Second home in Hossegor: the guide

Biarritz airport is forty minutes away and Bayonne TGV station about thirty-five minutes by road: from Paris, the house is reached in a morning, by train or by plane, and a day return remains possible. Once there, life moves by bike, from the borough to the beaches; the car serves mostly for longer trips.

That access decides how often you come, and so the property. A family coming for the school holidays can aim for the pine forest villa and its garden; one that wants to come often, for a few days, will choose a house that is simple to open and close, near the borough and the marine lake. Keep the late season for yourself: it is often when a second home in Hossegor is at its best.

The real question of a second home is the time between stays. Under the pines, a closed house keeps living: persistent damp under tree cover, needles in the gutters, roof timbers and decking that move. Someone has to air it, call in after winter storms, keep the garden and get the house ready before the family arrives.

Brush clearance is compulsory in zones exposed to fire risk, over 50 metres around buildings: check whether the plot is subject to it and decide who will handle it. Drainage, when not connected to the mains, falls under the SPANC inspection: its latest report is read before the offer. Management is easily delegated to caretaking and maintenance professionals; Home Select builds this logic of absence into the selection of the property.

Everything is seasonal in Hossegor, the market first: summer saturates the village, feeds projects and raises expectations; the late season and winter handle the serious sales, when the pine forest falls silent again, and serious sellers prefer the autumn window to the August rush. The sequence that works: a brief by video call, selection on file and video pre-viewings led with the seller’s agent, then a single trip, in autumn or winter, for the decisive viewings.

The classic traps: a house chosen from a summer photo, without seeing the damp or the timber; a dream extension that forest or coastal rules forbid; drainage to be redone, discovered after the preliminary contract. Have the building surveyed and the works costed before the offer. The taxation of a second home, depending on your country of residence, is a matter for the notaire and a tax adviser. Home Select is paid on success only: nothing is due before completion.