How do I buy a holiday home?

[Holidayhomeone]

Does anyone know the best way to buy a holiday home? I don’t want something in a holiday park - just a nice big house on the south coast - Dorset area to visit with family and rent out as holiday lets. Where’s a good place to start?

Rightmove, put an offer in?

Same way you buy a normal home

Is your question about how to fund the purchase? In terms of the buying process, it'll be similar to buying any other property as LongIslandIcedT suggests above!

If you’re going to be letting it out and you’re not a cash buyer, you’ll need a buy to let mortgage.

Otherwise, same as any other house purchase.

First start by having your head examined

Unless you have enough disposable income to cover 2 sets of all bills, a Lettings agent/cleaners/laundry for the holiday rentals, the additional income tax payable, the maintenance and travel expenses then it’s a potential money pit.

You will never spend as much time there as you think. Every time you go there most of your time will be spent doing jobs/cleaning and once you’ve done them you will start packing up to go home again. You will feel obliged to go there even if you really fancy going somewhere else. You will end up resenting it.

HTH
Love, former holiday home owner (also light several thousands of pounds in CGT after sale)

You could start by elbowing aside a local family, hoping to buy buy - you know...just somewhere to live; then rub their noses in it by leaving the place empty most of the year.

My family have had a house and done holiday lets.
(although not in UK)

It is extremely hard to make any money doing it, mostly due to the short season. If you do well, you will make enough to cover the costs (not mortgage, just running costs) There are a lot of hidden expenses.
letting agents
cleaners
replacing stuff as soon as it looks less that 100% otherwise you get complaints
maintenance - anything broken while a tenant is there require an emergency call out eg plumber
cost of fixing stuff trashed by less nice tenants.
gardener to cut grass/keep outside tidy

If you really wnat to use it for a proper holiday, you need to fund it so that you can afford to have the cleaner go in before you, and you can afford to have the fixing, repairs and decorating done by someone else, so that you don't end up spending all your time there working.
Of course if you are like my dad and my dh, doing the pottering round fixing stuff is part of theri holiday enjoyment....

If you want to make money, you need to extend the season as far as possible, so make it winter cosy and offer it for Christmas and New Year, and winter weekends etc. Which also means that you need somewhere where people will want to go in winter too.

and if it is being let out, you can't leave anything personal there.

In the end my parents stopped letting to anyone except family, now my mum leaves a second set of shampoo and clothes, and food in cupboards (herbs, bottle of oil) etc there so they don't have to pack /buy everything every time.

and you need to expect that the furniture will, at some point, get trashed. So don't put anything you value there.

@tanguero

You could start by elbowing aside a local family, hoping to buy buy - you know...just somewhere to live; then rub their noses in it by leaving the place empty most of the year.

In principle, I agree, but it isn;t always true.

Near where we live there are houses built in beautiful area which are only allowed to be used as holiday homes. Not caravan/static home type houses, proper lovely lakeside houses.

I don't understand why they can't be homes for locals, why they can only be used as holiday homes, why, infact , they were ever built like that, but it is strictly enforced.

and our holiday home was a ruin, which no-one else wanted to develop or buy and had been sitting unsold for about 30 years.

Look on Rightmove?

I don't think these are the responses that the OP was expecting!

@steppemum lots of helpful advice thanks 👍