Buy a home or Airbnb Caribbean

Fefee

Hi , I cant decide which is the better option keep my 1 bed condo for income generating or buy a home to live in.

Background info.
Were family of 3 living in a tax free Caribbean islands.  However its expensive here and are incomes are low and financially can be tough.
We do have 2 properties, one in the uk with 150k equity.  Pays mortgage but not much income .
Another is a condo in the Caribbean . Its a 1 bed being built currently. Due ready late next year. Bought for 240k now worth 285k. Equity 45k 
Plan to airbnb for £150. Per night .

Not sure to go a head with the airbnb to supplement income or sell both homes and but a property here in the Caribbean for around 500k.

We plan to stay for the next 9 years and then apply for PR. 

Which one is cash lucrative ? 

TBagpuss

No one can tell you for sure as it will depend on a whole range of things such as:

- How high the occupancy is if you AirBnB (renting out at £150 per night, profitability will depend on how many nights a year it's rented for)
- What it cost you to run and maintain it - presumably you will have fees to Air BnB, cost of maintenance, repairs, cleaning etc
- What return you get on the UK property, and again, what the cost are of maintaining that - presumably you pay an agent, you also have to budget for void periods, repairs and upkeep to the property 

If you don't buy a property yo live in then presumably you will be paying rent as well as having the running costs of the wo properties, so you would need to ask yourselves whether the net profit from the properties will cover the cost of renting somewhere to live, and whether you expect house prices to give you some capital return as well.

And, of course, whether you *want* to live in rented accommodation.

 third option, of course, might be to sell both properties, buy somewhere to live or a bit less than £500K and have some money remaining to invest elsewhere.

I'd suggest that you start by looking at realistic budgets, setting out likely costs, and compare the otpions. 

Fefee

Hi , thanks for replying. 
The uk property has a ongoing tenant that pays are mortgage.  No income . After maintenance and insurance. 

Cayman islands is very popular with tourists and expect high occupancy . Around $3000income per month . 

Keswick1uk

And the costs? Holiday let's tend to need to have pretty smart fittings and excellent cleaners and easy to access maintenance.  That will come at a local cost, unlikely many on here will have that sort of knowledge. 

Fefee

The condo is stunning like a 5 star resort. 2 pools resort style , indoor and outdoor gym, communal bbq area and games room . 
I can do the cleaning. It will rent for 1 week minimum.  Its also 5min drive from seven mile beach . 

Irishpearce26

Can a property that isn't yet built go up in value? I doubt so. Only you can decide this based on your earnings, expenditure and Airbnb income. If the Airbnb will bring in £3k a month as you say divide the costs and that will give you a figure to compare to an overall mortgage of the £500k property.