Thinking you’d love to own a holiday home? Think again..

A holiday home sounds like the dream, right?

Your own place to escape to. Familiar. Easy. Always there when you need a break. And on paper, it can look like a really smart strategy too.

You buy a holiday home, rent it out on Airbnb, and it helps cover the mortgage.
You and the family get to enjoy it when you want.

And over time, you hopefully benefit from capital growth as well. What’s not to love about that?

But for a lot of people, it feels a little different once it becomes real. If the property is any good on Airbnb, it’s booked. A lot. Which means that spontaneity you imagined? It starts to disappear.

You can’t just decide on a Friday that you feel like heading away. You’re checking bookings. Working around guests. Trying to find a window. And with kids’ sports, work commitments, and life being busy, booking in advance isn’t always that easy.

So the place that was meant to give you freedom, starts to come with constraints.

Then when you do get there, it’s not always the switch-off you expected. Instead of relaxing, you’re noticing everything.

“Oh, that needs fixing.”
“We should really update that.”
“The lawn needs doing.”

You’re not just a guest, you’re the owner. And it can start to feel less like a holiday, and more like another property to manage.

Then there’s the money sitting in it. A holiday home around $800,000 is a massive chunk of capital. That same $800,000, earning 5%, could generate around $40,000 a year in income.

It’s worth asking, what else could that money be doing for you?

More flexibility.
Stronger investments.
Less day-to-day pressure.

Because there is another way to think about it. Instead of owning the place, you back the experience.
Set aside a proper budget for holidays each year, and actually use it well. Earn or save that $40,000 a year (not to mention rates, insurance, and maintenance).

Go where you want, when you want.

Try different places. Stay somewhere great. Leave without a checklist hanging over you.

When you go away, you’re actually away. And when you come home, everything is still simple.

For a lot of people, that ends up feeling a lot more like what they imagined in the first place.

And it connects to something bigger.

Just because you can afford something one day, doesn’t mean you need to.