French Property and General French Interest for Francophiles

Friday, April 22, 2011

We have moved!

Thanks for visiting our blog. Times have moved on and we're now on a fresh new Wordpress theme. You can catch up with us at our new home here... Brittany and Pays de la Loire Interest Blog

Monday, December 03, 2007

French Holiday Property Rentals for 2008

Are there any french holiday property owners out there? Have you started getting bookings for 2008 yet? Where are you pitching your prices compared with 2007?

I have gently increased my prices from a low base over the past 3 years and think that I will leave them alone for 2008. I'm going to actively market to those people who rented my cottage in years 1 and 2, as all seemed to have a good time and I figure that it might just generate a little more business - if not from them directly, then from people they know who might want a french holiday in 2008.

Labels: 2008, bookings, france, french, holiday, vacation

Sunday, September 02, 2007

French Property Insurance

Does anyone have any advice on holiday property insurance for the french market? I have used 'Insurance for Homes Abroad', a company from Weston-Super-Mare for many years. I have never had to claim, and so I don't know how they would perform when I needed them most, and I find this a little concerning.

Labels: france, french, holiday, insurance, property

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Hints & Tips for Buying in France #3 - Pay the right price!

Ok, so you have this dream to buy a place in France where you can bring up your young family and enjoy a quality of life which is not available to you in the UK - right? Well, despite what people may say about there being a price differential between the UK and France this gap has come down in recent years. There has been a bit of a property boom in France, due to both French and English (and Dutch and other nationalities) pushing up prices in a desperate attempt to get on the (2nd home) ladder.

Whether this continues or not is up for debate. What is for sure, though, is that buying a home in France is not as cheap as it was a few years ago. The cost of buying, in terms of taxes and other fees, is still quite high, despite having come down in recent years. This additional cost is so often not taken into account when comparing prices. We grumble about the cost of stamp duty, but this pales into insignificance when compared with french buying costs.

I'm a firm believer that prices revert to the mean over time. So, I look at a graph of, say, prices over the past 40 years, then draw a trend line through the graph. If current prices are above this line then I suspect that prices may fall in the medium term. If the current prices are below this trend line then I suspect they may rise in years to come.

So, my advice would be:
1. Don't rush into an inappopriate purchase - don't buy at the top of the market just because everyone tells you it's the thing to do!
2. Negotiate with the owner - they know that buyers are desperate to 'own the lifestyle' and can be very optimistic when it comes to pricing their properties
3. Remember to add the purchase fees - it's not unusual for this to add 15%-20% to your purchase price

Labels: france, french, increase, price, property

Friday, September 23, 2005

Hints & Tips for Buying in France #2 - Location, Location, Location

You only have to watch TV programmes like 'A Place In The Sun' to realise that many people buy overseas property on the basis of a single visit to the area. Some appear even to buy on their first visit to the Country!
I am not suggesting that this is usual, but I think it does happen quite a lot and would warn would-be house-hunters to do a little more research than they could possibly do in a single visit.

So, what's wrong with buying on impulse? This notion might lend a little more romance to the purchase transaction than perhaps a lengthy research and evaluation process might, and property prices have been rising steadily for years (suggesting that it's not such a bad thing if you make a mistake as you can always sell again). But - there will be a significant emotional, as well as financial, impact on you and your family when you buy abroad, and this will take its toll quickly if you are unhappy with the area you have bought into.

My advice then, is to do what you would do when buying in your home country....

Go visit the area a few times, making sure that you visit 'out of season' as well if you intend to be in the property at these times. An area can look and feel so different in November to how it did when you holidayed there in August!

Get to know the good locales, and focus your attentions there.

Perhaps rent a house there for a while before buying.

Decide what your own requirements are, rank them in terms of importance, and then measure each property location against them. For example, do you want to live in a town, near to local shops, on the coast etc. Are road and rail links important. How easy is it to get to (especially in a hurry)?

If you are not as young as you used to be, perhaps the close proximity of a hospital, or other medical resources, is more important than it might have been a few years ago.

If you are buying for partly investment reasons, then has the area just experienced a sharp upturn in popularity (and prices) or is it about to?

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Hints & Tips for Buying in France #1 - Know how to communicate when you get there!

We've all seen those lifestyle programs on the TV, where families sell up and move to France hoping to get away from the pressures of the rat race and build a new, more leisurely and peaceful life in some remote, unspoilt part of France. It reminds them, they say, of England 40 years ago, when people had more time to spend with their families, when work (or the thought of it) didn't take up most of their waking hours, and when they actually had the time, and the inclination, for a chat with their neighbours. Surprising then, that a good many of these life-quality migrants cannot speak the language when they get there! This puts them at an immediate, and often unecessary, disadvantage as soon as they arrive, sometimes forcing them into English-speaking ghettos where they create a 'Little England' in France.
My tip for any would-be lifestyle-migrants, whatever their destination, is to learn at least a little of the language before you go! How are you going to chase errant builders, or query the delay in the installation of your telephone, or handle disputes? Goodness knows, it's difficult enough in your native language at times; imagine how hard and stressful it will be in a foreign language. You will seriously doubt your decision to emigrate; You will worry that you are being ripped-off; You will end up with a different product or service than you wanted... the list goes on!
So, get yourself enrolled at evening classes. Tune in to French TV and radio stations. Attend French conversational groups. There are many internet-based French broadcasts for those who are prepared to search.
Speak that language!!

Sunday, August 14, 2005

Ferry versus Low-Cost Airline

The benefits that low-cost airlines now provide to UK owners of french property is tremendous.

I have a cottage in Southern Brittany, and since 1990 have chosen to take the ferry from Portsmouth, Poole, or occasionally, Plymouth, arriving at Cherbourg, Caen, St Malo or Roscoff. This year I tried to book a fast-ferry crossing to Cherbourg in May for myself and my daughter, plus Car, and was staggered to be quoted £355 for the return trip - this even included a discount as a french property owner!

Seeking out alternatives, I came across a Flybe service from Exeter to Brest which, if memory serves me, cost around £120 return for the two of us. We booked a car for our arrival at Brest (around £125 for our 6 day trip), and were fortunate enough to park my car for free (as my mother lives close to Exeter airport!).

As a result, our trip cost around £100 less than the ferry option and the door-to-door time was greatly reduced, leaving us more refreshed on arrival! Certain flights can be bought for much less than we paid, if you travel midweek and outside of peak seasons etc.

Clearly, this won't be an option for those who need to travel with more than a large suitcase each plus hand baggage. Nor may it be suitable for larger families who might otherwise have squeezed into one large car (thereby reducing their price-per-person cost on the ferry). But, if you are time-constrained, or able to travel light, or if there are only a few in your group, then flying is a real alternative.

I use the Flightchecker website to find out prices and services. It offers a useful service whereby you can select your destination from a drop-down list. It then displays all flights out of the UK to that airport.

My next challenge is to see whether I can do the door-to-door trip in less than 4 hours! This would be a remarkable achievement (as the shortest ferry trip alone is currently around 2.5 to 3 hours). I am only 1 hour away from Southampton Airport. They have flights to Rennes in France, which would leave me 1 hour away from the cottage. Adding on the 1 hour check-in time, I reckon that 4 hours is achievable (just). I'll report back when I've done it!

Une Vacance en France