So, your last summer guest has departed and the clocks roll back by an hour. But is it time to put your gîte or holiday home to bed?
Your holiday property investment may now be at greater risk looking tightly shuttered against a grey sky and early night fall. A closed for winter swimming pool highlights that your property is not in use. Marketing flyers, local newspapers and magazines quickly mount upon unattended post boxes which communicate a vociferous message that nobody is at home.
Get to know your neighbours! Ask them if they would be willing to remove accumulating printed matter from your post box and from around your front door. Would they be willing to carry out a Garden Check to ensure that your garden does not look over grown should an Indian Summer arrive unexpectedly!
Think about your property’s window dressing at ground floor level. Keeping the curtains open may be a good idea so that your neighbours can see if there are any uninvited guests.
Although advances have been made in technology with surveillance carried out by installed cameras via cyber, it may not compensate for the human touch when your investment may be at risk. Remember, a good property manager who undertakes your security checks is better than a barrel load of tears. More importantly, you may be saving a fortune!
We would say ‘More’!
But, ‘Less is More’ so how does our approach differ from other property services. Easy!
The art, or should we say the business model, is in the design. Let us explain . . .
Your property means business – you need maximum return on your investment. The return is by putting your property to work, probably through paying guests. However, keeping on top of your property and ensuring that it looks polished and well groomed takes time and money which will eat into your return on investment – your ROI, for short. But, a well thought out design and property maintenance services plan will accommodate high traffic at affordable cost allowing you to ring fence severe depletion of your ROI. This is where we are different from the others.
As graduates in Architectural Design (the Royal Institute of British Architects), Construction and RICS (the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) property valuation coupled with experience in finance, conveyancing, construction, landlord and tenant law, prestigious landed estates property and facilities management, as well as practising property investors, we have fine tuned our acumen which allows us, and you, to benefit from minimal property design styling of a quality. For example, how could you maximise occupancy with the spaces that you have? How can you cut the cost of garden services, yet still retain an aesthetic appeal? How can you prevent gîte wear and tear?
When property means business, a different mindset is needed from that of the owner-occupier. It is for these reasons that we are different. Yes, of course, we carry out gardening services in cutting, trimming, weeding and property maintenance in plastering, pointing and plumbing etc, but so do the others. But most others do not straddle both fields – we do and that is where you will benefit from more for less.
That’s why we say . . .
‘Less is More!’
Having a gîte in France and trying to property manage your investment from across the pond is not easy, particularly when it comes to paying for property management and property maintenance services.
BREXIT has seen GBP against the Euro eat away at gains made on Sterling to Euro exchange making management and maintenance of your French investment property diminish its ROI. Understandably, many French property contractors are reluctant to accept GBP in return for services carried out on French properties for they are ‘unwilling to take the hit!’
Indeed, we know how challenging it is to persuade a French property contractor to accept a Sterling payment instead of Euros for services rendered.
But, as the protection of your investment property is important to us, paying us for our services in Sterling or in Euros is acceptable. You can use our GBP to Euro converter found on our website pages to help you make an informed financial decision as to which currency to choose. In fact, you will find throughout our website just how easy it is to management your investment property from across the pond from one-off property security checks to ongoing property management and property maintenance services.
Is the payment of our property services unique?
We think so!
Living miles away or across the pond from your property investment can be worrisome and is rarely the adage of ‘out of sight, out of mind!’ for many overseas owners. It can instil high levels of anxiety knowing that your property is tenanted or occupied by holiday guests whilst away from your watchful eye. In addition, if you are unable to permanently live or reside for long periods of time in or near to your rental property, it is difficult to build up local knowledge as to the threats and weaknesses which may put your investment at risk. More importantly, it may be difficult for your property to be included in its local neighbourhood watch if there is a frequency of holiday guests. Both of these factors are important in increasing your investment property’s exposure to risk.
La Charente and Charente-Maritime welcome large numbers of tourist during the summer months who many occupy the holiday homes and gîtes within their regions. But when your rental property is not at work with its holiday guests it may attract the unwanted attention of numerous travellers noted by observant residents. Lack of movement, lack of lights and shuttered windows and doors many render your investment to risk. Local newspapers often highlight the burglary hot spots within the Charente départements with the sighting of police cars within the quiet French country lanes becoming the norm. Of course, it is reassuring to know that the police are patrolling burglary hot spots, particularly if your property has become categorised. However, your investment may now be at risk with higher insurance premiums eroding the return on your investment. Prevention is better than cure and it is important to take steps to protect your asset. Consider undertaking regular property checks and property inspections in the out of season months or when occupancy is spasmodic. With regular property check reports together with dated photographs and video clips, this may help to reduce rising insurance premium costs. However, more importantly, the services of a property manager ensures that your investment is safeguarded by a manager’s regular impromptu visits. Further, a professional property manager ensures that he or she is kept updated with area alerts as to crime, adverse weather and local market conditions which may affect the value of your asset. Moreover, a good property manager will strive to develop rapport with your rental property’s neighbours to help your investment to be included in the neighbourhood watch.
Availability!
A professional property manager will have a range of qualities – built environment knowledge, architectural, construction and/or surveying expertise, maintenance and facilities management to name a few. But, more importantly, a professional property manager will be a real estate person with a good grounding in valuation and investment who is quick to recognise a threat to your return on investment.
Because of the range of qualities a good property manager needs, a professional property manager may have limited availability, therefore, he or she may only be able to manage a limited number of properties at any one time in specific areas. It takes a while for a professional property manager to build intelligence of certain localities, to develop rapport with local neighbourhood groups and to be knowledgeable in local market conditions which may affect a property’s value or return. In addition, the dedication which a good property manager devotes to his or her properties is time-consuming and necessary to ensure that the return on your investment is safeguarded. Therefore, the disadvantage is that you may need to wait for a vacancy to become available in your property manager’s property care portfolio.
And are we different?
We think so.