pitfalls of buying a chateaux

[arrion]

Hi

 

My family and I are looking to buy a chateaux, holes in the roof old plumbing and tricky electrics.  We can see all the possible downsides but still keep marching forward.

Could any one add to my list of "already reason, not to buy", I doubt it will put us off, as falling in love is never something done with the head but I believe in being forewarned perhaps allows you more preparation.

All comments greatfully received even the most negative.

[Richardbk]

roof, windows, damp, electrics, plumbing and plaster work is the stuff you can usually see and estimate for. Dry rot is one of the biggest killers because you never really know how much there is. Once you have done the major enovations, also think about maintenance costs - beacuse the work will never really stop. Of course you can do a lot your self, but i guess painting woodwork or sticking tiles onto a tower that is 20 meters high will mean calling in the professionals.  I know people that have bought run down but habitable small chateaux/maison maitre etc and usually they have spent ~100-150% of the orginal purchase price in getting them up to standard.

regs

Richard

 

 

 

[Mark]

Heating.

[David584]

And make sure that the foundations - if any - are sound.
Is the ground around the building susceptible to flooding?
If so will this affect the building?
If yes, then what will it cost to rectify? 

And just one other point - why has the building been allowed to fall into rack and ruin?

 

[Val_2]

Even if you do get all the repairs done and can afford it, have you considered the ongoing cost of keeping it going for the rest of your lives whilst living there,especially if you do not have a regular income or plenty of savings to fall back on? Don't underestimate renovation costs in France,labour charges are higher and materials where delivery is some distance away will also eat up your funds. Really,really do your homework before you commit yourselves because once you fall into debt here,the huissiers will move in very fast and take what is owed. Even those of us with small homes here know how much work is needed to keep it in good condition and once it is finished then its time to start again. As someone has said, why was it allowed to fall into ruin in the first place and why has no one else snapped it up,please,please be careful.

[Miki]

Val makes some very valid points (as do all of you) but for expertise on Chateaux themselves........................

Call for the Duchess is needed I think

 

[Fil]

Hi,

get a good estimate of what you think you will need to spend (on the high side if possible), then double it, then add ten percent.  And remember you will probably end up divorced or murdered by your spouse.

Total expenditure = 2x + 10% + divorce costs or burial.

and be happy if that is all it costs you.

Fil

[arrion]

Thanks for all your replys kind of what we thought, in answer to the last post there are too many family members now to be bothered to do the work so they all want their piece of inheritance.

I dont know how long we will live there we a bit like gypsies but we are in our thirties and too much energy to waste on boring stuff over here.

 

Our parents are getting involved an they are in their early 50's they are in the US and have had enough of live there. So onwards and upwards.

 

Thanks again

[Alexis]

Come the Revolution and you will all get your head's chopped off....

[Neil]

[quote]Come the Revolution and you will all get your head's chopped off....[/quote]

I thought it had already happened. 1789 and all that.

[Bobdude]

Haven't had the experience of buying a Chateau - but we are caretakers for one - does that count? The elderly owner is in a care home and his family can't stand the place - too much upkeep. Just keeping the garden tidy is a nightmare (they employ gardeners) and it is a full time job just watering the garden in the Summer. Taxe fonciere and tax d'habitation are other things to consider - very high for a big building.

I suppose if you have unlimited funds though it is a lovely idea....................

[Mazan]

>My family and I are looking to buy a chateaux

The singular is "chateau" and you must be bonkers or a millionaire or both.  

Good luck anyway. You'll need it.

[Anton Redman]

[quote]>My family and I are looking to buy a chateaux The singular is "chateau" and you must be bonkers or a millionaire or both. Good luck anyway. You'll need it.[/quote]

Good to see you posting again. I am still recovering from the revelation that I cannot spell in both French and English and worry every time the invoice drives through our hamlet in his little yellow van.  

[Miki]

Val makes some very valid points (as do all of you) but for expertise on Chateaux themselves........................

Ah well spotted Mazan (and welcome back from me as well) but you rightly did not pick me up, as mine was deliberately plural, so cop that "Anton the invoice"

Admin, I see David is still struggling at the bottom !!

 

 

[Hoddy]

No experience of renovating a French Chateau, but I do have experience of renovating a ten bedroomed manor house in England.

The choice is yours and in a way nothing anyone says to you will make any difference so i thought I’d offer some practical advice based on our experience.

Do -

Check the water and electricity supply and the sewage disposal arrangements before you buy.

Make a plan for both the house and garden renovations before you start. Cost it all as realistically as you can and then add some. The chances are that nothing in the house is of the standard size that you can buy in the local DIY shed.

Things like plumbing and wiring runs need to be thought out before you begin.

Plan your heating in zones so that you aren’t heating the whole house at times that it isn’t fully occupied.

Plan to start your work at the top of the house. If you don’t work already done on lower floors get ruined by the mess builder’s make (bitter experience).

If you’re not living in the house visit as frequently as possible. It’s possible for misunderstandings about what you want done to occur even when the builder is a good one and you both speak the same language.

Plan the work so that things things like having the roof/windows/ doors renovated or replaced is done in the good weather.

Have an overall plan for the decor so that you aren’t buying interesting old bits and pieces that don’t match each other.

Make sure that you are working on the garden at the same time as the house.

If the garden is as large as it should be get going as soon as possible on planting seeds, taking cuttings and begging from friends.

Don’t have your woodwork sandblasted.

Don’t rely on the help of friends - it’s difficult to tell people who are being kind to you that the standard of their work isn’t high enough and you then end up having to re-do things.

I hope this at least gives you something to think about.

All in all it was great fun - or so it seems, now that it’s two years since we sold it.

Hoddy

[SaligoBay]

[quote]>My family and I are looking to buy a chateaux The singular is "chateau" and you must be bonkers or a millionaire or both. Good luck anyway. You'll need it.[/quote]

Indeed, bonkers or millionaires! 

We've just spent 4 years (renting) in a rambling 5-bedroom place - I know, I know, it's not a chateau, but still.....

We did think of buying it a few months ago, but, to cut a long and tedious story short, it would have meant spending the next 5 years in the middle of dust and bricks, and every weekend in M Bricolage, and all our money on paint, plaster, wallpaper, and artisans!

So we're in a little place that most of you expats wouldn't even spit on - and it's brilliant!!   Rather than spending money on all that stuff, we have free time to enjoy France, and we're even treating ourselves to a weekend in Paris this weekend. 

But if doing up a chateau is your dream, and you have the means and the energy to follow your dream AND have weekends in Paris, then you must go for it!

We all have different dreams.  Mine at the moment would probably involve - sssshhhh - that man from Stargate and a large patchwork quilt.  It would involve no bricolage whatsoever (none of my dreams ever have!).

SB,  Perpetrator of Pointless Posts

 

 

 

  

 

[arrion]

We don't have unlimited funds but we do have a business which allows us to live and work anywhere in the world.  We are not worried about the up keep as we will be saving so much money by moving to france from the UK.

Thanks to the administrator for the practical tips, this will be our 5th project however it will be our largest.  We have only ever gardened 2 acres before and I am looking forward to the challenge.  We have tractors and such like for the land.  The only things we have not done before are roofing plumbing and the french electrics.

I have a concern that the workmen will be a little spasmodic, we do have english specialists but we are loathe to use them as we believe in using the local craftsmen, so we will have to see how it goes. 

Thank you for the correction of "chateau" as singular and I thought the french like the idea of the peasants living in the big houses "vive la revolution"!! any one seen the old vodka ad!!

[Ron Avery]

[quote]Indeed, bonkers or millionaires! We've just spent 4 years (renting) in a rambling 5-bedroom place - I know, I know, it's not a chateau, but still..... We did think of buying it a few months ago, ...[/quote]

Don't put your place down SB according to "A Place In the Sun" every 4 bedroom house in France is a Chateau

Can anyone remember the last couple who actually bought any of the French houses shown???     Me neither, mind you not surprising as many of the  timewasters looking for a cheap week away in the sun  prospective buyers shown have never been to France even on holiday.... Is that realistic or are the producers just getting desperate.

 

Sorry a bit off topic

[Deby]

Hello,

You have already been given sound advice especially with regard to renovation.  I would only add is that you look at between 10 and 20 chateaux to give yourselves an idea as there are enormous variations between each one, this will also give you a good idea of what needs to renovated.  We saw complete wrecks with outrageous prices to bargains requiring pitfuls of money.  Don't let your heart be led by some lovely romantic building either, you really need your head to be ruling your decisions.  Do you plan to rent it out etc? If so, remember the old adage location, location, location.

It is lovely to live in one of these beautiful buildings - it is a real pleasure, still can't quite believe it ourselves, so we will enjoy it as long and as best we can. Of course there are the headaches, costs - energy consumption in the winter, water in the summer and things do go wrong.  This is not for the faint hearted and you do have to have experience/knowledge on plumbing/electrics/sanation etc otherwise you will be shelling out alot of money.

Wishing you good luck.
Duchess!

[arrion]

Thanks to the Duchess for her input and yes we will be renting parts of the building out.  The location is the main reason that we have chosen this particular chateau, that and the size, land, looks, price and proximity to the town.  The train to Paris and the coast are also a large concideration and we must not forget the ski season.

All of our friends and relatives think we are quite mad but they have always thought that anyway, we like to live very much outside the box.  We have a very open mind and believe life is about the journey.  I have looked at your web site and your home is very beautiful.

[Liz]

Consider wealth tax. I'm not sure of the rate but as Chateau owners you must be prime candidates to pay it

Liz (29)

[Miki]

 .....we like to live very much outside the box.  We have a very open mind and believe life is about the journey. 

That might well be the box that we live in now 

Life most certainly is about the journey, so as the Duchess say's, be very, very careful on your purchase or you might unfortunately find that the journey you talk about, could turn out to be the one that brings the end that little bit nearer !

 

[Logan]

Restoring a run down French Chateau is quite simply asking for bankrupcy, stress that will send you to an early grave and ruin. Unless you have a bottomless and endless supply of money don't even consider it seriously. I know personally two examples of British people ruined by similar ventures who thought they could defy logic. I would suggest you estimate the amount of money you think you will need and multiply it at least 10 fold. Just keep adding zeros to your estimates. Even if you were given the place for free it would still ruin you. Romance comes at a cost and that will be everything you have. Go away and do something else like stand in the shower tearing up 100 euro notes. Believe me it will be cheaper!

[Iceni]

Tis a funny old world and you can never tell what is round the corner. We bought this barn after a rather life changing couple of years. It is not that huge BUT the cost of heating it in the winter always worried us. We live in a nice sized apartment and hopefully will finish the big barn next year. We have already decided to live in the apartment for the winter and the huge area for the summer. When we tell French people this they seem to think it normal to do this and many people decamp into a small area when it is very cold.

One of our retired neighbours who has moved to a flat in another town is supposed to have paid €2,000 just to heat a 2 bedroomed house in the winter by gas - that is a level of heating cost we simply cannot afford.

I can only hope that those of you who buy these huge properties can afford to renovate and then live in them. Be realistic, most of France has cold winters and the larger the house the more gaps for the wind to whistle through.

If you do take this on, I hope you enjoy it and have the best of luck.

[Gine]

Sorry but I can't agree that buying a chateau will definitely make you bankrupt !

The only thing that concerned me was the roof. A new roof will definitely cost a small fortune and can ruin other parts of the house in the process.

Everything else is the same as any property, just on a bigger scale. The main problem is furnishing it. You can't just nip to Ikea and buy a load of stuff (well, you could but it would look pretty naff ). So you need to plan what you want to do and how you want to furnish it. Its impossible to move in and have everything done at once, even if there is no renovation to do.

Yes, it is expensive but expense is relative isn't it ? In the end its a privilege to live in an historic building.

And we bought the first one we saw.......