musiclovers

hi everyone, I am looking for advice about letting out our (potential) French homes to holiday makers.

I have just inherited an appartment in London and can probably afford a one bedroom appartment in the historic centre of Montpellier and a second 3 bedroom house (with garden / pool) about 40 minutes away (I'm thinking of Lodeve). Both mortgage free.

With my husband, we are thinking that once we have bought these two properties we would be able to rent them out as holiday lets during June / July / August generating an income of approximately 36,000 euros.

Are we being realistic in our estimation of holiday rental income?

Thank you for your thoughts and advice!

ps I have dual nationality (British / French), bi-lingual and have lived in other parts of France (both city and countryside).

grannybunz

I don't think you are being realistic.

You can never expect full occupancy and the years really vary. With the good weather this year in the UK booking on our daughter's house -three bedrooms etc has been down on last year despite some excellent reviews on the site.

In this bit of Provence I understand lettings are down this year and it also seems to be due to the fall in the £v€ and the high cost of fuel

musiclovers

hello

thank you for your advice. On reflection we wouldn't need to restrict the rental period to the summer months. We would be able to offer both houses for rental throughout the year which would give us more flexibility (eg Easter holidays / half term). Do you think this would be more feasible?

Harvester523

How about looking online at similar properties to see how much they charge and what the availability is - that should give you an idea of how bookings are.

EuroTrash

Since you ask, your target income sounds a tad optimistic to me.

But realistically, nobody can predict at this stage how well your business will do because it depends entirely on the location of your properties, your flair for making your advertising attractive, and your willingness put time and effort and money into your marketing to make sure you reach your target clientele. A lot of gite businesses struggle to reach that figure, some earn more. If you buy stunning properties in stunning locations, with top notch facilities, market them well, and provide the kind of experience that brings your customers back year after year after year, and the economy picks up, you should do well. If you compromise on location and facilities, expect the gites to sell themselves, employ a changeover person who leaves mouse droppings in the corners and the economy takes another nosedive, you won't. Business is always a gamble but the ones who work the hardest tend to have the best luck

dmu

Hi, I go to Lodève from time to time - it's never what I would call crowded with tourists. Magnificent cathedral, excellent Musée Fabre, the Savonnerie, but nothing else to attract holidaymakers for more than a day. The area around is spectacular and I would have thought a house nearer the Lac Salagou would have more potential... Just my opinion! If you have already decided on Lodève, then I rest my case!

musiclovers

hi,

yes, we intend to be doing all those positive steps (thank you EuroTrash).

However (and this is embarassing) I did get my figures wrong. Actually the figure I should have written is 18,000 euros. Hopefully this is much more doable!

Thank you for the encouragement - and advice duly noted and appreciated re being nearer to the Lac. If anyone has any tips on the best ways to advertise that would also be great.

Thanks again!

cjm

Before you buy, take the advice here to research. Is there a market for holidays in that area/town? Who would book? How would they book? Website? Possibly. Who would clean and change bedding etc. At what cost? Even €18K I feel is very optimistic.

Luciole

I do know a couple of people who use the www.cheznous.com website to advertise their properties. I am not suggesting that you use this service, but might be worth having a look at it to compare similar properties in the same area to get an idea what is on offer and at what price.

Novocastrian

There are two posters (one rather absent these days) called wetwang and LeChant. Both are wizards (in different ways) at marketing holiday rentals.

Wetwang is around and may chip in, LeChant is rarely here these days but his (excellent) photography thread is a sticky and there's a link to his gites/camping website in his sig line.

Check 'em out.

cjm

Again, without promoting, we use Chez Nous and hads good results this year. But, as I said, research.

Novocastrian

Oh sorry, there are (at least) three posters who...

Chatter Static

We used http://www.homelidays.com kept us busy in the peak holidays all of these holiday let websites let you do one thing and that is see what all the lets around you are like and how much competition you will have of which you will probably have lots. Remember there are folk out there that would prefer less basic lets as well and it pays to tier your pricing through the peak and non peak periods.

wetwang

This year has been very poor for the gite market in the Dordogne. All my contacts are looking at 10-20% down on 2012.
Montpellier is a different market altogether but no reason to think they do any better there.
It's the Americans who underpin this business here as they just love Dordonia and the dollar has not suffered. 2 bedroom units are the most requested.

cjm

Interesting wetwang, we never see yanks in our part. Dutch, German and hordes of French, a lot from Paris, oh and hordes of Brits.