London, Greater London · Member since 2015 · 2 posts · 0 votes
Hi,
We're new to investing and having been to Malaga before quite fell in love with the area. We want to take advantage of the prices there now and especially the whole Pound to Euro currency at the minute. Our ideal situation would be to buy a holiday home, but one that we can rent when we aren't there. I was wondering if anyone has experience in this and especially in these areas?
Is it easy to rent a place out? What should we look out for?
We've already found a property we think has potential, but of course wouldn't want to rush into it.
The secondary reason to buy there is for my mother who is retiring and bless her sole can't afford to live in her current flat after that as it's insanely expensive. So for her to move to Spain would mean she could actually enjoy her life and have a good quality lifestyle as well.
There wouldn´t be too many people on this website who are familiar with the Malaga market, so it´s worth contacting a few agents on the ground to help. Malaga is a big place, so seek out locals who know the specific neighborhoods.
That being said, I can confirm that while it is not difficult to rent out a vacation home in Malaga, it is very difficult to turn it into a reliable source of income. There is a huge glut of apartments in that region and a lot of distressed landlords. Vacation renting is a very time consuming and labour intensive business. It is like a part time job if you are doing it yourself and if you pay another company to do it on your behalf, they could charge 40%+ of your gross income as fees.
The majority of vacation homes aren´t investments, they are expenses. Some earn enough money to pay for a couple of holidays for the owners, but most are just a drain on time and resources. That being said, they are a great and well deserved reward towards the end of a working life.
From a lifestyle point of view, it is certainly true that the south of Spain is much cheaper than the UK and your Mum could improve her quality of live there a lot. Spend as much time in the area before buying as meet as many expats and estate agents as you can before taking the plunge.
There wouldn´t be too many people on this website who are familiar with the Malaga market, so it´s worth contacting a few agents on the ground to help. Malaga is a big place, so seek out locals who know the specific neighborhoods.
That being said, I can confirm that while it is not difficult to rent out a vacation home in Malaga, it is very difficult to turn it into a reliable source of income. There is a huge glut of apartments in that region and a lot of distressed landlords. Vacation renting is a very time consuming and labour intensive business. It is like a part time job if you are doing it yourself and if you pay another company to do it on your behalf, they could charge 40%+ of your gross income as fees.
The majority of vacation homes aren´t investments, they are expenses. Some earn enough money to pay for a couple of holidays for the owners, but most are just a drain on time and resources. That being said, they are a great and well deserved reward towards the end of a working life.
From a lifestyle point of view, it is certainly true that the south of Spain is much cheaper than the UK and your Mum could improve her quality of live there a lot. Spend as much time in the area before buying as meet as many expats and estate agents as you can before taking the plunge.
Thank you everyone for the great input! I would definitely say it would be more of a personal investment for my Mum and then of course a place for us to go to when we have a bit of a holiday. I can imagine the market is quite saturated already.
We've spent quite a bit of time in the areas already and are going back again in the end of August for 2 weeks once more. We simply love it :) It's just trying to find that good deal with the right people. Not to mention a good solicitor!
I'll keep my eyes open still and thank you for the great input!
Im curious to know if you have gone ahead with the place in Malaga and how it is working out for you. I am looking at the same area as well, solely for investment.
Curious as well. Just moved to Malaga and am working towards starting a flipping bussiness here in the area with some profits from selling my houses back in my home country.