Mattyj198

I just recently bought a house in France, It has a stone sticking out of the front of the house and I have no idea what it was or what it was for. Most of the houses in the town also have them Here is a photo Do you know what it is?

Thanks for all your help earlier this summer with all of my questions.  We have visited it many times now and we ended up buying it.  We had the oppertunity to live in it for a week even though we had not bought it yet, (shhh, our little secret)   We enjoy how quiet the town is.  The people are very friendly. Paperwork was signed and then the seller was on vacation so the paper was sent RTS and now is apparnetly lost.  We signed new papers and sent them off so the sale is very far behind but thats ok.  We do not plan on visiting France again until the spring.  Thanks again for sharing all of your knolege Matt

Yes, Full payment in advance or deposit with credit card.

Can I say "hijacked post?"     :-p

I have spent quite some time in France and the "slow lane" its really not a problem.  And I really don't mind the fact that I won't be in my house for a while.  Its just this funny thing in the back of my head that's always telling me something is wrong.  If you don't seal the deal and get in ASAP your gunna loose it. Other then that I love the slow pace of France.  I actually get quite a chuckle out of watching my friends at a french restaurant getting really cranky because they wait staff is in no hurry to get you what you want.  I love it.  When I am sitting in a cafe on the street I am there to enjoy myself and there for a while.  Who cares if they bring your coffee 10 min after you order it?

So next year I plan to spend the summer doing renovations on our new house in France. It has 2 houses, one will be the main house accessible by gates from the street and the other the guest house where we will rent out rooms. That house has a door right out on to the street. Both houses are not very big, The guest house has a room on the main floor with a fireplace and room for a small kitchen and seating area. The upstairs has enough room for 2 bedrooms and a bathroom. We want to run it as a B&B but we figure it would be nice for the guests to have the whole guest house to themselves. The house has new floors and studding for the walls so its pretty much ready to go. But since we are in the planning stages of this B&B I thought I would ask all of you who already have B&B's for some suggestions. If you could have something that would require renovations, to better suit your guests what would you do? We are also thinking about other stuff like how to greet your guests. Friends of ours have a b&b and they always greet us with a bottle of champagne and some snacks when we arrive. We visited Chateau de Remaisnil and they also greeted us with champagne and tepanade. Some places we have stayed have little gift sets in the bathrooms with salts soaps ect.. We were also thinking of adding a post card or something to the package. What do you guys do? Just looking for cool ideas and suggestions to help make my guests experience a great one.

I am a first time home buyer in France. I live just north of Toronto, Ontario Canada and I am very new to this buying a property in France. In Canada the real estate process is very quick. I mean VERY QUICK. All the financial aspects of the deal are dealt with within a day or so. You usually know your move in date within a few days as well. I am having a hard time with the french way of doing things. I put my offer in sometime in June and they still don't want anything to do with money yet. I have signed papers and read over forms. We ask questions and get a response maybe a week or 2 later. I know this is the way the french do things but it is very unnerving. In Canada if things are not settled very quickly someone else can come in and steal the house away from you. It has happened to me many times before. I know its France and I know they do things a little different and I accept that but I just want to scream! At this rate I doubt I will be in the house until springtime :-p There, Sorry guys I just had to vent :-p

Thanks for all your advice guys! The trip was exhausting and exciting. I love the area even though I had never been to this area before. It is very quiet. The towns are very French and they are all very friendly. The house turned out to be AMAZING. It has been re done and the wiring is all new, plumbing is all new. The kitchen is crap but thats no biggie, I don't like the layout anywyas. I think I found the one. I put in an offer and it was accepted. I am back home in Canada now and I already have my next trip planned. I am going to be spending 2 whole weeks there just to explore the area and get more of a feel for the town.

Hello everyone! We are buying our first house in France. Everyone over in Canada thinks we are crazy because of the taxes. I keep hearing this and I am getting confused. I know what the property tax is for the house we are buying and I know how much approx. the utilities are going to cost. We also have friends who are currently living in France and they are moving out of France to Turkey because of the taxes. Is it income tax they are talking about? If so, we are not going to be living there, working or even renting the house out. It will just be a home to spend a month or 2 in during the summer and winter months. So my question is, Is there a tax I don't know about? Thanks Matt

Hello everyone,  I just bought a house in Rom, France thanks to the help and support from all of you! I am having a hard time finding some history information on the area the house is in.  The town is named Rom.  Google can't even find it.  If you Google Couhe, France.  Rom is just off to the left. It is in the Poitou Charente, Deux-Sevres area. If you guys know any good links or any ideas on what to google for finding some history that would be great! Thanks Matthew

This is my little gardening show and I use this stuff all the time to kill bugs, It works great on roses. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REEQbdapf6g

I am buying a house in Poitiers, France, and I am very excited abut the climate. I live in Canada right now. We can usually only grow pine trees grass and weeds here. (ok a little more then that but you get the idea) I don't know the weather in this area but I have been to France quite a bit and I see lots of lovely things growing. Friends of mine live in near Lille and they have a palm tree looking thing in their yard, along with some yucca looking plants. What are you guys growing that is neat or exotic. I would love to discover some new plants to grow. Let me know! Thanks Matt

Sorry for the late reply everyone. It has been one busy week as you can imagine. I spent 4 days in France working this whole thing out. I viewed the house many times in that 4 days. I am a renovator back in Canada so when viewing the house I know what to look for. This house is almost 100% liveable. It is need of some good TLC though. It would need all new appliances too. It is connected to the sewer and the electric. The electric is all new in both houses on the lot but the plumbing is not. That is ok as I am planning on putting in a new kitchen anyways so I would rather do it to know it has been done right. I spent some time wandering around the town talking to the people and checking out the local pub and cafe. All of the people seem very friendly. The town is SPOTLESS! I don't think I have ever seen a cleaner town in all of France. The only ugly thing in this town is the house I am buying. I think the people of the town are actually pretty happy that someone is going to fix it up. I put in an offer and the sellers accepted, the real estate agent sat down with me and showed me the paperwork and explained the process of buying a house in France to me. The paperwork should arrive some time this week for me to look over again and make my final decision, sign, and send back. I am very excited but a little disappointed when I found out that it could take 3 months to obtain this place. I guess thats how they do it in France though. I spent my last day driving around looking for furniture stores, building supply stores and appliances. I took notes and now I know how much it is going to cost me when I come back to reno it. Very excited I hope it all goes well. I will post pictures of the reno when I obtain the house. Thanks for all your help guys, I'm sure this is not going to be my last question though. Matt

I have looked at the house and I am going back today to look again to see if I notice anything i didnt yesterday. the agent has asked for a copy of my passport,  birth certificate and marrage licence.  Is this normal?   When he said that red flags went up. The company is www.leggett-immo.com   or www.frenchestateagents.com I am starting to wonder if this guy is legit or just trying to scam me.   Is there any questions I should be asking? Thanks Matt

Thanks guys for all your tips! I am leaving this afternoon for France to have a look at the house. The real estate agent has been very truthful about any problems with the house but you are right, I do need to see it first. I am really hoping I get it right the first time but would not be surprised if it did not work out. The house is in Couhe France, I have never been there before but I guess I will very soon! It was a vacation property for an elderly british person who is now in a home so it is at least “liveable” but probably not clean :-p Lets hope this all works out well Mattyj198

yes,  I have google mapped it,  its about 30 min away from the Portiers airport.  Google maps does not have a street view of this town though :-(

I have been searching for years to find the perfect house.   I have found it online and have been talking to the agent though email up until now.  I am going to be talking to him on the phone this evening and then flying from Canada to France to view the property. I have my own list of questions I would like to ask but I am a newbie when it comes to buying in France.   Can you guys suggest some questions that I should ask that I may not even think of. Thanks a bunch Matty

Ok guys, My bad!   I spelt price prince :-p   Oops! Thank you for all your input,  I am not trying to get 50% off.  I have a set budget and the house I am looking at is about  5000 above,  I just wanted to know If I could talk them down that much.  In Canada we do it all the time,  I am not looking to screw anybody over but in Canada we always ask more expecting to be bartered with.   Thats all. Thanks everyone

is it customary to negotiate the price of a home in France, or is the price stated on the listing the only price?\\ Thanks Matt

Ha ha, I guess this will take a little getting use to,  I grew up and still live in a small town in Canada.  My doors are never locked never have been and when something goes wrong a friend or neigbour usually just walks right in and fixes it or calls me at work.  Although I think I have a fridge thief!  All my yummy leftovers seem to disappear,  I have yet to find out who it is :-p

Yes that is exactly what I would love to do. I think I would find a more trustworthy person if I meet them in person.  I would only need someone to keep and eye on the place to make sure it does not burn down or anything :-p   Oh and possibly send me my mail from time to time:-p

We are currently looking for a home in France and we would not be living there all year round so we would need to have someone look after the house. How do you go about finding somoene to watch the house? Do you post an add in the town or newspaper or is there possibly a website? What have you guys done? Thanks Matt

We have not seen the house in the flesh yet.  We live in Canada and flying to France is quite expensive,  and flying out of Toronto is ALWAYS expensive for some reason. We are trying to do as much research as we can to make it  worth our while before we go over. This is all the add says,  I am waiting for some more info from the agent. Property details Ref:657 Property type:House Location:In the countryside Region:Pays-de-la-Loire Département:Mayenne 53 Habitable Space:67 m2 Summary Very nce stone house which needs to be renovated, 1300 m² of land, 67 m² on the ground floor

I suppose that would be good to know :-p  The add and the real estate agent were not helpful with this but from the photo I can see a new house next door,  So I am going to assume they have water and hydro.

Hello there everyone,  I have fallen in love with a house in France and I am almost ready to take the plunge.  It is an older house good condition, good roof, good walls.  Actually the outer walls are in great condition, but it needs renovation on the inside.  It also needs electric, water and a septic.  I know nothing about doing this in France,  I can do the reno work myself but as far as hydro and water coming in I think it would be up to the town right? Im not looking for you guys to 100% answer my questions but if you have experience that would be helpful. All I really need is to do some research myself on the internet,  but if you could point me in the right direction of where to look or what to look for that would be great! Matthew Johnson