What's your "must haves" in the Alps?

Well have had a place in Chamonix for few years now and basic reasons were.
1) amazing all year town.
2) great terrain for Skiing and climbing.
3) year round shuttle bus and good bus and train service once in town (cars in France are expensive)
4) Geneva airport which is frankly awesome as you can get to all the big hubs for work and cheap flights into UK.

St Gervais looks a great town to me and would certainly position you right in the middle of some amazing areas. I would certainly prefer to be there than a resort with limited skiing and not much going on for 8 months a year.

Thanks for all the tips, particularly Msej449 - you've brought my attention to some points I hadn't really taken into account.

I'd prefer not to use the guaranteed income route, but rent as and when, we need it for High season unfortunately - half term, and summer.

I'll have to find out more about maintenance costs, this season I'll check into a place in St Gervais or Praz sur Arly to see what it's like.

I'd rather have more space as we tend to lounge about chalets and with kids a tiny studio isn't going to cut it. Interesting what you say about ski in ski out, Im assuming a lower €/m2 further from the lifts.

Happy to be of help .... a couple of other things:

Concierge: We have a concierge who lives on the ground floor of the block. This makes a huge difference compared to not having one, although it will increase your annual Owner's Charges, obviously. They are almost always around to help with minor problems and big ones, like the boiler pump failing in the middle of a winter's night. Ours will also drop off and pick up from the local station for a small remuneration; turn on the heating ahead of your arrival; check no one is parked in your space on arrival day; clear away the snow from the garage entrance first thing in the morning; etc.etc. Some owners resent the cost but I think they're really useful.

One thing that works well is our approach of reserving two of the least booked weeks (last in Jan and first in Feb) but going weekday-to-weekday, which is significantly cheaper. Family and colleagues then tend to book 'outwards' from this, because of the attraction of weekday-to-weekday travel (no one wants to be anywhere near Geneva Airport on a Saturday in season). Generally, most years this approach still leaves some unbooked slots when we can hop over for 4-5 days.

In fact, it would be useful for you to ask the Tourist Office what the pattern of visitors is like for your candidate locations. In our village, most renters are either Dutch or Germans, and January (post New Year) is the least popular time for winter visitors. It would just give you some insight into both how rentable and busy the place is.

Lift opening (summer as well as winter): In most ski resorts, the 'low' seasons are spring and autumn, and the contrast can be truly dramatic, in terms of both shops/facilities and usability. Find out from the Tourist Office when the usual dates are for lift opening. In the summer, this will make a big difference to the size of area available to you (or clients). Where we are, the lifts open July and August. it's not a lot of fun having to slog 700 vertical metres when the lift is shut up to a summit that usually takes 9 minutes to reach when the lift is open.

As all agents will say,,,,,LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION !

Every ski resort has its "unique feel". Its identity. Type of life style people want.

I avoid the tourist meccas . The resorts where people go "to be seen"

I look for those "hidden pearls " not well know by most. The skiing Shangri- Las.

I do not want to travel to slopes, yet I do not want mega cement block condos on the side of slopes. You all have seen them.

I want a center that respects nature and the mountain.

Give yourself time to look around.

Think ahead 5-10 years

Talk to locals.

Ski all of the resort.

Good luck

Pa

We're a 20min drive from Megeve this time, so I'll see if that bothers me. Worryingly, prices don't seem much lower (!)

With the additional maintenance costs, I'm now going to need convincing that this is worth it from a financial point of view.

I actually believe from a rental yield point if view does not make sense. Buy somewhere with potential to increase in value or that you intend to use for yourself throughout the year.

The financing point is well-made: A lot depends on whether you can finance the capital sum independently of the rental income. Apartment rental will usually pay for running costs and a maintenance fund. But rentals are unlikely to cover a mortgage. Counter-intuitively, it seems more feasible to pay mortgage costs on a chalet - but this needs a high proportion of bookings over a long period. Ideally, chalets should be catered, which can be difficult for a UK owner. The UK owners I know in our village seem to fit this model - those with apartments rent, but it's more 'casual'; the ones with chalets work hard to rent them out as much as possible.