The Ultimate Guide To Choosing The Perfect Location For Your Holiday Home

20 January 2017

Investing in your own holiday home can be a fantastic decision. Not just for a picturesque and relaxing getaway for you and your family, but also as a way of generating some extra income.

However, it’s important that you know exactly why it is that you want to buy a holiday home. Preferably before you make any decisions on where to buy one, because getting it wrong can be a costly error!

Here are some of our top tips for choosing the perfect location to ensure that you find the property of your dreams. And will hopefully create some special memories, all while enjoying a healthy return!

Knowing what you want

First and foremost, you need to prioritise whether you’re buying your holiday home more as a lifestyle investment, or a financial one.

There has been a lot of buzz about holiday homes being the next buy-to-let boom, although if your primary aim is to try and maximise your rental income, then it’s really important not to let your heart rule your head.

In many cases, buyers choose a property in a location where they’ve visited lots of times before. Or perhaps where they have fond childhood memories.

While this may be great for you and your family, you have to consider how it’s going to perform in the long-term as a financial investment.

On the other hand, if you’re primarily buying it for family use, then this won’t be as much of an issue!

Do your homework

Location is key. While you might be able to save a little bit of money by buying in a less popular and quieter location, it’ll hurt you in the long-term if the property is lying empty for large parts of the year.

Instead, you should identify some popular areas which you think you’d be interested in. Then research them online, seeing what sort of prices similar properties are selling for. And how long they’ve been on the market for.

The proximity to amenities is another key thing to consider when searching for a holiday home. So be sure to seek out anything which would be important not just for you and your family, but also for any potential guests that would be renting the property.

These include the obvious things such as shops, restaurants, pubs and bars. But also tourist attractions, beaches, golf courses and scenic walks.

You should also make sure that the property is easily accessible. Not just by car, but also by train and potentially even by air. So that as many people will be able to come and enjoy it as possible.

Areas and Planning

Most holiday properties are found in rural areas, with lots of outdoor areas for holidaymakers to relax and explore. However, do bear in mind whether it’s still going to be possible to get hooked up to Wi-Fi, a must in this day and age!

Once you’re a little more settled on an area you want to buy in, be sure to visit it yourself. Stay there for a couple of days to get a real feel for it.

The last thing that you want is to buy a property, only to find out later that the area is particularly noisy, or busy with traffic.

The final piece of homework which we would recommend is getting in touch with the local planning authority (head to the government’s Planning Portal) to see if there’s anything which could scare off buyers, such as a new motorway being built or something which could work in your favour, such as a new golf course.

Think about yourself

People can easily get caught up when buying a holiday home. Thinking about how much return they’re going to get on it, and how they can get as many people through the door as possible.

Even if you are buying the property primarily for the rental income, it’s important to take a second to think about yourself a little bit.

Remember, when you’re buying a holiday home you’re also committing to holiday there yourself. So make sure that you’re going to be willing to return there every year, which means choosing the perfect location for you.

Also, consider how close to your primary home you want the property to be. If you buy a holiday home on the other side of the country, you’re going to have to set aside some budget to pay for a property management service. That will cover everything such as changeovers and generally looking after the property.

Now that you have a little more of an idea of the kind of place you’d like to purchase your holiday home, be sure to have a browse of the properties on offer at our various holiday parks here at Pure Leisure!