5 Tips for Investing in Holiday Homes

Make sure that you know as much about the property and the local market before investing.  If you are planning to buy a holiday home for your own use or future relocation, you should decide based on the lifestyle it affords you, not purely on investment returns.  

Consider these helpful tips:

- Coastal properties are a sound investment, particularly those close to the beach and offering sea views, as both residents and holidaymakers favor this leisure lifestyle.   As with any property investment, location is everything if you are to reap any capital gains.

- The property must have easy access to amenities including schools, hospitals, shopping centers, as well as easy access to highways and other main routes.  If you are buying a family holiday home, be sure that it has the right amenities, and that your children are likely to keep holidaying with you for the foreseeable future.

- Can you comfortably afford the costs of paying off and maintaining the property? Consider a low maintenance property with good letting income that could assist you with paying off your bond, as well as the longer-term potential of capital growth of the property.  You will need to consider the costs of refurbishment, maintenance, rates, taxes, electricity and water, as all as any levies if the property is an apartment or part of a development.   

- If you are considering short term holiday letting, ensure that the complex allows for short term holiday letting.

- If the right location is chosen, the property could prove a wonderful retirement option.  

Author Prop247