Holiday and second homes in Midi-Pyrenees, South West France

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Holiday, second homes and property management in France – A Guide2 Midi-Pyrenees feature by Sally Stone.

 

In her latest article for Guide2 Midi-Pyrenees, Sally Stone, MD of Les Bons Voisins, discusses the dos and don’ts and the whys and where for’s of holiday and second homes in France.

 

We came to France for a cheap weekend in 2001 and returned home the proud (and unexpected) owners of a tiny dilapidated cottage which as an acquaintance said, “Needed someone with vision.”  So I am a fine one to give you a list of how to choose a second home in France, since absolutely no logic or careful planning was involved with the purchase of our own “maison secondaire”.

 

In the intervening years, we have learnt a huge amount, especially since as a direct result of our own purchase and the issues that owning it threw up, we run a network of property managers across France who specialise in providing assistance to anyone with a second home here.  If your choice too is a “coup de foudre” (love at first sight) then of course you will cope – but there are some interesting points which might help not just in the purchase but in the caring for your home here.   

 

Firstly, the house hunting on the internet can be great fun but try and find someone local to the property that might look round it for you, if otherwise that involves a trip to France.  Their local, independent, knowledge might be invaluable.  If you fall in love with something requiring renovation, don’t base your budgeting for it on costs in your home country – specialist stonemasons don’t come cheap and you might need one for the ideas you have.

 

Ongoing, two issues can raise problems which you might not think of immediately – isolation, and the size of the plot of land your property is on.  The property which is idyllic and only a few kilometres from its nearest neighbour might seem very lonely indeed during visits out of high summer and those kilometres may take on a different aspect when they need to be covered each time you want to eat out or buy some groceries.  

 

The wonderful expanse of garden surrounding your property – enticing you because you might well not be able to afford that much land in the UK – will need to be looked after and maintained inexorably and spending the first half of any visit hacking through the vegetation which has grown up since you were last here, does get boring after a while.

 

The financial aspect of your purchase might then suddenly escalate in the sense that ongoing costs, like employing someone to look after your garden, might eat up a great deal of budget during probably 8 months of the year.  

 

As caretakers, we wish we had a euro for every time someone has said – can you cut the grass less often – answer – of course, but it will take twice as long... so no solution there!  So if you can possibly encourage yourself to fall in love with a property within walking distance of the boulangerie and with no more than a medium sized garden, then you will be really thinking along the right lines.

 

The caretaking of the property needs a budget too, if you are to avoid either losing friends who live near and have offered to look after it for you (and of course they do, but in a casual way which is difficult to police or criticize when it is done as a favour!).  OR arriving to find that a burst pipe has undone all the DIY you spent your last holiday doing...  Ah I hear you say, but we will let the property out as a gîte and that will cover our expenses... indeed you can, but the standard of it and its advertising needs to be very high to compete in an already crowded market and it may be a while before it is at that stage.

 

But oh, if you get these things right, the joy and anticipation as you approach your “second home”, every visit will heighten that feeling that it really IS a home from home, with that true French ambience, a welcoming Bonjour from the neighbours, and days spent titivating the grounds (as opposed to hacking through the undergrowth) providing a holiday “par excellence” with guaranteed relaxation and a real sense of rejuvenation.  

 

And yes, by co-incidence rather than by design, our own cottage was just a stroll from the centre of our tiny town, and its garden was eventually with local help, quite manageable.  But I expect you have already guessed - within a couple of years it was no longer our second home – we were living here permanently – and still unexpectedly!

 

 

BON COURAGE!

 

Sally

 

More about Sally Stone

Sally is MD of Les Bons Voisins, heading up a successful franchise network of property managers with a presence in seven regions of France, from Normandy to Languedoc, and of course including the Midi Pyrénéees.  For further details of the services provided by Les Bons Voisins, contact Sally at LBV France.

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