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…

We’re all afraid that if we put the village name in the ad some other agent is going to see it, go find the house and get a listing.  We’re so afraid of this that we take the chance of losing a potential client rather than just advertise the location of the property.

I have to admit that AFP is as guilty as anyone else.  Sometimes we include the location in the ad, sometimes we include a Google map, and sometimes we just give a vague description of the area.

It has to do with the way real estate sales work in France.  Vendors can list their properties with more than one immobilier – and they do. Sometimes with as many as 10 agents!  And they often advertise it privately as well.  This also explains why you see the same house listed at different prices on different websites.

When I lived in the Aude and worked as an agent commercial (real estate agent) I always put the property location in my ads.  I’m confident enough to know that worrying about other agents ‘stealing’ my listings is a waste of time.  And they did ‘steal’ my listings.  I can’t count how often people said “John Doe – or whoever – always looks at your site and then goes and finds the house and mandats (lists) it.”

I always thought “Good for John.  While he’s wasting time trying to find my properties and list them himself I’m out showing and selling houses.”  If I didn’t have anything that suited the client I would find properties listed by other immos and contact them to arrange a collaboration.  Better 50% of the commission than no sale.

So why doesn’t Aude France Property always put the name of the village on the ad now? I manage the website and feature properties from agents I worked with in the Aude.  Some of them still aren’t comfortable with disclosing the location.  I’m working on it though.

The frustration of not knowing where a house is located was brought home to me last week.  I was researching properties for a client and emailed an agent to ask where one of the properties was.  She emailed back and said that it was in the general area of x (something I’d already figures out because it said that on the ad) and that she could tell me the village name because she didn;t have an exclusive listing.

It annoyed me so much that I spend ages finding the same house on another website.  If she had told me the location – and if it was a village that my clients were interested in – I would have arranged an appointment. Of course if my clients loved the house and I could find it anywhere else I would have persisted with the agent.

I found the house on another site, I emailed the agent he told me the location.  If my clients want to see it I’ll arrange the visit through him.

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.

Customer service from a French immobilier

You’ll be invited to talk to an agent, to describe the property you want, to plough through the listing book, looking at houses that don’t meet any of your criteria, and to make an appointment to go view properties.

“But”, you’ll say, “I just want to know where the house in the window is so I can look at the outside and look around the village.” “Tant pis” they think with a Gallic shrug of their shoulders. This is France.

Maybe, just maybe, if you persist they’ll tell you the general area. If the village is large enough they may tell you the name of the village but they aren’t going to give you an address unless you sign a bon de visit saying that you’ll only look at the house using one of their real estate agents.

Make an immobilier appointment before you arrive in France

Even if you’ve taken the time to contact an immobilier before you visit France and made an appointment to see a specific house you’ll arrive at the appointed time and find that no appointments have been made. French agents believe that foreigners never show up. You’ll have to go through the book, look at all the houses you aren’t interested in, and then they’ll make appointments to show you the properties you want to see. Usually not on that day.

Off to another immo

And after all that, if you don’t like any of the houses they’ve shown you? Too bad. Off to another immobilier and start again.

See the same house, over and over

You might notice that some of the houses in the next immobilier’s book look a bit familiar. They probably are. You saw them in the first immobilier’s book. That’s because the French tend to list their properties with more than one real estate agent. Sometimes with as many as 10! And they all try very hard to take pictures that won’t identify the property. They don’t want competitors to know that it’s for sale. Unfortunately that results in confused clients being taken to see houses that they’ve already seen with another immo.

What a waste of time.

Deal with one real estate agent in the Aude

Wouldn’t it be nice to just deal with one real estate agent in the Aude? You can. At Aude France Property we take the time to get to know what kind of property you want, where in the Aude you want to buy property, and how much you want to spend on your house in France. We collaborate with other immobiliers in the Aude, as well as with Notaires and with owner’s selling their properties privately, so we can show you the houses you want to see.

Contact us, we’ll make it easy for you to buy property in the Aude.

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.

I mentioned it to another agent and they said no, no.  It was so that we could show the vendor who had been through the house.  Again a bit strange.

Then one day I asked a broker and he said the only reason it exists is so that if agent x shows a house to a buyer and the buyer then negotiates the deal through agent y then somebody has to pay agent x the full commission.  It’s crap.  What if the buyer really hates agent x, can’t possibly deal with  them.  Where’s the choice in that.

I suspect that some immobiliers use the bons de visite to track their agents activity.  To see how many properties an agent is showing to potential buyers.

The only time I ever use a bon de visit is if someone wants to go and see where a house is located and look at the outside before making an appointment to see it.  The reason I use it was in case the owner comes out and decides to do a direct deal with the potential buyer.  I always explain to the vendor and the buyer what I ‘m doing and the vendor always understands that if I send a client to look at the outside and the client does a deal directly with the vendor then the vendor owes the agency fees and commission anyway.

Clear as mud.  Right?

French immos will undoubtedly ask you to sign a bon de visite before they show you a house.  At least you should know what you’re signing.  I’m assuming if you don’t speak French you’re going to have someone who can translate with you.  Ask them to translate the text before you sign.

Looking for properties for sale in France

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.

Pick dates for your visit.

If possible make sure there isn’t a bank holiday while you’re here.  The French take bank holidays and weekends seriously.  You may be able to make appointments to view properties for sale on a Saturday but you’ll be hard pressed to find an immobilier (or owner) who will show you houses in Languedoc on a Sunday or holiday.

Plan to stay for at least two weeks if you can.  This will give you time to see houses and to make a second visit to any that you like.  Also time to make an offer and have it accepted.

Arrange accommodation.

If you’ve decided to look at properties near Carcassonne don’t stay near Béziers, you’ll spend a lot of time driving back and forth.  If you’ve decided to look in two areas stay somewhere in between.

Make appointments to view properties.

In this area people list their houses with more than one immobilier, sometimes with as many as 7.  Don’t assume that the you’ll see a wider range of houses by making appointments with a lot of real estate agents.  You won’t.

Pick one or two immobiliers.

You’ll have an idea from your research which agencies seem to have the kind of properties that you’re looking for.  By now you are probably in contact with an agent  by email or on the phone and have a list of potential houses to visit. Make appointments for the visits.

Avoid frustration

I read a lot about buying property in France that says always meet the agent at their office.  My personal experience was that I had been emailing back and forth with an agent, picked houses I wanted to see and made an appointment to meet him – I thought to look at houses.  Instead he handed me off to someone else who sat me down to go through the book.  The agent was charming but she had absolutely no idea what I was looking for and was just using price as a guide.  I showed her the listings of the three houses I wanted to see and she said they were all sold.

Finally we decided on three houses that I wanted to see.  She could only show me two because she couldn’t get in touch with the third owner and she would only be able to show them to me in the afternoon.  I hung around for three hours and we set off.

First house was ok but didn’t sing to me.  Second house?  Don’t know.  We couldn’t get inside because the owner had forgotten to leave the key in the hiding place.

Frustrated?  You bet.

This isn’t necessarily typical but if you go to an appointment expecting to immediately go visit a house and instead are parked in front of a book of listings you have to realize that the agent really hasn’t paid any attention to what you want.  It’s ok to leave at that point.

If you feel that you’re being pressured to look at houses that you don’t like, leave.  Once you sign a bon de visite the agent should tell you where the house is.  If they won’t, leave.  This is a major step in your life, you need to feel comfortable with the person that you’re dealing with.  If you aren’t then find another agent.

Looks can be deceiving

Keep in mind that you really can’t tell anything about a house in Languedoc until you’ve seen the inside.  If you hate the area, fine, but don’t dismiss a house just because it looks a little sad from the outside.

Make the offer

When you find a house that you like and are ready to think about making an offer, sleep on it.  Arrange to go back the next day and look at it again. If the house needs work you might want to arrange for a builder to visit with you to give you an idea of the costs involved.  You’ll know that it’s the right house if you want to make an offer and cancel any other viewings you’ve arranged.  If you want to make an offer and keep looking at other houses ‘just in case’ then it isn’t the house for you.  Don’t make an offer.

Signing the Compromis de Vente

Before the Compromis de Vente can be signed the various inspection (expertises) have to be done.  The may not be finished in time for you to sign the Compromis in person but you will have time to meet the Notiare.

The Notaire will explain the procedure for buying French property.  They will also explain the various ownership options and the advantages and disadvantages of each.  You can do this from home by fax but you’ll have a better understanding of the process if you do it in person.

Contact us, we make it easy to find the right property for sale in the Aude.

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.

Friday 1 January – New Year’s Day (Jour de l’An).

Sunday 4 April – Easter (Pâques).

Monday 5 April - Easter Monday (Lundi de Pâques).

Saturday 1 May – Labour Day (Fête du Travail)

Saturday 8 May – VE Day – WWII Victory Day (Fête de la Victoire 1945).

Thursday 13 May – Ascension Day (Ascension catholique).

Sunday 23 May – Whit Sunday (Pentecôte).

Monday 24 May – Whit Monday (Lundi de Pentecôte).

Wednesday 14 July – Bastille Day (Fête nationale).

Sunday 15 August – Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Assomption).

Monday 1 November – All Saints’ Day (Toussaint).

Thursday 11 November – Armistice Day (Armistice 1918).

Saturday 25 December – Christmas Day (Noël).

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.

The big question

So, before anything else, ask yourself, do I want to run a B&B or do I want to renovate a house? If you want to run a B&B then look for a house that is already a B&B, or one that can easily become one.  If you want to renovate, forget the B&B part.

The big myth

It will cost less to renovate a big house and turn it into chambres d’hote than it will to buy an existing B&B. It won’t.  Even if you do most of the work yourself.  It’ll take you at least a year, a year when you aren’t earning anything, and will cost far more than you estimated.  Once you finally get it finished and up and running you’ll be exhausted.  And then, many of you will find out that you don’t like running a B&B.  You like renovating houses.

The reality

It’s not easy running a B&B but it can be very rewarding, you won’t necessarily become a zillionaire but you’ll survive nicely and meet tons of people.

Pick your area, explore, and then look at B&B for sale

Stay at some B&Bs while you’re exploring.  It’ll give you a good idea of what is offered. There are always B&Bs for sale.  Look at those first.  You really are going to be better of buying a going concern.

Check the local regulations

Check  local regulations governing how many rooms you can rent before your property is considered a hotel.  You have to have a licence to sell food, different licences for different meals so make sure you have the right ones.

Make a business plan

You’ll need to invest in advertising.  Budget for it.  Make sure you have a good website, one that will be found in search engines.  Think less traditional ways to market your chambres d’hote.  Do you cycle?  Offer cycling weeks – or weekends.  Cook? Market visits and then a meal.  Photography a passion?  Photography weekends.  Find clubs and let them know.

Remember, it is a business.

Potential B&B for sale in the Aude

We just listed a gorgeous house in the Montlaur, a wine producing village in the Aude, about 25 minutes south of Carcassonne.  It would make a perfect B&B.  4 bedrooms, all with ensuite bath/shower rooms, a pool, and a lovely village.  It was originally renovated by a Canadian interior designer about 7 years ago.  She planned to run it as a B&B but family issues meant that she had to leave France.

Main floor of house in Montlaur

Contact us if you’d like to arrange a visit or have any questions.

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.

Shared ownership is not a time-share

With fractional ownership you own a share in a company that owns the house.  The owners share equally in the use and costs of the property.  Shares are limited – could be 2 to 20 shares – it depends on the property.  It makes no sense to have 20 shareholders in a two bedroom house.  It could make sense to have 20 shareholders in a company that owns a chateau that has been converted into apartments.

Property share in the Aude

Possible property share in the Corbieres

We just listed a lovely stone house in the Val de Daigne in the Corbieres.  It’s reference 3195.  It would make an ideal shared property.  Low maintenance, lovely area.  Shares would be about 40,000 euros.  Not bad for a vacation home in the Aude.

Why would I want to buy a share in a property?

It’s such a good idea.  You get your holiday home in France with minimal hassles.  You don’t have to worry about the house being empty for much of the year.  You don’t have to try and find people to rent it when you aren’t using it. You don’t have to spend your vacation fixing stuff.

Fractional ownership of property in France is ideal for people who live on other continents

If you live in Australia, or South Africa, or Canada or the US and dream of owning a house in France it’s can be a daunting prospect.  You have to be really determined.  Air fares are high and the trip is long.  Unless you’re retired or have a really flexible job you probably can’t make the trip more than once a year – twice at the most.  That’s a big investment.

8 or 9 years ago it was feasible to rent the house as a gite when you weren’t using it.  There’s such a glut of rental properties now – everyone thought it was a brilliant idea – that it’s difficult to find people to rent your house.

Property share is a viable alternative.  You can still rent you time if you want.  You can sell the shares if you decide to.  And it’s a much more reasonable investment.

Club Propertyshare is an Australian site about co-operative property share.  They have a good FAQ section – no point in me reinventing the wheel.  Read about fractional ownership.  If you’re interested in property share in the Aude please email me and I can point you in the right direction.

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

France Magazine has a good article about circulade villages.  From the article -

It was in the early 1990s that Polish academic Krzysztof Pawlowski first noticed some unusual circular villages in the Montpellier-Béziers-Carcassonne triangle. He coined the word circulade to describe them and discovered around 70 of them.

Circulades were created to provide the community with some basic defence. In the centre was a castle or church, often built on a natural mound, and each circle of inward facing houses acted as a rudimentary rampart to stop or delay attackers. Beyond the outer ring of houses would have been defensive ditches or sometimes a wall. Remains of these can be seen from the air.

All circulades date from the same epoch and are around 1,000 years old. As such they are the first examples of urban planning in Europe, pre-dating the grid-patterned bastides by about 200 years.

And they’ve put together a driving tour some of the circulade vilages near Carcassonne and Limoux in the Aude -

Route through the circulades of the Aude département

One of the easiest ways to explore circulades is in the country to the south and west of Carcassonne. Start at Alairac to the south-west of Carcassonne where you can park your car inside the circulade – if you can find your way in. Built on a hillock, Alairac has a beautiful old church with an octagonal belfry. When Simon de Montfort was cleansing the area of its Cathars in 1210 he besieged Alairac for 11 days, but the villagers crept from a back door in the dead of night and escaped.

From Alairac, climb your way up to the Bois de las Mounjos then down the snaking D43 to Montclar – another village that was seized by de Montfort – he gave it to one of his lieutenants, Philippe de Golan. Eight centuries later it still has its three concentric circles of houses. Take a short detour to nearby Preixan – a rugby ball-shaped circulade with a mass of houses separated by tiny ruelles in between.

Then head south past Limoux to la Digne-d’Aval a circulade with two rings of houses separated by a wide space between as though a whole circle of buildings has disappeared. Nearby Loupia on the D626 has a similar wide space between the houses which has been planted with trees – it gives the village a completely different feel to almost all other circulades.

Take the back road that heads from the north side of Loupia to Donazac where you will find a small circulade that looks like a giant letter ‘C’ from the air. The central area is completely open as if the original church or castle has been razed to the ground. The large circular place makes a great space for village fêtes.

To the north is Alaigne nestled below the Pic des Trois Seigneurs. Here you will find a remarkably well-preserved circle of houses. The village dates back to the 9th century when there was a small convent on the site. Look out for la Porte de Pépy and don’t miss the 14th-century church.

Just to the west along some twisting roads with fine panoramic views is Bellegarde-du-Razès. This hilltop village was once surrounded by defensive ditches – in those days there were only two entrances – one to the east, the other to the west. Parts of the ramparts remain but only a few traces of the original feudal castle can be seen. Bellegarde was another of the fortified villages that was besieged and captured by the infamous Simon de Montfort.

Continue north through Mazerolles-du-Razès to the circulades of Cailhau, Cailhavel and Villeneuve-lès-Montréal. Cailhau had four or five concentric circles of houses and the ancient hedgerows and lanes follow the circular pattern indicating that the village was once considerably larger. Cailhavel has kept its circular form but many of the houses have disappeared over the years.

All that remains of Villeneuve-lès-Montréal’s circulade is the tiny central circle of houses. But further north, Bram is perhaps the finest example of any circulade with three rings of concentric streets around the central church.

Now a much-expanded village, the original circular nest of houses remains remarkably intact. There are half a dozen parking spaces alongside the church in the centre, but reaching them is like driving through a labyrinth.

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.

Keep an open mind

You’ve selected perhaps a single department, or an area near the border of two departments, and it is almost time to go exploring. This is a fun, no pressure stage.

Your research will have told you the type of town or village you want to be in or near. We suggest you rent a house or a gîte for a week or two. Rent one in a town or village as close as you can find to where you would like to buy. If your budget says you will probably only find the type of house you are looking for in a village with no amenities, then try to find a gîte or house to rent in a village like that.

Be prepared to change your mind about what you like in an area.  I did a lot of research before my first visit to Languedoc.  I had narrowed location down to the Herault and the Aude but believed that the Herault was where I would want to buy a house.  My daughter and I spent three weeks exploring and by the end of the three weeks I knew that it was the Aude for me.  I loved the Minervois and was sure that was where I would buy a house but there was something about the Corbieres that called to me and I decided to look there as well.

The Corbieres won my heart. Specifically the Val de Daigne, the area around Montlaur and Servies in the northern part of the Corbieres.

My first house in France was in a tiny village with no amenities. But every day vans came to town offering all the basic needs like bread, meat, fish, vegetables. And within a three minute drive down roads with no traffic; There’s tabac where you can buy magazines, toys, videos and games, and – of course – tobacco. There is also an small grocery, a bakery, two wine producers who sell direct, a hairdresser, a doctor, a mechanic and 2 great picnic spots by running water you can fish in. If we up the travel time to ten minutes the numbers double or triple for these items and many others are added on. Most big stores deliver within 25 km for very little or even nothing. Carcassonne is about a 25 minute drive.

Travel time

Another thing about travel time. I came to France after living in Toronto where travel was always difficult. Crowded roads, busses, trains, subways and sidewalks. Traffic was always dense and dangerous. If you spend your time traveling on French secondary roads, most of the time there is no other traffic to speak of. It is a pleasant, no hassle kind of driving that makes life a pleasure.

Experience the area

This is where you’re going to spend your holidays, perhaps rent your home as a holiday home when you are not using it. Maybe you are going to eventually retire to this home, or your plan is to move to it, then live and work from there. Whatever the plan, you need to experience the general neighbourhood before you can decide to make a purchase of a specific house there.

If you’re planning to rent your house to vacationers you need to know if you think the specific area will be a good attraction to holiday renters, if there are sufficient amenities to live the time spent there comfortably. How close is it in time and distance to the various activities you plan for your life there.

Take the time to visit the local shops, see what kind of welcome you get there, if they are happy at the prospect of you as a new neighbour. This is a wonderful time to take a few side trips to local bars and restaurants. Stop and have a coffee or a glass of wine, see the kind of places they are.

See the French countryside

Get off the big roads and navigate from town to town via the secondary road system. They are much more scenic, allow you to drive slowly along and appreciate the local area much better. You will see where you can walk to, or cycle to, from your new home.

Observe how much extra road room French drivers give to cyclists. See why cycling is still a major sport and recreation in France.

If you get off the main street through the towns these routes take, you very often get to see a much more charming town. Ask around. Are there local swimming holes, pleasant picnic spots, summer fairs or cultural events?

How close is the city?

If you think you will need the occasional fix of big city life, drive off to the nearest big city – Montpellier or Toulouse  in my case – and see what sort of trip it is. How much organization would it take to go for a day. Is it sensible to think of spending sixty or so euros on a one night stay in a 2 star hotel while taking in a day of shopping, a bit of theatre. Find out about train service to and from your new locale.

Your intent is to unwind, have a pleasant pace to life with time to appreciate the world around you. So see if the places you pick provide this type of living. Look for the town or village that resonates with your idea of where you want to live.

Once you’ve found that place it’s time for the next step. Finding the perfect French property in your favourite part of France.