With summer on the way, you may find that you are becoming slightly fanatical about the thought of a few lazy days at the beach or escaping to a secluded country cottage. Or if you are lucky enough, maybe perhaps you’re considering that it’s time to buy your own piece of personal paradise.
Buying a holiday home is not too different from buying a normal home residence or investment property. The main difference is that one property is in your native country, and the other, holiday dream home, will be abroad somewhere of your choosing. Location, price and the property itself are important considerations for having temporary holidays, but when buying for longterm, there are extra details that are likely needed to know.
The Location
Proximity to schools and distance to employment centres may not be essential for your occasional retreat, but you’ll probably want access to some of these amenities such as a petrol station or local shop where you can pick up the usual basic essentials, would be much obliged. Is it really absolute seclusion you crave? Or would you rather have social interactions such as cultural cafés and restaurants nearby?
If you plan to retire to the property in the future, consider distances to hospitals, shops and a local community to immerse yourself into their traditions.
Features
When looking for a full-time home, you would be deciding on key features such as how many bedrooms you will need and how spacious you want the kitchen and living areas to be. Do the same for your holiday home. Ask yourself how important it is to have views of the scenery or is it the intimate connection to the local community you are looking for. Do you mind being close to the neighbours? And how much land can you manage?
If you are thinking of using the home for the odd week break or long weekender, consider nearby public transport or private vehicle rental amenities.
Employing a property manager is another option to consider to be worthwhile if your usage of the property is pretty minimal throughout the rest of the year. However, there are different precautions you need to take if you are thinking of letting an agency maintain the property out in the months or weeks. when you plan on living in your first home.
For example, you need to be aware of the local competition in the lettings market. Leaving it empty can quickly run up some unwanted expenses so a common seeking point for holiday home buyers is to allow the property manager to rent it out to holidayers to the same area.
To make sure you invest your money correctly, ensure your holiday home has a distinct unique selling point. This is, of course, things that compliment the property, stunning views, useable tennis courts and swimming pools, beaches and games room or outstanding architectural features will appeal to many prospective holidaymakers, so bear this in mind when scouting out your new holiday home.
If your financial expenditure can cover the costs, you could also consider upsizing to accommodate larger groups of people. If you don’t make use of the space yourself, you’ll be able to capitalise on the space for rental gain to maybe larger families or group travellers.
Also, remember that you won’t be around all the time, so it might pay to think about security. Check whether the property could be at risk of damages such as fires or floods, and what steps you could do to protect it.
Costs
As previously mentioned, there aren’t too many differences in buying a home from within your native homeland, but when venturing into the wider world, buying land and property can become a bit of a hassle.
Legal implications may sometimes crop up at various stages of the purchase, this could be down to a variety of reasons from the government policy, regulations and even the proposed countries restrictions. So make sure you are pretty aware of the laws of the lands, especially when buying abroad.
For example, the property market in South East Asia, Thailand, is pretty problematic for overseas buyers, who are subject to restrictions on who can own land and property. But it is not always the case. The Gulf of Thailand is a common location that gets quite a bit of attention from holiday home seekers. There are plenty of hidden beaches within the area that attract holidaymakers to the area.
Obviously, the biggest cost is the actual funding towards securing the property, and that’s fully purchasing it, or finding the finance or a mortgage loan. Whatever your ideal holiday home, whether you are looking for a cottage or a cottage or apartment condominium that is for sale, there are plenty of comparison websites that show you the market prices available for you to get an idea of what is around. As with any housing purchase, make sure you budget for all the costs. These may include a deposit, stamp duty, mortgage insurance, holiday home insurance and solicitors’ fees.
Get some inspection reports done on the visited properties, ideally by professional people who are experts in surveying from the local area. Regional properties may face different issues from those you’re used to from your home.
Is the property furnished or empty? If it is empty you will need to consider the furnishing costs. Some holiday homes are sold with or without furniture and appliances. And lastly, don’t forget the transport costs to get there and back.
Tax and Investment
A holiday home is not supposed to be your primary residence, it is an investment for small returns with little perks if well maintained. If your holiday home was well picked out and a dwelling that holds its value, when selling up, you may be subject to paying capital gains tax. In some circumstances, you may also have to pay some land tax.
If you plan to rent out your property when you’re not using it, after accounting for expenses for the investment to run smoothly, you then may have to pay tax on any profitable income earned. If you are uncertain, you should always seek professional advice on financial and tax-related matters.
When buying a holiday home, it’s crucial to decide what the property is for, what it will achieve and over what time frame. It may be a good reason to buy a property to give your family and friends have a place to go on holiday. Whatever your reasons, when you’re considering buying your own slice of heaven, it’s the little details like familiarities and securities that will make all the difference to your weekend getaway.
Typically though, people who are going through with buying a holiday home generally think they’ll use the house for up to three or four weeks of the year, and for the rest of the time, it’ll be a rental property.
Having the luxury of a second home can be a tidy little earner while providing solidarity getaway’s to all of your closest friends and family, and of course, yourself. What dream holiday home have you got your eye on? What details do you look for in the contendents of the dream holiday location? Let us know in the comments below.
