Second home in Sanary-sur-Mer: the guide

Three products dominate. The village house of the old centre, for a pied-à-terre where everything is done on foot: rare in large surfaces, often sold before advertising. The apartment with a sea view over the harbour, for short stays and the simplest management. The villa of Portissol or of the residential heights, for a family that wants the beach with calm waters or the garden with a pool; the first is judged with summer parking, the second with the car for everything.

The real distance to the harbour and the beach matters more than surface: for seasonal use, a well-placed two-room apartment lives better than an isolated villa. And each product has its file: seafront co-ownership for the apartment, brush-clearing and exposure to the mistral for the villa.

The real question of a second home is the time between stays: who watches, who maintains, who does the brush-clearing, compulsory in exposed zones over 50 m around buildings, who readies the house for winter? For an old villa not connected to the main sewer, the septic system is controlled by the SPANC: the report belongs to the file. For a seafront apartment, ask for the general-meeting minutes and the maintenance log: salt air works on façades and joinery.

Home Select’s concierge service handles the opening, the upkeep and the guarding between stays. This logistics is best settled before the purchase: a villa with pool and garden needs a gardener and someone on the spot; an apartment of the old centre is managed from a distance. The right choice includes the life of the closed house, not only that of the stays.

The Sanary market wakes as early as February and stays active from March to June, the ideal window to target a precise property; summer saturates the harbour and the beaches; the late season, in September and October, opens a second, calmer and more negotiable window. For a buyer at a distance: start in winter, view in spring, sign in autumn.

The model is built for that. The brief is set by video call or by phone; Home Select runs the search from its head office, with its network of 15,000 partners and more than 100 off-market properties received every day; properties are qualified on paper, pre-viewed on video with the seller’s agent, and the price is checked against comparable published sales. Founded in 2011, Home Select has assisted more than 1,200 buyers, 30% of them expatriate or international clients; you travel only for the decisive viewings, grouped into a single trip, and Home Select is paid only on success: nothing is due before the deed.