Assetz® News - Why investors must check if they Ken join the other Barbies

Why investors must check if they Ken join the other Barbies

20th May 2008 |

The solidity of the French property market while all around is being credit crunched has been one of the major stories of recent times. Now, it seems, a new feature of this has emerged - the BARBies.

This is now, however, consider deleting a case of Cindy's rival for the title of top doll (at least until Bratz took over) coming to life as a property investor. The acronym stands for Buy Abroad, Rent in Britain and is a new trend that has emerged in French property investment, Homes Worldwide reports.

Such a trend is, the website notes, one indulged in by first-time buyers, who have decide d that at present the best prospects for buying a home exist across the channel, enabling them to get on the ladder at a comparatively low price while remaining off it at home.

The rationale is that the French property can be rented out in the meantime to cover the mortgage costs there, with the end game being the ultimate sale at a profit of the French property, providing enough revenue to cover any deposit for that long-awaited first step onto the UK ladder at some future point.

Justin Walter of property firm Spot Blue told the Daily Mirror recently that parents were often involved in this kind of investment, noting: "We're getting more and more parents buying an investment property for their kids."

Homes Worldwide noted that such an investment may be a very fruitful ruse, given the figures from the French estate agents association Fnaim showing a 3.1 per cent rise in prices in the first quarter of 2008. But as ever, new investment should not be treated lightly.

Even though France is a highly familiar country for British buyers and is covered by European Union law in many common areas, the fact is that French property law does have differences to Britain's, not least in some of the clauses that exist.

In one example, any house which has agricultural land attached to it may be a fraught business to purchase, Daily Telegraph writer Will Randall noted. In an article this week he related that any tenant farmer working the land has first refusal on buying it. The result was that, despite initially indicating they were not interested, one of the two tenants concerned sought to buy the portion in front of the house, with no guarantee that it would not be sold on to someone who could build an unattractive development in front of the view.

While this move led to Mr Randall giving up on the house, another local bylaw that exists is that a property can be bought at the asking price by the mayor on behalf of the townsfolk. The Sydney Morning Herald recently reported on the case of an Australian family looking to buy and renovate a derelict chateau where the mayor sought to do this, before finally settling for just half a hectare of the 20 which made up the grounds.

Such examples demonstrate why it is wise when buying in France, as elsewhere, to engage local expertise and be aware of bylaws and pitfalls which may occur. Provided these are taken care of an all is clear, Barbies (and anyone called Ken for that matter) may proceed to invest with more confidence.