Am I doing the right thing?

[Carow]

Hi - I am still at the early stages of planning my Gite.

Having read through some discussions throughout this Forum, I can see that it is quite a monumental task running a rental property.

I am also doing a business plan to see whether it will actually be worthwhile taking on this task, as well as doing as much research as possible.

We dont need the income to finance our mortgage -However, I am really looking for a way to substitute the mortgage, so that when we finally move into the house it will have parly paid itself off. Also it is somehing I would be doing for the love of it and maybe some financial gain.

I will not be on site to run the Gite, but will need to find someone in the Village to do changeovers for me.

Can this be done successfully? I see many of the members are not on site.

With all the start up costs and running costs is it really worth my while? I'd love to set it all up and getting it running - gives me something to be passionate about. But any words of wisdom would be most welcome.

Thanks
Carolyn

[cromercrabholiday]

From our limited knowledge with a UK cottage, you will do well to get a regular return as good as a decent investment portfolio. Then comes the capital gain element, which is an unknown.

It is hard work to set up, depending on what sort of gite you are looking for. You will also have to organise repairs to all services remotely - Jane is quite successful at this as we've got a range of helpful and reasonably priced tradesmen (and speak the same language, give or take a Norfolk drawl). She is up there currently, broke a window yesterday, rang the builder this morning and one of his men was measuring it up ten minutes later. Others have horror stories about managing problems from a distance.

We had an ulterior motive as we knew that we would retire into East Anglia and wanted a base to search for our retirement home. In the event, we have found a wreck to renovate earlier than we expected and will never live in the North Norfolk cottage and are now looking to sell it.

And, despite it all, Jane loves running the business. The payback when the visitors book has a glowing reference is tangible and our returning guests are also our friends, even though we've usually never met.

Good luck

John

[Musetta]

certainly can be done...I live abroad and mange things myself (with the help of my trusty housekeeper!)

It is sometimes stressful not being there to watch over everything - but certainly dob-le I think

as for the moeny....wel...I'll put it this way...if I worked in any shop (or any job what-so-ever) for the amouont of hours I spend dealing with the rental home...I'd make MUCH, much, much more money but it would not be nearly as fun (!!) as I don't really look at it as "work" and I love talking to people about the house and Italy...so...yes..worth it becasuse it really is enjoyable to me...I make more money in rent and appreciation on a long-term rental I have close to home...but it's not fun really at all - just investment. It doesn't cost me anything though - it does pay for itself.

[Carow]

Thank you for your reply -I have bought a house in the Languedoc region of France - inland from Narbonne. Our plan is to retire there, or maybe just escape there within the next 5 years.

I am going to be there for 3 weeks to finalise all the "readiness issues" i.e. local cleaner or manager, furnishings, etc.

Just having a few jitters at the moment. Regarding the economics and viability of my venture. As mentioned before, we are not reliant on income to pay for the mortgage. But would love to have a rental property to supplement the mortgage costs.

I live in South Africa, so a trip to France costs me approx 900 pounds sterling.

Finding someone like you have to look after the property and be on close call is my biggest worry.

Regards Carolyn

[Carow]

Hi Musetta - have been following your threads on this forum with much admiration - your situation is similar to mine except for location as I am in France.

I read also, with much amusement "Our Guests HATED our house" and then went on to see how well you are booked at the moment!

How did you go about finding a reliable housekeeper? This is my biggest worry right now.

Most agencies dont operate in my area so I would have to find a local person. Going there in 2 weeks time with that as my primary mission.

Glad to see you are doing well AND enjoying it!
Caro

[vrooje]

Hi Carolyn,

It sounds like we have a similar situation to yours. We live off-site and manage our rentals from a continent away. Our costs are definitely higher than they would be if we lived on site, but we are still able to make the property pay for itself. After the mortgage, taxes and bills and all of our costs, we do still have a bit left each year to re-invest in the property. The hope is that we will be able to do this until my parents retire.

So yes, it definitely can be managed. But as others have said, don't expect to make a large income from it!

[Carow]

Hi Vrooje - which I have gathered is from a typing error and love it that you have kept it.

Encouraging to hear that your run a rental from the states. I am in South Africa which is also a long way,

Glad to hear that it can be done. Most important now is to find a good housekeeper. I am just getting nervous about pushing the final buttons on the website!!!

Caro

[Giddy Goat]

Hi Vrooje - which I have gathered is from a typing error and love it that you have kept it.

I've often wondered about that - how clever of you Caro! Good luck with your hunt for the perfect caretakers/cleaners - I too am an absentee owner, and finding someone reliable and professional is about the toughest call of all. Your only comfort is that all of us in the same boat go through it. Be prepared to network big time when you're there, and if your French is good enough, it will be better by far to employ French cleaners, since they're inevitably cheaper and possibly more thorough as well.

The down side is that they may not be able to communciate as well with your non-French speaking guests! But that mightn't be such an issue if you're lucky enough to find an English speaking caretaker with enough French to liaise with them and be the main point of contact with your guests.

Hope that makes sense - it's been a trying day!!

[LaVilleauTady]

Finding someone like you have to look after the property and be on close call is my biggest worry.

Carolyn, when we decided to rent our cottage, finding an honest and reliable cleaner/caretaker was also our biggest concern.

My advice would be don't leave this until you go to France - start your research now.

On the plus side, there are many people (many English!) who have moved to France looking for a complete change of lifestyle and now offer such services.

When we were looking for our caretaker/cleaner/gardener I searched:
1. Google search for the area and property management.
2. Searched web sites such as AngloInfo and FrenchEntree for listings.
Here's yours:
http://languedoc.angloinfo.com/af/318/l ... ement.html
http://www.frenchentree.com/languedoc-d ... p?ID=24696
http://www.totalfrance.com/france/class ... &adid=6808
3. Checked out local estate agents who have cards placed inside from local people offering a variety of property services.
4. Emailed a number of property owners who had properties near to ours asking for recommendations.

On a very quick check of FrenchEntree, I see there is an advert from a company offering the service you require within 35 min. travelling time of Narbonne:

Aude House Checkers Ltd
- Let us care for your home in France. Meet & Greet, Cleaning and Change over service for property within 35 mins of Narbonne. Professional People offering high class service.
Narbonne, AUDE
Tel: +33 (0)4 68 33 91 43
Contact: Janene Bartram

I just chose this one to illustrate there are people offering the service you require in your area, I'm not recommending them in any way!

Don't forget, you can also place an advert on these sites and let them come to you.

In this way you can start to narrow down your search, discuss rates, and get a feel for prospective management companies before you leave South Africa, which means you will then have more time in France to meet your short-listed candidates at your property and talk through exactly what you require.

Good luck, Martin.

[remote]

Caro
We're in a similar position to you - bought a house to retire to, and let it in the mean time. However we're in the UK and can't resist going over there every couple of months (I'm a teacher) so we only let it out for a couple of months or so.
When looking for a caretaker/changeover person I got in touch with other rental owners in the area and asked them who they used. I just looked on lots of holiday sites and rang up those who lived in the UK , as those living on site probably have their hands full.
Good Luck
Motey

[Giddy Goat]

That's very sound advice - there's a lot of preliminary research you can be doing in advance of arrival, as Martin and Motey say. Tapping into the French sector might be harder to achieve ahead of your arrival however.

Good luck again!

[Musetta]

Dear Carow,
yes! i am SO jealous of everyone that can just hop on a cheap flight for the weekend! We only get over a few times a year

My very best advice is to go and network and meet as many people as possible...your neighbors will be your biggest asset (!) I was lucky and met my housekeeper through a friend I met in town...she speaks no English though, so I muddle through in my still poor Italian - she doesn't mind though I think once you get to know your new community, you will have no problems finding local help. We make a big effort to keep in touch with all our local Italian friends and are trying to create as much of a support network (of service providers,etc.) as possible from here! I also started a yahoo group for other expat homeowners in the area and have "met" others that way and we tend to help each other out and check up on things, get post, etc. - that was a big help...I highly recommend making friends with some other homeowners who can help you out and you can do the same for them

As for bookings...yes...*knock on wood* they are doing well so far! (UK bookings have been REALLY slow though for some reason...lots of Americans lately though)

All the best!

[Carow]

Thanks all for the very welcome words of wisdom.
Martin thanks for those websites - I will check them out. I have approached on or two in the Narbonne area and am awaiting a response.

Just had a thought too, to contact the agent who sold me the house. He was very efficient and helped with utilities etc. He is about 10ks away from my village - so he may know someone.

Its so great to have encouragement from people who have gone through the same process.

Carolyn