Before you can select a property you need to choose a price range. To help
you decide what you actually want you may wish to draw up a list of requirements.
Do you want a house in a city, town, village, hamlet or in an isolated area.
What size of garden do you want? Do you want to be near the coast, inland
or near to mountains? You will never find all your requirements but you
can look for the best compromise.
Sometimes
when buying a house in France not enough consideration is given to its
location, climate, local amenities and amount of renovation and modernisation
work in terms of cost and time. Yet when buying in the U.K most people
would make a serious evaluation of all the above criteria taking into
account distances to towns, crime rates, type of community, the road network
etc.
A similar
analysis of our little corner of France reveals that our village Puyravault
has a mix of locals and foreigners’ i.e. non-locals. The population
is approx 600. Our adjacent village St Radegonde des Noyers is very similar,
and two miles away at the village of Champagne les Marais there is a larger
population of almost 3000 made up mainly of locals. The village of St
Michel en l’Herme is close to the seaside resort of La Faute sur
Mer where non-locals who buy holiday properties are pushing up prices.
Some villages
are very tightly knit, and settling in may be more difficult. The local
café can be a good place to get to know the villagers and their
attitudes.
Research
the "French climate" (on internet) take into consideration the
difference in rainfall/ hours of sunshine between Brittany/ Normandy and
south Vendée and the fact that the better weather is always near
the coast. Looking in winter offers several benefits, you experience the
climate, the travelling costs are cheaper and you are less tempted to
visit the tourist traps allowing you to focus on the important issues
of making a living and employment options.
In this part
of France there is very little crime. The more sophisticated city people
from La Rochelle view the Vendeens as friendly, trusting and naive but
living a simple basic country lifestyle. I compare Vendéens to
the friendly genuine people of southern Ireland where in both places they
will do anything to help (once you have made the effort with your French,
bad French is appreciated, no French is not)
No doubt
you will have a budget to stick to, but you will have the choice of building
from scratch, buying renovated or part renovated property or totally renovating
yourself. Consider your options very carefully.
Never buy
the first house that you see, view a number of properties in different
areas and price ranges so that you can compare what’s on offer and
make an informed choice.
Renovation
can take 2 to 15 years of blood sweat and tears, unless you employ the
services of a REPUTABLE local builder. It is better that work is completed
quickly and to a high standard unless you are prepared to “make
do” with just a basic summer holiday home.
The most
important part of any property is the roof, all interior work can be ruined
overnight by torrents of rain. Do not forget to enquire at the “marie”
for any grants that may apply i.e. solar heating, as in the U.K. But remember,
grants can take a while to be processed (the Marie is the town/village
hall where the maire [mayor] can be found). In France the maire has much
more say in the running of the village/commune and is not controlled by
regional or central government. Renovation can be very expensive, as a
general rule the bigger the property the bigger is the cost of renovation,
so bear in mind that the low purchase price can be very deceptive.
A new house involves a lot less work than an old property and costs are
MUCH easier to evaluate so bear this in mind when looking. If you are
considering a partially restored house make sure that the work that’s
been done is of good standard or it could be a case of rip it out and
start again.
A property
that has been completely renovated to a high standard (as confirmed by
an experienced builder) is worth spending more on as you are saving years
of work, but then you miss out on a novel/character building experience
that you will never forget. Bear in mind that all renovation projects
are not always completed and they can often put a strain on relationships.
When you
decide on an area make the necessary enquiries to find a few suitable
villages. You can then save a great deal of money by finding a house yourself.
An estate agent can charge as much as 7.5% as can the notaire, however
you can negotiate by making an offer “clé a la mains”
which means an offer inclusive of all fees. (The actual translation is
keys in hand). You can visit a notaire direct to save the estate agents
cut, however if you negotiate direct with the owner and then approach
the notaire his fees can be halved i.e. 3 ¾ %
Beware of
some “professional” estate agents, we fell in love with one
particular property only to be told that the family who had inherited
the house had rejected our offer and in addition they had decided to increase
the asking price. We believe that this increase was the invention of the
greedy agent who needless to say lost his sale. If you are keen on a property
and wish to place an offer try to hide your enthusiasm, don’t rush,
and try not to enquire too soon to discover if it has been accepted. When
we made an offer on our property I was told that the family would decide
after three or four days, I somehow managed to wait five days before phoning
and was told that our offer had been accepted.
It is common
when spending lots of money on a U.K. property to employ the services
of a building surveyor, mainly because it is a condition of the mortgage
lender. However often when there is cause for concern surveyors’
use the get out clause “however we recommend that you seek the advice
of a local builder”. I therefore suggest, should you be buying a
property in need of repair that you request a “Devis”(estimate)
from two or more independently recommended local builders.
Local builders
can also be located using Pages Jaunes (Yellow Pages) found at a bibliotheque
(library) and La Poste (main post offices). Look under Batiment entreprises
or Entreprises genereal de batiment. If you have the name of a small local
builder, see L’Annuaire (telephone directory) where towns and villages
are listed in alphabetical order.
Do not overlook
having a house built in France on the land of your choice. This land must
be “terrain de construire”also called ‘terrain a batir’
(building land) and it can sometimes also have with it a plot of terrain
agricole (agricultural land, where building is not allowed).
Employing
the services of an architect based in France is recommended for drawing
up plans. Agree his fee beforehand, I believe that in some cases they
can ask as their fee a percentage of the cost of the build - try not to
accept this. The architect will then find a local builder and all you
have to do is sign cheques for each stage of the build.
Should your
French be reasonable and you are an experienced qualified builder, self-build
is an option, but you must consult with the D.D.E. (direction departmental
de l’equipment) planning department in order to ensure compliance
with building regulations.
I have done
most of the work on our properties. Janet and I have designed the cottages,
built the pool, constructed four gites from stone shells and renovated
our house. I have also in the past done some building work for other English
owners.
We have hands
on experience and therefore can offer sound advice to those of you who
are house hunting. If you wish to look at properties in our area we can
show you all types and all ways to search and negotiate - we can also
help to save you money and warn you of possible pitfalls. You can of course
apply this valuable experience should you also wish to consider another
area of France.
Once you
have found your dream home we recommend that you put in an offer “Clés
a la mains” you then do not have to concern yourself with any additional
commissions for agents or Notaires. Should your offer be accepted the
fees would be deducted from the sellers money.
We learnt
a valuable lesson when we arrived in France. When buying a property it
is normal for the seller to arrange house clearance, but this was an inheritance
property and the offspring lived far and wide from here. The agent assured
us that they would probably leave everything in the house that was there
when we viewed it. Fortunately we arrived two days before signing for
the property to tidy the overgrown garden, as the property had been vacant
for some time, only to discovered that the tons of oak planking in the
barn were being “stolen” along with the woodworking machinery,
tools, the electric well pump, fire bases and all the desirable furniture
in the house.
We suspect
that the agent had arranged with a local brocanteur (antiques dealer)
to take anything of value. We were comforted by the fact that we were
at least there to protect the cast iron spiral staircase. The person in
charge of this “clearance” spoke some English, three words
in fact “not in contract”. The moral is to trust no one, not
even estate agents, the solution is to get everything written into the
contract.
When it comes
to buying in France often due perhaps to the language barrier and lack
of local knowledge these sensible and essential rules are rarely applied.
Putting in the necessary time and effort can involve several visits, but
serious research into your dream home and its surrounding area is an essential
step to ensuring that your French dream does not become your personal
nightmare.
We are always
willing to assist anyone who is interested in house hunting, many of the
guests who have stayed with us have subsequently bought in and around
the area.
We will gladly give advice or arrange visits to estate agents, notaires
or direct with the seller.
Should you
wish to know more about our corner of France or travelling to France via
tunnel sea or air please visit our website www.francehols.co.uk
Good luck
with your house hunting
Janet &
Trevor Fox email info@francehols.co.uk
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