Owning a holiday home in a beautiful destination can be a really good thing, if you are in a position to do so. It can mean escaping the rat race for a long weekend or planning far-flung vacations whenever you want to go. But is buying a holiday home a haven abroad, or can it become a bit of a nightmare?
Holiday home ownership is something that has become more and more popular in recent years, and for people in the UK, the numbers of people owning property abroad is rising. Of course, it pays to have connections that are going to help you in your chosen location, especially if you’re new to this. If you can find good lawyers in Marbella, for example, then it can help you in the buying (or selling) process if you chose that area. But does the good outweigh the bad with holiday homes? Here are some things to think about.
The benefits of owning a holiday home abroad
- When you have a home to go to abroad, it means that you can go abroad to visit at the drop of a hat. You can plan last minute trips, as well as planning longer trips and holidays. If you use the home just for friends and family, then it means that you have complete control over who is there and when they can visit.
- If you want to get a holiday home abroad, you can also use it as a way to make money. You can advertise it and rent it out to others, and it can make a good amount of money from this (if you’ve got the location just right). This can often help to more than cover the costs of a the mortgage, so can be a goo thing to do if you’re looking to get a property portfolio around the world.
- Any property can be an investment. At the end of the day, you can sell the property if you need to and take the money and go. If the market is right at the time that you sell, often you can make more than when you bought it, especially if the property has been improved.
- If you love holidays and trips, then it can save you a lot of money in the long run, as you will always have somewhere to escape to, and you won’t have to pay for the cost of accommodation.
The negative side of owning property abroad
- Although it can save you money on hotel accommodation when on holiday, you are limiting yourself to the same destination each time. If you are in love with your chosen destination then it won’t be a problem. If you want to explore more of the world, then it can be hard to justify paying for anywhere else.
- Like any home, there will be maintenance and care that needs to go into the home. This can be costly if you’re not local to do the repairs yourself, and often, if the house is empty for a lot of the time, can cause some damage if repairs aren’t done in a timely manner. So you need to have available budget to cover the cost of this kind of thing.
- Currency and exchange rate can mean that you need to get a bank account in your chosen country, and with varying exchange rates, you might not get the value that you want.
- If you are going to rent out your property, then this can be done from home. However, there will be some aspects that need to be done locally. If you can’t be there all the time, then often you will need to use a letting agent or holiday letting agent, and there will be fees involved with this.
There are a variety of things to consider when deciding whether you want to buy a holiday home abroad or not. It is important to do your research and make sure that you crunch the numbers, to check that it is going to be worth it for you.
