday home with young kids?

We have a part of the country we love, and a home in our favorite part has come up. The agent has said they don't often come up and whilst I appreciate agents don't always tell the truth - I haven't seen many of them.

We have 3 kids 12 and under so wouldn't be able to use during term time.

Here is info that might be relevant.

1. It's only 1hr20 from our home so could use it for as long weekend.
2. We wouldn't air bnb it or anything - but close friends and family could use.
3. We travel abroad a fair bit in summer holidays.

It feels a few years too sign, but in just over ten years we will have 3 kids at uni and could use it lots.

Thoughts?

We did this. While our kids were small it was great for them: there was a stream to paddle in, a playground, a beach, a castle …

but once they reached a certain age, they didn’t want to go
at the weekend because of parties/football/etc

Which meant that my dh tended to go on his own to do the garden.

and there’s a lot of work: forst day of every weekend was spent by me cleaning. And then the closedown on Sunday evening was also grim.

there is always some thing that needs doing and being there to meet a tradesman was a pain. Ours was 3hrs away

now the kids are old enough to stay at home alone we go there more. And family and friends use it a lot

and when we have grandchildren it will never be empty

Thank you for that, makes a lot of sense

Have you checked the second home council tax rules for that area?

Yes - it's all good.

Are you looking for information on how second homes destroy communities? I live in one of these communities under immense pressure from second homes. Things like lack of healthcare staff - eg women having to give birth at the side of the road due to lack of midwives, not enough teachers, young people forced to move away, no carers for care homes, no neighbours in winter, eroded community cohesion.

But if you've already considered that and you are just looking for info on the small kids aspect for your own family, I'll bow out.

No I am not looking for that information.

How much is it going to cost you in all the extra tax because it’s a second home? Our neighbours just sold their second home because they just could no longer afford the tax (rightly so because it would be better if a home is available to be lived in by local people contributing to the local community and economy). Same goes with maintenance costs when you aren’t there. You’ll need to run heat in the winter whether you’re there or not. And have someone checking on it and turning it over if you are having other people stay - someone will need to come do the cleaning and change the bedding and replace the loo roll and fix stuff.

A relative has one, their dc are grown up now. It’s about an hour and a half away, they are down there most weekends and holiday down there for a week at a time. Inbetween them using it both sets of their parents go down, grown up nieces and nephews go down with their partners, their own dc use it with their families. They don’t rent it out to anyone but it’s well used, they think it’s empty for about 2 days a month.
I couldn’t be arsed personally, it’s just another house to look after and maintain plus I like flying off for a guaranteed good weather holiday and we wouldn’t get the use out of a second home here.

Subject to second home stamp duty, like the majority of second properties,

So you only want the positives then? It's going to stand empty for the vast majority of the year whilst you're working, at school and abroad but you don't want to hear about how that impacts the housing crisis?

I don't think it will be the vast majority, parents on both mine and my husband's side are retired.

I would imagine it would be occupied a fair bit.

Ignore the judgey baiters @coulditbeme2323 - let's hope the view is good from their high horses!

We have a family holiday home, owned by the PIL. It's about 1 h 20 mins from all of us, they get up frequently, their 4 adult children used it with young kids and now the young adult grandchild are using it, and well as their parents. I would recommend it, it's a lovely family resource to have - worse case scenario if you don't find you use it, you can sell on in a couple of years.

I am thinking this way, and thank you that's helpful.

You're lucky! Ours is 200%.
We used it more when DC were younger. Now they’re teens, they want to be home with mates etc.
Am sure once they’re off to uni’ it will be used more again though!

No, the OP doesn't just want the positives... she wants answers to her actual question 🙄 Which primarily related to the ages of the kids.

@coulditbeme2323 A colleague of mine has a 2nd home about 1.5hrs away. 3 kids. It was absolutely fantastic and used very frequently when the kids were 10 and under. Every long weekend, every half term, every summer holiday. But when the kids got to preteen and teen age it was a nightmare, my colleague was going down to maintain the property every few weeks but it stood pretty much empty for a good few years.

If you really think both sets of parents would get use of it, and over a longer period of time (think of their mobility in a few yrs if they are any way elderly) and definitely discuss with them.... then perhaps it's a good idea but also weigh up the cost of it laying primarily empty for the next 10 years until your kids are old enough that you can enjoy without them. You could put all that into savings and try to buy something more suitable then?

Thanks, makes a lot of sense.

We have just bought one. However ours is slightly different, in that it can only be used for 51 weeks of the year and it has to be used as a second home. It’s on a type of small holiday park so we will have service charges to pay (bit worrying) and may not be able to sell on easily but we are excited! Best of luck.

They can be great fun!

Not a fan of second homes. There's a house across from us that is occupied 3 weeks per year at the very most.

I'm sure people set out with the intention of getting full use out of them, but often the reality of life dictates otherwise

What clubs do your kids do?
I love the idea of a holiday home but know I'd never use it. Always busy with one thing or another.

A colleague has a second home in the Cotswolds. He finds it exhausting having to go there and deal with the overgrown garden, or do maintenance on it, as the gap between visits is so long. When the roof leaks they only find out about it 2 months later.
Another friend has children who have aged out of wanting to go to their holiday home so now they rent it out, but it still requires maintenance as they are landlords and have obligations to the tenants.
If you can afford to have a gardening contract, and a cleaner, and a maintenance person, that would make it easier.
But really, you are tying yourself into going to the same place repeatedly. Which could be boring.

Quite a few, but a lot of them slow down or stop over the summer.

Sorry but unless you substantially invest into the local community you should not buy a modest second home.

It isn't modest.

Sounds great. We got one near the sea. My DH travelled a lot for work and it was nice to have a place I could take the kids for the weekend if the weather was good without any hassle. My DH passed away suddenly and we actually moved there after a couple years.
@eiteanpiobardubhi know towns that have up to 80% second homes and actually many of the people who live there quite enjoy the out of season times! And it does not affect the health system at all - name a place in the UK where people are giving birth at the side of the road!
OP I’m sure your children will love it.