Purchasing a holiday home in France

A

AoifeMaria

Guest
Over a year and a half ago, I paid a deposit for a French Leaseback holiday home in France that did not work out. Now I wish to try again. But am sceptical due to the bad experience and loss of finance. Can anyone direct me to a French leaseback scheme that is up and running?
 
Hi Aoife,

I would highly recommend Pierre and Vacances, their the top number 1 company in France and have a good track record for the past 40 years. They also have an office in Dublin. 014830846, you can contact a girl called niamh there..we're very happy with our purchase in Center Parcs.

All the best
 
Dec 77, in accordance with our guidelines about , could you please clarify whether you have any connection to Pierre & Vacances?
 
Hi Aoife Maria,

You would be well advised to go carefully. I am one of a group of Irish investors who have had a very bad experience near St. Tropez with a leaseback. We are dealing with a company called Odalys and we are tied up in negotiation and potential litigation at the moment. I see someone recommended Pierre et Vacances. Certainly they are a very reputable company but when we bought we believe Odalys were part of the Pierre et Vacances Group. I know they no longer are. I have another leaseback at La Napoule near Cannes. It is brand new and only opened this year. The Company I dealt with are Kaufmann & Broad and I found them excellent.

To Dr. Moriarty: No I have nothing to do with Odalys, Pierre et Vacances or Kaufmann & Broad
 
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Hey Gubu, I have also a leaseback in Mandelieu le Napoule. Glad you think it is good. We are going over this weekend but could not get our appartment as it is booked. Have you been over there
 
cerberos said:
check Sunday Business Post Property supplement
Click to expand...

I'm presuming [broken link removed] is the article referred to above, once the weekend on which it has been included passes the reference to the Sunday Business Post Property Supplement becomes a bit misleading.

It appears that an increasing number of leaseback operators are running into problems. Transmontagne have already folded and Maisons de Biarritz look like they will follow very soon. It would appear that the premise on which many of these leaseback developments were launched does not hold water when times get tough.
 
To Phanteon. I hope you enjoyed your stay in La Napoule. I certainly did. Of course its too early to say whether Kaufmann and Broad will run into similar problems as Odalys and some others as the complex only opened this year. I had the same experience as yourself about the apartment. I think that is common with leasebacks. You will not always get to stay in the apartment you purchased. They organise occupancy on a first come first served basis.
 
Ye had a great time in La Napoule.Complex very well finished and hopefully it will do well with holiday makers and conferences.Did the Planes flying overhead bother you?
 

You really need to do a background check on any management company with a leaseback at the moment. The fact that the development is up and running is of course a good sign but this doesn't change the fact that the PM company needs to be a good reliable one.

Dee
[broken link removed]
 
riviera said:
Why don't people just buy-to-let without a leaseback?
Click to expand...

Because it's hard work (unless you just leave your property with a local agent) and because, if you accept that the leaseback scheme will operate as advertised, it seems riskier. (Other posts here show however that the leaseback scheme is not a s reliable as advertised.)
For what it's worth, my reasoning is that you should never mix business and pleasure. If you want to buy a holiday home you should be able to afford the mortgage repayments and maintenance costs without relying on rental income. If you get some rent, well and good, but you are likely to find that the only times that you will get decent rent are the very times you will want it yourself.
If you can only spend a couple of weeks a year in your property (because that's all the holidays you can take) then you probably have no business buying a holiday home in the first place, you are better off renting.
Finally, if you want to buy a property abroad as an investment, then adopt the same hard-nosed attitude as professional property investors (who ignore leasebacks) and buy something in a good city location with a year-round rent - i.e. ignore all holiday developments.
 
For the first time im in a position to buy a holiday home in the south of france....ideally ide love to have some where that i could renovate with time and add value over time. im not dependent on rental income. Ive been to Nice many times & like it but ide like to get peoples opinions as to what other areas are great and good value for money....

Thanks in Advance

Paddy
 
We are looking at the Charente region at the moment, very good value, close to sea and weather good in Summer. For us we would be looking for somewhere with a good garden and are prepared to renovate with view to spending Summers there when retirement comes around.
 
Before you buy I would buy the following book and us the following forum
http://www.amazon.com/Buying-Home-France-Eighth-Survival/dp/1905303378/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238522585&sr=1-1



Transaction costs (stamp duty etc) for property in france are VERY high.
This combined with slow capital growth and low rental yields and a very sluggish market for big expensive properties ( 1500sqft house for €400k behind us on sale for a year)...means it can be difficult to reverse out of or recoup your money from French property.

This is why we rent in France.

Great country but property investing is a complex business.
Inheritance laws are sticky too.
 
Go for it Paddyboy. If you have the money live the dream! We bought an apartment in Nice 2 years ago and rent out as a holiday let. The rent almost pays the mortage and we get about 4 weeks there every year.
 
Thanks declanja!
Can you tell me about your experience in buying in Nice? any pros/cons/good agents/ones to avoid/ good areas to buy in Nice for one reason or another etc..

Thanks in advance Declanja
 
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