Holiday Home - anyone with experience?

osian

We'd like to buy a holiday home sometime in the future, somewhere we can use for our family breaks as well as hopefully rent out to holiday makers. Would consider a proper house or flat and perhaps a permanent chalet but not a caravan on a site.

Would be interested in hearing any experiences and advice on buying /running a holiday home, is is a good idea? Are you glad you have one? Do you make good use of it? Is it profitable/ do you cover your outgoings if renting? Any pitfalls?

Thanks

poolboy

hello, I bought a holiday home 9 years ago . I did it because I could, had some spare cash at the time & thought it was a bargain.

Anyway, even before I really knew what to do with it I started getting letting enquiries (via a neighbour) & started a little venture managing mine & other people's properties.

After 1 year I earned enough doing this to quit work & concentrate on doing this full time. After 9 years the cumulative rental return has just about repaid the 1st house & I still manage the 1st houses I took on. OK I rode out a boom & business was easy but the cycles will repeat themselves.

I wish I had had the courage to do this long before I did. I work about the same hours as I did being a wage slave but I love every minute, I get to use the properties when they are not let & generally swan around looking busy. Only downside is yr phone is always on & you can't just walk away like an employee can.

You can't put a price on yr freedom. Today I went walking in the mountains as it was hot & sunny, it doesn't half feel good procrastinating. Tomorrow I will do what I was planning today.

Go for it!

osian

Thank you poolboy. That sounds amazing, congratulations!

Have fancied a 2 bed cottage in the centre of a very popular coastal town about an hour's drive away. Looking at similar rentals in the area they tend to be booked up most weeks from April to Oct starting from £300 - 500 a week. It's for sale for £115K and needs some work (doesn't have a bath or fitted kitchen - looks like someone has started the job but not completed, it's a reposession). Would need a mortgage of about £65K (plus extra to do the work). Our main home is owned outright. Would hopefully be able to manage the rental as I'm at home with my child whilst my husband works full time.

Would absolutely love something like it, as it would be a pleasure as well as something that hopefully would make a little money and gain in value over the long term. Just scared that it could also go horribly wrong too! Not sure whether to look into this now or keep on saving for a couple more years.

poppysarah

Prices still very dear so do all the figures including paying someone to clean it and insurance etc etc.

Also check out the competition - how many properties in the area for holiday lets, how many are empty all summer...

AND if it's for your use too expect to only go in winter to do painting and big diy jobs.

shamac

We have been letting for a year now and the house is just about covering costs-we have had 95% occupancy- high season £800 per week. :cool:

Remember costs-cleaning, gardening, maintenance, laundering, repairs, phone, internet (essential) water, gas, electric, council tax (maybe business rates depending on where you are), insurance (about £60 a month as you need liability insurance), advertising (big sites such as Holiday Lettings you are talking £200-300 a year), cottage companies will take a %-ours is 15%-the lowest I could find! :eek:, Accountancy-rules have all just changed on what you can claim for!

Don't want to put you off but it is HARD WORK-spent most of this week chasing people for money who have paid deposits but are late paying balances. This forum is great https://www.laymyhat.com they will help you. Good Luck!

AbbieCadabra

we started looking into this in summer of 2007 & were very close to putting a deposit down on a new build apartment in a fantastic seaview location in Cornwall. i know new build isn't a great option & nearly always a loss maker, but the location just wasn't going to be beaten. our long term plan would be to rent out but still get as much use out of it as possible for ourselves, then we'd sell up at home & make a permanent home in Cornwall.

thankfully, we took a step back & calmed down for a moment or three to really consider it...thank god we did as that's just when the crash really started to take hold in that area.

the area we're looking at sounds completely different to where you're looking but this is what we found.

loads of apartments that were completing & being sold off plan back then are still for sale now with £100k's (seriously!:eek:) off their original prices. a lot that were sold are now back up for sale & the majority of these were bought as holiday lets.

when we did really look into all the costs involved, it just wasn't viable. there was starting to be too much choice of holiday lets in this area & that's got even worse now. i still keep my eye on a few holiday apartments & the majority of them only have the main kids holidays booked with a few other weeks or 3-4 day breaks booked throughout the year. a fair few of them are up for sale now too.

i think we'll go for it one day & when we do, we'll have our own website, advertise on holidaylettings.co.uk & we'll under-cut the prices in the area by a decent amount. 2 places i know of do this & they've had the healthiest bookings since i've been looking.

as shamac says, research is the key! good luck

poppysarah

Also if newbuild - how many newbuilds being built at the same time - if all intended at holiday market then a glut can be bad for bookings.

osian

Thanks all! Thanks for the laymyhat link shamac, looks excellent.

Probably wouldn't get a new build as the town that we are interested in is an old walled town, which doesn't have much room for new properties. Will have to really sit down and do some calculations. Agree Poppysarah, I think property prices are still very high. Maybe it is best to do some research for a couple of years and keep on saving. Would like to do it soonish though whilst my daughter is still young and we are still in our 30's.

poolboy

hi what a fab forum you posted on a previous link (laymy hat.com)!!!

It is spot on, I just spent an hour reading it & the postees are genuine, I thought it was only me that worried about bookings, enquiries, discount seekers etc.

Thanks for the link, much appreciated

puddy

remember you wont get a mortgage on a property with no bathroom or kitchen

shamac

Yeh it's a really useful site for ideas and if you want to set up your own website the owner paolo is a real boon as he does it professionally and knows all the tricks;)