Does anyone have Holiday homes/Vans/Boats

Simply wondering has anyone else taking advantage of the low prices abroad , and are you getting what you wanted out of them.
Have to include those with camper vans and boats as theres a eclectic of persons here .

Tell us your stories or even bad mistakes/info.

We’ve given up on campers/vans because we were sick of being broken into and if we’re going for the security of a campsite we’d rather camp. Tents cool down quicker at night and are mosquito proof. If you like camper van ghettos and never leave the thing you may like the experience. T5/Trafic/Vito etc. if you must, the bigger ones are also greedy on fuel, expensive in tolls and get moved on from anywhere not marked “camping car”.

My sister has a big sailing boat, a sort of floating camper van, they spend enough time on it to justify the hassle and expense, but a friend with a boat at Arcachon tells me the average time a boat moored in the marina spends out of its berth is less than two weeks a year.

Our first and second homes are a one-euro bus journey apart. Dual homes would be a better description. Given the amount of time I spend fixing things in them it would be a real hassle if one was in another country and I only visited for holidays. A colleague of Madame has holiday flats on the coast and spends much of her Summer cleaning, wiping tennants’ a… .

Boats, don’t talk to me about boats. Money sink holes. Luckily mines small enough to keep on a trailer. If it’s your main hobby and you are good with your hands they can be fun. But as you’ll have to go many times just for maintenance jobs you don’t want to be travelling hours.

Unless you do the jobs yourself you might as well stand there and set fire to 50 pound notes….

My Vans Half Cab Pros are the holiday edition, in midnight blue & gum.

Break Out Another Thousand…..

My parents nearly bought a second home.

One day they rolled up in the lakes for another cottage rental. The guy next door was mowing the lawn of his second home….

You get the idea

They just rent when and where they want

Currently I dream of a boat. But as above I think it would need to live on a trailer. Or I’ll buy a boat when i retire for a one off journey then sell it at the end

Oh and finally just remember with abroad you need to think about house price and currency stability

On a more positive note a mate bought a flat in the Peak district when his mother died. He has got loads of use out of that as its close enough for a weekend

We’ve a place in The Gambia. Went tits up so we got together with two other couples & sued. Got awarded the whole complex, 11 apartments. Had loads of work to do, put in pool etc.
Has been a long process.
Not been for a few years, but it’s occupied most of the time so pays for itself.
Cost the same as a new family car.
Long term, not sure.
My dream is to emigrate to Oz, so probably sell up but a few of the owners have retired out there.
Ideal terrain for a Fat Bike.

Great replays and very interesting tails
Keep them coming

Some relatives have 2nd homes. Bit of a money pit to run, though there’s the chance of capital appreciation and they could be rented (but aren’t). Also a time share which is a bit rubbish. A week in Wales in February, WTF! One apartment in USA has been fun, and I hope to use it more in the future. But you’d get a lot of hotel nights for the same money.

Van seems a good idea if you like touring around on the cheap. I’ve just got one but not used it yet (overnight, I mean).

We have a small house in Brixham close to the harbour. Bought as a dump we have spent 2 years gutting and sorting it. Basement is stuffed full of bikes, kayaks, fishing rods and scuba gear. Plan is to move there when we retire and sell the family home for pension. Not the best financial decision we ever made but by far the best lifestyle one. We get down there every free weekend.

We’ve a second home in ireland, in a great move “…taking advantage of the low prices abroad….” by buying before the Irish economy went tits up :lol:. Spent a lot refurbishing it and not being there made it hard work with the builders who were crap . No chance of capital appreciation but we are there every 6-8 weeks, have bikes, scooter, 1968 bsa and a chainsaw over there and having a wood burner and woodpile I am STW compliant.
We love it and will probably move over there in later years, don’t bother renting it but lend it to friends and family. Best thing we ever bought

My wife and her two brothers inherited a holiday house on the Arcachon bay (France). The oldest brother has keys for the door and the gate and gets first dibs on when to use it. The younger brother has a key for the door only and gets second dibs. My wife (a mere daughter) doesn’t warrant a key and we only get to use it outside of school holidays (not a lot of good to us now that we’ve got children in school).

Still at least we don’t have to pay towards the upkeep of the place and we can have a good moan about how old fashioned and sexist the French are (well, her family at least..)

Beware sharing a holiday home with family members 8)

We’ve got a T5 camper. Bought to travel around Europe in for six months, which we did and had a great time. On our return there were grand plans for lots of weekends away in it, which has never really transpired.

We do use it occasionally though, and it’s my daily driver pretty much so we’ll be hanging on to it for a while.

A monthly conversation is ‘we should go away in the van more’…