Are new houses really needed ?.

pbouk

CLAPTON wrote: »

too true, but I don't normally boast about it

You do, but you just don't realize it:beer:

seven-day-weekend

I think quite often the empty homes are not where the jobs are.

thequant

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

I think quite often the empty homes are not where the jobs are.

Very true and the two issues are closely linked.


However what we need to do is have an effective national policy of how to deal with the countrys welfare scroungers.


i.e. those who live in London who are dole scroungers, need to be shipped off to these places where there isn't work to fill these vacant property's. Thus freeing up a place for someone who is willing to work.

Teacher2

An interesting debate here on holiday homes. Eleven years ago, due to my husband not having a proper pension we bought a house in Devon. We funded it with an inheritance, a redundancy payout, the Virgin One current account mortgage and utter frugality in our daily lives. It was to be the pension substitute when we couldn't get a real return on savings.

We also meant to rent it out as a holiday home to cover the mortgage payments. However, the horror stories about bad tenants we were told by others who rented properties out put us off. Also, when we sat down and worked out the income (which was contingent on lets) and the costs (which were fixed) we saw that letting was a risky business. With landlord insurance, utility bills, wear and tear, decorating, repairs and maintenance the original sum we envisioned shrunk considerably. When we factored in tax on top of this our (considerable) efforts in letting became rewarded in a derisory manner. We realised that, if we let in November, the heating and other costs would mean we could actually be out of pocket and if a careless tenant dropped something on or scratched our lovely wood floor we would be both out of pocket and really upset.

In the end we kept the house for our own sole use and got so much use out of it we never regretted it. I reckon we spent the equivalent of a high end fortnight in a top European destination on the house per annum but we were actually getting 7-9 weeks' break in it. It changed the quality of our busy and stressful lives completely for the better.

I think that many other potential landlords will have made the same calculation. There could be far more properties for rent if it were not for the risks of abusive tenants and if the taxes due were not so swingeing. It made us look arrogant when in fact we were fearful. One of the stories which swayed me against letting was that of my close relation who moved to get her children into the catchment of a better school and rented a property which forbad pets. She thought it was funny to go out and find not one, but two kittens and keep them hidden from the landlord.

Eleven years later the house has not appreciated hugely and would attract capital gains tax if sold. It would also break our hearts to sell it as we love being in Devon so much. Additionally, I think one or both of the main breadwinners in our family might have suffered breakdowns if we had not had a bolthole.

There is no real moral to this story but I thought it might provide a 'case study' insight into the second home conundrum.

Cornucopia

It depends on you motivation for owning a second property. It sounds from your post as if you went from a financial motivation (substitute pension) to a personal/lifestyle motivation.

No issue with any of that, but obviously if your motivation is financial, it pays to do the figures first, before taking the plunge.

Also, as a general rule, tenants pay for their own utilities. (Presumably holiday homes may differ, but then this should be factored into the figures).

CLAPTON

Teacher2 wrote: »

Eleven years later the house has not appreciated hugely and would attract capital gains tax if sold.

I guess it depends upon what 'hugely' means.

cells

Teacher2 wrote: »

An interesting debate here on holiday homes. Eleven years ago, due to my husband not having a proper pension we bought a house in Devon. We funded it with an inheritance, a redundancy payout, the Virgin One current account mortgage and utter frugality in our daily lives. It was to be the pension substitute when we couldn't get a real return on savings.

We also meant to rent it out as a holiday home to cover the mortgage payments. However, the horror stories about bad tenants we were told by others who rented properties out put us off. Also, when we sat down and worked out the income (which was contingent on lets) and the costs (which were fixed) we saw that letting was a risky business. With landlord insurance, utility bills, wear and tear, decorating, repairs and maintenance the original sum we envisioned shrunk considerably. When we factored in tax on top of this our (considerable) efforts in letting became rewarded in a derisory manner. We realised that, if we let in November, the heating and other costs would mean we could actually be out of pocket and if a careless tenant dropped something on or scratched our lovely wood floor we would be both out of pocket and really upset.

In the end we kept the house for our own sole use and got so much use out of it we never regretted it. I reckon we spent the equivalent of a high end fortnight in a top European destination on the house per annum but we were actually getting 7-9 weeks' break in it. It changed the quality of our busy and stressful lives completely for the better.

I think that many other potential landlords will have made the same calculation. There could be far more properties for rent if it were not for the risks of abusive tenants and if the taxes due were not so swingeing. It made us look arrogant when in fact we were fearful. One of the stories which swayed me against letting was that of my close relation who moved to get her children into the catchment of a better school and rented a property which forbad pets. She thought it was funny to go out and find not one, but two kittens and keep them hidden from the landlord.

Eleven years later the house has not appreciated hugely and would attract capital gains tax if sold. It would also break our hearts to sell it as we love being in Devon so much. Additionally, I think one or both of the main breadwinners in our family might have suffered breakdowns if we had not had a bolthole.

There is no real moral to this story but I thought it might provide a 'case study' insight into the second home conundrum.

In what way is a second holiday home in the same country relaxing or a holiday? Honest question

The weather is the same
You have to do the same chores
You have additional costs even when unoccupied
You have the risk of burglary or squatters

what is the benefit?

If you want a second home and dont want to have tenants then buy a second home and leave it empty all the time, no meed to call it a holiday home. Go on a proper holiday if you want a holiday