DerekJ

On the exchange rate question... there was thread on this topic last week and Benjamin is ceratinly correct that no one really knows..... However, I just got a weekly update from Halo Financial who are now suggesting that if the Pound drops below the 1.3787 level (at which it was previously supported - apparently) they seem to see no reason why it wouldn't drop further down to 1.3204 (not quite sure the significance of that specific number. But, from hearing a few analysts speaking it does sound a bit gloomy for the pound. I'm in a similar position to you and if the pound does drop to the kind of levels being suggested,  we will put French house hunting on hold.

Chris. I totally agree that a dramatic or interesting sky can make such a difference to a landscape. You've posted some great skies there. Here's one I took back earlier this year at Saint-Cirq Lapopie... the clouds were starting to bubble up. [img]http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e170/DerekJordan/Sandbox/saint-cirque1.jpg?t=1195401696[/img]

You may be able to get one directly from the manufacturer. Depending on who it is, they may have their own customer service number (Googleable) and I've found that with small things like that they will sometimes send them free of charge.  Just a thought!

I think a lot may also depend on what the European Central Bank does with interest rates. There is talk of them increasing the rate in the near future. This, again, would have a negative effect on the Pound/Euro rate however, I've also seen mentioned the possibility that they may need to reduce the rate in the new year. From a potential house buyers perspective a swing of a full point (from when we first started house hunting) represents quite a large increase in the cost to our UK assetts.

[quote user="powerdesal"][quote user="DerekJ"]I've seen predictions it may drop to around 1.37. A lot will depend on what the Bank of England do about interest rates but on the news today the prediction was that they would drop interest rates in the new year... that would almost certainly push down the Pound/Euro rate. If that happens we may curtail our next planned house hunting trip in March. [/quote] The BoE dropping interest rates would be a hell of a gamble, they want to try to curtail the credit frenzy that seems to be prevalent in UK. A reduced rate would send completely the wrong signals. [/quote] However, that seems to be exactly the signals the BoE have given to analysts. They are toying with the dilemna of a slowing economy and want to boost that by dropping interest rates .... whilst still aiming to hit their target inflation rates and apparently the signals they gave are that they can achieve both.

I've seen predictions it may drop to around 1.37. A lot will depend on what the Bank of England do about interest rates but on the news today the prediction was that they would drop interest rates in the new year... that would almost certainly push down the Pound/Euro rate. If that happens we may curtail our next planned house hunting trip in March.

[quote user="P-D de Rouffignac"]Having re-read (and contributed to) this thread I am starting to ask myself why potential buyers are so hung-up about photographs of properties. I have dealt a lot in apartments, mainly on the Mediterranean coast and port areas near where I live, and frankly an empty or sparsely furnished conrete cube does not look good, however artistically presented. I have seen some real horrors transformed by their new owners who had the wit and imagination to visualise what could be done. (I have recently bought a wreck and done it up, as readers of French Property News will know). I am always dismayed when the camera is produced by the potential buyer and realise at this point there is no sale going to be made today. There are other more important points to note - aspect, absence/presence of sun, sound/thermal insulation, safety, access, parking, neighbours, year-round or fulltime occupancy of the building (for 9 months of the year I am virtually alone in my apartment block of 80 dwellings - some people might find that scary) and so on. There is absolutely no substitute for local knowledge and advice, and a personal visit. No amount of photographs can tell you what you really need to know. P-D de Rouffignac [/quote] Of course they can't but you need something to base going for an initial inspection on. Some decent photographs and a proper description would help. Clearly they won't tell you the full story but on the basis you aren't going to physically inspect every property an agent has on their books within your price range you have to base your decision on something. As far as the quality of many of the French photos I guess now it just raises a smile but really it's pretty pathetic.

If you had access to UK TV last night you may have watched the ITV programmme "My boy Jack". This was the story of Rudyard Kipling's son Jack (John) who was killed the day after his 18th birthday at Loos. It featured David Haig as Rudyard Kipling and Daniel Radcliffe as Jack. If ever there was an antidote to jingoism it was this. Not a dry eye in our house by the end. Very moving.

Caroline.  Prior to starting our house hunting we set up agreements with two of these companies. Halo Financial  http://www.halofinancial.com and FC Exchange http://www.fcexchange.co.uk They both offer pretty identical services which allow you not only to exchange at reasonably favourable rates but also to prebook money in advance at a set exchange rate.eg. When paying your initial deposit on the house, you can book the same exchange rate for the balance by paying 10% of the remaining amount upfront to hold the exchange rate.This may or may not be in your interest depending on what exchange rates are doing but it does give you the security of knowing that the cost will not be more than the exchange rate you agreeing on. I should clarify that because we pulled out of the purchase of the house we offered on we haven't as yet put their services into use. The initial contract set up is very easy and costs you nothing and you are not committed to use them. The people I spoke with were very helpful and explained things quite openly.You do need to set up a contract in advance so that when you need to actually process the money things are ready to go. Hope that helps.    

Hoddy.   Thanks a lot for your reply. I understand the point about the commercial operators, I guess I need to see what dates they actually operate. For gentle day trips I'd like to do that with SWMBO so the difficulty of drop off/collect comes into play. I'd also like to do a few more adventurous trips so I guess I could prevail on OH to drop me off, pick me up. Before I undertook anything challenging I'd make sure I'd done a scout beforehand.  Kayak racing used to be my sport so I well understand and respect water (and yes, I'd wear a lifejacket). I'll have a look at the companies you recommend... many thanks.

Thanks Bob. Thanks for the Vezere tip. I guess there are quite a few rivers that I need to explore and find out the canoeing possibilities (sounds like a good excuse for a ride on the GS!). I know what you mean about the mass of canoes during the main summer months. I'm presuming that the nature of these rivers is likely to change quite a bit with heavy rain/melting snow especially higher up. The boat transportation thing is a bit of a pain though as really these are "one way" rivers, not out and back.

On the basis we are successful in our house hunting we would plan to be living within striking distance of both the rivers Dordogne and Lot. I would plan to bring my kayaks across with me and would like to be able to take trips on both of these rivers. So, to the questions: 1. Does anyone know if any of the canoe hire companies will allow (for a fee) you to put your kayak on their trailer and let you travel with them to their start point? The reason for asking is that I'd like to avoid double journeys to start and finishing points with the car. 2. What are these rivers like to navigate off season? I'm quite happy to tackle reasonable rapids but don't want Grade V stuff. 3. Any recommended stretches of these rivers... I've previously done the Dordogne with hire canoes along what I guess are the standard stretches. Any advice gratefully received. Thanks

You also need to be keeping a close eye on what is happening to the Euro/Pound exchange rate. As you know, the rate has been dropping recently and there are predictions it will drop further especially on the back of what the European Central Bank and the Bank of England do about interest rates.  Every 0.01 change can make quite a difference to to the Pound cost of the purchase price depending on how much you are looking to spend.  That is unless you already have the money forward booked.

The most powerful music video I know. You may or may not like Johnny Cash but his version of the Nine Inch Nails number "Hurt" is something a bit special if you haven't seen it and brings a tear to many an eye. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmVAWKfJ4Go

I think you could maybe drop a "suivi par" into it if you wanted...  meaning "followed by".  I think that would be correct?

You also need to remember that if you reply using On, you don't use the nous form of the verb but the il/elle form. ie. On mange

Another way to view it is that..... qu is really que... e removed because it is in front of another vowel... so que in this case equals "that" "On" can be thought of as "one", "they", "you", "people"... sort of people in general if that makes sense? So qu'on could be thought of as "that one"

Sorrry about that... see if this works better http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV1_WVItl-s I first saw them when watching the pretty awful film   xXx   with Vin Diesel. They performed Feuer Feuer.

[quote user="Frenchie2"]My recent discovery is the German band Rammstein, supposed to be " Industrial Metal"  , not my type usually, but there s something about this band. IMO ... First they dare use german, their native language, and it is not supposed to be very melodious. yet, they have achieved worldwide recognition. Ok , they are sometimes provocative but it is a metal band..  [/quote] I really love Rammstein... have a look at their Volkerball DVD, especially the live concert in Les Arenes de Nimes. Fantasic atmosphere, I'd have loved to have been there for that concert. Ich Will from Nimes  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV1_WVItl-s

In addition to raindog's reply I would also add that the noise you will hear will be different as the typical rev range of a motorbike engine is a lot higher. Whereas the typical red line rev range of a car is around 6000 rpm, many motobikes are redlined at 10,000rpm or even higher.

Would a literal translation be..... vous avez fait mon jour

Thanks for the comments. Although we did try and ascertan whether any "nasties" were happening in the locale when we actually doing the house hunting we had missed the chicken processing and it was more by good luck when doing some web searching for the village in question that we discovered the potential problem.  This will make us a lot more careful in future but in some ways I'm not sure how best to be a detective.  Whilst one can drive/walk around that isn't any guarantee of spotting danger areas. Whether or not you get to actually smell anything is often very dependant on the wind direction.  Of course, you can ask the agent but would you get a straight answer?  Any thought? As to summer house hunting... yes, I take your point. In our case it just coincided with when we'd finally made the decision to go for it. We did have the majority of our viewings prebooked after web searching multiple agencies so I hope they took us seriously (oh, btw. No we would never consider buying without seeing - several times probably). We are thinking of doing our next hunting trip around end of February/early March. To be honest I'd rather view a property when there isn't the rosy glow of hot sun.... sort of see it at its worst.

Aly and J.R.  Thanks for clarifying this. In simplistic terms though, all of these are basically external wall rendering - is that right? Presumably the difference is in the physical makeup of the mix, the method of application, and thickness of application? I'm presuming now that the question of whether the rendering would be covered by the decennale comes down to what type of rendering has been used and what it's normal lifespan is before "normal" maintenance is required. eg. if crepi typically needed patching (or whatever) after 7 years and the house was 9 years, the decennale wouldn't cover it. However, if it was ravalment with a 15 year life it would?  Have I got that right? On the more general question of the decennale with a house 9 years old am I right in believing that the decennale will have been put in place by the original builder of the house and that this would cover all of the construction regardless of whether he had brought in sub-contractors to do specialist work - eg, tiling, rendering? Additionally, the decennale would be held by the house owner who would pass this on to any subsequent buyer? If the original builder was no longer in business, this would not be a problem as the decennale is an insurance and the claim would be through the insurance company who, in the case of a successful claim, would appoint an appropriate tradesman/builder to carry out the rectification. Sorry to labour this but but "forearmed is forewarned". Many thanks

J.R. Thanks for the reply. Although I've tried searching to better understand the difference between crepi and enduit I have to admit I'm still not sure. Here's shot of the external wall in question showing some of the flaking and underlying damp which is visible externally from the damp cellar.  Crepi (as the agent referred to it) or enduit? [img]http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e170/DerekJordan/Sandbox/crepi.jpg?t=1193058490[/img] My presumption is that the external wall coating (crepi or enduit) was applied at the time of the original house build. As I said, the detail of this particular house isn't that relevant as we pulled out due to a combination of reasons. However, it's useful to have a good understanding for the future.

After doing some searching on this site I found a very useful link to http://www.conseils-infos-batiment.fr/garanties/decennale.php as I was interested to understand more on what was actually covered under this garantie. I'm slowly working my way through this to get a better understanding. The reason for asking is that  a property that I had made an offer on, but subsequently pulled out of , was around 9 years old. At the time of initial viewings the agent was keen to tell us that it still had around a year of the garantie to run. However, after we had a survey done which threw up a couple of things like some flaking crépe, and damp earthfloored cellar the agent started to tell us that these were probably not covered by the garantie. We left the agent to take back our issues with the seller and also confirm the position with the the garantie. However, in the meantime another issue gave us cause to pull out of the sale so we never followed through on these issues. I guess my question is, how useful is that garantie if you actually try and claim against it. Is it full of "weasal words" that render it fairly useless. Is it typically a hard battle to get anything claimed against it. The question is really for my future knowledge. Whilst we aren't particularly looking for newish houses we don't rule them out either. Any views and experiences greatly appreciated.