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Everything you always wanted to know about France - from France |
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Getting Bookings From Rental PropertiesUntil this year my main business has been building and developing a vacation rentals service for owners of property in France. I built over 80 websites to advertise and generate bookings for houses, villas and apartment all over France. Thousands of hours sitting in front of a computer screen, getting fatter and fatter. Last year my main site, rentalsfrance.com suffered an attack from evil and sick people who "hijacked" the mail server and brought the site to its knees for months - years of inactivity attacked my bloood pressure and colesterol so I ended up in hospital for weeks and the policies of the French government for business completed the meltdown, making it impossible for me to continue. I had been looking for a "strategic partner" for years and in December did a deal with Fubra Ltd, a UK Internet company, to take over my websites - the jury is still out and one site is slowly coming back to life, so all I can say is "watch this space". But, since December I have had five frustrating and pennyless months. Perhaps it was ever thus, the arrogance of the new deriding and dismantling experience. Or am I getting old and cynical - I am certainly getting poorer, but I have lost 20 kg and got a clean bill of health yesterday - so now to refill the coffers, but more fresh air and exercise. We built a strong community of owners and I am concerend that we have not been able to help much this year, if you rent out any vacation proerpty, not just in France - Carole and I will do what we can to advise and help. Here are a couple of mails this week. === Dear Carole and Tony, Is your (new site) working or not yet? Precious time is passing with the holidays approaching. This year we have very few enquiries coming in and none confirmed so far! Best regards, Francis === Dear Francis RentalsFrance.com is now working and the new site has been visible for the last two weeks, there is still a lot to be done, but properties are now getting enquiries and these are being forwarded to owners. Last year I sold the sites I had created to Fubra Ltd. They are a young and dynamic web development company in the UK and have some strong Internet sites already. I did this to ensure that owners would have a continuing and improving service. It was no longer possible for me to continue due to the restrictions on operating a business in France and personal health reasons. Unfortunately Fubra underestimated the complexity of the sites and it is taking them much longer to bring the replacement site they decided to make into full operation. I am helping them where I can to get things working better - mostly by shouting at them - and in the last two weeks there has been substantial progress. Overall, bookings this year are down again, this is the fifth year in a row when we have noticed a substantial drop in the bookings of private vacation homes in France. I have been warning about this through my newsletters. The Internet has produced a flood of private homes to rent for vacations and there is now an over-supply of most types of rentals. In addition other markets have opened up and there is a small, but steady, drop in the number of visitors to France. France still gets a very high number of visitors and is a preferred vacation destination for many people, but to be competitive in a stagnating market with over supply and strong competition you have to work much harder to get clients. You have a nice property at a fair price, but you are competing against similar properties near the Mediterranean with a full sized swimming pool which are now at a similar price. There is still a market for people looking for a country retreat, but you are competing against many other places. The Baltic States, the Adriatic, Black Sea and South America all offer cheap flights and accommodation. I have many ideas to help with marketing private rentals in France and Carole is working independently to help all owners of private properties for vacation rentals to get more exposure and bookings. I would strongly recommend you put good maps and a lot of detail of the local activities and points of interest on you website. We really are working hard to help you Bonne Chance Tony === Tony I would like to purchase a property in South France and rent it out to holiday lets. I am planning to visit France in August this year to look at properties and to get some more information. I would also be looking at getting finance for the property. What advise can you give me. Ian === Hello Ian If you are investing in property in France for holiday letting then you need either to buy a property which has proven accounts and a successful track record, or you must do extensive research. Location and quality are the criteria for successful rentals. With the exception of Paris and some places on the French Riviera, the booking season is short, only eight weeks can be considered as high demand with a shoulder of three to four weeks on either side. Out of season bookings are getting very hard now to fill. The figures I have from bookings we have studied through our own sites over the last eight years show a steady decline in both booking periods and achievable rentals. In 1999 we could expect up to 40 weeks booked for an attractive property giving a rental from 450 euro to 700 euro a week. The same property last year, upgraded, got under 20 weeks booking at slightly lower prices. I am definitely not saying there is no demand or that renting commercially cannot be profitable. France is still one of the most popular tourist countries in the world, and property prices are still viable compared to rental potentials - but careful consideration must be made for any investment and good local professional advice sought. France is a big country, however tourism is concentrated into relatively small areas and although all departments and regions boast of their huge attractions (all of which are true) they are all seeking the same tourist dollar. A remote cottage in the Limousin, or a farmhouse in Burgundy will never compete with a Paris apartment or a villa overlooking the Mediterranean, although you may seem to be able to buy a lot more bricks for you money. With more competition, both in France and from other countries, renters are now very discriminating and demand a much higher quality of service and accommodation and very competitive pricing. As a non resident you can borrow up to 70% (sometimes more) of the purchase price of a property, loans are determined by you proven income, not against the property although a charge on the property will be made of course. Finance is simple to arrange and some brokers may be able to give better offers. Purchasing property in France is very straightforward, but you do need independent advice to avoid complication with tax and inheritance before you buy. As with all things to do with real-estate, the key is location and as with all things to do with money the key is Return On Investment. If you need help, I offer a straightforward consultantcy service to appraise or profile proepty or you requirements. Let me know if I can be of service Best wishes Tony There are over 2,000 features and articles on this site about French life and living in France. You can search from the search box above. Do browse through our website and please use the advertising links, they help pay for the site. I do try to reply to all mail - Contact Me - most is about property or living in France. I publish comments in this newsletter which I believe are of interest and may help find answers for people wanting to come to France. I hope readers will go to the adverts which help support our overheads. |
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