Hi
My wife and I have decided that we can afford and would like to buy a holiday home in the Lake District. We would probably rent considerably to begin with, but gradually increase amount of time for private visits. Does anyone know of a book which will guide us through the process ?
How do we find out what management companies might cost and what level of service they might provide?
How flexiblwe are they for owners time in the property?
Do we remortgage current house or get new mortgage?
I have found lots of guide 'buying a property in France / Spain' etc but not one for UK holiday homes.
We are confident we can afford to go down this route but need detailed advice.
thanks to you all
Newbie advice please.
I'd contact Cumbrian Cottages to get their owner pack - have a good read and digest the fact that you'll be giving away nearly a quarter of your gross takings. 
Then have a good old read of all the invaluable advice here and do it yourself
If you need any help with a web site we can have a chat
As to mortgages - your cheapest finance route is almost certainly on your existing property but I can put you in touch with a financial adviser (shudder) who also rents out property, so knows a thing or two about this if you like - just PM me.
Are you aware of the imminent repeal of the Furnished Letting legislation that gave preferential terms to people with holiday rentals and the impact that would have on any financial calculations?
In fact, have you spoken to an accountant - if not it would be a good idea before leaping in.
Then have a good old read of all the invaluable advice here and do it yourself
If you need any help with a web site we can have a chat
As to mortgages - your cheapest finance route is almost certainly on your existing property but I can put you in touch with a financial adviser (shudder) who also rents out property, so knows a thing or two about this if you like - just PM me.
Are you aware of the imminent repeal of the Furnished Letting legislation that gave preferential terms to people with holiday rentals and the impact that would have on any financial calculations?
In fact, have you spoken to an accountant - if not it would be a good idea before leaping in.
The only book we looked at was "Starting and Running a Holiday Cottage Business" by Gillean Sangster, it has quite a lot of useful tips.
We were with an agency for our first year, we didn't renew. As has been said they do take a whopping percentage of your rents, and all they actually did was list our property and handle the paperwork, all the cleaning and maintenance etc was still down to us to organise. Our main issue with them was that it was all very impersonal, there was no direct contact between us and the customers, and I think that encouraged people to treat it like a hotel rather than someone's house. We did get some quite serious damage done and the agency weren't at all interested in chasing people up to reimburse us, as long as bookings came in and they got their cut that was all they cared about. They were mainly ok about letting us use our own property, there was an allowance of how many weeks we could use it during peak season and the rest of the year we had unlimited access. We only had a problem with that once, when we'd booked a week for ourselves and they tried to pressure us into giving it up for some last-minute paying customers.
So all that considered we're now going it alone, but our year with the agency was quite a useful learning experience and if we hadn't done that I think I'd feel less confident about going independant. Good luck with whatever you decide.
Kate
We were with an agency for our first year, we didn't renew. As has been said they do take a whopping percentage of your rents, and all they actually did was list our property and handle the paperwork, all the cleaning and maintenance etc was still down to us to organise. Our main issue with them was that it was all very impersonal, there was no direct contact between us and the customers, and I think that encouraged people to treat it like a hotel rather than someone's house. We did get some quite serious damage done and the agency weren't at all interested in chasing people up to reimburse us, as long as bookings came in and they got their cut that was all they cared about. They were mainly ok about letting us use our own property, there was an allowance of how many weeks we could use it during peak season and the rest of the year we had unlimited access. We only had a problem with that once, when we'd booked a week for ourselves and they tried to pressure us into giving it up for some last-minute paying customers.
So all that considered we're now going it alone, but our year with the agency was quite a useful learning experience and if we hadn't done that I think I'd feel less confident about going independant. Good luck with whatever you decide.
Kate