Adding value to your property

December 16, 2011

The last stages of finishing off a renovation “project” are often overlooked, the furnishing and decorating of the newly renovated apartment or chalet are left to the owners to undertake – a daunting enough task close to home. Most of the renovations managed by members of the Alpine Property team are finished off by professionals, you’d imagine that this would push the cost up even more, it doesn’t have to. Especially if you take into account the amount of time you would need to finish the job. Time better spent enjoying the finished product!

Liz Ockelton – MAKE SPACE DESIGNS (www.makespacedesigns.com) has just finished 3 projects this autumn. Here are some of the results.

1. Chalet La Roche SAMOENS – sold by Denis Barbier of Alpine Property refurbished in 2010 and renovations recently completed by MSD adding an extra bedroom and now 4 new bathrooms. The original property listing is here. A selection of photos of the updated chalet are below.

 

2. La Christiana MORZINE – sold by Lee Massey of Alpine Property though before it ended up on the website. Newly furnished by MSD ready for Dec 2011

3. BONNEVAUX farm, sold by Claudia / Ed. Chalet Bonnevaux. The original listing is here, this old farm was habitable but is now being  renovated. Currently under construction due to be complete Dec 2011 / Jan 2012.

An original picture here:

The current state of affairs:


Buy a chalet with your gold

October 3, 2011

As you can imagine the current state of the market for property in the Alps is high on our list of topics of conversation. We are always happy to express our opinion to anyone that asks. It’s normally journalists, though sometimes it’s people looking to buy. In the second case I often get the feeling that the buyer thinks they are hearing too much “spin” as the reality on the ground in the Alps often differs marketly from the reality where the buyer happens to live.

This morning we had a long conversation with the bank we work with. BNP Paribas they commission a yearly report on the subject and the results are just out. A summary is available on their website. As is always the case with these reports, the figures are already out of date, they deal with 2010. A more current view can be obtained by talking to the agents to get their gut feelings and anectotal quotes.

A Chamonix viewThis view comes for free with a very reasonable priced “estate” in Chamonix.

So here are some quotes from Alpine Property. They concern the area we cover, so the Haute Savoie, which includes the likes of Chamonix, St Gervais, Megeve, La Clusaz, Grand Bornand, Samoens, Les Carroz, Flaine, Les Gets, Morzine, St Jean d’Aulps and Chatel.

“The Swiss are buying in the Northern Alps, it’s not a surprise, the Swiss Franc is so strong they can buy 30% more than they could last year”

“The French are back! After a fairly long time out of the market they are happy to buy second homes,

“Francophone buyers make up 50% of our sales”

“There are plenty of people out there willing to invest 1m+ euros in second homes in the Alps”

“The summer is now almost as important as the winter, that’s not to say that the summer market in the Alps would exist without the winter market, it’s just that the modern Alpine purchaser values the summer activities almost as highly as the winter ones”

Chalet Sochi

Chalet Sochi, shown here as an illustration of what is available at the top end of the market, full details on the Alpine Property website.

That’s 5 quotes, that’ll do for now. My comments as far as the BNP report goes are that in 2010 the market recovered from 2009. In fact we would say the market crashed in 2008 (that’s not news), this hit the 2009 figures hard and now the figures for property sales in  2010 illustrate the  good recovery, almost back to the peaks of 2007. We can add to that and say that 2011 will be better still.

As far as prices go we saw some quite significant price falls in the outlying towns, they have stabilised now but there are still some great bargains to be had. For instance take a look at:

Chez Patou, 295,000 €uros in St Jean d’Aulps

A character property in need of renovation, situated on a sunny plot with great views.

Full details can be found at the Alpine Property website.

Even in the established towns such as Morzine there are bargains, look at the following property, we haven’t seen anything like this (at this price) for 5 years.

Chalet Amis, 399,000 €uros in Morzine

A 3 bedroom chalet on the ski bus route in Montriond

Full details can be found on the Alpine Property website

This all sounds quite upbeat doesn’t it? The property sales bear this out. The owners know this too, they are pricing their chalets “to sell” but not negotiating a whole lot. This might sound surprising to the British buyer who is fed a constant stream of gloom from the press. There are plenty of people who instead of investing their money in the stock market or gold are putting it into the euro in the form of bricks and mortar.


Day to day in the Alps

September 22, 2011

I’ve been meaning to blog these pictures for a while. The beautiful weather we are having promoted me to get on with it. On the weekend we had some cold wet weather, the upshot is that when the sun returned on Monday the vistas were incredible.

This picture has was taken by the webcam at 10am on Monday 19/9/2011, it’s situated at 2120m between Samoens and Flaine.

By Thursday afternoon almost all the snow has gone.

If you’d like to see the current picture, here is the link. http://www.webcam-hd.com/grand-massif_samoens-tete-des-saix.php

Which brings me to the photos I had in mind. The first was taken at the begining of December last year.

It was taken by one of the Alpine Property agents, advertising an apartment in St Jean d’Aulps, Apt Bayard, it reminds me of something Russian?

Followed by this one, taken a day later, by a photographer who works with the Tourist Office in St Jean d’Aulps, 100m away from the point of view used above.

Now I know St Jean d’Aulps is pretty, but I would not go beyond that, this photographer makes this little village look world class. Take a look at the albums on this link

http://www.valleedaulps.com/galleryFlash/index.php?critere_album=GALSAI|GHIVER&langue=FR&code_album=MONTHIVE

The difference a day makes…..


Latest Coverage in National Papers

January 25, 2011

Our partners at Winkworth in London work very hard to give our properties exposure in the UK press. This year has been no exception. So far for the winter 2010/11 the following articles have featured our properties.

1. November 2010: Country Life special winter edition

Featuring the following properties:

Chalet Morzine, Chalet Juliette (in Les Gets)

and Chalet Les Murailles (near Annecy)

2. December 2010: Tatler

Featuring the following property:

Chalet Morzine

3. December 2010: Sunday Telegraph

Featuring the following properties:

Auberge Vercland and Chalet 2 Saisons in Samoens

Chalet Oratoire in Chamonix

4. December 2010: Money Week

Featuring the following property:

Chalet Nant Cruy near Megeve

5. January 2011: Sunday Times

Featuring the following property:

Penthouse Apartment in Morzine

6. February 2011: Sunday Telegraph

Featuring the following property:

Chalet Juliette in Les Gets


Samoëns resort review

November 4, 2010

Sixt fer a Cheval taken by Sian

Sixt-Fer-a-Cheval, in the Samoëns valley

Years ago Samoëns used to be on my list of “undiscovered” towns in the French Alps. That’s not the case any more. It’s well established with a section of the British market. It’s still on my list of places I’d choose to live if I was starting afresh in the Haute Savoie.

In fact, just recently, the Alpine Property team was discussing the general state of the market and Samoëns came out as “very strong”, this was based on the fact that the prices had not come down along with the general trend. Obviously this makes things hard for the buyers but it does show the sellers are felling happy and secure in their properties.

Samoens village square

Samoëns town square

Valérie Maes from our Samoens office recently spotted the following article in the Times

Is this the prettiest resort in the Alps?

Samoëns is a medieval delight and a joy from top to bottom, says Felix Milns of  The Times – 16th October 2010.

I’ve included an extract below, the full article is on the Times website.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/travel/holidays/wintersports/article2768894.ece

but you’ll have to pay to view it…..

“It is a medieval village with a classical square. An historical monument and a place where ancient stonemasons used to perfect their art. Samoëns would be one of the Alps’ most beautiful villages in any light; being a ski resort makes it doubly so.

And it is not just any ski resort. It is part of the Grand Massif, with 165 miles of pistes the fifth largest ski area in France.

The region is better known to the British for purpose-built Flaine, although Samoëns is a far more appealing base. It is something of an undiscovered freeride paradise — and the resort now wants to push itself as something more than a pretty-pretty place”

I could not agree more. The following picture was taken by me on “one of the best days of season” in 2009. This is the top of the Gers bowl, truly and off piste paradise.

IMG_9453

An this picture at the bottom of the bowl on the same day.

IMG_9487


How do I get a rental return on my property?

September 3, 2010

Virtually all the properties we sell are sold freehold (accept the Lease-back development in Avoriaz) and there will not be any restrictions on sub-letting, in fact gaining a rental return is entirely normal.

As far as renting via an agency is concerned there are many to choose from in each town and many methods. Much of what I have written below is Morzine biased, this is where I work!Studio apartment walking distance from the lift in Praz sur Arly

There are a number rental options, each with advantages and disadvantages. They are not all available to all properties! I will list them as I see them. The first offers lowest risk for least return, the balance moves from return to risk as you descend the list!

1. You can choose to rent your apartment on a yearly basis, for a fixed fee to a company that specialises in self-catering holidays. You an negotiate some weeks for yourself or you can negotiate a discount for weeks you want to rent.

Example: Alptitude, a specialist in Morzine

http://www.alptitude.com/index.php?page=page0&season=winter&lang=en

Example: Holiday in the Alps a specialist in St Gervais
http://www.holidayinalps.com/

Advantages:

  • Most secure form of rental return
  • If you choose the tenant carefully they will look after the property well, dealing with maintenance issues, taxes, Internet etc.
  • Minimum input from the owner

Disadvantages

  • Offers the lowest returns
  • Property will need to be in a good location, this type of company will see that as a priority.

2. You can use one of the independent chalet operators in the area, they often have one chalet that they cater and then up to a dozen they arrange as self-catering. This type of company will often try to negotiate a percentage  fee (up to 30%), for this they will arrange the booking, key holding and the cleaning etc.

Example: The Great Escape

http://www.thegreatescapemorzine.co.uk/accommodation-morzine.htm

Example: Mountain Highs

http://www.mountainhighs.co.uk/SelfCateredHoliday.htm

Example: Snow and Trek

http://snowandtrek-morzine.com/self-catered/index.php

Example: Ski Fusion (based in Les Carroz)
http://www.skifusion.co.uk/

Advantages

  • There may be the occasional unbooked week that could be used by the owner for a cheap holiday at the last-minute.
  • More flexibility for booking in friends etc.
  • If there are good bookings this can offer better returns than choice 1

Disadvantages

  • Riskier for the owner as they don’t offer any rental guarantees, this risk can be reduced by choosing an established company.

3. You can use an Internet based agent who will handle all the booking and cleaning, in theory for a lower percentage fee (about 20%)

Example: White Peak a specialist in Chatel
http://www.white-peak.com/

Example: Alps Accommodation a specialist in Samoens. http://www.alpsaccommodation.com/

Holiday Lettings has lots of advice on the subject. http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/resources/owner_advice/a-1/

http://www.morzinelets.com/

http://www.skiweekends.com/pages/resorts/morzine.aspx?ResortID=13

http://www.independentmountain.com/

http://www.alplets.com/

Advantages

  • There may be the occasional unbooked week that could be used by the owner for a cheap holiday at the last-minute.
  • More flexibility for booking in friends etc.
  • If there are good bookings this can offer better returns than choice 2
  • Internet based administration can be convenient

Disadvantages

  • Riskier for the owner as they don’t offer any rental guarantees, this risk can be reduced by choosing an established company.
  • If the agency does not care about your property the wear and tear can be quite high. This can depend on their clientèle too.
  • Choose your Internet based agent carefully, they can be excellent but there is more room here for cowboys.

A duplex apartment in a chalet with views of ski slopes and Mont Blanc.

4. You could use an Internet based “Bulletin Board”, these businesses charge a fee for you to advertise, you handle the booking and arrange cleaning and key holding via a local person or agency. My Mum uses Owners Direct for a property on the outskirts of Morzine, it costs £200 or so to advertise, she does very well and uses a local girl for the cleaning etc. This method is a lot of work for the her, offers the renter no guarantees (they can’t book with a credit card and the owner has no form of bonding) but can give the best returns.

Examples:

http://www.chaletfinder.co.uk/

http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/

Advantages

  • There may be the occasional unbooked week that could be used by the owner for a cheap holiday at the last minute.
  • More flexibility for booking in friends etc.
  • If there are good bookings this can offer better returns than choice 3
  • More “hands on” can be more fun and it may give the owner the chance to “vet” the occupiers.

Disadvantages

  • Riskier for the owner as there are no rental guarantees.
  • The owner will have to find local people to deal with the changeovers / cleaning and any problems.
  • If there are problems or damage the owner might be called upon to arbitrate, this can be difficult on the phone!

A 2 bedroom apartment on the ski bus route close to the pistes

5. The traditional method, use one of the local French estate agents or the local Tourist Information Bureau , they will take a fee (about 25%) and handle the bookings and cleaning for you. This should probably be put between 2 and 3 in the income VS risk list.

Advantages

  • An established system, will probably be entirely legal.
  • Local agents normally have very good contacts with local tradesmen.
  • You may find that a particular agent will have an affiliation with a particular apartment block, this can help.

Disadvantages

  • No guarantees though, the owner will take all the risk. You will do better in the best locations. You might get nothing in a bad location!
  • Just because the agent has good contacts with local tradesmen it does not mean any maintenance work will come cheap.
  • Choose wisely, not all agents are fully Internet or email aware yet, this can come as a shock.

Confused? You shouldn’t be. I am just illustrating how this is a very mature market and that there are a lot of options open to you.


New Build Advice

March 8, 2010

We currently have 34 plots of land for sale in the Haute Savoie. Thanks to this we are recieving lots of questions about how to go about a new build project. Normally my answer is to speak to one of our experienced agents, most of whom have been involoved with new build projects in France for some time.

I have decided to do some research into the whole subject and write a 7 part blog following a current new build near Morzine. It helps that this is being undertaken by Alew Lewis (the Marketing Man). Alex and his Father-in-Law (Steve Norris, the MD) have been going through the process meticulously, leaving a well documented paper trail to help with the research.

If you want to keep abreast of the build process then I suggest registering your details with us via the little form on the right of this page. I intend to have part 1 and 2 written by the end of this week.

Part 1. Choosing your land, what to look for, the questions to ask. Making an offer, the first contract.

Part 2. Asking for planning permission

Part 3. Getting the constructions quotes.

Part 4. The build, from digging the first hole to the finished concrete structure.

Part 5. Adding the wooden frame, walls, roof, windows and doors – Hors d’eau – hors d’air.

Part 6. Finishing the inside, electrics, heating, kitchens etc….

Part 7. Landscaping and obtaining the Certificat de Conformité.

I have some examples of plots below:

The most expensive we have is:

Land Medon, 521, 850 euros, Combloux near Megeve

http://www.alpine-property.com/index.php?page=prop_1_medon&lang=en&hist=page_searchXtyp_4Xlang_en

to our cheapest

Land La Chapelle, 80,000 euros, Sixt fer a Cheval

http://www.alpine-property.com/index.php?page=prop_1_lachapelleland&lang=en&hist=page_searchXtyp_4Xlang_en


The indebtedness of the Communes

January 22, 2010

Here are some interesting statistics that were published in the Dauphine Liberé this week. They refer to the amount of money the Commune (translates as Council) owes divided by the number of people who pay taxes in the Commune.

I have selected some of the more popular Communes for comparison. I don’t suppose you should make a property purchase decision on the basis of these figures, they just give you an idea of who owes the most! I’ve no idea what happens should a Commune in France goes bust.

Les Gets looks to be on shaky ground, it is an “average” sized ski resort and owes a lot. I know that in the last few years they have built and underground car park, a reservoir to supply water to the town and they have upgraded their sewage system too.

On a similar subject the Dauphine Liberé ran a story on the amount of ski lift investment in the Haute Savoie over the last year.  Full story via the link below.

http://www.ledauphine.com/avec-six-nouveaux-apparei-@/index.jspz?article=249867&chaine=23

More property related stats from the following link.

http://www.budget.gouv.fr/

Commune Euros per Inhabitant
Les Gets 25,279
Chatel 10,698
Les Contamines-Montjoie 7,127
Morzine 6,806
Megeve 6,657
La Clusaz 6,490
Morillon 5,942
Chamonix 5,186
Le Grand-Bornand 5,076
Combloux 5,063
Samoens 4,700
Araches-la-Frasse 4,619
Manigod 3,663
Evian-les-Bains 3,603
St Jean de Sixt 3,581
Saint-Gervais-les-Bains 2,426
Montriond 1,926
Le Biot 1,755
Essert Romand 1,742
Les Houches 1,731
Sixt-Fer-a-Cheval 1,690
Passy 1,506
La Chapelle-d’Abondance 1,478
Annecy-le-Vieux 1,445
St Jean d’Aulps 1,311
Vallorcine 1,051
Taninges 847
Servoz 780
Annecy 483
La Baume 3
Average in France 890

How to reclaim the TVA (VAT) on a new build.

May 28, 2009

It is possible to reclaim the TVA (VAT) on a new build property. Many people have heard about this and ask us how to go about it. The short answer is “it’s complicated”. In this short article we’ll try and add a little more information than that!

To start with it would be better to think of a property purchased in this way as an “investment”, an investment that will provide a rental income and may provide capital growth. It would not work if the property was being bought as a “holiday home”.

As an example I will use Chalet La Lyre and Chalet La Couronne Boréale in Samoëns. These two “off plan” properties are close to the centre of Samoëns and would provide good accommodation and location for a rental business; they could be used as self-catering or catered accommodation.

So Chalet La Lyre and Chalet Eridan together are for sale for together for a discounted price of 1,250,000 Euros (individually they are priced at 870,000 Euros and 480,000 Euros). The TVA component of this is 205,000 Euros.

  1. The purchaser would rent it a TVA registered rental company (which could be run by anyone – including the purchaser).
  2. They rental company leases the property from the owner on an annual contract, they must propose minimum services – 3 of 4 of the following: linen/breakfast/concierge/cleaning.
  3. The owner reclaims 19.6% of the purchase price = 205,000 Euros, this TVA is repaid in a lump sum after 3  months of rental has been received by the management company.
  4. This rental agreement would have to carry on for 9 years otherwise you’ll have to pay back the pro rata proportion of the TVA. So if after 5 years the purchaser decides to sell, the French authorities would want 4/9 x 205,000 = 91,000 Euros returned to them

So the initial investment for the purchaser would be 1,045,000 Euros, the yearly rental would be an estimated (30,000+15,000) 45,000 Euros. Providing an annual return of 4.3%. In these circumstances the running costs for the property would be paid by the renter so the GROSS and NET annual return would be almost the same.

Some further notes.

  • There are purchase costs to take into account. Notaires fees and stamp duty, these are discounted on new builds! They amount to 2.5% in total.
  • If the purchaser waits until after 5 years to sell the properties he will avoid having to pay Capitol Gains Tax.
  • Before signing anything the whole project would need to be discussed with a qualified French accountant. We can suggest SAREG in Les Gets.

News from the last 3 weeks.

April 20, 2009

I took a few days off with the family last week to visit London. The run up to this seemed quite hectic. Now I am back at my desk and decided to take stock of the new additions that Jo and I have added to the website.

The following list is all the new properties that have gone on-line in the last 3 weeks.

Chalets (10)

Chalet Servoz, a 4 bedroom property in the Chamonix valley.

Apartment Centre Ville, a small apartment or business slap bang in the middle of Samoens.

Apartment Bertrand, a 4 bedroom apartment in St Jean d’Aulps.

Apartment Chamois d’Or, a 3 bedroom apartment in the centre of Morzine.

Moulin de Trebillon, a stables with land not far from Evian and Lac Leman.

Chalet la Griaz, 3 bedrooms in Les Houches in Chamonix valley.

Chalet Iris, 5 bedrooms, 100m from a ski lift in Chatel.

Chalet Laer, 7 bedrooms, on the ski bus route in Chatel.

Chalet Cravarin, 6 bedrooms and great views in the Samoens valley.

Chalet la Toile, 4 bedrooms and great views in St Gervais

Land (4)

Land les Bollus, walking distance from the ski lift at Vercland, Samoens.

Land at Flerier, in a quiet setting by a lake near Taninges, Samoens valley.

Land du Buissons, good views on the outskirts of Essert Romand nr Morzine.

Land at Passy, cheap! About 20 minutes from Chamonix.

Renovation (1)

Farm Grevat, a farm building and 1620 m² of land, Essert Romand near Morzine


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