Leaseback: The range of options from MGM
The new range of leaseback options launched at the end of last year by MGM French Properties responds to the demands of buyers of ski properties who are seeking greater flexibility in the periods they can occupy their Alpine homes.
Previously only two options were available with residence de tourisme apartments sold by MGM. One meant that owners could enjoy four weeks personal use of their property each year (two weeks in winter and two in summer) by agreeing to leaseback the property during an 11-year term for a guaranteed annual rental income. Alternatively buyers would be entitled to six weeks occupancy during the year by purchasing an apartment with the price reduced in line with the rental expected to be generated during the leaseback period.
Under the new scheme, owners who choose the ‘lease with rental income’ method of purchase can still opt for four weeks personal use, they can also choose three different weeks.
If their apartments are in MGM’s developments in Val Cenis, Flaine or Bourg Saint Maurice, owners can increase the annual rental income they receive by around €1,000 by choosing to use the apartment for only two weeks in the low season of the winter or summer periods.
Longer periods of occupancy can be achieved by exchanging weeks within a season – typically, swapping one winter high season week for three winter low season weeks and / or choosing to stay during the off-season when the spa and other residence facilities are closed. Typically, on this basis, a purchaser who buys an apartment on a ‘lease with rental income and three weeks personal use’ could actually occupy the property for ten weeks in the year.
This is because the three weeks of personal use – comprising one week in the high season, one in the medium season and one in the low season could be extended to a total of six weeks by swapping the high season week for three low season ones and the medium week for two low ones. In addition, the apartment can be occupied for up to four weeks without charge during the off season periods in spring and autumn.
The terms of the ‘lease with price reduction’ scheme remain unchanged but these owners who buy on this basis also are entitled to exchange weeks and occupy their properties in the off season.
Under all of MGM’s leaseback schemes owners can, if they wish, exchange their entitlements to occupancy for a stay in one the other 15 MGM-built residences de tourisme in the French Alps which are managed by the MGM Group’s management company CGH.
Richard Deans in MGM’s London office said that the new leaseback schemes have been introduced to match more closely the individual needs of owners.
He explained: “Some only wish to stay in the ski season, others prefer summer in the Alps, and investors want to maximise their income. With these new schemes we aim to meet the requirements of all types of buyer.”
Enquiries: +44 (0)207 4940706,
london@mgm-immobilier.fr,
www.mgm-constructeur.com
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Summary of the latest French investment opportunities as we hear about them.
MGM’s Jubilee Year construction programme is underway with 86 new holiday homes in a French Alpine village with year-round popularity
16th April 2013
Construction work is under way on 86 brand new ski apartments in the family-friendly pedestrianised French Alpine village of Valmorel which enjoys year-round popularity. Already more than half of the apartments – which comprise the first phase of the latest résidence de tourisme to be built by the region’s leading developer, MGM French Properties – have been sold off-plan. They are due to be ready for occupation ahead of the start of next year’s ski season.
Valmorel in summer: the village enjoys year-round popularity.
Says Richard Deans in MGM’s London-based UK sales office: “There has been huge interest in our new résidence – La Grange aux Fées – in this little-known ski resort. Plans for phase two are due to be announced later this year.”
La Grange aux Fées is the first new development to be built by MGM in its Golden Jubilee year. In 2013 the company is celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the start of the business by Maurice Giraud, the father of MGM’s current President, David Giraud.
Valmorel is at a ‘snow-sure’ altitude of 1400 metres with access to 150 km of pistes within the Grand Domaine area. It links the Tarentaise Mountains dominating the Savoie region with the Maurienne Valley. Just two hours drive from Geneva Airport, it has enjoyed year-round popularity with French visitors since the seventies when it was built in the picturesque timber and stone style of a traditional Tyrolean village.
What makes Valmorel unusual is that, unlike so many other French ski resorts which opened their doors to countless developers during the building boom years of the past decade, the Mairie pledged to preserve the character of the village by turning down most applications for planning permission. “Consequently, as the choice of properties available to buy is limited, prices will be forced up in the years ahead and that has to be good news for people who invest now,” says Richard.
In MGM’s favour, when the Mairie considered its proposed plans, was its reputation as the leading developer in the French Alps – where it has been building ski properties for half a century – and its responsible approach to the environment. The company, a founder member of Sustain Worldwide, a business alliance that drives profitable sustainability to the heart of global property development, is frequently invited by local authorities to build ski apartments on the basis of its track record elsewhere in the region.
The prices of the leaseback apartments still available to buy at La Grange aux Fées start at €192,000 for a one-bedroom property. They exclude French VAT at 19.6 per cent, waived under the leaseback scheme.
Every apartment comes with underground parking and cellar storage as well as use of locker rooms, a laundry and drying rooms. Four-star facilities include a fitness suite, gym, sauna, jacuzzi and steam rooms, as well as an Ô des Cimes spa with a variety of massages and treatments on offer.
For more information call 0207 4940706 (UK), email london@mgm-immobilier.fr or visit the website www.mgmfrenchproperties.com
New homes planned in historic French lakeside town
are ideal for Britons working in Geneva
26th March 2013
Plans to build state-of-the-art new homes have been announced by the region’s leading developer, MGM French Properties. Four contemporary three-storey buildings together comprising 26 apartments set in landscaped gardens are planned for Le Clos Elisée in Annecy-le-Vieux, the oldest part of the lakeside town of Annecy where archaeologists found the remains of a waterfront settlement dating back to 3100 BC.
This computer-generated image shows how Le Clos Elisée in Annecy-le-Vieux will look when it is completed.
The spacious twenty-first century homes, which feature south-facing floor-to-ceiling windows, have been positioned to combine maximum levels of natural light and sunshine with privacy on terraces and roof gardens. The apartments have been designed to achieve the French Batiment Basse Consommation (BBC) standard which is awarded by Effinergie, the standards agency for low energy consumption buildings.
Among energy-saving features are: lighting activated by movement detectors, switching off automatically when no-one is around; low-energy light bulbs in communal areas; geothermal heat pumps to extract and use energy which occurs naturally underground; low-cost under-floor heating, and flow regulators on all taps.
Richard Deans, who heads MGM’s London-based UK sales office (telephone 0207 4940706) says that the new apartments are conveniently positioned for easy access to local shops as well as the heart of the old-world town of Annecy with its mediaeval cobbled streets and ‘Little Venice’ canal network.
“For Britons working in Geneva, Annecy is the ideal place to live,” says Richard. “The cost of living is substantially lower than that in the Swiss city and the drive-time for commuters is less than half an hour. Le Clos Elisée is only 20 minutes from Geneva Airport by road.”
A view of Lake Annecy which has been dubbed ‘the cleanest in Europe.’
Many buyers of MGM’s properties in Annecy are attracted by its year-round appeal. In summer sailing, watersports and fishing can be enjoyed on the 14 km long lake. In the ski season the Haute Savoie slopes of La Clusaz and Le Grand Bornand are only 30 minutes away by road. This university town, which is twinned with Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, hosts festivals, conferences, exhibitions and theatrical performances throughout the year.
The properties available to buy at Le Clos Elisée range in size from one-bedroom apartments with a floor area of 57 sq m and priced at €375,000 to a 95 sq m three-bedroom penthouse at €600,000. Every apartment comes with an underground garage which is included in the purchase price. For more information call MGM on 0207 4940706 (UK), email london@mgm-immobilier.fr or visit the website www.mgmfrenchproperties.com
Demand for Year-Round Holiday Homes in Les Carroz
Prompts the Developer to Build More Ahead of Schedule
25th July 2012
Demand for year-round holiday homes being built by MGM in the traditional farming village and ski resort of Les Carroz d’Araches in the Grand Massif area of the French Alps is so strong that the company has brought forward plans to construct more on another site nearby.
More than half of the 19 leaseback apartments taking shape in MGM’s Chalet des Belles Pistes have been sold off-plan and the scheme is on schedule for completion ahead of the ski season at the end of this year.
Now a further 14 apartments for outright purchase are planned. The new development – Chalet Adénora – is just five minutes’ walk from the centre of the bustling village and 50 metres from the ski lift.
This computer-generated image shows how Chalet Adénora in Les Carroz d’Araches in the Grand Massif area of the French Alps will look when it is completed. For details of the apartments available to buy call MGM on 0207 4940706, www.mgmfrenchproperties.com
Each of the spacious new two- and three-bedroom apartments come with balconies and terraces as well as a ski locker, secure cellar storage and a parking space. “The internal finishes will be a blend of traditional and contemporary styles planned to create a twenty-first century feel within our typically Alpine exterior of local timber and stone,” says Richard Deans who heads MGM’s London sales team.
The prices of MGM apartments in villages like Les Carroz can be around 25 per cent lower than comparable properties in big name resorts like nearby Chamonix. At Chalet Adénora prices start at €350,000 for a two-bedroom apartment with a floor area of 56 sq m.
For more information about the properties available from MGM in Les Carroz, contact the company’s UK office at Kingsland House, 122 - 124 Regent Street, London W1B 5SA, telephone 0207 4940706, email london@mgm-immobilier.fr or visit the website www.mgmfrenchproperties.com
New Ski Properties in La Rosière Selling Fast
26th September 2011
Just five months after announcing plans to build new ski properties for sale in the centre of the French Alpine resort of La Rosière, leading developer MGM reports that more than a quarter of the 38 properties have already been sold off-plan. Occupying the site of the former ’sixties-built Roc Noir Hotel in the centre of the Haute-Tarentaise village, the new Lodge Hemera résidence de tourisme will be just 250 metres from the nursery slopes when it is completed at the end of 2012.
Sporting traditional external finishes of timber, render and natural stone, the leaseback apartments are priced at €221,572 for a one-bedroom property rising to €426,421 for a three-bedroom home. These prices, which exclude French VAT of 19.6 per cent, waived under the leaseback scheme, include underground parking and cellar storage as well as use of locker rooms, a laundry and drying rooms.
When the residence opens next year, owners also will have use of all its four-star facilities, including an indoor pool, fitness suite, gym, sauna, jacuzzi and steam rooms, as well as a beauty centre with a variety of massages and treatments on offer.
La Rosière was built on the former Roman road through the Petit Saint Bernard Pass linking France with Italy. Occupying a sunny south-facing mountain ‘balcony’ at an altitude of 1850 metres, the resort has access to 150 km of pistes within the Espace San Bernardo ski area which embraces La Thuile in Italy. La Rosière is a 50-minute bus ride from Bourg St Maurice, the destination for Eurostar trains direct from London’s St Pancras International station during the ski season. The nearest airport is at Chambéry, two hours and 45 minutes by road. Geneva Airport is three hours and 45 minutes away.
For details of the apartments still available to buy in the new Lodge Hemera in La Rosière call MGM on 0207 4940706 (UK), email london@mgm-immobilier.fr or visit the website www.mgmfrenchproperties.com
Demand prompts MGM to step up plans to build more new homes in the French Alpine village of Samoëns
5th September 2011
With off-plans sales already achieved for more than half of the 70 new apartments planned for a popular Alpine village in France’s Grand Massif area, the region’s leading developer has brought forward plans to start building work to ensure the properties are ready for occupation by the end of next year. The development will be MGM’s sixth development in the village of Samoëns, an archetypal French working village with the focus on its central square, church, fountain and old market building.
[ Image left: A view of the site on which developer MGM is about to start construction work on its sixth development in the French Alpine village of Samoens. For details call 0207 4940706 or visit www.mgmfrenchproperties.com ]
“Samoens is one of the region’s most scenic and traditional villages which attracts Britons all year round,” says Richard Deans, sales consultant in MGM’s UK sales office in London’s Regent Street (tel +44 (0)207 4940706). He reports that work will be getting underway soon on the construction of the new scheme, Les Chardons Argentés. It comprises nine traditionally-styled chalets together containing 70 apartments ranging in size from 43 sq m one-bedroom properties to four-bedroom, two-bathroom duplexes of 110 sq m. All come with underground parking and storage space.
Available for outright purchase – not leaseback – and incorporating an indoor pool for use by residents, the apartments will be within walking distance of the village shops, cafés and restaurants in the centre of Samoens. Nearby is a cable car providing access to the Grand Massif’s 265 km of ski slopes.
Pictured at the heart of the archetypal French working village of Samoens is its square, church and
old market building where the work of its famed seventeenth century stonemasons is clearly in evidence.
The chalet buildings which comprise MGM’s Les Chardons Argentés will feature modern interiors and spacious accommodation. Externally they will be finished in timber and stone, continuing a local tradition spanning hundreds of years. In the seventeenth century, the stonemasons of Samoëns were in demand throughout Europe and as far afield as America.
“For British buyers, part of the special appeal of Samoëns is its easy access from the UK,” says Richard. “It is only one hour by road from Geneva Airport, making it ‘four hours door-to-door’ from London. Travel by car from the UK is easy; drive-time from Calais is about seven-and-a-half-hours.”
The prices of apartments still available at Les Chardons Argentés start at €251,000 for a one-bedroom property. For more details call MGM on 0207 4940706, email london@mgm-immobilier.fr or visit www.mgmfrenchproperties.com
