About the niche to choose when starting ...

If you are planning to buy a rental home, or you're thinking about what to do with one you have just acquired, this is the place for any questions about starting out in the rentals business.
Guest

About the niche to choose when starting ...

Post by Guest »

Hello,
Im still in the process of planning to start on my own in France.
The other day I was reeding about different niches in the market, and what I would trust would be optimal for earning the money needed.

There are of course many ways of doing it, and me being total new may sound naive but still want to post this and hopefully get some response from you guys who have experience

:roll:

To have a gite with 4-5 beds and a good standard, good location OR to have a gite with room for only one couple but with a very high standard and a private pool. Would that one luxerious gite be as good as the first option moneywise?

I was reading about a couple who actually did just that and was happy to see that they were booked all year round with only having that option 2.

Any opinions about this?

Elisa
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kendalcottages
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Joined: Fri Nov 27, 2009 11:08 am
Location: Kendal, between the Lake District and the Dales
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Post by kendalcottages »

Hi Elisa

Welcome to LMH and good luck with your new venture.

I don't think anyone can really answer this for you. It will depend on all kinds of factors - the location, the competition, the rental potential, the running costs, etc. etc.

What I would say is that to focus on quality is usually a good move (IMHO)... you only have to look at availability calendars on the big listing sites and I think it's common to see the better places fill up first.
Kendal Holiday Cottages Ltd., Kendal, Cumbria - between the Lake District & the Yorkshire Dales.
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wallypott
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Post by wallypott »

I think 2 bedrooms probably is optimal in a way, especially with the pool. That way you cover couples, without excluding them when a sproglet comes along. Sometimes couples like having an extra room, we get quite a lot of couples asking for both bedrooms to be made up.

I appreciate that is not the question you asked. When you say 4/5 bed - is that bedroom or beds?

I have 2 x 2 bedrooms, they fill up later, but work out more profitable for less effort than the 6 bedroom house. More bedrooms is more work - cleaning, bed changing, washing, ironing etc. Letting the 2 beds for a weekend is an attractive option, but not in the big house - its just such a big job getting it ready. I can be flexible with the small houses in a way that is difficult to achieve with the big house, and as a result I get more nights booked.

Less mortgage is always attractive too - bigger house/bigger mortgage? Depending on your circumstances of course.

Good quality is always going to work, but remember that this is a rental property and you need to factor that in to your choices all the way through.
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LaVilleauTady
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Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2007 6:52 pm
Location: Southern Brittany (& Lancashire)
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Post by LaVilleauTady »

Hi Elisa, that's a tricky question to answer! Like KC says, there probably isn't a definite right answer, at least not one that I can give you.

I can offer some things to consider though. It seems to me that you will really need to know the local market and demand. A popular family destination may suit the larger property and a chic resort the couples luxury property.

Start with the location. You can check out on a site like Owners Direct to see what is renting well, what fills up fast, what does not rent at all, and the likely rental rates you can realistically achieve.

Some of the things to try and get right:
The right property
in the right location
with kerb appeal
marketed well
with good photos
and realistic prices.

getting some of these critical factors right may be more important that have the right property and getting them wrong.

Hope that helps.
Guest

choosing a niche...

Post by Guest »

Thanks so much for your replies. I know there are so many things to consider. I did think of the amount of work of cleaning, and maintenance, and making of food for my h, who is a chef.
We are anyway planning to rent renting in an area we feel might be as close as possible to where we feel the good location would be. This for at least 4/5 months.

There are so many negative things to read and especially about naive expectations. I know we have to make our own mistakes but this forum and reading good magazines can help alot.

Thanks again.

Elisa
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Holiday Ray
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Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:07 am
Location: South West France
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Post by Holiday Ray »

Hello elisa and a warm welcome to the LMH forum.

I agree with everything the folks above have suggested and to add one VERY important factor (for me at least) -

Choose somewhere that you absolutely love yourself.

If you're going to be living in the locality of your property, you need to enjoy doing this first and foremost. On those days when everything seems to be going wrong (which does seem to happen, particularly in the 'start-up' stage), it makes things a whole lot easier to deal with, if you can just go and take yourself(ves) off on a nice walk and enjoy just being wherever you are !
Ray
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