Jirac18

Why not do both, just make sure you sign a mandat that does not exclusively tie you to an agent. If they demand or ask you do then they are not worth a dime!

I have a Renault Kangoo diesel in excellent condition for sale. It is not a van but is very multi purpose. If interested let me know. I am base in Saumur dept 49

Our time has come to say goodbye to France (on a residential level at least). We have been here for a year and have astablished a successful business in that time which is going from strength to strength. However my wife feels that France is just not the place for her long term and so we go back to England. She has become very unhappy in fact. I would stay! BUT my family is the most important thing in the world. The better half was brave enough to follow my desire to try life here and so I shall be brave enough to give it all up and follow her back. NOT a year wasted I must quickly point out. People come here for many varied reasons. We did all the research one could and set off on the adventure. Above all else we have spent so much time together in the last year that we truely have found ourselves as a family and have found that we will be happy together until death us do part where ever we are. I have learned so much from being here that I could go on forever in this post. I guess the moral of this story is not one of failure. We have not failed because we are going back. We have succeeded in so much. Any one reading who is planning to move to France, give it go!! Don't regret the things you never did. It is a wonderful country and full of wonderful people. If it is meant to be you will make it so. I am sure that in the future we will return so for now we say thank you to anyone who helped by giving the advice we needed and of course not goodbye but au revoir!!        

Don't worry we are here. 10 mins from Saumur and love it!

Good point Iceni, If it ain't in the compromis don't sign it until it is. Too many rogues about to trust word of mouth. It is always worth paying a little extra for a correct translation if necessay. Any how good luck Condorman in getting it sorted out. Are you able to say who the agent was in a private mail?

We are at a bit of a loss in searching for activities for our daughter (nearly 4yrs) during school hols. When the sun is shining there are plenty of things to do but when it honks down with rain all day there is only so much outside stuff to do before she gets drenched and fed up and only so much painting and games at home before boredom sets in. We have been looking for something the equivalent of a Childrens Play Centre where they do arts and crafts, slides, swings and ball pits, perhaps like Softlands etc in UK. They appear not to exist in France. Does any one have any ideas or know if they exist what they are called. I have searched the internet no end and come up with nothing. Other parents at the school are none the wiser and seem content to stay at home all day. We both work here and so find no problem during term time when our daughter is at school but during holidays one of us, normally my wife stays with our daughter. We do not want a child minder and enjoy spending the extra time together in France but a change of scenery would be extremely welcome on occasion.  Anyone with a brain wave please let me know as we are starting to pull our hair out a bit. We would happily travel upto an hour from home in Saumur (dept 49 Maine et Loire)

Indeed the clocks do change in Europe. France is always one hour ahead of GB all year round. Good luck with your move!   

My wife has just made enquiries about a French language course from the Chambre de Commerce. She was invited along to a class free of charge to see if was her cup of tea. I think something making her nervous of signing up to the course is that the teacher speaks no English. Everthing is explained in French. Now maybe we are missing the point but when learning any language is it not necessay to have explanations of the subject in a languauge you do understand. The course is for beginners and Amanda has some understanding but has difficulty with speaking. The course is not cheap but that is not the point if it is value and worth doing. I would be interested to hear others thoughts on this particularly CJb as you have done courses yourself and have a French wife. Whilst my French is reasonably good and we have French friends I am unsure if we are the correct people to help Amanda. As was stated earlier it is bit like having driving lessons from a family member - often ending in heated debate.    

It can be found in every English courtroom on the coat of arms - highly appropriate I think.

[quote]From our experience the French are complaining too about the competition from the expanding gite/chambre d'hote market. We stayed in a chambre d'hote recently where the French owners were muttering a...[/quote] "Yes, perhaps the best will survive, but sometimes greed gets the better of them and their rather inflated prices don't always give value for money. " That is exactly my point. The inflated prices won't be value for money and as soon as there is no value people will stop purchasing. The price is not important, the value is. Some people can afford £1000 per week but they expect top quality. I know a local gite aimed at just couples no kids. Small quite basic accomodation cheap as chips and they took 30 weeks this year. They represented good value in the correct area and marketed well. Simple really.

I can give the shortest answer so far - WHY STAY IN UK?

It is an open market and that is business. The strongest and best value products in the best areas will survive and the others won't. Just because someone has had a niche in the market for the last six years doesn't give them a right to continue without new competition.    

I see the analogy but I guess when you check the receipt you duely challenge anything obviously wrong. As Nick says though often there will be a rebate of some fashion after the acte authentique. Normally the exact notaire figure on the compromis is taken from a "bareme". These are exact figures on a table and the fee is banded in relation the property price. If they have simply written the fee down incorrectly by 300 euros then they will simply correct it at a later time and ask for more money. You certainly won't get away without paying it. Not necessarily efficient but it is the way it is.  

Of course it matters. That goes for racism against whites, blacks whoever. Are you telling me that the blatant racist behaviour in the world today does not bother or worry you. It worries me and we should all try to resolve it rather than be apathetic towards it.

Nick it is a straight forward mathematic equation. Price you sell at minus (cost of purchase + cost of renovation + CGT) = profit or loss. I can't recall exactly the rates of CGT off the top of my head but at worst its about 22% of net profit. Therefore if you sell it for more than it cost you will inevitably make a profit. Good luck, I am sure you will make some people eat their words!         

Just about sums you up Dunny, don't mistake my obvious dislike of you and pretty much most of what you say with getting stressed or high blood pressure. This is where a forum simply doesn't work because it allows people like you to hide behind your annonimity. Get on with it and try a drop of ketamine in your scotch rather than vitriolic acid!

Tresco that was excellent. Yet again Dunny the dung heep shows what a true ignoramous he really is. I simply aired one opinion of Chirac and his government. That is my right. I may be an immigrant but I fully pay my taxes and support my family and community here in France. If that doesn't give me a right to offer an opinion in response to a post then I'm not sure what will. Follow your own lead Dunny and only ever comment on ignorant, obtuse, rude, ill informed, drunken A*****LES. If you can't figure out the asterix blanks perhaps you would care to meet up someday and I'll explain them as best I can leaving you in no uncertain terms as to what it means. Once and for all why don't you disappear from this forum or learn to be civil and save us all some agro!

So if you have a hornets nest in your house you just leave it do you? Perhaps wait until it is too big to do anything with at all. French governments traditionally do what is best for French government.  I have read a number of things recently implicating the corruption of Chirac and his henchmen. Did you see about the state visit he made to Scandinavia (or Russia possibly?) last week. Apparently the flight should only take three hours. He wanted to arrive having had a full eight hours sleep as this is religious to him. He ordered the captain to fly circuits for the remaining five hours so he could get his beauty sleep. It cost the French tax payer (that's some of us by the way!) over 100 000 Euros. What is he thinking? 

If you are thinking of getting rich then think again. You can make a living but only if you are dedicated and good at your job. Above all else have integrity. If you are not trustworthy you WILL fail. What area are you looking at working as that can have a real say in how well you do. What is your competition. Can you be better than that competition in a hard market place.

Fair point Dunrunnin.

I wish I had the patience with Dunnrunnin to give a clear and accurate response like that Miki. I don't know why I bothered to respond at all in fact but he/she gets my goat

My God you are obnoxious. Why is that you can never enter into discussion without being rude. Nobody is suggesting that ferries be run as charities but we are in search of good value service.

Is that solitary black presenter any good? It surely doesn't matter to me if you are purple with green spots as long as you are good at your job.   I do disagree with giving jobs to any minority just because it is the done thing and politically driven. It would be a shame if there is an influx of black presenters just because they are black. That is an insult to everyone.   

Lots of second guessing as to what April is thinking. It is scary no matter how much you want to do it. It is a massive step. The best question so far is "why do you want to come to France?" I too am intruiged to know. April once you have establish why and what you want to do there will probably be far more practical advice on hand rather than speculation.

[quote]I'm surprised no one has mentioned the most irritating post of all: "PM in your inbox" Aghhhh. If it's something that everyone will find useful then post it. If not then why make such a useless post...[/quote] I would have thought the answer to this is obvious. It is not always appropriate to post something to the forum so a private message is the way to do it. Not thinking through a response or post before placing it..... now that's irritating innit know what I mean in my honest opinion