starbuck

Trying different ways to attract buyers is better than just waiting for an agent to find one, so all though this didnt work, i think it shows initiative. on the subject of house swaps, iam currently looking to buy a place in Brittany, as we want to change holiday home locations so our holiday home in portugal is for sale, if any one wants to move south maybe we can swap houses.

Thanks everyone for the very helpful advice, we already live outside the uk so our money is already in euros, so dont have to worry about the currency changes this time. I agree that taking our time to find the right property is good advice, I dont think the market will change anytime soon and prices start to shoot up, so I think we do have that advantage, we are happy to rent first while looking around at property.(if anyone has anything available to rent in brittany available by the month, pm me please) I understand there may be a lot of Brits out there that would welcome a quick sale and may be open to accepting lower offers to secure a quick sale, so that they can get moved on with their plans/life. anyone know where to find any of these sellers please let me know. any good websites i should be looking at? The costs to buy do seem to be high, and the capital growth on property very low, so I understand the advice about having to keep a property a long time to make it worth while, just makes it more important to get the right property and location, so that we are happy with it and hopefully keep it a while. strangely enough i was just watching "a place in the sun" that was looking at the Josselin region, which was one i was looking at online for property, anyone on here live in that region, or have any views on the region. thanks    

 thought that would be the case, much the same as most places, so the prices are lower in the centre, more rural regions, which is attractive. but what about the quality of life in these more remote areas, is there still plenty to keep people emtertained? or would a retired couple start to get bored when the newness wears off? that is what would worry me slightly, I would not like to buy a property and then after a year or so start to wonder if we had been better off buying closer to larger towns, for example, on the web i came across this region, renovation property is quite cheap (or appears to be) 45,000 - 60,000 euros, but on the map it does look to be less around the region.( hope i can post the link) http://www.immofrance.com/fr/show_properties.htm any views on this region, buying property here? thanks again.

thanks for your views and advice.  i know that it could be a problem looking at restored property as sometimes the standard can be low if done by a unexperianced DIYer been looking around the web at property, seems that more remote places are a lot cheaper than more built up or coastal areas, i guess the problem in these remote regions would be selling again, when(if) the time comes. do you think many people are struggling to sell at the moment? in some regions? perhaps there are some good bargains to be had.

Just got back from a trip to view some property in Brittany, as we dont really understand the local property market in respect of the different regions and different prices, we found it a bit confusing, does anyone have any advice on good regions to buy, places to avoid, general advice relating to the pricing, are country properties more expensive than edge of village properties? what about buying direct from the owner to save on agency fees, is this straight forward? we are looking to spend less than 100k for a smallish renovation property( not a full rebuild) but have seen restored property for sale at prices that seem quite good value, probably at what it cost the owner to buy and restore, any views on restoring, or is it better in todays market to buy a restored property and avoid the stress. thanks.  

we are a couple looking to rent a property near or in Dinan, (10km) one or two bedrooms, must be furnished, we would like to rent for at least one month but may like to extend for two months. internet access would be good, parking closeby. starting around may, although we are flexible on dates please contact me if you have something that may be of interest to us.