Does anyone have a second home/beach house?

[Homophone]

We are seriously considering trying to buy a small flat on the coast. Sounds amazing but is in a very depressed seaside town though we like it. Has train station and sandy beach. But questions for anyone who does...

Do you feel obligated to go more often than you really want?

Is it an jnvestment or mainly to enjoy, or both?

Do your kids like it or find it boring going there all the time?

Do you charge friends who want to use it? What about family?

Do you pay someone locally to check it every so often if you can't get there for a bit?

We have a holiday home about 2.5 hour drive away
We do not feel obliged to go more often than we want, sometimes it is a hassle but when we get there it is worth it
It is an investment as a pension fund, it is not in negative equity but just breaking even, we feel it is a place our dc's will continue to enjoy for many years without going abroad (aged 2&5)
Kids love it as variety of things there to do, different toys/sleeping arrangements/beach/ different park
We do charge friends/ but not family to cover costs of cleaning laundry and heating. Be warned this can be a can of worms
We have a close relative nearby and a handyman to check or fix things

TBH some months we have said it is a big drain on finances but we justify that with how many foreign holidays we have saved on.We believe we have saved ourselves lots of stress too as you can just throw all in car and travel while children sleep

Dp's family have a second home on the Norfolk coast. It is both an investment and to enjoy but often not used for months on end. It's great having it there we tend to use it more in warmer weather and invite several couples to stay too. It's also great for Easter and summer hols, the little ones certainly love it.

I second the point made about laundry/ cleaning expenses. Certain friends have always resented contributing a nominal amount to clean the house after a weeks stay. Not worth falling out over. We end up asking £25 a head for a long weekend stay which covers breakfast and other consumables and a little towards the cleaner.

Also I would say choosing the area carefully, as an investment, a depressed seaside town would ring alarm bells just in terms of resale-ability.

My in laws and my friend both have seaside holiday homes.
My in laws bought land cheaply and built their own in the early 70's. It was in an area they were used to and had a static caravan there for some time. I have to admit that I hate staying there from the change of kitchen sink reasons.
They have locals keep an eye on it. No charge for family or friends. They love people staying there and had central heating installed some years ago to make it more attractive to visitors.
My friend is trying to sell her holiday home she has had for 7years.
The reasons? She does not use it as much as she thought they would
Her two boys have home based activities at weekends.
She misses her friends dropping in at weekends and finds the hh lonely.
The financial drain.
She does not have friends stay if the family are not there.
I think it was a bit of a dream for her husband that has not worked out.
The weather in the UK
She has no local help.

I think that overall monthly costs have to be taken into account. For my inlays they are minimal and for my friend they are significant.
My friend's home is 50 minutes away and my in-laws is 2.5 hour's drive.

Not using ours yet so reading your replies with interest. We have bought a seaside home with a view to it being a weekend home in the future and also longer term investment. Like where you are looking it is in a depressed town.

We are renting it until the DCs start school and we no longer have the massive childcare bills, then plan to use it as a weekend home for a few years while they are too small to have weekends jam packed with activities and friends. We will charge friends and family a nominal charge to help towards the bills, but they will need to leave it clean and either take their own bedlinen/ towels or clean them there or at home and return it to us. It is 80 miles away.

We've stayed a weekend when sorting it out for the rental and the kids loved it (but they are little and an empty flat with room to run around and a sandy beach and a cafe is their heaven!). I can't wait to make it ours and am saving up to do it up just how I want.

Longer term we will rent it again, help towards uni costs and then the pension pot. It is risky as the town could either have successful rejuvenation or get even worse, but bigger potential upside. We think we have minimised the risk by being on a nice street at the start of the nice area, for a great price. It rented immediately for more than we were expecting. Seaside towns are either 'posh' and expensive or depressed and cheap, and we couldn't do expensive!

Tricky trying to find the right place that is attractive to renters but also what we want. And had an eye to security for leaving it empty. And needed to be new or a new conversion so low maintenance and easy to clean. And tricky on the mortgage front too if you need one- not supposed to stay in a BTL yourself, and can't rent on a normal mortgage. There are no holiday home mortgages.

We had fun looking (we saw some shockers!).