10 July 2011

It's now been 5 months since we put our first French house for sale, and it's feeling a little sad - it wants a new owner. Unlike English estate agent jargon, here are the facts we all want to know. You know what I mean:  cut to the chase. 
Pluses:
Price: reduced to 179 000 euros (includes agent fees). High-speed broadband access.
3 bedrooms. Gas CH. High-range kitchen, including integrated Bosch dishwasher, Ariston oven and Scholtes fridge-freezer, Ariston 6-burner ss gas hob.  Bathroom with power/massage shower. Land 2133m2 (half-acre), with clear views to the rear. Pool 9 x 4 m with salt filter. 2 terraces. Situation: on edge of village, walking distance to shops and nearby Aveyron river; 5mins to SNCF station. Mediterranean sunshine!  Minuses: rural location, need a car to get to larger towns and stores.

 So, what do you think? Worth the money? Would make an ideal holiday home. No reasonable offers refused - I'll even throw in a few extras......

1st March 2009

There are some Brits here for whom, economically, times are really hard. They are the ones who relied on either working (even the French can't find work) or living off interest savings (which have plummeted to zero). When things get really desperate and the outgoings exceed the income - like Mr. Micawber in Dickens - there are basically two options. You can either go back home to the UK and stay with a relative whilst looking for a regular (all-year) tenant for your French property, or consider downsizing in France.
For the latter, you can usually get a French bridging loan for 70% of the value of the existing property, which you can use to buy a pretty village home in France - there are loads of cheap properties available all over the country. These loans are normally granted for a period of up to two years which can be extended in some cases, but you don't need to pay it back until your original house is sold. In the meantime, you put your original property on the market at a realistic price and when it eventually sells, you pay off the loan and bank a large cheque.
Of course, you need to take account of all those extras, like estate agents' and notaires' fees. There is no standard agent's percentage - you need to check out the rates in their window. Certainly avoid those who charge more than 8%. A cheaper way of selling is to do it via a notaire. They are required by law to stick to a standard fee, which is always cheaper than an agent's fee: 5% of the selling price up to 45,735 euros and then 2.5% thereafter plus tax. Details of properties on sale via notaires can be found at http://www.immobilier.notaires.fr/.
The rule remains the same here: secure a regular income (it doesn't have to be large - we've found that you can live quite well on 1000 euros a month). The sun is shining, the air is clear and life is good.

20th October 2008

We knew it would happen. The economic crisis, which until now seemed only to be affecting those movers and shakers on Wall Street, is now actually affecting the ordinary man in the boulevard. That awful phrase 'negative equity' is affecting everyone and banks have started to repossess. So, the crooks of this world are having to dream up more and more scams to prop up their finances. Even the French President was affected last month when Parisian thieves obtained confidential numbers and passwords to withdraw, undetected, regular small slices of his annual salary of £195,000. I wonder how he noticed. But what can the ordinary man and small businesses do about their own problems? France has never been famous for customer service, but something appears to be happening. Some estate agents feeling the pinch have begun to offer online discounts, insurance and offers to pay hefty notaires' fees as the slump continues. Developers Kaufman & Broad recently put some new houses up for sale with a discount of 5-12%, attracting 500,000 visitors to its internet site. All over France prospective house buyers are being inundated with incentives as estate agents suffer a dramatic slump in business. There's even an insurance policy called securite-revente. In the event of the buyer being forced to sell the house at a loss within 2 years of buying it, the policy will apparently add financial protection. Methinks: there's bound to be small-print which will prevent them from paying out when the time comes, but that's me being cynical again.....or shall we call it realistic from a lifetime's experiences! But, if you're not buying, if at all possible ride out the current economic storm by paring down your outgoings to a minimum. It's bound to all be over within a few years, isn't it? Then, if necessary, downsize and use the capital to cut down the highest of your debts. I know - easier said than done. Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt.....