Holiday Home: Beach Pad or Winter Wonderland

Most people who are considering owning a second home are steering away from buy-to-let properties and investing their money in holiday homes, and for good reason. Long-term tenants can mean your mortgage gets paid off by someone else, but as an additional income you won’t be making much more than pennies. What’s more, you’ll have a sitting tenant in there, which means this is an investment for the future, one that you will probably consider selling around about the time you plan on retiring. This is great and sensible, but ultimately pretty boring and unrewarding. That’s where a holiday home comes in. These can be the ultimate investment. But do you buy a beach pad somewhere or go for somewhere in the mountains. That’s where we come in.

The Mountains

Buying a mountain home is one of the best investments anyone can make at the moment, especially if you buy in the right resort. There is a few reasons for this. The first is the fact that skiing is no longer a sport or a lifestyle completely restricted to the rich and/or famous. Skiing has now been opened up to the masses. It isn’t just the fact it is affordable, it is also the fact it is accessible, which means families with young children and older relatives can enjoy the fruits of the mountain. This means there is a huge winter trade at your disposal. And it doesn’t even have to be an income based on week-to-week rentals, which can be risky. You could also look at letting your chalet or apartment out to a chalet company who will pay your for the whole season.

Another huge factor is to do with the rising popularity of summer sports, and chalet owners, restaurants, hotels, ski hire locations and everyone else that has an investment in a mountain business have decided to capitalise on this growing trend, which only makes the whole idea more attractive. That’s where buying in the right resort can really see your investment boom because you won’t solely be relying on the winter trade. You can market your property to those interested in mountain biking or hiking or kayaking or rafting or climbing. Adventure sports, adrenaline sports, they are all the rage now. This idea of one life live it has exploded, and it is well worth getting a piece of that pie. What’s more, if your chalet or apartment is unoccupied for a week or two, well, there’s the perfect excuse for you to take a well-earned break.

The Beach Pad

What could be more attractive than owning a beachside holiday home somewhere. But ignoring all the obvious highlights that we touched on with regards to the mountain home, you know, the chance for you to escape for a week or two when noone is home, there are staggering financial rewards to be had if you land yourself a home in a tourist hotspot.

Buying a home and renting it out in the traditional sense is no longer worth doing when it comes to second home. It is all about the holiday trade. It is all about the summer holidays school holidays, half-terms, peak season, Easter, Christmas and, of course, New Year. These peak-times command ridiculous sums of money per week. Get it right and you could see yourself net multiple thousands a week during these times, which is a hell of an increase on the hundreds you can expect to get per month for long-term lets. Let’s say you bought a property in four bedroom holiday home in Kirkby Lonsdale. For a minimum of 10 weeks of the year you could rent that out for around £2,800 a week. That is an unbelievable sum of £28,000, minus tax and fees.

So, when it comes to deciding whether or not you invest in a winter or summer abode, it could be your decision is made on how easily you get sunburn.