Secondary home is a people’s retreat, a place where you can spend time on vacation and relax. It can also become an investment property which you can rent while you’re not using. 

Many people buy a secondary home on France Riviera because of its favorable climate, all year round sunshine, beautiful beaches and costal lines. 

As you’ve already been through buying a primary home, you know the buying process in general, but there are factors that are unique to buying a secondary home that you should know. All depends on the way you want to use your secondary home, for example if you want to spend more time in it,  you want to ren to holiday makers or a combination of both.

Here are 5 important things you should know before buying a property on French Riviera.

1. Location

Location is always a key factor when buy a real estate property, may it be for your own usage or investment purposes. If you intend to buy a property where you will spend your vacations, make sure you really like the place that you can visit for years not just few seasons. Even if you want to rent your property, having a house in good location always add to good points. 

On French Riviera most of the places like Mougins, Antibes, Valbonne, Cannes, Biot, Eze, St Tropez, Nice are good places which are close to the sea or next to the sea. Here you will love to spend your vacations and at the same time your tenants would love it too, which means you can also rent it easily, so both the purposes are solved.

The reason why you’re already thinking of buying a property on French Riviera is because you love this place and want to come back every year and therefore want to have a property where you can stay rather than staying in hotels or Airbnb. Make sure you select area according to your needs if you like to have a sea view, close to city centers, prefer at a calm location or in gated domains. All depends on your budget, we at Azur Property Care are here to give you vital advices to help make your decision on how to maintain your lifetime property.

On French Riviera your choices could be limitless, there is so much to choose from, lots of options that it is sure you will be able to find something of your choice. 

2. Can I afford it?

The big questions is can you afford it? Here the choices are endless, the more beautiful is the property, the more price you pay.  Price depends on various factors like location, sea view, how close to the sea, history of the area. For example, in “La Californie” Cannes the cost of houses are very high due to the status given to the area of rich millionaires who have properties and its close vicinity to the famous Cannes Film festival. 

It is essential to define your budget and then start your search, there are a lot of real estate agencies who can find the right place for you, and our team at Azur Property Care can definitely give you contacts of some trusted real estate agencies that we know from years.

If you choose to take a loan on your new property, make sure you take our some time to understand local requirements and payment terms, conditions so as not to have surprises in future. Make sure your ready bank’s propositions in details, know clearly how much you will pay per month, insurance costs, conditions etc.

You cannot get 100% bank financing, you at least have to pay 10% down payment from your pocket, so make sure you have already made arrangement for this amount before contacting banks for loan. Don’t forget there will be also cost for yearly taxes and monthly maintenance costs. In France there are 2 taxes that you need to pay for your property: Tax foncière (property tax), tax d’habitation (residence tax).

3. Lifestyle / how will I use the property

One of the main reasons people buy secondary home is the freedom to travel whenever they want, you do not need to make reservation or pack heavy luggage. You may already have set of clothes at your secondary home, kitchen stocked with food, stock of linen, furnishing and decorative  etc. Villa can be prepared by your local property management company who can prepare the villa prior to your arrival like window shutters opened, cleaned pool, fresh garden cut, cleaned house and welcoming house.

Thinking long term can help you make better choices while buying a secondary home on French Riviera. It can open up a whole new set of requirements to consider, specially if you plan to spend more time during your retirement or you want to have something easily accessible from the airport if you will travel a lot.

4. Home expenses 

Just as your primary residence property you will need to spend on your secondary home, the cost could be expected or unexpected. You need to make sure you have funds for both situations. It is suggested that you have a budget set up for both of your homes to better manage your needs. . In France there are 2 taxes that you need to pay for your property: Tax foncière (property tax), tax d’habitation (residence tax) which will depend on factors like area, the size of your property plus if your property is in a private domain then you will have a monthly charges for maintenance of the common areas of domain. 

There will be a house insurance cost that you will have to pay monthly or either yearly. In addition, if your house has pool and large garden area you need to maintain them as well. 

Otherwise, you might risk a breakdown in pool motor, your garden turned into a jungle. Better is that you hire a good property maintainenance company who can really take care of all these aspects.

5. Who will maintain your property all year long?

You want to plan who will maintain your property to protect the investment that you have made. You need to think about how to maintain and take care of your property when you’re not staying. On French Riviera there are many foreigners who have made an investments ideally. You need to make sure you have someone who can keep an eye on your property when you’re not staying and execute maintenance jobs. 

You want to hire a property management company who specializes in maintaining secondary homes who can maintain and protect your property when you’re not around. 

We at Azur Property Care specialize in maintaining secondary homes on French Riviera. We have years of experience and some of the services we can provide you are: housekeeping, pool maintenance, garden maintenance, monthly visits to check doors and windows, administrative work like dealing with tax authorities, utility accounts, scanning letters etc., help in renovation works, odd jobs, cleaning, private concierge and more. Our highly experienced team is at your disposal to discuss your requirements, contact us today.