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Taking better pictures of your chalet

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So I know, this is the job of the Estate Agent. It doesn’t stop me writing about it though and there are things the owner of the property can do to help!

If you are trying to sell your house good photos are more important now than ever before. Most people are now using the internet as their first source when starting their property search. Good pictures = more interest. It’s as simple as that! In fact we are revamping our entire website with this thought in mind – let me know if you’d like a sneak preview!

aptmirage_5

One of the finest examples of the importance of good photos happened to us this winter. We took on a small (50m2) 2 bedroom property in St Gervais at 240,000€, the property had already been for sale for some time with some of the local agents but they had not achieved much. We took it on and our agent Sarah Watts took the photos. Within a week we’d had a dozen enquiries and in fact we’d secured a sale after 3 days. It was all down to presentation. The living area is pictured above.

Chalet Panorama in winter

So here are my tips.

  • Use a decent camera. Digital cameras have come on leaps and bounds over the last few years. I recently did some tests with recent 250€ compact and compared the results to  7 year old digital SLR and the compact won. Under certain conditions the latest phones will outperform an older camera. Though I’m not suggesting you should use a phone as they don’t work well for all types of shot and definitely don’t use your tablet!
  • Think ahead. Take some nice photos of your property before you decide to sell. I have some stock images of my house taken on a beautiful blue sky/powder day from a couple of years ago. Ready and waiting if I need to put my house on the market. You can’t expect the estate agent to be able to get these images themselves. This last winter is a good example, at no point have the lower villages had a good depth of snow for this type of photo.

Gruvaz

  • Prepare your chalet for the photos. Tidy up, de-clutter. Give the windows a clean. Tidy up the garden. You can take this to great lengths, Home Staging is an industry in itself and for good reason.
  • Use a tripod for internal pictures. At a minimum steady yourself against a wall. 90% of the time you don’t want to use the flash. 100% of the time put every light on inside the house, one of my favourites in the cooker hood lights.
  • Make sure your lens is clean.
  • Open the shutters!
  • Choose a sunny day with the sun on the “nice” side of the building.
  • Internal shots are easiest on a dull day. Though logistically this makesthe previous point difficult.
  • Try and take the pictures “straight”, pick a vertical line in the centre of the room and use that as a reference, if you fail make sure you straighten them later.
  • Think about varying the height of your shots. Get down low in the smaller rooms, a shot taken across the corner of a bed can work, so take a shot at 0.8m height not 1.6m.
  • Keep the originals! Don’t resize and overwrite!
  • A note for the Estate Agent. Take along a spare memory card, a spare battery, a torch, pen and paper and a digital measure! I take a spare camera plus a floodlight and extension lead, I know some that take an extension so the can lift the camera up high on the outside pictures.

Selling your property in the Alps

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So, your life is moving into a new phase, or the family no longer want to spend Christmas together in the chalet, or the time has come to spend some of the cash tied up in your property. The decision to sell your ski chalet can have any number of triggers, but whatever the reason, let’s assume you have reluctantly decided to put your much-loved ski property on the market. Hopefully with us at Alpine Property.

Chalet for sale in Samoens

Maison des Billets, Samoens, for sale for 600,000€ in February 2014.

Selling your chalet in the Alps is one of those things most people do just once in a lifetime. Unfortunately, it’s also one of those things where practise makes perfect. So, what are the dos and don’ts of putting your property on the market in France?

Most important of all…………..

DO price the property realistically. First talk to us! We would say that wouldn’t we? It is tempting to take a look at similar properties for sale with Alpine Property (or other agencies!) to gauge current asking prices, then decide on a price for your property yourself. This comes with risks. For example there are a number of properties on our books that have been there a while and it could be that they are not realistically priced. The second home market is different from other markets, the properties are regarded as “assets” by the owners and often they’d like to sell but they don’t NEED to sell. So if the property is overpriced they are happy to sit and wait. We base our valuations on actual sales figures including data from the notaires, which therefore reflect a more accurate market price.

Talk to us so we can work together on a price that will represent good value relative to the other properties. This way you will almost invariably achieve a higher selling price. Let me explain. Properties which are priced realistically sell very quickly and often a deal is struck within a month. Properties which are priced too highly only sell after sitting for a long time on the market and undergoing a series of painful price reductions. The reason for this is that buyers watch websites like ours at Alpine Property constantly and are surprisingly clever at identifying properties which have been for sale for some time. These properties are perceived to have something wrong with them and are unattractive to a buyer. Buyers, like early birds seeking a juicy worm, are instinctively drawn to properties which are new on the market. Thus there is a brief window of opportunity to get the best price for your property when it first goes on the market. Price the property too highly and that opportunity is lost.

Our agents are experienced in the prices actually being achieved in the market and will be very happy to advise you on a realistic price. Take a look at our Sell Property page for more practical advice

DO NOT Listen to an agent who suggests testing the market with a price at the top end of the price range you had in mind. His strategy is to get your property onto his books first and worry about selling it later. He will no doubt come back to you in three months time and suggest a substantial price reduction. By this time your property will be stale.

DO make every effort to help us present the property well. The property photographs we take are obviously vital. We use the best equipment to produce good quality views, but it’s up to you to ensure the chalet is clean and tidy. Homestaging is well worth the time and effort. We work with several people in the area that can help with this. The same applies when we make visits. Buyers will only buy an untidy or dirty chalet if it is being sold at a substantial discount. I’ll write another post on the best way to present your property for sale.

DO put yourself in the shoes of a buyer. Often a client looking to buy a chalet within a certain price range has seen many properties priced similarly and has an instant idea of what is reasonable and what isn’t. Though we advise caution on advertised prices not always being an accurate reflection of true value, it can be an eye opener to go ‘internet shopping’ and seeing if you can find a better property than yours for the same money. If you do, then you can be sure that these properties will sell first and yours will remain on the market.

DO keep in touch with your Alpine Property agent. We monitor all our virtual visits of your property listing, log all enquiries from our buyers and are happy to provide feedback at anytime, including after visits. If you’re not getting any buyers looking at the property, then we’ll probably have an idea as to why, and can advise you accordingly. This is the case with any other agency you are using too, particularly if they have given you a high valuation. Once again, it is all well and good them saying your chalet is worth X, but it is then reasonable to challenge them as to why it is not getting any interest.

DO make sure that you are clear as to your Capital Gains Tax liability. The tax situation for second homes has recently seen some flux in France so a visit to a local accountant or Notaire is a must if you are not sure where you stand. Meilleurs Agents can be a good place to get the CGT table for France. Don’t believe everything you read on the web though!

Build your own chalet

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This was written in 2014, the numbers are out of date! I have refreshed it in a post late 2019. We frequently get asked how much it will cost to build your own chalet. In general we quote 2500€/m2 as a benchmark. Sometimes we qualify this with “of course it depends on many many, factors”, such as the floor area, quality of materials and fixtures and fittings, easy of building on the site, proximity of services and things like that. But in the end 2500€/m2 is a good place to start. So if you were building a 4 bedroom 140m2 chalet then a starting point would be 350,000 € to build the chalet after you have bought the land.

When I mention these figures to UK-based buyers that know about these things they take a sharp intake of breath. Apparently you can build houses in the UK for much less than that. Closer to 1500€/m2 I’m told and sometimes even less. So why the big difference? Some of my opinions follow:

  1. Everything costs more in the Alps. In particular materials and more importantly labour.
  2. We are not comparing like with like. The “average” chalet in the Alps is higher quality than a cheap house in the UK.
  3. The build methods in the Alps are more expensive. In general the properties have concrete basements and first floors. This makes a very solid property, sometimes due to earthquake and avalanche risks it’s mandatory to build this way. It’s also just “the way it’s done”, much like in the UK houses have traditionally been  built from brick.

There are various things you can do to reduce these costs. Taking each point one by one.

  1. I’m not going to suggest importing your materials from afar or even you labour (though both these things are possible and may save money).
  2. Building a cheap quality chalet is not a good idea, it would be a real shame to waste the worlds resources on building a house that won’t last.
  3. Build methods, there could be money saved here. It may also bring in points one and two. I’m referring to kit chalets.

My neighbour is a carpenter and he has just built a chalet using mostly traditional techniques. The basement is concrete as are some of the first floor walls. The main frame was a kit though, the walls arrived on a lorry and ready built. He’s obviously building on a budget but doesn’t want to live in a cardboard box. His build costs will be well under 2000€/m2.

kit chalet in Samoens

We’ve recently been approached by a ECSUS Design, who have recently completed a chalet in Samoens and are constructing a couple more in Morzine this summer. These guys either design your home or adapt an existing design and fabricate using Structurally Insulated Panels (SIPs) that are precision engineered and cut to size to ensure an exceptionally quick method of building a highly thermally efficient chalet. The main weather-tight structure can be erected in as little as 3-4 weeks and can be easily finished by an adventurous self builder or they can do the entire job for you. The average costs of the SIPS structure is about 450€/m2 which represents about 30% of the overall costs of a new chalet and means that a fully managed build can come in at under 2000€/m2. Now I can’t act as a reference for these guys but they can offer references if interested. The company is http://www.ecsusdesign.com/ and the SIPs system is http://www.tek.kingspan.com/ They supplied me with the lovely photo of the finished chalet in Samoens. I have used it to illustrate this post.

St Gervais market report

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Sarah Watts covers Les Contamines for us but knows St Gervais well. She has just written this market report for a customer. Prices have been broadly stable in St Gervais since 2008. Currently the price advertised is rarely the price paid so, if you see something that seems much too high, it’s likely to be due to an unrealistic valuation or vendor who is not willing to accept the current market conditions, and it is unlikely to be selling.

St Gervais in winter

According to meilleursagents the average price of an apartment in St Gervais is between 2317€ to 4742€ per metre squared, with the average sale being around €3 493 per m2. These figures seem out of touch with reality to me. For a property close to the ski lift that is new or in good condition this price could easily be closer to 4,900€/m2 and good quality new build properties can be more than that.

A chalet would be around the 5500-6000E per m2 for something nice. The prices are very dependant on the quality of finish, there is plenty of property on the market that is feeling quite “tired” by today’s standards.

We have 3 sales going though at the moment in St Gervais. The agreed prices were between 2% and 10% below the asking price. We have just had an offer accepted this week on a 4th property at asking price.

Should you be looking for a 3/ 4 bedroom apartment, you are looking at somewhere around 350-450K. For a chalet in good condition – 650-750K, and a chalet that needs refreshing around 500K.

Property prices vary enormously depending on how close it is to the skiing or at the very least the bus route, the amount of sun, views, outside space and condition. People are often concerned about buying outside of the very centre of the town in case it is “unrentable”. As I often point out, unless you are walking distance in ski boots from the lift (probably a 300m max, you’ll end up taking the car and parking at the free lift car park there for the day. Consequently, if you drive 3 minutes or 6 minutes at the end of the day, it won’t much difference.

I have also personally rented for many years in the past and the fact the property was 3km from town and the skiing, was not an issue. What did make a difference was the garden space. If you get a traditional ski apartment, then it will rent well in the winter, but not in summer if there is no outside space. Some people want to be close to the centre of the village (again more useful in the summer),  Bettex for example is favoured by the skiers because of it’s proximity to the slopes in winter.

Train St Gervais

Nearly all people renting will cover their running costs of the apartment and maybe even make a little profit. You can rent comfortably 8-10 wks in winter and, with an outside space, about 4 weeks in summer.

If you would like to get an idea of rental values  take a look at this website holidayinalps.com for some ideas of what rents and for how much. As a guide, for a 5 bedroom high-end chalet this could earn upwards of 35K€ per year gross income. A more modest 3 bedroom ski apartment would be around 15K€ per year.

In terms of suggestions for 3+ bedrooms, I would recommend

Apartment Lumen http://www.alpine-property.com/index.php?page=prop_3_aptlumen

Apartment Crespin http://www.alpine-property.com/index.php?page=prop_3_aptcrespin

We have also extensively written about the area on our area guide here, scroll down for St Gervais info on each of the pages: http://www.alpine-property.com/index.php?page=page461

Finally, remember that on all property a notaire (stamp duty + solicitor fee) is due. This is 7% for older property and 2.5% for new build from a developer (the first figure will increase slightly Q2 2014).

The general feeling is that the market has turned a corner and the prices will not fall from here.

We have just launched the La Comtesse apartments on our website. They are located in the very centre of St Gervais village and will benefit from 2.5% fees.

Appt. La Comtesse, #1, 1 bedroom and 189 000€

Appt. La Comtesse, #2, 3 bedrooms and 395 000€ 

Appt. La Comtesse, #4, 3 bedrooms and 415 000€

Appt. La Comtesse, #6, 5 bedrooms and 650 000€

 

New Alpine Property kit

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Skiing Evasion all kitted up. By Sarah Watts

Yesterday was one of those days that captured so many of the reasons why I have chosen the Alps and more specifically St Gervais, as my home. It was a crisp, blue-sky, January day, with no one on the pistes, not a single lift queue and perfect snow.

It would have been rude not to, so I headed out to Cote 2000, part of the Megève-St Gervais area for a ski. Cote 2000 is linked into the Evasion domain and shares a ridge with Les Contamines ski domain, though the latter for now, is not linked into the area. It is however on the same ski pass. Views of the Mont Blanc and Chamonix massif were as dramatic as ever, the mountain restaurants as cosy as you could wish for, and I got to try out my new branded alpine-property jacket.

Skiing in St Gervais

It was a good day!

In fact, this year if you’re heading out for a winter holiday to one of the many resorts we cover, you might just spot an alpine-property agent in their branded jackets. We’ve just had these technical mountain shells, labelled with out name and logo. They’re light-weight and comfortable yet tough enough to withstand harsh conditions and are made by directalpine. Many of the Chamonix high mountain guides choose this manufacture as their preferred kit supplier, therefore we know they’re a top product.

Alpine Property Logos

So, if you see us about on the mountain in our red, black or lime jackets, don’t hesitate to come and say a “hello” and introduce yourself. And, we’ll be easier to spot when we meet buyers for a visit too!

Finally, a friendly word of advice this year on snow conditions. Yesterday was perfect, but living here I get to witness the conditions over a long period of time, a luxury you don’t have if you’re just heading out for a ski holiday. Consequently, I know that the snowpack this season is very unstable, in fact one of the most unstable in decades. This is leading to an uncharacteristically high number of avalanches and with that, sadly more victims too. Of course on the piste, you’re fine but what might look like a innocuous, pristine powder run on your week’s holiday, could prove to be deadly. Know your stuff before heading off piste this winter and if you’re in any way unsure, don’t take the risk.

A couple of articles on this year’s unstable conditions can be found here:

http://pistehors.com/watch-out-say-swiss-mountain-guides-23147387.htm

http://pistehors.com/most-unstable-snowpack-for-a-decade-in-alps-23122007.htm

And the daily avalanche report is found here.

http://www.meteofrance.com/previsions-meteo-montagne/bulletin-avalanches/haute-savoie/avdept74

Alpine Property Logoed Jackets

I want to run a Chalet Business in the Alps

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I used to get asked this question twice a week.

“How do I start a chalet business in the Alps?”

I think 2005/6 was the peak. Everyone wanted to move to the Alps, sometimes it was 1 in 4 of the enquiries we received . There was a lull in interest from 2008 to 2011 but the question is returning now. Not to the same level but maybe once a week.

Pic de la Corne 2014

I have learnt over time that the question should really be phrased a bit better. Perhaps:

“how can I make a life in the Alps?”

would be more appropriate. I think the reason that most people assume a Chalet Business is the way to do it is because most people that have gone skiing have witnessed at first hand a chalet business. The holiday cost them €800 so the embryonic business plan started over the dinner table.

€800 x 10 people staying in the chalet = €8,000

€8,000 x 16 weeks for the season = €128,000

That sounds like a lot of money! There must be a margin there?

Obviously you need a chalet or even better a small hotel, then there are the usual bills, food and linen to pay for too but surely there is a fair living to be made? And that’s not including the summer business. Right, sign me up, where do I start?

Well I’ve been there. Now I earn my living from my full time job with Alpine Property I’ve also worked a couple of winter seasons, I did run a chalet business (mostly summer based) for 10 years and now I live in the Alps with my wife and 3 children. Surely living proof that it’s a good idea? Well “Yes” and “No”. I’m now going to give my advice. Feel free to take it with a pinch of salt!

My first bit of advice is “don’t do it”. Well don’t start the chalet business that is. Living in the Alps is a great idea! Have a look at your skills, can you carry them over to the Alps and keep working? That’ could be a possibility? And it might be better in the long term. There are plenty of people that live in the Alps and make a living here or based from here. These are the trades I know of:

Accountants, #pilots, #lawyers, journalists, IT experts, various consultants and #project managers, guides (walking / biking / climbing), ski instructors, electricians, carpenters, plasterers, plumbers, builders, bankers (in Geneva), doctors, nurses, #engineers, estate agents, interior designers, graphic designers, photographers, artists, writers, teachers, taxi drivers, hotels owners and hospitality workers….

The professions marked as # generally work away from home and use the Alps as a base. There are bound to be more, these are just the ones I know personally.

Alpine Property Team Meal 2011

Even with the various jobs I have mentioned there are some fairly thorny issues that you need to take into account. Living in another country is the main one. Of course there is the language but that isn’t half of it. The French have a different attitude to life and this should not be forgotten. In fact it’s crucial. Before I came out I read “60m Frenchman can’t be wrong”.  I read it but I didn’t really understand it. I’m still coming to terms with that 14 years later. I’ve three observations to make on this subject.

1. France loves rules. The French pretend they don’t. The state loves rules and regulations though and as far as a profession or job goes you would be well advised to find out about the rules and work within them. In contrast the UK seems to have no rules. Commerce seems to be something that anyone can try their hand at. Not so in France.

2. France is a socialist country. When labour governed in the UK (in my lifetime) they were only pretending to socialist. When Sarko was in charge in France he was only pretending to be right-wing. The fact is it costs a fortune to run a socialist country and this will need paying for. The cost of living in France seems high compared to the UK, everything costs more (almost everything) and everything in a ski resort costs more than that! It seems that in general the French are taxed considerably more that in the UK, this means that everyone needs to charge more to break even.

3. The French value their time off. Be that eating times or weekends. Never get between the French and lunch. An Anglo Saxon might find this funny but if you are French it’s deadly serious. It becomes before business. No question.

So if you don’t feel that you can carry over your current skills and you still think running a chalet is the way forward then hang on! I’ll go on to explain some of the issues and pitfalls in the next post.

PT 2, updated in Dec 2016.

Nordic Skiing at Le Grand-Bornand

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le grand bornand ski fond_village
Last weekend (14/15 December 2013) the Grand-Bornand hosted the 3rd round (out of 9) of the Biathlon World Cup. It’s the first time for 22 years France has hosted World Cup Biathlon and so this event was a really big deal for Le Grand-Bornand and the local area. In fact as is typical with these events it was named “Annecy-Le Grand-Bornand” for marketing purposes and probably because Annecy and the local region would have helped out with the 4m€ the event cost to host.

le grand bornand ski fond_ice 2

Nordic skiing is well known in France but it’s not the money spinner that it is in places like Norway, Sweden, Russia, Germany and Italy. The French star is Martin Fourcade, he’s been world champion 4 times and is a very consistent performer at World Cup level. He’s a household name in some of the countries I’ve already mentioned and well known in the XC-Ski community in France.

le grand bornand ski fond_preparation

Le Grand-Bornand set up a course and stadium just a few moments walk from the town centre, the kept it nice and compact so it was easy for spectators to get a view, wander around and visit the town too. Apparently this isn’t the norm in cross-country skiing as often these events are held in the middle of nowhere with few facilities. The weather played it’s part too. It had been very cold in the bottom of the valleys in the preceding few weeks so they had perfect conditions to make snow ready for the event, all 4 days were clear and sunny so it could not have been better. The locals formed an army of over 500 volunteers to help the 24,000 paying spectators that turned up over the 4 days. I went along for the final day which was a sell-out with 7,500 spectators in the stadium and viewing areas and plenty of others around the course. We had been warned of traffic chaos and we were prepare to take one of the many navettes laid on for the day. In the end we arrived so early that we were able to park adjacent to the course and walk the few yards into town for a coffee.

le grand bornand ski fond_church

My family has a little experience already when it comes to watching these events. One of the hardest things to deal with is the inevitable cold. It takes some quite specialist cold weather clothing to deal with being static for hours in sub zero temperatures. The next thing is some idea of the format of the events. Like with many sports if you have no knowledge of what is going on the spectacle can be rather meaningless. We went to watch the “pursuit” races. Full details can be found on Wikipedia . Basically the competitors  start times are separated by their time differences from the sprint race the day before. Thankfully the skier crossing the finish line first is the winner. They skied 12.5 kilometres over five laps; there are four shooting bouts (two prone, two standing), and each miss means a penalty loop of 150 m. This penalty loop takes about 20 seconds.  In theory the race could be a procession but in practice it’s not. It’s very difficult to achieve a clean sweep on the shooting so in reality the positions are changing constantly throughout the race. If you are in the stadium all this is visible, it’s very intense and never boring!

I did keep an eye out for some of the properties we have for sale around the village. I spotted Chalet Fleur de Neige overlooking the town and right in the centre the Apartment de la Place. You can see them all on our property map.

Ski investment at the Espace Roc d’Enfer

Investment for this year includes groundworks on many of the pistes making them better for skiers at a cost of 130.000€. Snow canons have been added at La Cheverie side from the top of the Graydon chairlift all the way down to La Cheverie itself at a cost of 460.000€. A new drag lift called ‘teleski du lac’ is being built to bring skiers up from the Roc d’Enfer circuit allowing them to easily ski back down to the bubble lift. This is 350m long and is costing 330.000€. There are also plans for a new blue piste in the forest from the top of the bubble lift all the way down to the bottom.
I’ve taken some pictures of the work and plotted the line of the new lift.

and some photos here taken 22nd of December 2013

The latest piste map with the area in question circled.
espace roc d'enfer piste map

St Gervais is centre stage

Acclaimed French director, Claude Lelouch is starring the little town of St Gervais in his latest film.

Lelouch is well known in France , winning Palmes D’Ors at Cannes and Oscars for some of his 50 films.

His current creation Salaud on t’aime, loosely translated as We love you, you bastard (excuse my French, as they say!) has made use of a couple of our lovely Mont Blanc locations. Last winter, scenes were filmed at the cemetery in Combloux along with locations in Praz-sur-Arly.

A few days ago, the last 4 of the 40-day-long film schedule, has been centred around a number of places in St Gervais; The Tramway du Mont Blanc station, France’s highest rack and pinion tram; the Col de Voza to which the tramway passes through before reaching the Nid D’aigle -the Eagle’s nest, and which forms part of the ridge that separates St Gervais/Les Contamines from the Chamonix valley; and finally, the centre of St Gervais and the church.

The film itself is a story is about a war reporter/photographer, Jacques Kaminsky, played by none other than the French star – Johnny Hallyday.

Kaminsky has retired to the mountains following a lifelong career to which he had dedicated himself to, and this, to the detriment of his relationship with his four daughters, amusingly named Printemps, Eté, Automne, Hiver. The focus on his work is something he now regrets and the story concentrates on his friendship with a Doctor from Médecins sans frontiers, played by Eddy Mitchell. Other than this, details about the story are few and a closely guarded secret, but all we know for sure is that some of the final scenes will be filmed around the St Gervais church.

On the last day, I was in St Gervais and took a look at what was happening. Billboards with Jonny Hallyday’s image were plastered around the church (don’t worry guys about drilling into the 17th century building to fix them mind!) and large TV trucks of kits were parked outside. Initially, when I got there, they were filming inside the church, but once completed, people spilled out to make the most of the aperitifs that were laid on in the square along with a live band. A ‘thank you’ dinner was also prepared for the extra’s who were recruited from St Gervais to star as walkers, alpinists or tourist at the various locations.

We’ll have to wait for 2014 for the release of the film itself, but in the meantime, if Johnny has taken a shine to St Gervais, we will be expecting house prices to sore imminently!

Here are a few pictures from the event.

TF1’s news coverage can be seen here. http://videos.tf1.fr/jt-20h/2013/dernier-jour-de-tournage-avec-claude-lelouch-8240637.html

Like the look of St Gervais? Check out our latest gem; a stunning property which has been completely renovated on a quiet road, in the heart of the village.

A short stroll brings you to the square and church featured in this article. We think this one is a great find!

More photos of the town and area, Click here. http://www.alpine-property.com/index.php?page=page466&lang=en

Alpine Property market report

“I’m assuming that because of the current economic situation it’s a buyers market in the Alps.” It’s a common sentiment at the moment. Some of our prospective buyers from the UK are expecting discounted prices which isn’t the case and they are leaving disappointed. I guess it’s a combination of a difficult market in the UK and the UK press giving the impression that Europe is “on its knees”. Although the situation in Spain and Greece might seem closer to home many of the mainland Europeans feel pretty secure about their situation at the moment, The Alpine market is very stable and has been for the last couple of years, currently the majority of the buyers are coming from France and Switzerland. This is a big change from the pre-2008 situation where the Alpine Property market was being driven by the British. Many of the current buyers are looking for something to do with their savings and don’t see much milage in the stock market or with the banks. This is leaving the sellers feeling bullish and they are getting close to asking price.  This week I asked some of our agents for comments on the subject. These quotes are from three of them, Chatel, Les Gets and St Gervais.

  • “Those from the UK want a “good deal in a buyers market”, but they are talking about 20% off the asking price and it just won’t happen.”
  • “There is still flexibility in prices, but I can’t think of any seller that I have that would take a silly price. Offers have to be within 10% of asking price to be taken seriously.”
  • “I have sold 2 big and expensive chalets in Chatel this year before they even got onto the website.”
  • “2 and 3 bedroom apartments in 4 Elements (Chatel) have sold incredibly fast, and now the developers are bringing forward the start date.”
  • “The MGM apartments sold so well they put the prices up midway through the project.”
  • “Some difficult properties (that have been with all the agencies for years through the recession) have now been sold.”
  • “My last 3 sales in St Gervais have been asking, price or very close. One is signing in 2 weeks at asking price, the others are going thru at very close to asking price. 

Obviously these comments are a reaction to my question so they are particularly bullish, and they are only anecdotal in a broad market. There are weaker areas, which generally sit between the very expensive and the more moderately priced. As an example, none of the properties referred to above are valued between 600,000 and 800,000€. One of the latest (and most picturesque) properties we have for sale is Les Balcons de la Tournette. Pictured below. Situated in striking distance of both Lake Annecy and the skiing at La Clusaz and Le Grand-Bornand.

Chalet for sale near lake Annecy