Bonjuor all!

[Frenchy11]

Bonjour all! (de-lurking into the forum.)

Quick Post to say Hi to every one on my first day/post.

We have moved into the Poitou-Charentes, but will for the foreseeable future commuting in and out of France to the UK pending early retirement.

Regards J.

ps. I know its spelt wrong but it will not edit ???

[darcy]

Bonjour Frenchy!

I am interested in moving to the Poitou - Charentes area. Can you tell me how you went about finding your home? Are there real estate websites that you would recommend?

Merci

[Frenchy11]

Hi Darcy,

We found our maison by accident we got fed up with looking at rubbish places that needed a lot of money throwing at them.

I can not recommend any estate agents or web sites.

French estate agents change around 13% of the property for dealing with it, a lot more than in the UK, and very rarely take a reduction on the fees preferring to pass any lower offer to the vendor, hence their reputation with the French is mediocre at best.

You also have to check the small print to see if The Notaires’ fees are included in the agents fees.

I think the best way to find a place is to:-

Find an area you like.

Draw a 50 mile circle around the hotel you are staying at.

Decide your budget taking into account if you fall in love with a complete lemon you will need as much as you spend on buying the house to do it up to your standard to live in.

In your 50 mile area, go to all The Notaires Offices, ( you can buy from the Notaire, bypassing an agent.) It’s far cheaper.

In Living France Magazine if you look up the area you like they publish stats on things like average incomes in that area, this will give you an idea of how much you need a month to live off( in my area the average take home income is around 850 euros per month.

I am a Very strong believer in the K.I.S.S. principle “KEEP THINGS SIMPLE STUPID”

SO:-

The older I get the more I may have to walk and the less I may have to drive:- Don’t live out in the Campagne if you are coming up to 59+ and you need , dentists, doctors, pharmacist, food shops, etc.

You will need some sort of central heating and water heating, the cheapest is non computer operated instant electrical convector heaters and water cylinder. Electricity is around 3p a KW, UK its around 11p a KW. Oil is expensive plus theres 19.6 vat on it.
Do not buy in a village if there is less than 2 Boulangerie, and less than 2 hairdressers- If there is less than 2 of each the village/town is dying.

Water and Wood on you land is a must, a chord of cut wood is around 130 euros a chord and you have to rely on the wood man redelivering it, a most disillusioning experience at the best of times.
Burning wood for heating/cooking you will need 6+3 operational reserve of dried chords a year.
Water on you land, i.e. a lake or a bore hole will save you a lot of money.

If you have a personal mosquito problem take Yeast tablets and they will bites some one else. You may end up with candida, from the yeast but you will be mosy bite free.

Anyway happy hunting Darcy you can always ask me anything through this site if you are stuck.

Regards Frenchy.

OBTW:-

The French do not like to buy a house without a garden around 1+ acres is good. Don’t buy too much land as you have to look after it and it gets harder as you get old. Land for wood is different

The French will not buy a house that is done up with out the correct paper work, so you are looking for renovations done buy local artisans.

Don’t fall for the old chestnut “ I cant drop the price but I will throw all the tools and furniture in with the price if you give me some cash”, its illegal and the Notaire will send the second hand furniture bod around to price the goods you say you are buying.

[darcy]

Thank you Frenchy for all your good information, that was very kind of you! I will print it and hope to make good use of it. I am a lady 'of a certain age' and I am thinking that an apt in a large town or small city might be good for me, so that I, like you, will be able to walk to the butcher, the baker and the beauty salon.

I will be having lunch in a few weeks with an internet friend who lives about 40km from Tours and I will be asking him about that area.

Again, thank you for the information, I really appreciate it.

[seymour]

If you are looking for property, you will find google the best place to start with a search on property south west france.