You have £250k to spend.
Somewhere in Europe by the sea or in the mountains (or both?).
Some return from renting it out, but not critical.
Easily (ish) accessible from NW England / Scotland.

Go!

50 years of £5k’s worth of holidays? PLus costs of getting there.

When in recent years Mrs M and I have spent around £1.8k between us on each 2-week holiday in India, Mexico, Jamaica, including flights?
That would leave £3k/year for odd weeks and weekends elsewhere.
I’d rather spend my money elsewhere.

I hate to do another downer

My parents were looking at a second home. On holiday in the Lakes they spotted that the guy next door was mowing the grass. Then they realised that is was his second home. The bubble burst and they didn’t bother

On the other hand Moses sums assume that the house is worth nothing at the end

Probably the Alpes is the answer to the actual question if you Ski

Probably the Alpes is the answer to the actual question if you Ski

I’m wondering about pyrenees / atlantic coast for surf and ski?

My parents were looking at a second home. On holiday in the Lakes they spotted that the guy next door was mowing the grass. Then they realised that is was his second home. The bubble burst and they didn’t bother

I is confused?

Easily (ish) accessible from NW England / Scotland.

To me, easily accessible, is something you can easily drive to on a Friday night and come back late Sunday or early Monday morning.

Anything more than about 2 hours becomes a bit of a pain.

£250k to spend.

That won’t get you very much in the UK, especially if you mean “by the sea”, actually right by the sea and not just within walking distance.

Okay, I was being negative. But second houses take money to run, and income is uncertain, especially if you want to use them yourself. The cost of running a second home can be the cost of a good holiday. They need maintenance and that takes time and effort away from your holiday hours – hence the remark above above about mowing the lawn on a second home.

Moses, are all of your (house related) fantasies based in reality?
😆
fantasy based holiday homes obviously have 24/7 monkey butler, chef and cleaner etc (who work for peanuts to help save that £250k)

so, in my fantasy holiday home and assuming it was ever for sale (which seeing as it’s a fantasy…it is) i’ll go for this please. Portugals not too far away and i’d never need to leave the garden!

Apartment in Austria near Leogang

Pays for itself 🙂

250k would buy a nice villa in spain with a pool. You could let it under mgt and net 10k pa easily which would give you a nice pension or pot to reinvest. In fact the same10k of pension would cost 300k via annuity I know its a bad comparison but its just for show.

My fantasy holiday home would be a london flat but theres enough of a homeless problem withoit me adding to it.

My parents were looking at a second home. On holiday in the Lakes they spotted that the guy next door was mowing the grass. Then they realised that is was his second home. The bubble burst and they didn’t bother

Sorry a bit obscure. They realized that they had a week to do what ever they wanted, the man next door didn’t. He was catching up with jobs like mowing the grass.

Poolman what are your figures based on

My own villa over 15 years. Funnily enough I have been looking in the lakes too. Email if u want more details

It’d be Cornwall for me.

• UK housing market is pretty solid
• It’ll rise in value
• Easy to sell in the future
• A legal system in English
• Accessible on a whim, rather than flight booking etc.
• Income of over £1000 per week during school holidays

*tongue in cheek*

yup and thats why cornwall is f*cked, same as certain parts of north devon and why there are (moves to put?) restrictions on second home ownership around exmoor.

bloody english people coming in and running prices of homes..

*/tongue in cheek*

cornwall would be nice for me to escape to as well. i go there to escape where i live at a beach resort in somerset which gets overrun with the welsh and brummioes (two hour drive catchment see…)

Sweden – no question.

A neighbour packing his lawnmower for the weekend trip to his place in France: “You think I can afford two lawnmowers??)

We’ve a place closer at hand. Don’t let it. Money pit and guilt for not going g there… Hey ho.

thing is.. compared to something like ‘buying’ a caravan on a caravan site.. a freehold is much more economical. those things are stupidly expensive.

It would be west coast of Scotland for me .

Only I won’t do it as holiday homes have ruined quiet idyllic holiday villages(that don’t exist for the tourism trade) and driven out locals due to being out priced and then the shops and pubs don’t survive etc as there were few residents left…..

We also have friends with a home in Annecy.sems like a pig to get to and they are always working on it when they are there.

Tbh a cabin in the woods up the road would do me. It’s not about the place it’s about being away from the normal distractions of life. No phone signal would be a top requirement 🙂

Mallorca would be high on my list, but as a friend said to me, be prepared to spend holidays in Mr Bricolage! (French diy shop).

We keep talking about it, but prefer the variety and lack of hassle of normal holidays. I think it makes more sense if you have kids, less crap to cart away with you and knowledge of where to go/what to do as soon as you arrive.

Caravan does me. One I can move to new places 🙂

My wife has been left a quarter of her family home in North Devon, we’re currently looking into buying two of the other parties out so that we’ll jointly own it with one of her sisters. It would probably be a lot easier to just walk away and stick it on the market. 😕

Does anyone want to buy a 18th century shipwrights cottage on the edge of the lake district on the leven/crake estuary?

Mallorca would be high on my list

Mine too – I could handle a wee apartment in Pollença

Somewhere towards the top of the Italian Riviera, a bit inland rather than on the coast.

I’ll probably need to spend a few months on a fact-finding mission to decide where exactly.

I know 2 people with second homes abroad. One paid next to nothing for it £25k, the other paid probably about £200k.

What it cost has become irrelevant. It has almost become a headache to them as they feel compelled to spend every holiday at the 2nd home. Flights become a pain after a while, operators don’t always fly to the same airport etc.

If you rent it out you then can not go when you want to etc.

It isn’t the dream it starts out being.

I like the idea of a second home….but only when I’m retired and can spend a few months at a time there. Until then, there’s a big wide world out there to explore. 8)

I know 2 people with second homes abroad

As do I.

On has had a Villa in Florida for 20 years. It is now up for sale for 10x what he paid for it, having had all the mortgage/bills etc. paid for by renting it out. It’s free money; more so when you count 20 years of free holidays.

Another has villa on Samos. It’s a lovely place where she’s had many lovely holidays and she will retire to next year.

Sounds lovely. Why not?

We have a house, on the coast, that we rent on short term holiday lets.

Happy to let you know any pro’s & cons (that I know of anyway, haven’t had it that long)