We live in the Scottish Borders in a quiet rural area and have been letting villas for 20 years. We stay abroad in the off season when the Scottish weather is gloomy so that we fit out the villa with all the necessary equipment that anyone including ourselves would require as a second home, including broadband internet connection etc. We also use very good local villa management services so that handing over keys, inventories and welcome packs are on hand. Also in case of emergencies they can help locally at hand with the knowledge and bilingual language efficiency skills that can deal with the sort of problems that car accidents, thefts, loss of passports, hospitals and police may occasion, which can become a nightmare if this sort of help is not available.