How to buy?

Buying a holiday home requires good preparation. Think about your wishes and draw up a clear wish list. Familiarise yourself with the country and region of your choice, including legal, administrative and tax rules, as these differ from location to location. Do you want to rent out your property? Then check carefully what is and is not allowed. Our country guides offer extensive information to get you started!

Buying a holiday home, important points to consider.

Buying a holiday home is popular but it is important to be well prepared. This starts, of course, at the orientation stage. For what purpose do you want to buy a holiday home? In which country and region and also the type of property. There are also a number of fixed points that everyone has to deal with. If you take these points of interest into account, you can’t go wrong.

Buying an existing holiday home: structural inspection?

If you are buying an existing holiday home, it is not always clear what salvaged defects there may be. So before making an offer on a holiday home, it is wise to have a structural inspection carried out. That way, you can be sure of the good condition of the holiday home. With a new construction, this is obviously not a necessity.

Who will you buy the holiday home from?

Buying a holiday home involves large sums of money. It is therefore important to look carefully at who you are getting involved with. Initially, it is of course about having a good feeling with a company and person, but in addition, it is good to look a little further. Ask for references, google the company and check its reputation on the Internet. See how long the company has been around and check where it is located. It is also important to ask about the purchase process, how it works with any down payments and what guarantees there are on these. All in all, not complicated matters. If you use common sense and personal feeling, you can’t go wrong.

Renting out a holiday home

When you buy a second home, you have to choose whether or not to rent it out. Letting a holiday home brings extra returns but also takes time: tenants may complain about defects, neighbours about nuisance from the tenants… Take this into account. If you are not willing to take on this ‘hassle’, you can hire a third party to take care of everything for you. You will get less return on your second home but you will be at ease.

Additional costs to your holiday home

Make a good calculation of all costs when buying a second home. Take into account taxes, insurance, maintenance costs… Also consider the popularity and accessibility of the region in which the property is located. This can have an impact on your return.

Holiday home taxes

When buying a second home, don’t lose sight of taxes. A second home does not fall under the home ownership scheme (box 1) but is part of your assets in box 3 on the tax return form. The exemption on capital gains tax has been increased to €25,000 per person. You have to pay tax on assets above this limit. The rate of return depends on the size of your assets.

Buy holiday home on your own land?

When buying a second home, you need to check whether it is on your own land or, for example, on land belonging to a holiday park. In the latter case, the owner of the land may ask you to move or even demolish your house. So check carefully the contract with the landowner.

Living permanently in your holiday home

Can I live permanently in a holiday home. This question comes up regularly and is not easy to answer. Especially when you buy a holiday home in the Netherlands, you need to find out carefully. Each municipality has its own rules and policies. Sometimes it is allowed or tolerated, in other cases it is prohibited.

The above points are general issues you may encounter when buying a holiday home.Yet there are differences when you decide to buy a house in Spain or France, for example. The rules vary from country to country and it is important that you get well informed about them. This can be done on the one hand by the selling party, but also by attending seminars at the Second Home Expo.