Slightly middle class question I know but the reason we ask is that we are trying to sell our house in the French Alps (it’s in the classifieds if your’re interested…).

The agent thinks it most likely that a Brit or similar will buy it as a second home as opposed to a local buying it to live in.

Therefore as this is a forum mainly frequented by outdoorsy type people does anyone on here actually have a second home for skiing / biking purposes. If so how did you find it (e.g. where should we be advertising!) and what were your considerations before buying?

Thanks all!

Sadly I don’t have a holiday home, but its always been a pipe dream, especially in the Languedoc region….some amazing bargains at the moment.

My question is….why are you selling?

I do have have one but I have inherited it from Mum/Dad so I can’t really help I’m afraid.

Yes,in Spain.Mountain area with fantastic biking.
My wife doesn’t like it there and doesn’t want to go back.if I go out there its on my own.After much pressure from my wife I’ve put it on the market.However its pretty dire at the moment so I can’t see it selling.

Have you tried Chalets Direct? they have a classified section, It also seems very competivily priced, if we didn’t already have a property in the Tarentaise, I would be interested!

Yes, on the coast but it’s “my” home…

I fancy getting a place in France but can’t see how I’d be able to spend more than a few weeks there a year so seems pointless, hopefully when I’m older. Not sure how it would work with the wife given I will be out on the bike as much as possible when there.

Thanks for the replies all, here’s the link to it if you want to be nosy:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/very-very-ot-house-in-the-french-alps-3

It’s not our holiday home but our family home, mainly due to a new addition to the family we are (sadly) selling up and moving to the French countryside nearer Geneva (where I work).

We can’t afford to keep it on as a holiday home and in all honesty we probably don’t need a holiday home only 2 hours from where we live (which is also nice countryside and has mountain biking and skiing not too far away etc…).

As I scrolled down to the ‘reply’ section, my heart broke as I saw Binners had stollen* my joke..

DrP

*

We had a place in the France. Couldn’t sell it via the normal avenues – the property market over there had hit rock bottom. We put a classified ad on eBay and within 48 hours we had a buyer.

Bet Binners has a swanky pad tucked away in the South of France really. 8)

Yes holiday homes….bloody marvellous idea, but as mentioned if you can only get to it a couple of times a year, its one more thing to worry about! Would be great if I ever retire…..but then it would be great if I could ever afford to retire! 🙁

have you tried green-acres.com or leboncoin ??

depends where your place is if its quite rural ie in a region with little work opportunities and not massively cheap then indeed yourmarket is foreigners. Big sell point then is a nearby airport see to which countries there are cheap flights and market to them.

I have one in rural France, my first residence is with mum and dad though LOLZ. most people around here seem to find 100.000 already a lot 150.000 an expensive place unless close to a big city.

Thanks all – we are already on green-acres.com and leboncoin and just listed on ebay too – didn’t even know could sell on ebay although hopefully other people do otherwise won’t get many hits…!