For many, the dream of moving to France is often tinged with the worry of how to make ends meet once settled here. By far the most popular choice is to buy a property that can partly be run as a gite business, which could supplement one’s income or help pay off the mortgage.
There are of course, many points to think about before you go done this route and there are plenty of articles on the internet which talk about all aspects of running a gite business. From a real estate perspective, the most important point is the location of the property. You can change pretty much everything else except the location, so pay extra attention to this. It is pointless buying a gite business set in the middle of nowhere; however idyllic the location may seem to you, as the average holiday maker is looking for something where he can pop out to buy his bread from the boulangerie every morning or walk to a café and sip his coffee whilst watching the world go by.
If you decide that a gite business is for you, then you need to think about whether you want to spend all your budget on a property that already has an existing gite business or whether you want to buy a property with outbuildings to convert into gites. Properties with an existing gite business tend to come with a higher price tag but it does mean that you can generate an income almost immediately and a lot of the hassle of setting up the gite is already taken care of.
Buying a property that needs to be converted does bring with it the headache of renovation and you won’t see returns for up to 2 years but your initial outlay for the property will be much lower and in the long run, you may see a more substantial capital gain.
Being a tourist destination, there is always a demand for holiday rentals in the Languedoc, and a well located and well run gite business could give you the freedom and financial security to enjoy your new life in France.
