You could either buy or build your own holiday home, in Britain or overseas. Being an international club we have help available in some places now and in other places developing, plus in some countries like the UK where there is a greater interest in overseas holiday homes, we are setting up special projects groups so as to make it far easier for the UK members be become involved in joint ventures.
Since this article was originally written we have added an international homes section to this website, and plan to expand this greatly over the next few months, aiming to encourage more special project groups and joint visits by groups of members to investigate some of these.
Mainland Europe
In much of Europe the major problems are understanding the red tape, planning which may be influenced by a number of layers of government, as well as self interests, language problems, a culture where change can occur at any time, changing the rules mid way through, cultural difference with builders varying from when they turn up, to how many hours a day they work, to the standard of work. Added to this many properties are built without sensible foundations for the land or position they are located and you will encounter specific problems in some places, varying from the land grab laws that have bankrupted tens of thousands of people who have bought holiday homes or retirement homes in Spain, to the policy in some parts of Italy of funding local government at least partly on fines received for building properties without planning permission and making it impossible to get permission in advance, and some don't get fines but orders to knock down the builds. None of this means that you cannot buy or build property in Mainland Europe, but rather that you have to fully understand the problem and risks associated with it. See also the international homes section of this website. If you are considering the options to build or buy a holiday home in Europe then take a look at the Property Pension club web site for more information of the risks and problem you need to avoid, you will also find that they cover far more countries than we do at the moment. All information that the Property Pension Club has is shared with us.
As this club, SBHC, adds more local websites, arranges more local services in these countries, and we also get more trips by groups of UK project members, we should be able to get far better deals for you and improve even further our intelligence on these countries.
Ireland
Ireland is far smaller than the UK, but has around the same number of self builds. Eire or southern Ireland has fewer planning problems, available country sites and many attractions. Northern Ireland is more like the UK, and most self builds will involve replacing other properties. We have a new website dedicated to Ireland and this should be live by the spring of 2005 with full local supporting services in the summer of 2005.
USA and Canada
Building in the USA or Canada is less of a problem than most other places, but different to the UK. In many ways with land cheap, building sites plentiful and at least similar language to our own, this may be attractive, but the countries are enormous, and you need a thorough understanding of an area of choice before considering building there. The problems you need to overcome are visa limits on how much time you can stay there and making sure that the site you choose to build is well clear of areas that have weather damage.
The Property Pension club web site covers the purchase of property in the USA, and that club has undertaken quite a lot of research including a number of visits to look at viability of various options in relation to UK buyers/investors. We can also provide a lot of help in the USA and Canada to members, and you may find visiting our international site or USA site is most helpful in understanding this. Retiring to the USA full time is difficult, but there are ways around this such as buying or starting a business there, as this has a different, far easier form of visa to get.
Plots and older property that can be replaced is not difficult to identify throughout the USA and Canada, and unlike the UK, agents in each area usually work together sharing information of properties they each have available through a local Multiple listing service or MLS. We have access to these throughout the USA plus access to specialist listings of repossessed and other property being sold off by hundreds of banks and other lenders at discount prices. By UK standards some prices are extremely low, a well built detached 4 bedroom home in a popular area was bought by one member early in 2004 for about £8,000 and we have found property for sale in Florida on occasions at under £5,000. Planning is simpler than in the UK, but you do have to look at zoning, some areas being zoned for certain types of activities or other restrictions such as no short term letting.
Most UK property buyers purchasing holiday homes in the USA go for property in Florida, although this is not always as good a deal as it initially looks, as there are so many holiday homes available there you may have problems letting it out as much as you would like. If you buy a new home in Florida and then choose to sell again shortly after, you would make quite a loss, due to the cost of selling and large number of homes available. The economic model you need to use is different than in the UK. Over a period of course prices do go back up, and in the longer term you would expect to make a profit if perhaps only a small one. It may be that generally Florida is a nice place for a holiday home for your own use, rather than necessarily a good place to invest in, unless you really understand what you are doing. One of our major studies we commissioned jointly with the Property Pension Club earlier in 2004, was for an experienced UK consultant to investigate the majority of Florida, looking at the availability of building land for sale, looking at the property market, rentals, and more. He visited large numbers of new build sites, collected a large case full of sales particulars on different properties throughout Florida and covered very many miles looking at what is available and areas yet to be discovered by tourists, plus took hundreds of photographs. He talked to many people about local prices, availability and more, plus looked at the ways that both houses and land could be acquired at a sizable discount. We also, as you would expect have many local contacts in Florida.
Another study we had done at the end of 2003, again jointly with the Property Pension Club, was to look in detail at an area of western New York state around Niagara Falls. This is attractive for a number of reasons to British investors, including the dual seasons, summer vacations and skiing in the winter, as well as being an area that many British tourists would like to visit but have not yet, which should make occupancy less of a problem. Having no major risk of bad weather damage is also an attraction to the British investors. Property in this area is far cheaper than in Florida, but the support market is not so well established, so arranging property management and the like is more difficult. Plots and property that can be bought for replacements are both still cheap compared with prices in other places. There is good buy to let potential, but a surplus of low quality housing in some areas that brings down the ceiling value of the area. Vacation attractions are plentiful and varied, so there is something to do for anyone and if people choose it as a place for a holiday home there would never be a shortage of places to explore. Canada is just a few minutes away. We plan to do a follow up visit to this area in 2005 with a group of UK members.
Other studies have been done in other areas and more will be done, plus we draw upon the USA and Canadian sections of the club services to help us further.
A holiday home can be a normal home, just like any other property in the area, or can be something developed specifically for holiday use. A property that has been designed for holiday use only, will often have very little outside space that has to be maintained, may have little storage and rooms may be multi purpose, with rooms that can be both daytime rooms and double up as additional sleeping space. In many cases a holiday home developed for letting out will be smaller and cheaper than a house you would want to live in all the time, and you might also find developments where a number of holiday homes are on a shared site as in the case of converted farm buildings and similar. They may even have shared facilities such as a pool or laundry facilities.
Others may choose to develop, what for now, will be their holiday home and later will become their retirement home. In many cases not letting it out, but keeping it for their weekend and holiday retreat.
Some will go a stage further and downsize their town or city accommodation that they use during the week and spend every weekend at their country property, and this can often be done on the same budget as town living, while making life considerably more pleasant. We may think of this as new, but its what the gentry have been doing for centuries having country estates and staying in their club or a flat during part of the week.
In recent times another major reason why some are looking at becoming involved in self building a holiday home, is that their income is not sufficient to allow them to buy a home of their own, in the area they currently live and work. While many of these people will look to 'buy to let' or self build, to get a property cheaper to use in 'buy to let', others will realize that in downsizing the property they need in the town or city and utilizing a holiday property as a weekend home, will allow them to become house owners, join in the appreciating values and later have the choice to sell it and buy or build elsewhere, if they choose. Providing that they then class their weekend home as their main home, as house owners, their credit rating will increase and they will find they can now qualify for loans at reasonable rates. Given the equity they have in the property, as just about all self builds show a very large saving over what the property is worth, and loan raising capability, they may also find they can get involved in 'buy to let' or 'build to let', and further grow the wealth they have, or set about building a larger home for their own use. The holiday home can therefore be a low cost route to get onto the housing ladder or to make a rapid step towards mortgage free living.
In most cases those looking for a holiday home have less restrictions on the location than those looking for a home near to relations, friends or work.
The main criteria is the use you have for the holiday home, is it for you to use regularly, in which case you need a fast route between you and its location. While if it is for letting you may want it to be in an area that is in demand, so you have it rented out most of the time. If it is as a step on the property ladder or building wealth, perhaps the area is to be one where demand will increase and prices are likely to go up most rapidly.
You may also like to consider if it is best to be a part of a community or be more isolated. While space and isolation may appeal in the first case, many people enjoy being near to people and facilities, especially if they have come from a city or town. Many holiday homes will spend quite a large percentage of their time empty, and therefore there are security considerations. Generally the countryside has far less crime than towns and cities, probably because there will be less people passing, therefore less opportunistic problems as well as there just not being the services and supplies that drug addicts and others with problems find attractive. Being a part of a community or having at least near neighbours to keep an eye on your property when you are not present may give you piece of mind and a point of contact.
Being involved in a self build away from where you live can be difficult for some, in that you have so far to travel in order to check out land available, to meet everyone from planning people to contractors, most of who quite naturally will want to arrange meetings at the time when you have to be at work. Sorting out problems likewise can be difficult although a million times easier than when the property being developed is in another country.
Keeping down cost can also be a challenge and perhaps you may both be viewed as a soft target, who can afford to pay well, and also perhaps you may accept higher prices than would be normal for the area, comparing them with going rates in your own area.
The answer for many will be to be a part of a group, and you can of course set up your own group of friends and others to search out an opportunity and organize a build. With a group there are more people to sort things out and look everything over, and on a larger project you can take on a projects manager full time, who has the knowledge necessary to make the project run smoothly and on budget. Although this solves many of the problems it also presents more, you have to find a group who all like the same location and the number involved has to be the same as the number of properties you can squeeze in. You may also find that the project you agree upon is a compromise, it does not suit what you want, but you feel you have to go along with the majority, so as to keep the group together.
Membership of this club helps in that we can work this the other way around, in that we identify what is required by each member and then search out opportunities that will meet a combination of these members, we don't have to meet all requirements as there will be another project that others can become involved in, likewise you don't have to join in a project if it is not right for you, as you are not holding everyone else up, if you are not involved it just frees up an opportunity for another member to join in. Because we have fewer restrictions and can fit more sites we have greater negotiating power and therefore should be able to get the site at a lower price. We can also be proactive, and go out and create sites, looking at possible land that could be used and at no cost or risk to the owners moving it to the position where planning approval is obtained and it becomes a valuable site.
We do not usually split the sites for holiday property owners from those who want a local home, so can often combine requirements and plot sizes to get exactly what each wants while avoiding the risks associated with empty developments, only used at weekends, and have the feeling of a living community all the time, so if you want to use it mid week you don't feel isolated.
The club also looks at all individual plots and sometimes will match members with these, as well as promoting the idea in areas that it is currently looking for sites for people with large gardens or spare land considering infill or redevelopment. As we seek options on many of the sites we look at, these become available just to members and are not available to others.
The advantages to you in joining the club is therefore in making the opportunity come about, in being matched up with plots and people that want to join in a site and in saving a large amount in most cases on the purchase price of the plots, plus by sharing a projects manager with other builds in the area, reducing the costs of organizing the build, while still making sure that it all runs as smoothly and as near to budget as possible.
You may think, that's fine I can join the club for a period, get introduced and then the club will be of no further use to me, however while you are involved in the build, membership is both a good idea and can make you considerable savings. The club has a trade card it supplies to members, this allows you to get materials at trade prices from a wide range of suppliers, as well as some services. As all suppliers in the area that the club is promoting projects in will have been told of the activities of the club and the trade card, most will not only know all about it but be very keen to give you the same deal as they do to builders they traditionally deal with, making a very considerable saving on the DIY prices.
So membership of the club should allow you to get going faster, be a project more in line with what you personally want, and save you money both on the plot and on the build.
Look at other countries - see the overseas homes section.
Leaning more about self build by reading the tutorial section
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Self Build Homes Club is an international club
and trading title of Self
Build Homes Club llc. Local services
to serve members are commissioned for the club by New
Atlantis International Services Corporation.
All major commissioned companies involved, have New Atlantis trust status.