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Everything you always wanted to know about France - from France |
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Now the sun is rising higher Carole and I just got back from a cycle ride around our village of Montblanc, luckily our Montblanc is in Languedoc, not in the Alps. Montblanc is on the route of the old Roman road from Nimes to Spain and there has been a township for over 2000 years. The fortified church and surrounding houses are medieval and this region was deeply involved in the the Cathar conflicts ofthe 13th century. I was given this short story of an interesting restaurant by Montblanc, now closed. What's for Afters ? so I am looking forward to telling you more tales of our interesting neighbours. ======= After two weeks of working on Nizas.com things are beginning to take shape. My old websites including RentalsFrance.com are still in a frightful mess with the new owners. I have made a forum at Nizas.com where all advertisers and renters can share news and make comments - dangerously, I am not going to moderate this so you can say anything you like. I am trying to catch up and reply to the hundreds of emails received, most are very supportive and offer help, - the encouragement is fantastic and I am listening to all advice and requests. I will be in the UK next week, in Norwich, Cambridge, Banbury, Oxford and London - if anyone wants a beer or coffee do send me a mail. As soon as I get back to France, my aim is to polish and optimise the new websites - after three months of watching Fubra make a mess of my old site at RentalsFrance I am waiting until the end of this week, but if it is not working by then I must move on - the idea is to simplify everything and to give maximum support to everyone using our sites. ======= Fractional Ownership or Shared Ownership This type of property purchase originated in major ski destinations in the USA where real estate was so expensive that it was not financially viable to purchase a second home. Fractional ownership offers a small number of buyers, typically six to twelve, the ability to share ownership of a very luxurious property - the payment is usually in the range of 50,000 to 500,000.euro, but any property or development can be considered. There is also a demand for using this ownership plan for boats and yachts, I will be developing pages for these soon. Fractional (Shared) Ownership is a way you can invest in property with far more control. You can invest in a substancial property or development, have a direct say in the management, get income, security, personal use and benefit from capital gains. It is a freehold, there are no time restrictions or management risks. Read more about this at Shared Ownership One advertiser has already offered a Paris Apartment for Fractonal Ownership on our site at Shared Ownership Paris Apartment === To help anyone considering purchases in France I have collected some information and made some pages at... Buying Property A page with general information about many of the implications of buying property in France Lexicon Definitions of the French words and phrases used in Property transaction in France SCIAP Société civile immobilière d’attribution à temps partagé or SCIATP - which allows the owners to share ownership with friends or others who have similar interests. Property Sharing Buying a community property in France - Your guide to apartments and developments There is already a huge interest in leasebacks and I will be expanding on the information given at Leaseback FAQ . This is the system, with government support and tax advantages in France, where you can own the freehold of a property, get tax concessions and recieve a guaranteed income, usually from 5% to 8% of your initial payment, from a management company. This is a good and safe way of investing in property - but it is not a way of buying a property you can live in, or retire to after the initial lease period. In most cases you may not ever be able to have full control of the rentals or occupancy. You cannot change or influence the management and resale is proving difficult and you could make a loss not a capital gain ======= France is still the best property hotspot Aspiring homeowners should look to France for the best buy-to-let, mortgages and property deals, according to new research from a leading UK property investment specialist. The property tracker from Assetz showed that investments in France outperformed those in the UK or other countries such as Bulgaria, Cyprus or Spain. Assetz has cautioned aspiring first time buyers against buy to let investments in Bulgaria's growing property market. While capital gains on property have been as high as 20 per cent there, Assetz reveals that the risks are high as the emerging market is being driven almost entirely by investors. ======= Snake Oil Merchants Go into Pension Fund Management. However, Assetz (mentioned above) - a new name for group of "well known and successful property companies" (their words), are promising annual capital growth of 10% on a property development that is not likely to be resaleable at the purchase price for over 10 years. These comments are from a colleague, Rob Thorne of Moving-To-France - there is a full, frank and enlightening exchange by him in the forum at Forum 14 Rob comments in the forum - "Assetz are one of the agents selling student hostel studios which are destined to always be letting units and hence encumbered with a French commercial lease. As to potentially having capital appreciation possibilities, this is totally impossible. I sell for this developer as well, and hence know the product, the terms of the commercial lease etc. These are studios in a student hostel in Besancon. The rental management agency is well established in the student accommodation market, and the return is good - 5.40% per annum. But, to sell second hand at the same price as paid initially, that 5.40% return has to grow. In this instance it is indexed at the full insee Index of New Construction Index. let us assume that this continues to rise at an overgenerous 3% per year at which rate it would take 10 years at least before the buyer breaks even and this is not taking account of inflation. These units are destined to be letting units in perpetuity, Hence an investor is buying an annuity, the real chances of capital appreciation is close to nil. Bear in mind that buyers of second hand leasebacks are currently looking for 7% annual return, which is fair and sensible as they do not benefit from the TVA (French Value added Tax) reclaim or most of the initial tax write off advantages and will in most cases be looking at costs for exterior refurbishment on 10, 15 year old letting stock". == So who do you believe? Can an finance company give objective advice if they are also an agent, on big commission, for the investments they are selling? As Heinlein said TANSTAAFL (There Aint No Such Thing As A Frée Lunch). ======= Please visit http://nizas.com/ - and write to me with anything about life or living in France Tony Tidswell Montblanc, Languedoc March 15 2006 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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