Holiday let business Vs teaching. What would you do?

[Handy123]

I taught secondary for 7 years until the birth of my third child in October last year.

When I went on maternity for my last position, I was in a temporary contract (switched jobs for something closer to me) so there is no job for me to go back to.

We are in the position to invest money in a business and we live in a touristy area by the coast. (Inherited a small lump sum of cash that I would be using as deposit for mortgages) I've been considering buying 3-4 holiday lets and running them as a full time business. I've taken a lot of financial advice and would be going into it knowing that it will be hard work and of course with an element of risk. I want to manage and clean them all myself as the figures don't work out so well if it is managed by another company.

Is this the right thing to do?

Things I've been considering:

• Holiday let business does give me the flexibility to be there for my children a bit more, instead of constantly missing their nativity, or assemblies etc.

• The overtime in teaching has got crazy recently, and I frequently used to work until midnight in the evenings, and one day every other weekend. I have an autoimmune disorder which is not great when I get stressed.

However:

• Is it silly to come out of a good career (I can only describe the last few years as 'patchy' on my CV as I have taken time out to have my three children and switched areas/ jobs etc) and I think if I did this now, I would not really be able to get back to teaching much later if holiday lets didn't work out.

• I feel as though I get a lot 'emotionally' from work, with colleagues often becoming friends etc. I feel very lonely from time to time and if I run a holiday let business, I will be working on my own all the time, probably rarely even meeting the guests etc.

• Whilst it is possible that for a few years and when the children are small, this could work out well for me, I might regret doing it when they are older - it will eat into the summer holidays which I could otherwise get off in teaching. Also, once they are in full time school and not so little, things could be easier to manage if I teach.

I'm not considering doing both on a P/T basis - it just wouldn't work.

Thoughts?

I’d run the holiday lets as planned but maybe consider some supply teaching during off season.

Maybe do holiday lets and then also a bit of supply for the first year or 2. Just enough to be able to say you have been doing it so if holiday lets either didn't work out or weren't what you were hoping you had the door open.

How would you clean 4 houses if the changeover day was the same for all of them?

I’d do the holiday lets. Anything is better than teaching.

I'd choose the teaching. Possibly part time if that's viable.

3-4 houses to clean just seems like drudgery to me and if you set things up so you're doing it all, you can never go away yourself in peak season (when your DC are off school?)

I might consider the holiday lets as investments, pay someone else to clean them and accept there'll be no net income other than potential capital gains.

@SwedishEdith

How would you clean 4 houses if the changeover day was the same for all of them?

Weekly changeover days:

Property 1 Friday
Property 2 Saturday
Property 3 Sunday

Short break changeover days:

Property 1 Tuesday (offer Tues-Fri or Fri-Tues)
Property 2 Wednesday (offer Weds- Sat or Sat-Weds)
Property 3 Thursday (offer Thurs- Sun or Sun- Thurs)

My working week would be Tues- Sunday but there would be many weeks where it would be weekly changeovers only so Friday-Sunday.

I have spoken to letting companies who have said that offering a Friday and Sunday changeover works really well - it doesn't have to be all on a Saturday.

If I had a fourth property, then I probably would have to reduce some of the short break offerings to focus on weekly changeovers.

Gosh, what an amazing opportunity OP, I'm super jealous! I'd give it a go. No-one can take your teaching qualification from you, so you can fall back on that. I'd do the holiday lets!

I'd go for the holiday lets, then maybe do Supply offseason (after the Octoberhalf term until the Feb half term).

I'd be mindful of the changeover days, as you may lose bookings if they are only available on (eg) a Wednesday to Sunday or whatever.

Your working week would be 24 hours a day - 7 days a week- 52 weeks a year unless you use an agent for all calls (Tv remote won't work to the bus his on fire)

Property 1 Tuesday (offer Tues-Fri or Fri-Tues) - would that work? It crosses 2 weeks and so make sit difficult for many people to book holidays (they would need Friday of 1 week and Monday/tuesday of the next week)

Have you researched the amount of deposit needed for multiple mortgages (assume through a limited company for tax and CGT) by actually trying to get them? Could easily be 40% deposit on each required?

@LegendaryReady

I'd choose the teaching. Possibly part time if that's viable.

3-4 houses to clean just seems like drudgery to me and if you set things up so you're doing it all, you can never go away yourself in peak season (when your DC are off school?)

I might consider the holiday lets as investments, pay someone else to clean them and accept there'll be no net income other than potential capital gains.

I think the way that many airbnb/ holiday let owners do this is by deciding when they want to go away early on, and then putting that the lets are unavailable during that time.

I know that you lose out a slice of your income but it's only a week and I'd only do this if I could afford to.

Not the bus- the house is on fire.

I get the theory about fixing your changeover days to manage them but, in reality, you may get people who want to stay for non-standard length breaks. Would you refuse them? And yes, when do you and your family go away?

I'm not trying to put you off - I'd love to have holiday lets as a business - but just trying to point out the snags.

I’d buy the houses, pay someone to do the cleaning and carry on teaching. Personally I’d find the cleaning boring, lonely and unsatisfying.

I've done something similar - given up a steady career when children were small and started a business.
4 years on am considering going back to the career - partly but not only due to the pandemic. No regrets at all for me, but financially I had a high earning husband and low initial outlay and fixed costs which made it not a particulary risky move. It could be different for you.

Anyway I'd recommend not giving up on teaching completely. A bit of supply here and there if you can organise childcare will put you in a much better place if you want to go back to it 'properly' in the future. I'm finding options are harder with a four year complete gap.

I suppose you could have your website set up in a way which allows freelow of dates to be booked, then auto blocks the other properties on the arrival/departure days - so these properties can be booked on those days but not as an arrival or departure day.

Seems fiddly and probably worth having someone who will come clean them for 50quid in order to secure a 300quid booking

@Tooembarrassingtomention

Your working week would be 24 hours a day - 7 days a week- 52 weeks a year unless you use an agent for all calls (Tv remote won't work to the bus his on fire)

Property 1 Tuesday (offer Tues-Fri or Fri-Tues) - would that work? It crosses 2 weeks and so make sit difficult for many people to book holidays (they would need Friday of 1 week and Monday/tuesday of the next week)

Have you researched the amount of deposit needed for multiple mortgages (assume through a limited company for tax and CGT) by actually trying to get them? Could easily be 40% deposit on each required?

@Tooembarrassingtomention I agree the hours would be fairly long although I do think there would be times when we wouldn't have anyone staying at all.

The Tues- Friday is only a short break offer, so on that property I would still offer a weekly Friday changeover. I've been advised to do this from the holiday letting company. It's a way of being able to manage it all myself and I know it could be restrictive for some people.

Yes - I've done the research and have two mortgage offers, one of which I'm hoping to sign for later on this week. I could get one for a 30% deposit but I went for a 40% deposit as it was a better deal and gives me a bit more breathing space for vacant times etc.

Having your main work days as Fri, Sat and Sun could be a challenge for you as a family. There is a reason why Fri and Sun lets are less common, you'd need to factor that into your business plan when setting prices or be prepared to change tack. But that is true of literally any business.

Once you have a bit of experience would you consider offering a management service to other owners? We've stayed in a couple of places like this where a local person is the contact point for guests, fixes what needs fixing and oversees cleaning, but doesn't personally do all the cleaning every Saturday.

It's a radically different life to being a school teacher. I think why not try it? Working life is long,we should try more than one thing.

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

I suppose you could have your website set up in a way which allows freelow of dates to be booked, then auto blocks the other properties on the arrival/departure days - so these properties can be booked on those days but not as an arrival or departure day.

Seems fiddly and probably worth having someone who will come clean them for 50quid in order to secure a 300quid booking

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

Thank you for auto-block website idea. I had not even considered this. now I'm questioning my blatant lack of business sense

I understand completely that teaching's not flexible, but you'll go from having school holidays off to being at your busiest in holidays and at weekends. I'm not sure that equates to more time with DC.

@Sittinginthesand

I’d buy the houses, pay someone to do the cleaning and carry on teaching. Personally I’d find the cleaning boring, lonely and unsatisfying.

This is what I'm concerned about. It might be fun for the first six months, but then I might feel deeply unsatisfied and fed up. So hard to know.

Especially as teaching is so tough with small children so I wonder whether that might be skewing how I feel a bit right now.

I don’t really understand how moving your main working days to Friday, Saturday and Sunday and your busy working periods to the school holidays (because that’s when demand for holiday lets is greatest) will give you more time with your DC.

I also wouldn’t underestimate the potential impact of losing those colleague relationships. You could feel very isolated.

It is very drudgey work cleaning holiday let. I have one and it takes a solid six hours. You can’t do it with young kids in tow, you end up parking them in front of the tv. Don’t forget to factor in the linen. It’s expensive to send it out and sometimes comes back stained or badly ironed so I do it myself. It takes about the same time as cleaning the holiday let but spread out over a day or two. A three bed house generates about 6-8 loads of laundry per let.

You could always make life much easier and have all properties bookable Monday-Friday only. That way you can clean Friday afternoon and Monday morning and still have the weekends off (or open them up if quiet during the week last minute).

You absoloutley would restrict your potential income this way, but it would be much more manageable for you, and Mon-Fri is a standard and acceptable weekly let.

As PP said- you may end up with less/no tme during school holidays or weekends with your children if you do it all yourself. Atvthe very least tou need your OH to look after the children whilst you're cleaning which might not always be possible.

I'd get a cleaner at the very least and do supply teaching for a while whilst you see how it works in practice
An agent might be useful if you want to go away and you need someone on call to deal with the inevitable tenant issues that arise. Not easy dealing with locked out/electrics stopped/flooded bathroom etc if you are in Lanzarote on holiday yourself

Yeah I don't get it either. As @RobinPenguins says - how does moving your workload to weekends and holidays give you more time with your children. Yes, in theory you are your own boss and set the timetable but you'll give yourself extra time during the day on a Wednesday or whatever when there's no changeover / cleaning etc.

I can certainly see the appeal of holiday let's and you only live once / have a lot of working years ahead of you so I applaud anyone who starts their own business or retrains, and if you have the funds then it's very tempting. However, the colleague interaction should not be underestimated. You will be lonely working on your own, no one to bounce ideas off, or have a coffee at break times with.

Personally (but I'm risk averse!!) I'd stick with the teaching as its child friendly hours (loads of people work late / weekends when not paid) and your holidays tie with your children. Put your inheritance in your pension and retire early, or maybe do some supply teaching / tutoring to keep the money ticking in to supplement your early retirement.