For those who are scouting around for a second home away from the city’s din and grime, opting for a holiday home, in the heart of tranquillity is the next best option. Anushya Mamtora chalks out some interesting trends

Your dream of owning a plush home right in the middle of action has been taken care of. Your office is a 15-minute drive, your child’s school a short walk, and a department store is just a hop, skip and jump away. Perfect for a ‘first home’ buy – convenient and practical. But when it comes to investing in a second home how about taking the road less travelled? Instead of looking at another venture in the city, look for a home, where your stay can double up as a holiday, where entertainment and leisure is a fresh breath away and where you can spend long weekends with family and friends. Welcome to the newest concept catching the fancy of home buyers - holiday homes.
Home away from home

That’s the mainstay of these premium ventures. It let’s you sit back, relax and enjoy your vacation, but not in a plush or stiff upper lip luxury resort or hotel, but in the realms of your own home. While the most popular location for a holiday home is a tourist destination, suburban gated community projects too are doubling up as ideal options.

Col Ravi Ranjan, Vice President, Goa Projects of DLF says, “Owning a home in a tourist destination has emerged as a lucrative segment for us on the back of increasing consumer preference for an exclusive lifestyle coupled with increased leisure travel. With positive changes coming into the economy, we expect this segment to grow further.”

Growth only translates into better options for home buyers. From beach houses to quaint cottages, high-rise apartments to plush villas, there is something for everyone.

There are quite a few interesting projects in the pipeline like DLF’s River Valley project, a residential condominium set over 19 acres on a hill slope that overlooks the Zuari river in Goa, making it an ideal holiday home for Goa frequenters.

Prestige Group’s most exclusive properties include their Prestige Golfshire project, set against the Nandi Hills, that not only boasts of ultra-luxurious mansions, a private lake and a champion-sized gold course, but a 5-star hotel too.

Aamby Valley, the mini-city in Maharshtra does not project itself like a holiday home project, but has found patrons from different parts of India who head to their beautiful English, Spanish or Contemporary villas or the Timber chalets, for a fun weekend, a family celebration or simply, hibernation.

There are also projects in holiday destinations which combine a resort and holiday home, offering individual bungalows and bedroom cottages which work on a profit sharing basis.
Top-notch facilities

Since most of these concepts are premium ventures, the facilities are high-end too. From landscape gardens to clubhouses, gymnasiums to swimming pools, spas to discos, beach clubs to supermarkets and restaurants, these holiday homes are a perfect zone for entertainment and leisure.

Many of them also come fully or partly furnished and it’s all luxurious, mind you. That’s the best part about these homes; you stroll in with your strolley of clothes for a one-month summer break, and you have the kitchen, domestic help, cutlery, curtains et al in place.

Aamby valley takes it a step further. Being a self sufficient destination, it offers residential, educational, recreational and infrastructural amenities. Lagoon complexes, family entertainment zones, recreation hubs, horse riding courses, salons, spas and yes, its own airport!

Property management services is another boon for customers. DLF provides property management services for maintenance of all essential services and common areas. House keeping of apartments will be provided on request by designated agencies directly to owners. A spokesperson from Aamby adds, “We offer to manage and maintain the properties of our citizens via third party management. However, they can choose to make their own arrangement for their properties.”
Popular destinations

So, which is the most ideal location to pick a holiday home? Simple. It can either be your favourite holiday spot you love to head to for a well deserved break, your hometown, a pilgrimage destination you frequent or a charming home just a drive away, that welcomes you for a weekend of fun. While popular international locations are Spain, Greece, Portugal, Mexico, Italy, Bahamas and Florida, in India, there are many emerging hot-spots. While those who reside in Maharashtra and Gujarat head to Goa, Pune or the little hill stations in Maharashtra, other hill towns such as Shimla, Mussorie and Dehradun, are a hit among those who live in the North. In the South, similar locations like Ooty, Kodaikanal and Munnar are sought after, and so also Mysore for Bangloreans and Coimbatore for Chennaites.

Haridwar and Varanasi are also seeing a lot of premium residential ventures, that can be a neat second holiday home option. For example, the Unitech Group is soon going to come up with a 1,500-acre hi-tech township in Varanasi.
Though there are projects catering to different budget groups, if you want to holiday like a king with state of the art facilities at your beck and call, then super premium and luxury holiday home ventures is where you should head to.

Says Brotin Banerjee, CEO and MD, Tata Housing Development Company Limited, which is in the process of finalising a plush project in Lonavla, “A second home is ideally one that brings you close to nature, provides relaxation and the opportunity to be yourself. This concept has been prevalent in other parts of the world like the UK and USA. However, in India the concept of second homes or a weekend retreat has been prevalent mainly among the high-income group by way of large farmhouses or countryside homes.”

Now with the real estate boom, this idea is slowly catching up with the upper middle and middle-income groups. The rising disposable incomes, changing lifestyles, and easy availability of home loans are proving to be prime drivers of this trend, he adds.
With everything going good for the second home buyer, its going to be holiday-time every weekend. Well, who’s complaining!