I am currently in my last year at Sheffield Hallam University studying Tourism and Hospitality Business Management, and I am working on my final year dissertation. The topic is ‘The Place in the Sun Phenomenon” and second holiday home purchases abroad. I am hoping to find out why people buy holiday homes, what influences them to buy such as watching property programs and which destination is most popular to buy a property in amongst many other things. I would be very grateful if you could take the time to fill in my questionnaire.


1. What age bracket do you fit into?
20-30…………….
30-40…………….
40-50……………
50-60……………
60+……………..

2. Do you currently own a holiday (second) home abroad?
Yes ….. No……


If yes go to question 3, if no go to question 8


3. Why did you purchase your holiday (second) home abroad?
• Family holidays………
• Retirement…………
• Renting out………..
• Other………………

4. In which country is your holiday home?

……………………………………………..

5. Why did you decide on this country?

…………………………………………………

6. Were you influenced to buy your holiday home by any of the following? -

• TV programs such as A Place in the Sun.
• Overseas Property Exhibitions/Estate agencies
• Recommendations From Family / Friends
• Other, Please State

……………………………………………………………………………………….

7. Did you have any concerns when purchasing your holiday home abroad?
Yes
No
If yes please specify……………………


If the answer to question 1 was no, please answer the following questions.

8. Have you ever considered owning a second home in another country?
If yes what aspects have attracted you to buying abroad?

………………………………………………………………………………………..


If no, what discouraged you from considering buying abroad?

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Thank You

Hi Hannah

Think you tried contacting me via a PM on another forum last year. I didn’t respond there as couldn’t see any posts made by yourself and wasn’t sure what my contact details would be used for if I passed them on. Happy to answer your questions now.

1) 30-40
2) Yes, though only off-plan (not built yet.)
3) Other. As an investment.
4) Morocco
5) Originally wanted to create a spread of foreign investments – one low risk, one medium and one high. At that time I saw Morocco as high risk with potentially high returns. The more I looked into Morocco the more I started to consider it as medium risk (with potentially high returns over a period of 5 years or so.) Took the plunge once I was comfortable with risks that are out with my control.
6) I don’t think my purchase was influenced by any of these things. Morocco didn’t feature as much in the foreign expos then and I’ve realised for some time that there is very limited useful information in magazines. My job involves assessing risk and I apply the same set of skills to assess overseas opportunities.
7) This was my first large investment with my own money, so naturally I was concerned. While I had performed my due diligence and was confident the risk versus reward was suitable, I knew I was placing most of my available funds into just the one property (with the risk that brings.) That was probably the thing that concerned me most at the time.

Good luck with your studies.