Taking the plunge - advice on buying property as holiday lets

[maria]

After 10 years of holidaying in Brittany in a mobile home we have finally taken the plunge and bought our first property with a view to turning it into a holiday let. We are seriously now considering selling up and relocating with a view to buying 3 more properties and making our living letting them out and servicing them ourselves. Could anyone share their experience and how feasible do you think this may be? How many weeks a year could we expect to rent them out and is there anyone who has done this successfully, and if so how have they marketed their property/ties?

Thanks

Maria

[Eslier]

It certainly is possible if you have enough capital to invest in the first place, and you choose the right properties in the right area. Depending on where you buy and what you have to offer you could expect anything between 8 and 20 weeks. Most people budget for around 12 weeks initialy.  The most succesful  rental businesses (which is what you would become along with all the cotisations etc. if it is your main source of income) invest quite a bit in marketing but this isn't a problem if you have three or four gites.

[maria]

thanks for your reply - it was very helpful. Would you say that the best place to market the properties would be through a big organisation like Brittany ferries or through a website. The properties will be based in the Brittany area around Concarneau.

Thanks

Maria

[nimportequoi]

Different advertising works for different properties, it seems to depend on location, facilities offered etc. Internet advertising tends to be a little cheaper, but the brochures such as Chez Nous can bring in good business as well. If you go the internet way, you need to use quite a few different sites, trial and error will show which work for you. Holiday-rentals.com, visit-france.co.uk and frenchconnections.co.uk are some of the more established internet sites, but they don't work for everyone. Some internet sites offer free 3 month trials before you sign up, so you have a chance to see how they perform before commiting your money.

One thing I would say, if you are not on the coast, a pool (heated in Brittany!) is becoming an essential if you want to get even 12 weeks booked as holiday rentals, as is spending enough on marketing (around 5% of turnover).