Originally Posted by Gray C

Back now from the pub and refreshed having had a really nice curry. Iain to answer your last point I have had so many people asking to come out and visit us we could probably book up solidly tomorrow. Provided we offer good value and quality accommodation I think any rental property would let itself. I know this from having an apartment in Menorca that I used to rent out. I did not need to advertise it at all. With saying that, Menorca is not Canada and the flights are more expensive. However, I do think that we would get a good client base from the UK and that is without looking at the Canadian or USA market.

Provided we can up our budget a bit we would be interested in filling the "up market" void that you refer to.

If we could get all year round lettings that would be an added bonus too, as I really thought that would only apply to Alberta and BC with the skiing clientele.

I really think that we need to get out there and have a good look around and speak to a few good realtors, as well as your good selves.

Thanks to you, Flashman, and everyone else for your ongoing help.

Graham & Pauline

Originally Posted by 1066

Have you considered buying into the 'mobile' market?

There are some very nice units for sale, dirt cheap, and very lettable. You could probably buy 10 units out in Nova Scotia for the cost of 1 condo in BC.

Originally Posted by Gray C

Hi

We are thinking of buying a house with plenty of acreage to build a couple of holiday log cabins to be used for rental purposes.

We are thinking about the Quinte/Prince Edward County region as a location as it is tourist orientated.

Does anyone have a rough idea of the cost of building a couple of basic two bedroomed log cabins?

Is the location a good one to be considering this?

What pitfalls do we have to overcome in this quest, eg planning permission, putting in electricity and other servicing costs etc etc. Again any rough idea of the costs?

We realise that the income will mostly be during the peak summer months, but if the costs of building these homes is not too prohibitive, it should be worthwhile to generate extra income.

Budget of approx $400,000 to $450,000.......Yes or no?

Is this a good idea, or a crazy bird brained silly foolhardy idea.

Your views please, especially Iaink, Flashman, Canada Jane and anyone else living in this area.

Cheers

Graham

Originally Posted by Gray C

Back now from the pub and refreshed having had a really nice curry. Iain to answer your last point I have had so many people asking to come out and visit us we could probably book up solidly tomorrow. Provided we offer good value and quality accommodation I think any rental property would let itself. I know this from having an apartment in Menorca that I used to rent out. I did not need to advertise it at all. With saying that, Menorca is not Canada and the flights are more expensive. However, I do think that we would get a good client base from the UK and that is without looking at the Canadian or USA market.

Originally Posted by Chops

Graham,

I think your idea is basically sound and I believe it would be possible to buy land and build cabins.

I only know the Columbia Valley area of BC well so with that in mind here are "my" thoughts to your questions:

http://www.cabinkit.com has quite a number of cabin kits. If I have read it correctly the kits range from $30k to $70k. On top of that will be your labour, ground work etc.

I would imagine you could build two cabins for $200k plus land. Some friends of mine built an 8,000 sqft showroom for $500k inc. land.

If you buy out of the town limits (which you would have to do I think) there are no planning or building regs. However, I don't think that breaking building regs is a good idea for safety or insurance reasons.

You could buy a house with enough land for your cabins for under $500k, depening on how nice a house you want and how much land.

If you were to go to the Columbia valley then there are at least 3 ski areas: Kicking Horse, Kimberly and Fernie nearby. These will provide 2 seasons of income, potentially. (Kicking Horse is awesome by the way!)

The other option would be to buy somewhere with cabins already built.

I wouldn't be happy taking on a large debt to finance such a project as I don't know how much income it would provide but if you have the money already then I expect you could make a living from it. That kind of business would not require much of your time so you could quite easily do a full time job also.

All in all, it is a viable business (depending on gearing) as other folk do it but whether it would work for you is another matter.

Cheers,

Ian.

Originally Posted by iaink

Return On Investment

Taking Flashmans point, The immediate area I live in is right on the Trent, which of course has the Trent Severn Waterway, so boats go by all summer, perhaps looking for somewhere to moore for the night. Its also right on the Hastings Heritage trail, so Skidoos in the winter, ATVs in the summer, and that hooks up with the transcanada trail.

There is also year round fishing, and a couple of local cottage groups cater pretty much exclusively to the fishing trade, so I guess its doable.

The market niche that I dont think is being filled near me is for more upmarket (midrange) cottage accomodation, a step up in class from places like the catchmore cottages

The log cabin idea would have been perfect for my brother, looking for somewhere pretty nice in place of the "best western" for his family to stay in. Somewhere on a lake, laid back in an adirondiac chair on the jetty or deck watching the sun set, sounds nice to me I had a look and couldnt find anything close enough to Belleville / Trenton.

The question is though how many more are there like him who would come to this area, bearing in mind he's coming basically to visit us and to be god parent to offspring #2 who is getting doused this weekend?