Purchasing a Second as a Holiday Home with Rental Potential - Some things to Consider..........

Here are a few points that I would suggest anyone should think about when you are considering purchasing a second property to use as a holiday home, which will also providing you with a possible second income.

Firstly you should be looking at the location of the property you are buying for your holiday home. Many people would preferably look to buy their property within close proximity to tourist resorts, but sometimes you may find it is cheaper to purchase a property further away, but which are still within close traveling distance of the tourist resorts.

Secondly you will need to decide what sort of property you are looking for, will it be an apartment, villa or townhouse etc. Also the type of facilities you would like with it such as a swimming pool. If you go for a property within a development that is located close to items such as golf courses and tourist resorts you may find that these usually have a communal swimming pool, they also may have other facilities such as restaurants and gyms. Plus such properties within a development will usually come furnished with the basics, such as tables, chairs, sofas, beds etc. By having such facilities close at hand you are making your property much more viable for letting to others.

Thirdly check what legal requirements are needed for you to be able to purchase a property in the country of choice. For example in Spain you would require an NIE Number (similar to the UK National Insurance Number). For further information on the NIE number see my article on Buying Property in Spain.

After making the decision on the property you are going to buy you will need to decide upon how the property will be managed when you are not in residence. You can either arrange for a property management company to take control of the property for you ensuring that every thing is kept in good order and any repairs that require doing are carried out. However, you will be charged by the property management company a fee for carrying this out. They would also hold the keys to the property for when anyone other than yourself comes to stay and they can then check on the property after your guests have left, or you can look after it yourself, but with the property being abroad it may be difficult.

Next you will need to decide how you are going to advertise your property, one way would be to set up a website on the internet (there are many reputable companies that can assist you with this such as solhosting.net). If you have put it on the books of a property management company then they will usually advertise it for you. Also you could contact letting agents in the area where you have a brought your property, they are usually keen to get such properties on to their books. You could even advertise it in such papers as Daltons Weekly and Loot.

I hope the above gives you some food for thought when thinking about purchasing a property as a holiday home and as rental potential.