PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

   We’ll only visit our house a couple of weeks a year, a couple of weeks at a time. Who will check every now and then to see that everything is OK? That the pipes haven’t burst? That there hasn’t been a break in? (There’s very little crime in our little village. Yet. But boys will be boys.) Who will collect the mail – such mail that hasn’t yet been directed to us in the States? (As the ownership was transferred, all of the utilities and such were transferred to our names and, mostly, to our address in the States. Most, but not all. Even then, we had to be certain that we both paid the first bill and arranged for all subsequent bills to be paid electronically out of our French bank account.)

   And who will help to market the house? Who will meet clients to turn over the keys, turn on the hot water and the fridge? Who will arrange for picking up the keys at the end of a rental, put out the garbage, arrange for the cleaning and do an inventory to make certain that the rental party hasn’t walked off with the oven?

   A combination of internet research and referral from our realtor led us to Robert Woodford and Housemartins-Herault. They sometimes call themselves Househunters Herault or South of France Lets, but that’s France for you. For a monthly fee, with a discount for paying annually, Rob handles all of that for us. And more. An expat Brit, he’s made the south of France his home and tried a bit of this and that to make a living until this set up seems to have worked out for him.

   Rob has been indispensable. He found our first tenant for us. He’s handled middle-of-the-night emergencies. He answers emails promptly and with good humor. And if he has adopted some of the laissez-faire attitude of the southern French, well, who wouldn’t?

   I’ve met some property owners who market their house themselves and hand their keys over to a neighbor who handles their local affairs for them. We considered that approach and rejected it. First of all, we hoped that Rob could pay his freight by finding sufficient rentals, not to pay the mortgage – that would be too much to hope for, but at least to help just a bit. With the exception of that first, long term letting, Rob hasn’t managed to direct any business our way though. Not his fault. We’re a low-end property – no pool, no garden, not in a touristy village. Fact is, it’s our own website and word of mouth that’s driven renters our way.

   Still, I won’t sack Rob. He’s been great. He’s done more work than he’s charged us for and he’s saved us money in other ways. So, if you’re in his territory, give Rob a try. If not, take your time and find somebody who is really interested in earning your trust while they are earning your money.

   In terms of marketing your property, my advice is to go up on the discussion boards that I’ve mentioned previously – Lay My Hat or The Languedoc Page – and nose around, read other people’s posts and ask questions. It helped me in designing my own website site and the by-owner rental sites mentioned most frequently are the ones that have brought us the most inquiries. For international traffic, I strongly recommend VRBO. There is some dispute about the best sites directed to Brits. I’ll leave that to you to determine.