Everyone involved in selling property in France knows why the village name is almost never on a property listing. It’s the dirty secret we don’t talk about. It seems a bit whiny to say it to clients who are looking for property.
And the answer is…
The thing to remember about French real estate agencies – immobiliers- is that they exist primarily to sell property for and to the French. Their focus is on getting listings and keeping other immos from finding out about them.
You see a picture of a house that you like in the window of a real estate agency. The price looks right but you can’t tell where it is from the description so you go inside and ask. Pretty straight-forward, right? All they need to do is tell you where it is so you can decide if you want to see it. Maybe go look at the outside on your own, walk around the village, check the area.
It’s not going to happen. Not in the Aude. Probably not anywhere in France.
It’s very unusual to have snow in this part of the Corbieres, the Val de Daigne. This is what it looked like this morning…
Snowy view from Villetritouls
Bon de visites are shrouded in mystery, mainly because they do absolutely nothing for a buyer or vendor and everything for an agent. When I first started selling real estate in France I was told I had to get a client to sign so that if anything happened on a visit – the roof fell on us, one of us broke our leg on slippery stairs – insurance would cover it. I thought it was a bit strange, there wasn’t anything about insurance in the text of the bon de visit but went along with it.
This article talks about house hunting in Languedoc because that’s the area we work in however it applies to any region of France.
You’ve done your research, and you’ve visited and found the area that’s right for you. You’ve spent time researching property on the internet. From your research and your exploring you’ve established a wish list and a budget. It’s time to come to Languedoc, visit houses, find the house you want, and buy it.
It sounds so easy, doesn’t it? This can actually be where things get frustrating. And this is where we can help.
Always good to check the dates of public holidays before you visit France, especially if you’re hoping to look at houses. Some owners won’t let agents show their house on holidays or Sunday and some agents don’t work on holidays or Sunday.
Have you found yourself day-dreaming about running a chambre d’hote in France? Maybe looking at ads of B&B for sale? Over the years we’ve had a lot of clients who were thinking about operating a B&B in the in the south of France. Some ended up going ahead and some didn’t.
I noticed that there were two types of people. The people who wanted to run a B&B, and the people who wanted to renovate a big house and make it into a B&B.
Fractional ownership and shared ownership are the same thing. You own a share in a property in France – or anywhere, but this blog is about France. It’s an ideal way to have a vacation home in France. Your share entitles you to use of the house for a specified amount of time each year. Not the same time each year, it rotates so everyone gets a chance at each season.
You’ve probably come across the term ‘circulade village’ in Aude Property listings. And you’ve probably wondered “what is a circulade village?”
Montclar, circulade village in the Aude
If you’re planning to buy a house in France don’t set yourself up for disappointment. Pick the area before you look at houses. It’s horrible to find a house you love in an area you don’t like.
You’ve done your research and have a good idea of the areas that you think will appeal. Now is the time to visit and explore, to find the perfect part of France, the part where you want to buy a house.
It is really all about the truism in the real estate market that it is location, location, location above anything else. With sufficient budget you can alter just about anything else about a property . You can tear it all down and rebuild it in your own taste, you can add more land, sell some off. But you can’t move it to another location.
If you're not French, buying property in France can be a daunting, even stressful, process. We're here to make it easier - maybe even fun. The more you understand about the process of buying French property, the easier the process becomes. Advance planning, research, and soon you'll be the proud owner of your own home in France.
