If you have a holiday home, it is easy to get swept up in the dream, rather than the reality. Although it is wonderful to be able to own a property in another area of the world, and enjoy the sense of achievement in being able to buy it in the first place, your challenges don’t end when you hand over the money.
In fact, owning a second property creates a whole other challenge of managing a house you live in every day.
For example, if you are not living in the property (or potentially even in the same country), you will not be able to keep on top of maintenance work, security checks and administration as easily.
This can quickly develop from a small annoyance to an expensive problem, especially if your home suffers a serious issue like a water leak.
Therefore, you will inevitably find yourself trying to repair your holiday home from time to time.
Here are three tips for repairing your holiday home cheaply:
Basic equipment isn’t expensive if you know what you’re looking for
Keeping your holiday home in a good condition doesn’t have to be difficult, as long as you’re prepared and can visit the property regularly.
The most common jobs will be repainting walls, repairing cracks, changing broken light bulbs and fixing minor water leaks. If you hire your home out to guests, these issues may extend to broken furniture. None of this has to be an issue as long as you have the right equipment.
For example, you can stick materials together with a strong adhesive, which ideal if you are repairing flooring or furniture, among other items.
It goes without saying that if you discover a major problem – such as with the plumbing, electricity or gas, you should not attempt to repair it yourself. Call a specialist instead.
Keep on top of home maintenance before problems take hold
The simplest tip for repairing your holiday home cheaply is not to have to repair it at all. This might sound glib, but most property issues only happen after an extended period of neglect.
If you want to avoid expensive problems, make sure you are able to visit the property regularly, to check everything is working correctly and attend to small issues before they develop into larger ones.
If this is not feasible, it is a good idea to either hire a local property manager to keep you updated on any issues, or even hire the house out to holiday guests when you aren’t using it.
Not only is the latter option financially lucrative, but it also keeps the plumbing and heating systems working regularly, minimizing the chance of problems occurring. However, if you do encounter problems with your heating systems, it’s best to have them resolved right away by professionals from heating repair Las Vegas.
Consider whether it is cheaper to use a local workforce rather than yourself
If your holiday home needs significant repairs, it could be more cost (and time) effective to hire a local workforce to do the work for you.
While it may cost you more in the short term, a team of professionals is likely to do a quality job (meaning the problem should be resolved for a long time), and save you having to book time off work, travel to the property and waste time trying to work out how to fix the issue.
