Motorhome vs Holiday home

[seakay22]

Of course I accept you can do both but..

If you had the funds to purchase a second home (or main home) abroad, is it something you'd consider doing?

Or is the freedom to roam in the van more fulfilling and appealing than having your own bricks and mortar in the sun?

I often think that it would be great to have a place abroad, a proper home from home with all creature comforts, somewhere you could establish yourself that's also a short, cheap flight away and therefore easily accessible for regular visits. But there's also a strong and nagging belief that at heart I'm a bit of a nomad, love visiting different places, seeing new (and old) things and therefore the appeal of planting roots might wear off pretty quickly and maybe even become a burden.

I'd be very interested to hear others opinions on this.. is buying a home abroad something you ever think about or plan on doing? Is it maybe something you see as a 'next step' from travelling once you've stumbled upon somewhere you particularly like and find yourself regularly returning to?

Or does the enjoyment of 'life on the road' and the ability to shift about whenever and whenever you want hold an unwavering appeal and therefore outweigh the benefits of a fixed abode?

All thoughts and opinions much appreciated.

 

[GWAYGWAY]

NO I want to travel and not be encumbered with property taxes, buying fees ,maintenance costs and inheritance taxes when I pop off. I go where I want and always have somewhere to sleep and eat. I know that the AUTHORITIES do not want us around and make it difficult ,but there is always somewhere to stop. I can sell the MH but there is a load of problems trying to sell on a permanent property if you need to. Almost as bad as having a time share and getting stuffed with that. You cannot SORN a foreign house and the budget airline might not be there in the near future.

 

[busby]

Just love to travel,,hate flying,,well the hassle at airports mostly.Would not want the worry of bricks and mortar abroad.BUSBY

.

 

[Loveshack]

Going back to the same place no longer appeals.
Short let’s, maybe 3-6 months would work tho’.
But I’d need a big suitcase for some “toys”

 

[Ivory55]

If I had the money to buy another house I would pack up work instead. Haha

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[Grianan]

I always said that we’d buy a house in France. It’s the place I feel most comfortable in. My second language.
But when we did have the money to invest we actually bought a house in Wester Ross, the most beautiful part (in my opinion) of Scotland. We can drive up on a weekend. We go about 6 times a year. We don’t rent it out. It’s all set up so we just arrive and start holidaying. Part of the rationale was to invest the money so we didn’t spend it ... so our kids would benefit from it too.
But we had caravanned and rented all our adult lives. And I hankered after a camper van. So now we have both.
We can take the van up north and spend time in our house doing overnighters even further north or to the islands.
Just now, we’re in the most southerly point in Scotland in our van. Photo below.
The view from our holiday house

is in my profile picture.

 

[coroner]

Just done it .Not intentional but the right property came up last year outside Fethyie in Turkey.So plan now is once retired to drive down to it using the motor home once a year for a 3 or 4 month stint plus 1 month down one month getting back .The motor home will be ideal for taking the dogs plus we get to see a lot of Europe as well .The maintenance and cost of living is a lot less than Europe just paid the property tax for the year £72.00 plus they empty the bins 3 times per week.I will however have to maintain the pool while i,m enjoying myself.

 

[Lenny HB]

If I had the money I would buy a posh Motorhome.
Often get attrated buy cheap property prices abroad but then I think of all the hassle that goes with it, prefer to be free to roam.

BIL has a place in Cyprus always saying we feel like we have to go there. Been up for sale for over a year now, no interest at all.

 

[Jaws]

Never really been interested in bricks and mortar ..
I can think of nothing worse than putting a load of money in to a place only to find a flaw in something out of my control

 

[busby]

If I had the money I would buy a posh Motorhome.
Often get attrated buy cheap property prices abroad but then I think of all the hassle that goes with it, prefer to be free to roam.

BIL has a place in Cyprus always saying we feel like we have to go there. Been up for sale for over a year now, no interest at all.

Thought you had a POSH motorhome ??.BUSBY.

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[Lenny HB]

Thought you had a POSH motorhome ??.BUSBY.

It's only a Hymer not posh at all, a Morelo would be posh.

 

[Ralph-n-Bev]

It’s nice to go away in the van . But it’s always nice to get back home . I think as long as you like where you live , most people would think that . We’ve never fancied a holiday home . Preferring to flit place to place whenever we want when away from home .

 

[Lanerboy]

We just purchased a static caravan on waterside holiday park in Weymouth it's a 5☆ site and is immaculate throughout the whole site
We bought it so the kids can use it and my parents as we used to holiday in Weymouth years ago and really like the place
We will be renting it out through the site to help cover the ground rent plus have a few weeks a year down there, we really enjoy it down there in the autumn and winter when it's quiet and use the MH in the warmer months
Drop me a pm if anyone would like to rent it one small dog is allowed

 

[Larrynwin]

We preferred and bought a motorhome as we love to explore different places. If we had more available cash we would buy an RV in the USA and spend long breaks over there.

 

[Blue Knight]

Of course I accept you can do both but..

If you had the funds to purchase a second home (or main home) abroad, is it something you'd consider doing?

We are in the process of doing just that and we'll be using the camper as our vehicle to explore the various locations, starting in the highlands and the islands before moving to Spain and Portugal etc.

We're not sure whether we will continue with the motorhome-thing next year but then again we don't have a specific plan so anything could happen.

Bring on 2020

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[maison]

Not a second home but we have a chalet style home in Burgundy.

It is dependent on, but separate from, a camp site. We have owned it for 13 years and spend the time April to October there, using it as a European base for travel.

We consider it to be the best of all worlds. A home in Wales, a second “home” in France and a motorhome in which to travel.

We have no requirement to pay local taxes etc as they are covered by our ground rent agreement. We use our “home” in France to travel throughout Europe. Once on the mainland of Europe travel between Countries is relatively cheap. From our French base we have visited Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Slovenia, Croatia, Holland and Denmark.

We love travelling and will continue to do so as long as health, (and Brexit?), allow.

 

[Blue Knight]

View attachment 316160Just done it .Not intentional but the right property came up last year outside Fethyie in Turkey.So plan now is once retired to drive down to it using the motor home once a year for a 3 or 4 month stint plus 1 month down one month getting back .The motor home will be ideal for taking the dogs plus we get to see a lot of Europe as well .The maintenance and cost of living is a lot less than Europe just paid the property tax for the year £72.00 plus they empty the bins 3 times per week.I will however have to maintain the pool while i,m enjoying myself.

That's very nice - the pool colour compliments the house.

 

[GPW]

plan now is once retired to drive down to it using the motor home

This is part of my plan when I bought my camper. What could be better than having a modest but nice bit of land and home somewhere cheap and hot, the obvious thing is to travel down in style in a camper - campers and distant homes are made for each other.

Top work that man.

 

[GPW]

we'll be using the camper as our vehicle to explore the various locations

The other part of the reason for buying the van, it's a mobile hotel while exploring and getting to know possible areas to retire to. France, Spain, Portugal are the main possibilities currently, although there are probably great Italian places too.

 

[Camping Gaza]

I done it, have a modest moHo and modest rural retreat in middle of france... got no money now tho, but have peace, absolute quiet. Just me and the wildlife... (mademoiselle lashettte and her gentleman's only club, and man that's wild)

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[Scotch mist]

We bought a MH to travel Europe & see if there is a place we would rather live in , although I love Scotland the weather & midge can be challenging,anyway I need a bit more heat lol , my intention was always to buy a cheap house in France to renovate But brexit has put a hold on any property abroad just now , so looking forward to touring now and see a bit more of the real world not just holiday destinations

 

[Allanm]

We bought a new motorhome when we retired with the intention of using it to find ourselves a second home in France. After a few months we bought one, it had been empty a few years and needed renovating.
We spent our time travelling in the van and doing up the house till it was habitable.
Then we decided we would sell up in the UK and move to France.
So, we have the best of both worlds, our main residence in France where we always feel we are on holiday, and a motorhome to travel for even more holidays.

 

[Ivory55]

Not a second home but we have a chalet style home in Burgundy.

It is dependent on, but separate from, a camp site. We have owned it for 13 years and spend the time April to October there, using it as a European base for travel.

We consider it to be the best of all worlds. A home in Wales, a second “home” in France and a motorhome in which to travel.

We have no requirement to pay local taxes etc as they are covered by our ground rent agreement. We use our “home” in France to travel throughout Europe. Once on the mainland of Europe travel between Countries is relatively cheap. From our French base we have visited Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Slovenia, Croatia, Holland and Denmark.

We love travelling and will continue to do so as long as health, (and Brexit?), allow.

In France is it like the uk where you can only buy and sell through the site and they charge quite a lot for everything or are they more reasonable.

 

[ShaKen]

We’ve been dreaming/planning for years to buy a house in France to renovate and run as gites.

My partner, Sharon, and I have had numerous road trips covering all of France to try and narrow it down on where we would want to live; but we just can’t make our mind up!

So that probably the main reason we bought a Motorhome.

So over the next few years we intend to travel more of France and Europe to see if we can find somewhere we could commit to long term.

If we can’t, then so be it. And if we find a place then we will do as many of you have done and use it as a base for further adventures.

 

[simsy56]

We have often thought about a home in Spain, but we love the freedom of the MoHo.

We wander as and when, to where we fancy, staying for as long as we feel like, and move on
.
Returning to the same place time and again would probably become a drudge. Our RV is our holiday home, anywhere.

Craig

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[34127]

I always said that we’d buy a house in France. It’s the place I feel most comfortable in. My second language.
But when we did have the money to invest we actually bought a house in Wester Ross, the most beautiful part (in my opinion) of Scotland. We can drive up on a weekend. We go about 6 times a year. We don’t rent it out. It’s all set up so we just arrive and start holidaying. Part of the rationale was to invest the money so we didn’t spend it ... so our kids would benefit from it too.
But we had caravanned and rented all our adult lives. And I hankered after a camper van. So now we have both.
We can take the van up north and spend time in our house doing overnighters even further north or to the islands.
Just now, we’re in the most southerly point in Scotland in our van. Photo below.
The view from our holiday house View attachment 316157is in my profile picture.

Wester Ross is a beautiful area that I visit regularly. I am currently looking to buy a property in the Borders region but am tempted to move further north and on the west coast of Scotland but one thing that puts me off is the dreaded Culicoides impunctatus.

 

[jongood]

We used to have a holiday home In France, No real problems, cheap enough to buy and run back then but then we got a few years in and we had seen and done everything around there and it became more of a chore. This wasnt helped by the maintenance requirements so everytime we went we needed to clean and weed and paint etc so it became a bit of a drag.

Then we bought a motorhome and much preferred it. We eventually sold the house after a lot of bureaucracy and havent looked back.

I'm not sure we would buy a second home again, we would probably long term rent so we had flexibility.

 

[sallylillian]

In 1983 we bought an apartment in Belle Plagne, great skiing but we found we never skied anywhere else. So sold it in circa 97, skied everywhere in Europe and the states after that and it was the best thing we did.
So whilst we occassionally look at buying somewhere in the sun, we always choose to uprate/upgrade our Motorhome as the better solution to a relaxing retirement with excitement and interest and no boredom.... we just move on!

 

[MisterB]

We have had a static(s) in france on the same site for 12 years and a m/h for the last 18. We would never get rid of the static except to upgrade. We had our last one for 9 years, paid a total of 19k in purchase, shipping and inprovements. Sold it for 18.5k three years ago and imported another one. I expect to lose a lot more money when we upgrade the m/h in a few years.

As for not going back to the same place, weve lived in the same house for 25 years. If youre happy sonewhere BUT also have the opportunity to go to different places, then why wouldnt you?

 

[Augusta08]

It works for us, we have both, the Augusta is used for 2 x 6-8 weeks holidays per year plus motorracing weekends. This year we did Spain Jan-Feb and Norway May-June. The French house is our summer retreat when the roads are too hot and crowded. We use the Chester house to recover and recoop, but never stay long.

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