PL10 – 28th June 2002.

28th June 2002.

Property Letter no 10.

We are back in the Cape, and very happy to be here again, reunited with Adam and Alice. We’re supposed to be moving into our new house this weekend, which we have been looking forward to so much, bringing to an end 10 months of living out of suitcases, but our containers haven’t arrived from Zim! We had been told they were in Joburg and coming down any day, but there’s now some debate between SA and Zim as to where the heck they are. The SA Spoornet people say they definitely haven’t seen them. We cross fingers for next week.

Our time in France has been very successful. We viewed nearly 200 properties (on one day we saw nine!), and have bought six, one being a double studio which will become two units again, giving us seven effectively. Both Vicky and I are delighted with what we have found, but are sorry that we were not able to fulfill everyone’s needs.

PL9 – 15th June 2002.

Property Letter no 9.

As and when I have a chance to write a few words relevant to our French Property venture, I do.

I was encouraged yesterday because Vicky and I had decided that returning to Cannes for just two nights we would take a small hotel rather than stay with our friends in Menton again, as it’s at least an hour away. So before we left we identified a couple of modest but pleasant hotels, took their cards and rates, and yesterday I phoned them both. Neither could accommodate us because both are full the whole of next week as there are conferences on. Mid June – that was great news for me!! So we phoned the Tourist Information Office in a village we have got to know about 10 km from Cannes, called Mougins, and asked for their list of B&B’s, which we proceeded to phone one by one, and only got a room for the two nights on the third try.

PL8 – Property Letter No 8 – 14th June 2002.

Briefly, we return to Cannes and Nice on Monday until Wednesday. There are some apartments for us to see in Cannes, but also in Nice, and I enclose an attachment of a studio in Nice that we will see as soon as we arrive. I enclose it because it gives you an idea, and we don’t always have it presented to us in a format that we can send on for you to see. This one looks like a possible goodie – the mezzanine floor makes it up to 33 sq.m. of living space by my calculation, and the position on the edge of the pedestrian shopping streets in the centre of Nice sounds excellent. Price sounds good too, but having just spoken to the agent on the phone, she warns that it may not still be there by Monday. We will see.

PL7 – Property Letter 7 - 6th June 2002.

We are rushing and finishing off details in order to leave for Italy tomorrow to return our hire car (the tinyest thing we’ve ever driven) and spend a night with James and Kate, before flying to London on Friday.

We will return to Cannes on Monday 17th, first early morning flight, and then to London again on Thursday evening the 19th, to fly home to Cape Town on Friday.

We spent yesterday finalizing on the five properties we have been able to buy so far. We are very pleased with all of them, and are only sorry that we haven’t been able to meet everybody’s requirements on this first foray. We have been staggered by the speed with which the properties we have been interested in have been snapped up, and the two bedroom apartment that I detailed as an interesting one in letter no.6 has as we thought it might, also gone! The pool has more or less dried up at the moment, and although we did see two more apartments yesterday, neither was satisfactory.

The French Riviera � The Cote �d Azur

The Cote d’ Azur stretches from Menton on the French / Italian border, through Monaco, Nice and Cannes to St Tropez in the West.

It can be covered is less than an hour and a half drive, end to end, on the A8 motorway.

It stretches from the beautiful Mediterranean to the mountains, a narrow strip of very special land protected from the vagaries of European weather by geography – namely the Alpes Maritime.

The climate is similar to that of Cape Town, minus the wind.

PL6 – Property Letter 6 – 3rd June 2002.

We hope you don’t mind receiving these letters addressed to you as a group. We are so pushed for time, and as things are now, Vicky is typing this on her lap while Guy drives along the motorway! We have just seen properties today, numerous, mostly a waste of time; but two of them have been very interesting and we have put them on the spreadsheet whilst driving.

Firstly R & P, we looked at Riveria Palm Beach again this afternoon. It is absolutely lovely, beautifully furnished and finished, with a very pleasant garden which leads straight onto a quiet road across which is the beach. To your left your view is of Cap d’Antibes, to your right Isle Lerins with a centuries old monastry facing you. A couple of hundred metres down the beach is a yacht basin….. but we honestly believe the appartment is over priced. It is only a single bedroom – certainly with room to accommodate another two on a pull out bed in the sitting room. But even our Agents believe that the price is far too high. The trouble is that in Cannes overlooking the sea, they may get that price. We can put in an offer significantly below their asking price to test their resolve if you would like us to, but we recommend that we just keep on looking. The right one will come along.

PL5 – Property Letter 5 – 1st June 2002.

1st June 2002

Writing that date….what a thought, I should be sowing my irrigated seedbeds today.

I’m going to keep this as brief as possible, but let you all know exactly where we are to date and give you a feeling of what we’re doing.
Confirmations to date :
Guy and Vicky want +/- 1 medium apartment and 2 small apartments.
Des & Suzie 1 medium
J & L 1 medium
P & J 1 medium/small
R & P 1 large or 2 medium
S & C 1 medium (on hold for the moment)
A & P 3 or 4 medium but essentially characterful. (no hurry)
Total so far 11 or 12 apartments.

I think our criteria bear repeating – we will not buy you anything that we would not buy ourselves. They must have appeal, character, charm, even if they are modest. Some need redecorating, some don’t, but assuming a pleasant redecoration and re equipping is completed, and we have budgeted for it where applicable, would Vicky and I spend a happy week or two on holiday there? Yes. Less space than at Umhlanga in most cases, but at least the equivalent standard of pleasantness, cleanliness and comfort. Big factors : Rentability (we approach this primarily as a commercial venture – if we ever spend a night in one of them, that’s a bonus). As far as we can judge, and based on as much local knowledge as we can glean, a good capital appreciation – good area, improving prospects. Sound building in pleasant neighbourhood, Not too noisy we hope. View, if not of the sea, then at least with charm and character. Essential easy and quick access to beaches, and town and business and conference centres, shops etc. by foot. We look at parking availability, bus routes and railway lines (not too close!).