Buying a holiday lodge - should we ?

[janmk]

Hi,
My husband and I are considering this. It’s a park with facilities , we can sublet and has a decent long season. Any experience / advice ? I don’t expect to make mega money but would like some usage ourselves out of season but to bring in enough to cover costs and make a small profit each year - doable ??

You need to get a local agent or letting company to have a look and tell you what income to expect. Then it's just number crunching.

We bought a holiday let cottage. As an investment it makes a good return. It is also good fun I think. It has given us a new lease of life.

I loved furnishing it and enjoy thinking about changes I can make.

We have had excellent bookings. In our first year we did 38 weeks. We chose an area where people holiday all year round.

The numbers depend very much on whether you need a mortgage, and if so how much deposit you have.

We looked into this. But the longevity of the lodge was very low. So we could rent it out for x years and that was it. Very different to buying an actual holiday home

We could look at bricks and mortar but the park facilities and grounds really appeal. I think if we can buy at a good price then maybe we could make it worthwhile . No mortgage needed. ( not sure you can get them on lodges either ) . I definitely agree that it could be good fun both to use and manage a holiday home .

@janmk Did you ever go ahead and buy a lodge?
We're thinking of doing the same, and wondered what your thoughts are now?

We have a lodge that we bought 3 years ago. We love it and use it a lot BUT the fees are expensive and there are lots of bills for gas and electricity. The lodge we have willlast 25 years and will depreciate in value. The park we are in is beautiful and very well maintained but they take a lot of the fees if you rent it out. When we were buying they did show us the accounts for another lodge that they rented out for someone. After they had taken off their feesyou didn’t make as much as you would expect. Renting it out also meant that you had to equip it accordingly- with stuff that could be easily replaced if broken. We wante£ to visit regularly - have lots of cooking equipment etc, and be able to leave clothes, food , booze etc so we don’t rent it out.
Different parks will charge in their own waybut please check out all the fees very carefully.
We love our lodge but are retired with grown up family so it gets used by everyone. This makes the expense worth it for us, and tbh we would lose money selling it . Not completely sure I would do it again tho if I knew then what I know now.
Different situation if your lodge is the kind that will keep its value

Different parks will charge in their own way but please check out all the fees very carefully.
This.
The number one rule that you ask of a contract: after I sign up for this, how do I get out again?
Some parks have a rule that you can't sell on the open market, you have to sell back to the park owners.

We are thinking of buying a small holiday cottage after next year...maybe by the sea in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Not sure yet though, any tips welcome also