Lori

Ahh, thank you both.

How 'bout this one?  I like it. http://www.proprietes-privees.com/272946CBN Has anyone ever heard of this 'agency?'  They use the term 'négociateur' making me think perhaps they are not licensed agents?  Yet, the FNAIM logo is at the bottom of the website. 

Aww, sweet.  Much nicer than most of the headlines these days. I hope they are happy together.

All good advice and very much appreciated. Assuming our first visit goes well, I'm sure we will return a few times to see more.

Thank you Norman.  Isn't Narbonne in a flood zone?  We have seen several interesting homes (ads) in that town.  I visited Céret many years ago and I loved it.  No idea what the climate is like or the house prices.  I'll have a look see.

Thanks Judith.  That is what I figured.  It is the same in these parts.  I guess there are benefits for living in a sizeable town that has all the services at hand so you don't have to drive any distance to reach them. Or, accept the fact that the drive might not be pleasant.  We're trying to figure out what sacrifices we will need to make. We are hoping to visit the Aude around October, COVID allowing.  At this point, we are still discovering the area we have just moved to.  It is an area of the Vaucluse that I don't know that well.  It also borders the Drome, which I only know in limitation.  So, we have a bit of discovering to do round here. Our last big driving outing was a bit hair raising for me, as the driver.  SO many tiny, winding, with big drop offs on at least one side roads, I could not really even enjoy the scenery for fear of falling off the road !  I did manage to realize it was gorgeous, in between my near heart attacks.

All very interesting, thanks. Those roads would have me rethink even a visit.  I'll never forget having to contend with endless camping cars along the tiny, weavy roads of the Ventoux EVERY single Spring/Summer.  The roads were challenging enough without the camping cars, even when you knew them well.  That and the bicycles....  I would often take a longer route to avoid the chaos.  It was always very interesting when TWO camping cars met each other on some of these tiny, cliff hugging roads - or a tourist bus. I did take a look at some of the houses for sale in the towns you mentioned Norman.  There seemed to be a mix of very inexpensive and expensive.  All of the areas looked very pretty, but I am sure it is too remote for us and we'd lose the great weather we have in Provence.  Yet we know we will need to make sacrifices.

Kind of you to notice Norman.  Yes, we've watched every minute.  It was all so stunning.  Even if parts were down right scary looking to me (the roads, not the towns).  Husband looked up the weather for many of the areas that were so jaw droppingly gorgeous.  We had said to each other that any area that is THAT green in summer must get a LOT of rain. From what we read, that is true.  A good bit of rain.  Montsegur was stunning.  But, so was the ride before they arrived there and then after too. It will be interesting to see what happens to the COVID case numbers after all these huge sport events.

I watched some of the coverage of each of the latest big sports events.  As I just hate big crowds of people, I look at the thousands and thousands of people inch to inch and cringe.  While watching the Tour de France peloton all bunched up together, I mentioned to husband that I don't even WALK that close to anyone else - unless forced to, much less ride a bike.  Same with the huge crowds of spectators at each of these events and the parties that followed. I never liked it when I was young either. Is it the Pandemic that has created mass party hysteria or has it always been this way and I just never noticed? Good luck with the housekeeping Wooly.

If you search "Bricoleur a domicile France" you will find quite a few websites for this purpose.  Our daughter used this one multiple times for all kinds of things (several plumbing issues, montage of furniture, electrical work, etc.).  I don't think they have 'jobbers' outside of Ile-de-France, but there are many other sites that do. https://www.needhelp.com/-bricolage-a-domicile_paris/ These cover most areas of France, but I have not used them.  I think they operate on the same principle as the one our daughter used.  You can read reviews of their previous jobs and get a brief background on each worker.  I just pulled up my area.  You'd have to verify your area. https://www.bricoco.com/ https://yoojo.fr/bricolage/bricoleur/avignon https://www.kiwiiz.fr/wish.php Though many of these folks will do some pretty in-depth work, I'm not sure if they are the source for installing a new bathroom or other large jobs.

Thank you both.  Agree with both of your replies.  We're secure here for a year and can renew for another, so we can wait - watch the market, etc. We have always said we would not accept mitoyenne but I was curious to hear what other people had to say about it.  So far, sounds like the negatives are exactly as we would have expected.  People .....   no one wants to be near them...

Just saw the news.  Looks pretty bad.  I hope all of you who live in the region are safe and not in the danger zone.

Hello all you good people.  You are all always so knowledgeable about all things France, I hope you'll be able to give some insight on the subject title. We have been monitoring the housing market in this area and it is kind of alarming.  I don't think I have ever seen so many houses sell at such a fast pace in this country.  It does appear to be a strong seller's market.  Least round these parts. So, in our on going search, we have come across several homes that are mitoyenne (on one side - as we don't think we could handle mitoyenne on more than one side) that are quite nice.  They have terrain, garage, even in ground pools, etc.  My question is how does the entire mitoyenne thing work?  Is insurance handled differently?  Depending upon how the two properties are connected, what if the other owner needed access to the other side of the wall for something?  What if the other owner wants to install an air conditioning unit on a shared wall?  What if there is one already installed and a technicien needs access to it through OUR property for maintenance purposes? If the two roof tops are connected what stops the other owner or someone he hires from climbing onto your roof while he is up there?  What if he causes damage to your side?  Is there any rule about drilling holes in the shared wall(s)?  I presume none of the utility pipes are connected, but then perhaps I shouldn't make that presumption.  Is this like apartment living - when there's a water leak, you could play hell getting access to the source or having it taken care of (did that several times at the apartment in Paris)? We have already learned that immediate neighbors WILL block your garage so you can't get out if you want to or in after you've been out.  This is an issue 90% of the time in this current village home.  Yes, we have two signs on the garage asking that it not be blocked.  The signs are ignored. The homes we are looking at are not part of a copropriete, so there is no syndic.  I know the normal pitfalls of not knowing who or what you might find yourself living next to.  That is a risk even with individual homes, though at least with those, you aren't actually attached to the other house. What advice/tips might you nice people offer us?? Thank you !

Agree Mint, but husband wants to do his painting up there, so tidying the atelier was at top of list.  I also need to put a few boxes from the garage up there and didn't want to do that until we had finished getting it cleaned up and painted. It is definitely hot outside.  I went out to put some of the cut up move boxes into the recycling bin.  One was full, so I walked to another one and the concrete surrounding the bins was being re-paved, so it was closed by a fence.  Walked my sac back home.  It was hot.  You'd never know it inside the house though.  Quite cool.  Wonder what it will be like in winter??  House has a new pompe a chaleur installed.  Hopefully it will work well.

Thank you all for the well wishes.  Hopefully things will go along in a positive way.  Time will tell. We bought a car.  It gets delivered this coming Thursday.  Today's task is painting an atelier that is above the garage.  All these old dependances are filled with dust from a million years.  So, we bought a shop vac and yesterday I cleaned the future 'atelier.'  So today we will paint it.  Also must vacuum the grenier - which I'd say hasn't been vacuumed or tidied up in my lifetime..  So far so good with the new Black & Decker vacuum.

Thank you Loiseau.  Ste.-Cécile is located in the Northern most region of the Vaucluse (84).  It is about 12 kms northeast of Orange.  About 20kms west of Vaison-la-Romaine and 5kms from Cairanne. It is a beautiful area surrounded by the hills of the Drome, Mt. Ventoux and the Dentelles. The house is amazingly cool (in 33 degree heat) and extremely quiet (considering we are in the center of town, just across from the Mairie). I hope we continue to like the place.  Owner and agent have been very  nice so far.

You are sweet to notice my absence. We have MOVED !  We are now in the lovely (and warm) village of Sainte-Cécile-les-Vignes.  We had never even seen the house we have rented - only by video from a portable.  So, we expected the worst.  We are quite happy !  Lovely home, so quiet, yet right in the middle of the village. with a totally private, good sized cours.  There is an exceptional Saturday market, right out our front door. Have bought a car; was a challenge as our garage is small.  Clio was just too difficult to get in and out, so went with a Twingo III (a model with a 95 CV motor). Still some quirky bits to work out, but we are here.  We got the keys on the 3rd of June.  Movers arrived a day late (over heated engine - so they said) on 5 June.  So, we've been very busy cleaning and getting unpacked. Quite happy now.  If any of you make your way over here, please stop in for a visit.  Now, the search for the house to purchase gets more serious. I've missed you all !

Same as Judith, but we don't have them all that often.  Nice on the BBQ though.

True Judith.  We came to the same conclusion.

Thank you all.  Sorry Judith, I don't know how to post a link other than to copy and paste it. Sounds like Berlou might just be too small.  Looks like it doesn't even have a boulangerie, a pharmacie or small supermarket.  Fifteen minutes to St. Chinian isn't bad, but a bit much for a quick trip to pick something up.  I'm sure it would bother me after a while. Beautiful setting though. And the link to the restaurant was great !  Though I have to wonder how a restaurant in the middle of no where would survive in the best of times.

This house is on the simple side, but it looks like a lovely setting.  Berlou does not appear to be in a flood zone and is in the level 2 radon zone. https://www.gc34immobilier.com/fr/detail.htm?cle=343901741&monnaie=2

I follow you Judith.  We're seeing exactly what you said.  Some properties that you would expect to see a high TF are not so bad.  Others that are mitoyenne with less terrain are outrageous (like the one above). Perhaps some of this boils down to what Norman (or was it Wooly) said about the local tax authorities in the process of reviewing older properties to 'adjust' their TF's while newer or recently renovated (having had to request a permit, therefore subjected to adjusted TF as a result) have already been updated/increased.

Yes, that is a BIG house. I actually liked most of it.  Too close to the other houses though.  The bedroom wallpaper would need changing.  But that kind of thing is no big deal. The drop ceilings are a different story.  You can see the mould around the edges in several photos; typical of drop ceilings.  That is not an inexpensive thing to change. Are the suburbs of Beziers safe? Thanks for the link Norman.  And the explanation of the combined efforts of several agencies working together.  I have not seen that in the Vaucluse/Drome - short of agencies in the same network; all Maurice Garcin agencies work together.

Thank you Norman.  That makes sense.  Seems to jibe with the internet search definitions.

What exactly does this mean?  I don't see it on all house listings, but I do see it on some.   Ce bien fait l’objet d’une délégation de mandat. Can someone help me out here? Thank you.