PHOTO, above: I thought it would be fun to show you a sampling of what's for sale at the moment in our area. This country estate , near Mâcon, can be yours for 1.3 million euros.
Since we’ve been talking about the selling of châteaux, it seems a good time to continue our discussion of buying French property. Our first post on the subject dealt with selecting a region, the second with understanding the French real estate agent system, which we think is complètement fou! (absolutely crazy).
So now we will address the question: what sort of a house do you want? And the crucial, related question: what sort of house can you actually FIND?
When I first went to the offices of the various agents immobilier, I always had my long list of criteria, which was this: une maison de charme et caractère; in or just outside of a village; the village should have commerce, like a boulangerie; gorgeous views; the house should be an old, stone one; a quiet location; a little pigeonnier would be nice, and an outdoor terrace and covered galerie; and a good orientation, of course, preferably south. Oh, and ten minutes from Cluny.
Photo above right: a nicely renovated house in the pretty town of Azé (a wine area), for 335,000 euros. Below: the superb view from the rear of a renovated stone house near Cluny, with garage and wine caves, for 205,000 euros.
Invariably, I would get the same response from the agents: major eye-rolling, and a French shrug. Some were even clairvoyant, finishing my list correctly for me before I even get to the end. As it turned out, all the expats, and French retirees, had almost exactly the same list. "Everyone wants a house like that, and they are few and far between,” they would tell me. “Where are you willing to compromise?”
We learned to add something else to our list: no Fatal Flaws. I can’t begin to count the number of houses we saw that were just perfect, EXCEPT FOR: the electrical pylon looming over the back garden. The TGV that zips by the house every six minutes. The brand new ugly commercial barn, dead center in that nice view. The chicken farm next door. The list goes on. Those pretty photos in the real estate windows? They never show, or mention, those flaws. And sometimes, of course, the Fatal Flaw is the price.
But not for this one: the cute stone house above right is nicely renovated, and only 85,000 euros. Below, this 'craftsman special' needs lots of TLC, but has 4 bedrooms, a quiet location, great views, a raised garden, and an outbuilding with a garage, workshop, and an old bread oven. 134,000 euros.
The moral of the story is, there is no perfect house. Be flexible and open-minded, and prioritize that list (but don’t ignore the Fatal Flaws). Often the first thing to go from the wish list is the village with commerce. Most small villages don’t have any, and ours is no exception. But amazingly, we got most of the other things on our list. And recently, when Nicole told me HER long list for their post-château house, I nearly scoffed. “Hah!” I thought, “they’ll never find all that!” And yet they got lucky too, and found a house that was (nearly) perfect for them—and we are SO happy about that.
Here’s hoping you get lucky too!
( I'm sure our readers would love to hear the experiences of other expats who've bought or looked for houses here in French–please share!)
One last PHOTO: north of us, near Beaune, you can get a house right on the canal, for 190,000 euros.
In the COMMENTS: I was touched by all the lovely comments, many from folks who have stayed at the château. Nicole responded to all with a lengthy comment that (once again!) brought a tear to my eye.
PLEASE NOTE! As of this week we will go into "winter mode" for this blog, which will come out every 2 weeks instead of weekly. Please stay with us!
9 thoughts on “How to Buy a House in France, Part 3”
I know that all American and English expats want an old stone house with fantastic views and a garden. I would like that, too, but my husband’s work was in Dijon, plus we didn’t want to get involved in major long-distance renovations. We had always kept an informal list of criteria as we dreamed of owning property in this country. However, we had done ZERO research on the buying process when, on a summer work trip my husband decided that we must buy an apartment NOW, before he returned for an extended work project. Being located in the historic city center was a no-brainer. My #1 criterion was light. I must have light because in the city buildings are close or attached so you might have windows on only one side. We only looked at two apartments. The second one had an enclosed balcony with stained glass on one side and three French doors that opened to tiny balconettes for holding plants on the other. I was sold. As for my husband, he liked that it had been renovated and had an American-sized bathroom and American-sized kitchen appliances.
This was definitely an impulse buy, and we’re still learning about home ownership in France, syndics (condo managers), and tempermental French water heaters. I don’t think I’ll convince my city-loving guy to ever move to a stone cottage near a village. But when strolling home from great dinners at any of the fine restaurants in town, we can’t help but do some window shopping at immoblier offices and dream about our next place. For now, though, I love having the light stream over my shoulder as I sit at my desk or my balcony and do my work.
Hi, Lynn,
I posted last week but had a feeling it didn’t take! Love this post on finding a house and I would choose Burgundy too! Having Fred’s birthday party at the chateau last year is all the more special now knowing that we will not be there again! Can’t wait to see what Nicole comes up with next! Cheers to the next phase!
Good advide – there is so much to consider when buying property, especially looking for any “vices caches”.
Hi Lynn,
Wow!This is not only helpful and informative but carries me away,
remembering all the beauty and charm that we still find so wonderful.
Thank you!
Looking forward to the next SFF,as always,week after next!
Oh my these prices are so much more reasonable than in Aix! We looked at TWENTY TWO apartments before we found our much-loved Ambiance d’Aix. Each time we’re there it’s harder to leave! We’re excited about our latest project, a kitchen renovation – but I have a feeling it won’t be very exciting to live through it – we start in a month. Still, it will be so lovely to have counter space (my husband says that the building was built in 1710, the kitchen in around 1950) – making it much easier to entertain, as we love to do (and have sometimes used your recipes – merci!).
Helen and I needed to sell her father’s house in Normandy. The Estate Agent fees were very hefty (we didn’t pay, the buyer did).
Once a deal has been agreed, the Notaire (local lawyer) has to deal with the legal stuff. Because we had to deal directly with the Notaire about other matters, we noticed that there was a notice board outside the office with a list of a small number of local properties for sale.
We visit France a lot and have noticed that most Notaires advertise properties in a similar way.
It seems that if you’re buying a house and you deal directly with the Notaire, you save yourself a lot of money in Estate Agent Fees.
We can’t be 100% sure of this, but if any of you loyal followers of Lynn’s excellent blog are thinking of buying a property in France, it’s worth checking this out.
Just another thought. We’ve spent quite a lot of time recently cycling up, down and around the Canal du Centre which runs near Beaune and I looked at the attractive canalside house at an attractive price.
But, if you’re tempted, be careful!
Japanese Knotweed is prolific along the banks of the canal and some nearby rivers.
We even saw some houses with large dumps in the garden and it was infesting the drains of the Camping Municipal where our Campervan was based.
It’s evil stuff!
Lynn,
I enjoyed this informative blog with a few websites to check, although Sotheby’s will not meet my budget. For Martin who mentioned the Notaire advertisements, I had noticed this also and for anyone who may be interested there are websites for the notaire listings. www immobilier notaires fr I left out the dots so the link will not reject. After searching many real estate ads, I know for certain that the inside of the cute, quaint houses does not compare to the images dancing in one’s head from outside observation.
This is really interesting. Thanks for sharing.