We are looking to buy a 1 bed apartment in vieille ville, and are curious to know if there is any down side to buying there for holiday lets and part time living.
Comments on the upsides would be useful too-Neil
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Apologies but this is a matter for frank opinion, not the usual %26quot;have a nice day%26quot; stuff.
Its an entirely personal view but Menton is an apartment-ghetto. Large swathes of it are nothing but occasionally-visited apartments, popular with Italians around the corner but locked up and left much of the year.Ghost town out of season.
The town has very little of interest to live in - there are only so many times you can visit the few attractions, and the beach is not up to much if you want sand.The local bus service is abysmal, and its only saving grace is the 1 euro trip to Nice. Great place to visit for a day but you could die of boredom spending any length of time there. I repeat, its a personal view, and no doubt there are fans of Menton out there - then speak up!
If you want to let you will need to arrange on-site handovers and all sorts of business matters - local taxes, coproprietee charges, security issues, and such.For apartments consider locating to Nice - much more longer term rental opportunities, like students at the University, or the area around Vence for actual villas with pools.
All that said bravo for wanting the French Riviera - its the most brilliant place within easy low-cost reach of the UK. I just think you could do better than old Menton.
Thats my tuppence.
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Menton is a lovely place, close to Italy, but it has a couple of disadvantages.
It%26#39;s a long way from other tourist places on the Riviera for public transport. If you read the postings in this form, a large majority of tourists want to see Cannes, Antibes, Nice, Monaco and Eze. Although there%26#39;s a bus that runs between Menton and Nice (calling at Monaco), it takes about an hour and a half. The train is quicker, but then to get further than Nice can take a long time, especially if there%26#39;s trouble on the railway. So, if you stay in Menton, it%26#39;s best to have a car. If you%26#39;re buying in the old town, do you have a parking space? If you don%26#39;t, it will be a disadvantage for holiday letting.
The other thing about Menton is that, unlike say Nice, once the holiday season is over, it becomes something of a ghost town. We have friends who live there and they say it%26#39;s very quiet with nothing going on. So, if you%26#39;re planning on part-time living out of season, think about this aspect of it. Go for a visit during November to see what it%26#39;s like.
Perhaps someone who lives/owns property there will post for first-hand experience.
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Some good points in the posts above.
Menton is very pretty but it is a last staging post of France and relatively inconvenient for visitors who may want to explore the French Riviera. In high season,it%26#39;s very popular with Italians who tend to drive and so parking is important.
Apart from the overspill from the Monaco Grand Prix in May, bank holiday weekends and possibly the annual Lemon Festival in February/March, summer rentals will be the most lucrative but also tend to result in the most wear and tear to a property.
Do consider how important rental income is to your purchase and never believe anything that estate agents may tell you about what is achievable.
The holiday rental websites such as holiday-rentals.com and holidaylettings.co.uk are likely to showcase similar properties to the one that you are considering. Checking this year%26#39;s availability calendars should provide an idea of 2008 occupancy rates and the going rate for private rentals.
As MonacoCabbie suggested, strongly recommend (if you haven%26#39;t already) visiting anywhere that you are contemplating buying a property both in and out of season before taking the plunge.
Stay at least a week off season to see if the situation suits you. It so much depends on what you enjoy doing and how lively or otherwise you want your environment to be.
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Very helpful comments above: the warnings about parking places, lack of centrality for the most popular tourist resorts and therefore possible problems in letting are very pertinent indeed.
But your decision is a personal one, and you know what you want for %26#39;part time living%26#39;. As someone who visits Menton regularly from over the border for selective shopping, I prefer it out of season - what is %26#39;a ghost town%26#39; for some, is peaceful and more friendly for others. Not everyone wants the urban bustle of Nice, and in terms of property prices there are clear financial advantages (in initial outlay, though probably not in subsequent letting income) to buying in Menton rather than places further west.
And without a car, the vieille ville is very convenient. You%26#39;re a reasonably short walk from the station and bus station, and you can buy everything you%26#39;ll ever need within a still shorter distance (albeit at higher prices than in major supermarkets).
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