Does anyone own a holiday house?

[~Trish~]

My DH & I have a dream to buy a holiday house by the beach one day, but there are so many pros and cons! One con is that we can't afford one yet lol!

I just wanted to see if anyone on BB has one and if they could share their experiences? Could you list what you see the pros and cons are? Do you have any advice about what to watch out for?

We're doing our best to save our $$$ so one day we could look seriously into it, but I'm a bit scared of all the cons involved (eg. property maintenance, etc). Maybe someone could help talk us out of the idea haha!

Depending on how much we'd spend, we may need to rent the house out over peak periods for a couple of years to make it more affordable for us. Has anyone else done this before? How do you find it works?

If anyone can share their experience I will be eternally greatful

[FabFiona]

Wanna go halvies? We can't afford one either!

[~Trish~]

Absolutely Fiona! If we knew someone willing to go halves we'd do it lol!

[~clover~]

Back home more than half the town was holiday houses! Some of them would rent during the off season, then come stay through the holidays. There are people who are happy enough to pack up through peak season & head off on hols, or stay with family or the local caravan park. If you were only staying a few weeks at a time it'd be even easier for them. (Just something to consider)

Mum & dad's next door neighbours used to ONLY have their house outside holidays. They lived there for years, with kids, going between the house & the c'van park. & that was for the owners to holiday let the house, not for private holiday use. (That extra $1000 or so a week for 6 - 8 weeks was obviously worth it I guess.

[LuluHB]

I plan on buying one tomorrow after winning Oz lotto tonight. I'm sure there will be issues re maintenance and upkeep, but the servants will deal with them ;-)

Seriously though, I've never been lucky enough to own one but have worked for people who have. One set up was a shared house between three couples and they each took turns using it so most weekends there was someone there. Seemed to work relatively well.

Another was a house owned by a single family and they used it themselves, but also rent it out every second weekend and half the school holidays for the first three or so years that they owned it. They put cheap furniture in it so they didn't care too much about sandy feet etc. Their bedroom was locked so nobody used it but them, and their kids had bunks in what became the games room and was similarly locked and off limits to renters, which left three bedrooms and a bathroom for renting purposes. They also had a store cupboard where they kept all their staples food, good china/glassware etc and that was locked. After that first three years they had made a substantial enough dent in the mortgage that they could keep it for themselves (and lucky employees!). They had a lovely neighbour who kept an eye on the house for them, brought the bins in etc, and then they did any maintenance when they were down there.

[~Trish~]

Thanks for your replies everyone .

The place we are looking we would be able to rent out over peak seasons at quite a good rate, up to $3,000 per week over Christmas! But the downside is, it's in Victoria so it is VERY seasonal and there is a big chunk of year it wouldn't be rented out (and we could use it, yay!). We found a place we LOVE on the weekend, I wish we hadn't gone and seen it , it pains me that we can't have it NOW haha!

[~Trish~]

I plan on buying one tomorrow after winning Oz lotto tonight. I'm sure there will be issues re maintenance and upkeep, but the servants will deal with them ;-)

Oh and your comment made me giggle , you live in the same dream land I do

[Olive]

id rent it from you!

[Lenny]

You HAVE a holiday house Trish already. It's parked behind you in your avvie. Owning two would be a bit greedy!

[~Trish~]

You HAVE a holiday house Trish already. It's parked behind you in your avvie. Owning two would be a bit greedy!

I am greedy aren't I! We do call it our holiday house on wheels lol! Ours isn't nearly as nice as the one in my avvie though .

[sangie]

Trish I can't remember exactly where it is on the island even though I know I've been told, and probably more than once lol
No I haven't stayed there yet but we are hoping to use it later in the year! My parents and brother/SIL have used it which is I know all about the 'house rules'!
I think a flat marked is predicted for the short term which would be good for you guys (although hopefully not flat for too long for the rest of us who want their investment to grow lol!)

[lilima]

Trisha - its inverloch. The people in it at the moment are great, and desal always pays 2 months in advance, so no surprises. It is rented fully furnished too.

It was only holiday rented for 2 years before desal. During that time we were very particular about no schoolies. We also used it ourselves between Christmas and NY. The house is huge and easily fits my family and my sisters family together, so nice hol for us all.

Also sis lives only about an hr away, so any probs she is close by.