Your Own Alpine Hideaway for Less Than $36,000

International Living Postcards-- your daily escape

Monday, Feb. 27, 2006
Villard de Lans, France

Dear International Living Reader,

Buying a ski property in the French Alps doesn't have to be ruinously expensive. Right now, you can buy a studio at the foot of the pistes near the ski village of Villard de Lans I told you about earlier this month for just 30,000 euro ($35,500). But don't expect much space--this particularly studio is but 236 square feet.

Betty, a real estate agent here, is showing me around. Bigger resale apartments in this part of the Rhone-Alpes start at around $225 per square foot. For new-build luxury apartments, the figure is higher--$330 to $445 per square foot. For example, a 420-square-foot apartment beside the ski station is currently listing $92,000 (agency fees are included, but figure 8% to 10% for purchase costs, including notary fees).

Villard de Lans offers both alpine and cross-country skiing. Approximately three miles from the village proper, the alpine ski area is called Le Balcon. Properties up here are purpose-built, and, to be honest, the architectural style can only be described as "brute ugly." But even though reaching Le Balcon only takes 20 minutes on the free ski shuttle, plenty of visitors want to be right beside the slopes--and rentals are keenly sought after during the high season (Christmas and February). Even a tiny studio will rent for $240 to $300 per week during this time; two-bedroom apartments can fetch $850 to $970 per week.

Back down in Villard de Lans, Betty took me to see a more traditional apartment. On the outskirts of the village, Le Castel is a large pinkish-red residence with a tower. The building is 100 years old, and until 30 years ago it was a convalescent home for asthmatic children from the big cities; it's since been converted into eight private apartments. One of these apartments (two bedrooms, 800 square feet) is for sale--$240,000. If you didn't want to live in Villard de Lans yourself, Betty (the one trying to sell you real estate, remember) reckons it's more suited as a long-term rental than a vacation let. Plenty of Villard's 4,000 residents work in Grenoble, an hour away by car.

Village properties this size (800 to 900 square feet) typically rent for $785 to $900 per month. For long-term rentals, you should be looking for a three-year lease. But unlike a short-term vacation rental property at Le Balcon, you wouldn't want to use an apartment here yourself.

For more information contact the Orpi Aubreton real estate agency in Villard de Lans; tel. +33 (0) 4 7694-6060; e-mail: aubreton.villard@wanadoo.fr. Ask for Betty; she speaks excellent English.

Steenie Harvey
Roving Europe Editor, International Living

P.S. If you've got young children, here's a great excuse to move to this part of France. As part of the curriculum, elementary school kids in Villard de Lans get three free skiing lessons a week--two cross-country, one alpine.