Dream House
A seven-bedroom property in Gard is on sale for a real steal – as long as you’re willing to share, as Sophie Gardner-Roberts finds out, Dream House
Who hasn’t escaped the daily grind by looking at gobsmackingly beautiful but way-out-of-budget French houses online juste pour le plaisir? I know I have. Sadly, I’ll probably never be able to afford one of these dreamy houses unless I write the next Harry Potter saga or marry Ryan Gosling. Enter Le Mas du Figuier. It has all the hallmarks of a gorgeous Provençal farmhouse: stone walls, exposed beams, traditional roof tiles, a pretty courtyard, a fabulous pool, seven bedrooms plus an on-site manager’s twobedroom gîte and a location in an idyllic corner of Gard… the dream! I was preparing myself for an eye-watering pricetag when – quoi? This could be mine to enjoy for €210,000?
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The farmhouse is owned by James Pearson. He had always wanted to buy a house in France but, with his eyes firmly set on the south where property prices are usually high, he believed he couldn’t afford to own and maintain the big property of his dreams, let alone use it as much as he’d like. So he decided to invest in this large farmhouse and transform it into a fractional ownership property which he and seven other owners will be able to enjoy equally. It is not James’ first venture into shared ownership. He set up his first fractional property in the Cotswolds back in 2016. “Fractional ownership is increasingly being used to buy homes because people don’t want to either spend all their time in one place, or spend a large amount of money on somewhere they do not live for a large part of the year (most people spend only four to six weeks per year in their second homes, the rest being left empty: a tragic waste, financially, ecologically and socially),” he writes on his website.
James bought Le Mas du Figuier last year and, after some light cosmetic work on it, he began selling off one-eighth shares of the property. There are currently four shares left, each available to buy for €210,000. This comprises a capital outlay of €166,000, a reserve fund of €2,000, a renovation fund of €2,000 and running costs (on-site house manager, cleaning, repairs etc) of €5,000 a year for eight years. During the eight years, starting from January 2019, each owner will have six weeks a year of exclusive occupancy of the property or up to 18 weeks on a shared usage basis. At the end of the eight years, the house will be sold and the profits shared out among the owners. James estimates that a typical owner visiting the house six times a year would get approximately €15,000-worth of use out of it a year, or €120,000 over eight years, based on what the property would command on the rental market. Therefore, he claims, the actual cost of the purchase is more like €90,000 and it is unlikely that the value of an owner’s share will have fallen below this at the end of the eight years, although there are no guarantees.
A corner of Provence
Le Mas du Figuier is tucked 50m below the medieval walls of Vézénobres, a charming Gard town with restaurants, shops and other amenities. The U-shaped building has three floors and overlooks a shaded private courtyard. To the back is a large terrace with a pool, pool ‘cabana’, and an idyllic outdoor dining area. Another little terrace is accessible from the first-floor kitchen, while a secret upper terrace harbours a pétanque court. The main house comprises seven bedrooms (three ensuite) with lovely views of the surrounding fig tree orchards and pretty countryside. The first floor houses the main, fully equipped kitchen and several large living spaces including a dining room with a huge table that seats 22 people and a TV room complete with plush sofas and bean bags. On the ground floor is a games room, triple garage and self-contained two-bedroom home where the house manager lives, providing year-round security. Uzès, Nîmes, Arles, the Camargue regional park, Montpellier and Avignon are all within an hour’s drive. Nîmes international airport is just 30 minutes away and Montpellier airport is less than an hour away.
sources: French Porperty News, June 2018
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