When the real estate market flourished, holiday homes were a luxury that only those who had income could dream of. Today's market creates a different tone for second homes with affordable nationwide growth and some of the lowest interest rates over the centuries. While second homes from previous years may not have been able to pay for themselves, is it possible today to pay for a country house for yourself?
When holiday homes were more luxurious, and access to buying log houses at an affordable price was like finding lost treasure, the idea of renting property for a few weeks a year to cover expenses and taxes often left the owners short. However, the market is flooded with mountain houses for sale and buyout from log cabins in abundance. Log houses and mountain vacation properties currently available are more likely to create a positive cash flow if the buyer diligently makes sure that he does that.
An affordable second home purchased at or below market value must be rented for at least 12 weeks a year to start paying for itself. This is about 3 months, and for holidays in ski resorts it is great for renting in the summer, but it can work equally well for log houses located in the ski areas or attractive autumn leaves that can extend the rental period for 12 weeks of summer. With the rental of a mountain country house you need to book a hotel before. Leave a room at your rental price to offer a discount on your next year’s property to encourage returning tenants. It also pays to advertise your log cabin or mountain home on the Internet, where you can reach a wide audience at minimal cost.
A huge saving of money and a big step to make your home for the holidays in the mountains yourself is to leave the middle man out of the picture. Management companies suck in their pockets with 30% of your rental income, not yours. Rental processing and maintenance is not that difficult, even from afar. Consider a reasonable real estate manager instead of a property management company, but check the links just as a bad real estate manager can greatly affect your return on investment. You have to spend time establishing relationships with local services near your mountain holiday home, and a simple calendar can make rental planning easy.
Choosing a place for your vacation home in the mountains or a log cabin will also play a big role in its ability to pay for itself. Obviously, you will want to choose a property in the area that people would like to rent. This usually means a resort area or area with local attractions in addition to beautiful mountainous terrain. As soon as you select an area for buying a vacation home in the mountains, you will want to check that there is no fee for owners of holiday homes or costly permits to rent property in less than a month at a time. These fees will have an obvious negative impact on the lower bound of your investment, and you will need to adjust your rental rate accordingly.
If you decide to take the plunge and want to buy a home for the holidays and pay for yourself, here are the last questions you need to ask yourself. Are you willing to invest a lot of time and explore costs, maintenance, taxes and more before buying something? Are you ready to give up using your beautiful vacation home during peak rental seasons for at least the first three to five years? Are you ready to make the necessary efforts to solve unforeseen problems arising from the purchase of real estate? And finally, you need to be sure that you can cover the value of the property if the time becomes rude or you cannot rent. If you can answer “yes” to all these things, you can simply be ready to buy a log cabin or a mountain holiday home that can pay for itself.
