Dec 20, 2011

How to Find the Perfect Holiday Home

Owning a holiday home is something that all Australian’s dream of. Despite living with the beach literally just down the road, over 8% of Australian’s own a holiday home in Australia and over 70% of these are at beachside locations. There are obvious attractions to owning a holiday home in a coastal area, but for most people it requires that they rent it out when they are not using it. This can be a difficult task which is both time consuming and even expensive. Renting Noosa accommodation each year will be far easier and more cost effective for most Australians, but if you’re brave enough Sunshine Coast real estate will both please and challenge you at every turn. This article will consider some of the practicalities of buying a holiday home.

1.
The potential costs

Whilst you save money on travel costs and the expense of hotels, there are many ongoing costs to a holiday home that can take a toll. General maintenance will fall to you, for example, and this will slowly absorb your wealth. Gardening, repainting and general fixes will be required throughout the year to keep the property looking good and all of this comes at a cost. You will also be expected to pay tax for the land you own but are not resident upon. The level of cost that this will incur depends largely on the state, but if you aim to rent the property when you are not using it you will certainly need to pay commission to a real estate agent for every customer.


2.
Legal issues

When renting a property you will become liable for the condition it is in and what is offered. You will need property insurance as well as public liability insurance to cover you in case anything happens. In the worst case scenario you will rent the property for a period, only to have it trashed by the occupiers in the first week. If this happens you will be liable for compensating any customers who are then unable to stay in the property and will have to find alternative accommodation for them. It is of vital importance to make sure you are covered against any eventuality because otherwise some bad temporary tenants could cause you to lose far more than you can afford to.


3.
Rental opportunities

When renting a holiday home it is very different from renting a property for a year or 6 months. Your customers will be arriving for a week only and they will want a single serving experience of a lifetime. They will expect new and clean appearing living conditions and they will want a dishwasher so that they do not need to wash up.


Holiday tenants want elements like outdoor entertaining areas with patio heaters. They are not worried about electricity cost for the week and they want to be able to enjoy every comfort. When furnishing the property consider things like the supply of matching tableware.


It is important to consider how many people the property can comfortably sleep. If you jam it full of beds then you can sleep more people but they will not be happy having to wait in a queue of 6 people to use the shower every morning. Consider what you can realistically offer and always try to be flexible in your rental offerings.


4.
Advertising

Properties are no longer only advertised in travel agents, they are also online. There is a multitude of destinations and holiday homes everywhere so you really need to make your property stand out from the crowd. Make sure you take flattering pictures of the property as people will want to see what they are getting for their money. It is essential that the advert is both clear and honest because any discrepancies can be questioned later on by the customer if you do not fulfil the agreement.

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