When you finally found your house in France

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

how long did it actually take you to find it? Was it years, or the first time you came over? Did you have to make several trips or just went for it site unseen? Just interested to see how people made the move over.

[Hoddy]

We spent two years and many visits searching. We looked at things that

were really beyond our reach financially and were also taken so see

some things that were little more than heaps of stones in the middle of

a field.

Eventually we whittled it down to two, one that my partner preferred

and the other that I preferred. The prices were very different and we

arranged to see them both with a builder to estimate the costs of

making each into a decent proposition.. By pure chance we had a morning

free and so we went into a little estate agent who had just had the

house we now have, come in. She had sold it  the previous year and the

sale had fallen through because not all the members of the family had

agreed. She had promised the man  who had  bought it previously the

first refusal if it came back on the market, but was willing to let us

have a look from the outside without her. . Luckily, we both fell for

it the moment we saw it and in the afternoon took the builder just to

see that one.

I reckon we viewed over fifty properties altogether and some of the

estate agents had to be experienced to be believed, including the one

who, as we walked across a field, said of a neighbour who disputed the

access, "I don't think he'll shoot at us".

We've had our house  for five years now and haven't regretted it at all.

Hoddy

[Gardian]

I came over on a one week recce and this was the 4th property of 12 that I saw that week.

Came back with my wife 3 wks later for a 2nd viewing and saw another 12.

It stood 'head & shoulders' above the other 23 or so - but we were lucky, not only with the house, but with the vendor. 

[Dick Smith]

We saw 2, bought the second, same afternoon. We'd do it differently now, but at the time it was what we needed and wanted.

[Patf]

Dick - you surprise me, I would never think of you being impulsive. We spent 2 weeks, then a few months later another two. We chose because of the magnificent view and the setting, though I never liked the house itself. We've now moved and this time spent a month and saw about 30 houses. I like this one much more though the view isn't quite so good. We had a list of criteria and ticked boxes. But we found that some criteria are more important than others, and they change eg how much land do you want? etc.

[Dick Smith]

We'd employed a finder - he knew pretty much what we wanted, and came up with it first time out.

Since then I think our priorities have changed, but the choice has worked well and only cost us an arm and a leg...

[Framboise]

We visited an exhibition here in Surrey then made arrangements to visit a few places in the Orne as we liked the look of the countryside there.   On arriving we were shown some spectacularly dire hovels at premium prices, (which we later discovered were actually owned by the dodgy estate agent himself), our agent overheard what estate agent said about us and promptly marched us out of the shop having given him an earful in german!!  Later that day we discovered a small Immo on the town square, went inside and the second place on the computer screen was to become our beautiful home the following Springtime.

We had looked at maybe 8 other places but none of them ticked the boxes for both of us.   Most from the first agent were basically derelict, more work than we would have considered under any circumstances and demolition would have been kinder to them, two we saw at the NICE agency were ok but had small gardens whereas we wanted a bit of land attached, but when we came to a halt outside Le Gue we knew she was destined to be ours, neither of us needed to say a word because we just knew this was The One for us.  

We have  beautiful views across fields towards the forests, few neighbours and  peace and tranquility.   The house is becoming everything we knew she would be, even though when we first saw her she was mouldy, miserable and sad having been empty so long with just cows for company   What made our efforts worhwhile were the words of the previous owner who had been born in the house when he said that he was delighted that the house was being loved and cared for again.   That was very touching.

I doubt we would do things any differently IF we were to move again (and we have no intentons of doing that whatsoever!).  Instinct counts for more than criteria on a list,  although some things have to be taken into account, particularly if you have children.   For us we just KNEW this was our home as soon as we set eyes on her.

[Renaud]

We did quite a bit of research regarding what area and what kind of house we wanted. What we did not do as a couple was work out the degree of renovation that the house would need. I was thinking of something basically habitable but would need a new kitchen and bathroom, my wife had other ideas.

We saw an attractive but derelict house on Christopher Kay’s website. I phoned him and he advised seeing it quickly as it was priced very competitively. A few days later we were viewing it. In dull overcast weather, the extent of the renovation daunted us. That night we stayed in a B&B that had been wonderfully renovated by a local team of artisans. Suitably energised we revisited the house in glorious sunshine and bought it.

The renovation took a year to organise and six months to complete.

I agree with Framboise that instinct counts for more than criteria on a list.

[Anton Redman]

First house very easy. Project but not a barn conversion, potential for two bedroooms and reasonable size ( say 100 square metres) . Saw 18 houses/barns /hovels and bought during a week long visit.

Second house very hard work. Wanted a house which looked like a house was a resonable size and not next to a midden. Could be moved into straight away but also would benefit from some work. Went throught he books at over 20 estate agents offices. Saw in excess of 30 houses.  Finally came to conclusion that housing stock in areas were looking prbably did not have what we wanted and looked further South. Excluding Interenet time probably at least six weeks looking.

[Catalpa]

Planned "one day" to buy a house in France. "One day" was always "sometime in the next few years..." Holidayed in a gite... saw the apparently empty house in the next field that was better located than the gite. Found out who owned it the house, wrote and asked if it was for sale. Answer was that it could be. Negotiated a price. Bought the house. So we didn't ever actively look for a house and the one we bought was never on the market.

It wasn't an impulse buy, btw - we saw it one June, wrote to the owners the following month, arranged to go and see the inside of the house when we were back in France in the October and agreed a price in November / December.

[Kitty]

We choose an area of France and found a rented house for 3 months, using the time to find a house to buy, check out schools etc.  Highly recommended way of find a house (if you have or make the time).

[Apero]

[quote user="Catalpa"]Planned "one day" to buy a house in France. "One day" was always "sometime in the next few years..." Holidayed in a gite... saw the apparently empty house in the next field that was better located than the gite. Found out who owned it the house, wrote and asked if it was for sale. Answer was that it could be. Negotiated a price. Bought the house. So we didn't ever actively look for a house and the one we bought was never on the market.

It wasn't an impulse buy, btw - we saw it one June, wrote to the owners the following month, arranged to go and see the inside of the house when we were back in France in the October and agreed a price in November / December.
[/quote]

We were so similar to you Catalpa. Many years we rented in various departments, with the intention off having a home in France with a wish list, views - all year round life- feeling of relaxation - great location - easy commute - amazing neighbours - where OH is dragged kicking and screeming to leave. We visited many departments over these years to come to a decission which department we preferred,  entered a French estate agent that particular holiday, saw perhaps 7 properties over two days in the area we preferred, after many hours being driven around we had given up for that year and heading back to his office, then he received a call to advise him that their office had sole rights to sell a property which may interest us, he asked if we would care to view it, as the property was on the route to his office said yes, what had we to lose as it was on the way, well slam dunk - even before we looked inside the property, as we walked up the drive we knew this was for us.

Put in an offer, the vendors hoped for more than we offered,  10000 FFrancs more,  at that time  = £1000  we would have willingly paid so much more for our wish list, the rest as they say is history. We, me especially,  so look forward to seeing my family,  where they are their most happiest -  many years on;  still require certain incentives to prior OH away. 

Vive la France :-)

Apero

[Claire]

We came on holiday for three weeks - first time in France. We were persuaded to look around by an English estate agent that we met one evening.  We saw three houses from the outside only but fell in love with the one we bought. We arranged a viewing the following day and put our house on the market from France.We signed the contract two days before we left France.That was in August 2001.We moved in the following January and have not regretted it since. Perhaps not the best way to go about things but it worked for us.