We live in Alaska and I am planning a trip to the Angouleme area in October to scout out a “starter home”. With the current state of affairs here we are eager to just start the process and I’ll be looking for a place to have a home base for the next few years until we can find the area we love. Since I only have 3 weeks to spend in France, I’d like to maximize my visit and look at as many properties as possible. We are exchanging a large chunk of USD to Euro this week so we can get a good rate in case things go crazy here. Can anyone recommend a company that can assist in not only setting up some viewings but also can handle the legal side of buying in case I do find a place. Any help is appreciated! Also would love to meet anyone in the area just to start connecting. I am a tourism executive and professional singer, 2 friends moving with me: 1 is a craft bartender and vinyl record junkie, the other enjoys brocante, crafts and we ALL love cooking! We are also moving with 4 dogs and we would love to meet other dog owners to find the best locations to buy. Thank you in advance!
I would very much recommend meeting with an agent in an office and review properties with them prior to visiting a well filtered shortlist a day or two later - your time will be much better spent this way rather than travelling to endless houses which could have been ruled out earlier.
Give details of your “must haves” and then other factors which you would like if possible.
Be sensible with budget, be aware renovations will probably cost more and take longer than you would expect.
Realistically don’t visit more than 6 houses per day or your head will simply be spinning.
When you find a house you want to buy act quickly as good, well priced houses in good condition and a good location do not take long to sell.
If money is no object you can hire house hunters. Otherwise you have to do the preparatory work yourself - which will allow you to explore more of the potential places on offer.
So French estate agents work in their own way. Your first hurdle is persuading them you are serious buyers - they get a lot of foreign time wasters who are just exploring a dream. And you need to put something together that looks like a ‘dossier’ that makes clear how you will fund a property etc, and what your specifications are.
And they tend to work individually so once you identify an area you like then contact all the agents in that area. Many agent also don’t respond hugely to emails, they get too many, so better to pick up the phone.
(Edit, as a tourism professional I’m presuming you do know France? As moving here is not for everyone)
The legal side is quite easy apart from deciding how you will buy as you are a group of friends rather than a family. You possibly need to contact a notaire to work this out well in advance. You can do that now.
There are a lot of English speaking immobiliers in the area if that would help. On of the biggest has their headquarters close by.
Hi,
I highly recommend you get in touch with Sheelagh who is the co-owner of a large agency covering several regions of France. She is absolutely excellent and always goes above and beyond for her clients. I will dm you her details.
Good luck !
Cat
Thank you, Jane! I appreciate your insight.
Thank you, so much - I like that idea!
We were house hunting two weeks ago and this past weekend. I found 11 houses via the various property platforms, Seloger etc. We viewed 10. This is not our first foray into house hunting in France having bought previously in Normandy and Burgundy. Make sure you ask lots of questions before commiting your time to visit, it saves wasted time. Secure garden, eg no rights of way. How many owners if the original owner is mort. A full report you will.be suprised just how many are being marketed without the DPE. Main Drains if they says yes, double check, not always the case. Internal stairs, not all older properties have an internal staircase, not made transparent on Immobilier details. Good hunting.
WOW! Great information. What is DPE? And by Main Drains do you mean gutters?
No, that toilets etc are connected to main drain, not a cess pit in your garden.
DPE gives you the energy performance of the property. A is good E is bad. Below D you should also get and audit about what could be improved.
This week a couple of good friends discovered the agent had neglected to mention that the corps de ferme they had been interested in had neither running water nor any apparent form of drainage…
More of a corpse de ferme then.
Or a ferme fermée…
Thirty years ago the house I bought had no running water, drainage or electricity. That was a good thing as once the new wiring, plumbing and fosse were sorted out I didn’t have to worry about the state of any of them. A roof, windows and doors made life more comfortable as well.