My wifes folks had a 3 bed, 2 bathroom villa in Lanzarote since the early 90s. Her dad decided to give it up about 2 years ago after the maintenance costs just kept going up and up every year. The villa was bought with cash initially, used as a holiday home a couple of times a year and was rented roughly 40 weeks of the year. After initially trying and failing to sell it he offered to sign it over to us but we didn't fancy the maintenance costs or the endless hassle he seemed to have managing a property abroad. In the end he sold it through an agency for pennies by todays standards. Due to the duration he owned it he lost nothing but made little.
We enjoyed the use of the villa for a few years but you got sick of going to the same place all the time. After a few years the only pull for me was that it's a great location for surfing so I would go a couple of times a year just to surf. Apart from that it just felt a bit like being at home only much warmer. I think it takes a certain type of person to be able to go to the same place several times a year, year after year.
Like everyone else i've heard the scare stories. I think they generally only happen to the financially over stretched and the naive. You seem like neither. At the current prices there is little to be lost.
We enjoyed the use of the villa for a few years but you got sick of going to the same place all the time. After a few years the only pull for me was that it's a great location for surfing so I would go a couple of times a year just to surf. Apart from that it just felt a bit like being at home only much warmer. I think it takes a certain type of person to be able to go to the same place several times a year, year after year.
Like everyone else i've heard the scare stories. I think they generally only happen to the financially over stretched and the naive. You seem like neither. At the current prices there is little to be lost.