Shawny

For anyone else who is interested, I did some further research and yes some of the Gites that I didnt look at do indeed have quite a number of weeks free, nowhere near the 10 months occupancy of those that I was looking at and subsequently booked with. On the same topic, does having a pool make a difference in terms of the rental income or just the rentability, i.e. with pool you get more interest and therefore bookings but is the price per week significantly higher? Maybe I need to post that as another question! Following on though from points about the Gite business being very difficult, if anyone is selling a property with 2 gites, in Brittany then please drop me a message with the details. I may not be in a position to buy at the moment but if the right property came up, you never know! cheers Shawn          

I stated clearly that we would be buying cash so the mortgage comment is irrelevant. One other point, where are these gite complexes for sale, I cannot see any search option of the french property news site that you referred to. For ref the reason why I was looking at 6 months occupancy was that when I have booked a gite for 4 in June this year, a lot of those I looked at were already booked for around 10 months, the one we ended up going for will cost £545 for 1 week in June, although this does have a small pool. As for DIY skills, I consider them as reasonable, having put 2 kitchens in, toilet, shower, 30m2 decking etc but I would not consider myself a builder so would aim for something that needs internal works only. cheers Shawn    

We are thinking of buying in Brittany and runniong a couple of 1 bedroom gites to provide some income, ideally we would like around 10-15000 euro per year as the properties would be paid for by sale of UK house. Our aim would be to buy properties in cash and then use the income from a couple of gites to live off, basing our calculations on a average of 6 months rental at an average of £300 per week for a 1 bedroom / 2 person Gite. We would target the gay community but not exclusively. Is this a reasonable expectation or would others advise that more gites are required? Also, what would you expect to pay for a gite which only requires internal updating, i.e. new kitchen / bathroom etc? Any advice is appreciated   cheers Shawn  

Many thanks for all the responses & messages. As I said, I am interested in the real experiences of gay couples who have moved to France and the issues that they have encountered. Neither of us are camp or transvestites (which has nothing to do with homosexuality and is an issue regarding gender identity - but I am not  here to preach) and I am interested in experiences rather than anecdotes of unrealistic stereotypes portrayed by the media, lets fact it they wouldn't show a gay couple arguing about what to cook for dinner as it doesn't make good telly! Anyway, we are aiming to buy in Brittany as it is close to ferries etc and from all the info seems a nice area to visit, we have booked into a gite in June this year with some friends and may also go over prior to this to look at properties. Our aim would be to buy properties in cash and then use the income from a couple of gites to live off, basing our calculations on a average of 6 months rental at an average of £300 per week for a 1 bedroom / 2 person Gite. We would target the gay community but not exclusively. Considering the comments here, is this a reasonable expectation or would others advise that more gites are required? I will post this question in the Gite forum. Our other alternative source of income is to sign up with agencies on South coast of UK as I am a business analyst currently working from home and my partner is a chartered accountant, does anyone do this currently? Anyway, I seem to have sparked a lively debate, so any further responses are most welcome. CHeers SHawn          

Me & my partner of 11 years are thinking of selling up and buying in Brittany, ideally to buy a property with the option of running a couple of gites to provide some income, the main purchases to be funded by the sale of UK property. I am interested in hearing of any experiences that gay / lesbian couples have had in France, either good or bad.