Second home in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat: the guide

The real question of a second home on Cap Ferrat arises between two stays. A property on the peninsula faces salt, sea winds and the rules of the protected site: the garden is pruned all year, the pool is monitored, the stilts and the sea access carry very particular maintenance costs, and the retaining structures, which show very little, are checked after every winter. In exposed wooded areas, the compulsory brush clearance within 50 metres of the buildings is not optional. The property is budgeted together with the people who look after it in your absence: caretaking, gardener, pool contractor.

Winterising is organised before leaving: water shut off, heating on standby, shutters and blinds checked, a regular visit after gales. Visible works, pool, fence, extension, go through the protected zone’s permits and are scheduled for winter, when the peninsula belongs to discreet building sites. Home Select builds this logic of absence into the selection itself: condition of the maritime structures, easements, the real cost of upkeep, and what a village house spares you compared with a waterfront estate.

The peninsula’s great sales are never advertised: they are prepared over months and concluded between established advisers, often along family transmissions. The market is active all year, with two breathing spaces more favourable to viewings: spring, from April to June, and autumn, from September to November. Summer concentrates social life and the occupation of the residences, which limits viewing availability more than it slows transactions. Winter, very quiet, is often the best moment to handle a confidential file over time.

For a buyer who lives elsewhere, the sequence is prepared in reverse of the calendar: a brief in the autumn, watch and qualification on documents over the winter, video pre-viewings steered by Home Select with the seller’s agent, then a single trip in spring for the decisive viewings, grouped together. Nice Côte d’Azur airport is about twenty minutes away: the Cap can be viewed in half a day, when the properties exist. The real work happens upstream, on access to the properties that are never advertised: the search is steered by Home Select’s management, with its network of 15,000 partners, and Home Select receives more than 100 off-market properties every day.

On Cap Ferrat, the gaps in value between two neighbouring properties are among the widest on the Riviera: the bay, Villefranche or Les Fourmis, the slope of the land, the access and view easements, compliance with coastal rules. The sentier des douaniers coastal path, the platforms and the stilts over the sea are often older than their permits: before any offer, gather the planning permits, the condition of the maritime structures and the exact line of the rights of way. The shore belongs to the public maritime domain, and the loi Littoral protects the hundred-metre strip outside built-up areas, which weighs on any idea of extending.

The peninsula’s sellers are almost never in a hurry: proof of funds, a flexible completion date, furniture taken as it stands and guaranteed discretion often weigh more than a higher figure. The price is set against the rare comparable sales in the DVF land registry data, and works are costed before the offer, never after. Home Select’s fees are 100% on success, nothing is due before the deed; the Confidentielle offer, 1.5% incl. VAT of the net vendor price, reserved for projects of 2 million euros and above, provides the same full service and presents only off-market properties.