So, you have decided to buy a property in France or perhaps still considering? Whether it is your next home or place to while away a season, many of the same principles apply.

Just reaching the “which country” point is a major hurdle to overcome if you are considering purchasing in Europe – well done if you have already decided. The basic decision process on finding your house is the same regardless of nation or for a holiday place or new home.

At some future stage I will write up our tips for the process for getting to the decision of the final country.

We started our search across Spain, Portugal, Italy and France – eventually prioritizing key lifestyle elements helped us decide on a new French life. A good decision.

Once we chose France, then came the arduous decision of where to focus our search in this big country.

Where in France?

Deciding on the the region and department took us several trips, hours of consulting France savvy friends and the creation of a comprehensive list of priorities for both the area and the eventual home.

Weather, accessibility, prices, population (in-season and off-season), by the sea or in the country, standard of medical care, topography and even neighbouring countries were all vital things for us to decide. Importantly, it was also important that we both agree.

Own the dream together

For us a few good bottles of wine over several nights helped the intense discussion and eased differing opinions and perceived must-haves. We started out our search as a united team.

It’s important to point out that we have NO regrets on choosing the French department of the Gers as our place to be. However, it was not easy discovering it after nearly three years of regular trips, 15000 kilometres in rental cars and many disappointments. It was word of mouth that finally lead us here.

Ask lots of questions – some people really do have good advice and oodles of tips to share.

Following our dream was easy sitting on the sofa at night and browsing the many online real estate sites and scrolling the endless listings of houses for sale. It also helped a lot to identify potential areas of concern in advance.

I know that I wasted a lot of real estate agent’s time by not truly understanding an area before inquiring about it. I would see a listing thinking it was the perfect “just the house” and fly emails off at a rapid rate . A genuine apology to all those agents – I know a lot more now.

A special thanks to the team at French Entree where I focussed a lot of my searches and gathered so much invaluable info.

First of our Tips: Prices that seemed too good to be true often were.

A quick search on Google Earth often revealed why. Husband is the guru of cyber snooping house ads. Even without an accurate address he could track down a house from its advertised pictures. It was fairly obvious that a neighbouring farmer’s cow pens and three story muck heap at “our” front gates were a no go. One dream mini chateau showed up to be only metres from a major auto-route. My favourite fail was a gorgeous stone villa that required travelling the last 300 metres by foot – a permanent problem.

Agree your criteria

It is stating the obvious but from the start agree on your list of must-haves, nice to haves and “definitely nots”. All house shopping participants should be in complete agreement and honest from the outset.

With a good plot of land on our wish list, we soon learnt to state that the said land needed to be tractor accessible – not nearly vertical and only suitable for mountain goats, as one property had that we visited.

In short, we were also looking for a life changing project to take on. The eventual home was to fulfill a DIY dream we both shared. We wanted new skills (and language) to learn and new muscles developed. We were not looking for houses where all the work had been done and simply needed personalizing.

Refining our geographic search and house attributes was one of the hardest elements on the home hunting adventure but this is our list we finally adopted for our renovation adventure and new French life. I have covered off budget tips in another blog but I am assuming you have one at this point. If not, decide now.

Our French property shopping guide and some tips to help

Weather

Mild winters in other words, snow to be a rarity. We studied weather records to find long gentle in-between seasons and also enough rain that we were not in a desert.  Tip – wine maps can help with this if you know your varieties and their weather needs.

Lifestyle

Live, work or play? Ours was already clearly defined – a big challenging project amidst semi-retirement.

Fast lane vs slow lane

For us, it was to be slightly off the tourist map. Everyone loves Provence but we found most areas literally became car parks for the peak summer season. We wanted a rural existence with a good city/ies an easy day trip.

Low crime rates

This info is available on many French websites. Here is one you might find useful – Crime rates across France.

Weather anomalies

I hate wind so NO major prevailing winds. The Mistral wind that blows down the Rhone Valley to the Mediterranean is often unbearable and said to send people mad.  Tip  If you see wind turbines – move on unless sailing is on your leisure list. French Property Links provides a good overview.

Infrastructure

Not more that 1.5 hours to an International Airport

Sea, ocean, mountains, land

Preferably easily accessible to a sea.  NOTE: This is one of the few elements we had to forego – we are an easy two hours to the Atlantic. Point 12 was our compromise.

Leisure activities/facilities

Great places to explore within a three hour drive radius. A friend’s list has golf course within 10 minute drive a must. Luckily husband didn’t think this a priority.

Neighbours

As France is known for its regular strike actions, we wanted to be not more than two hours from an international border just in case we needed supplied or flights and France was in lock down. We were not fussed which country neighbour we had.

Regional specialties

Our final area had to produce great wine and preferably a good bespoke spirit. We purchased a wine map poster and used this to refine our search. online wine map poster

Outlook must haves

We wanted to see and experience vineyards from our house but not have any cost or responsibility for them. Must have an outlook or view of some sort and not down a hole.

Land features

The house must have its own lake or large water area.

Area style/character

The area’s buildings must predominantly be of white stone with terracotta roofs and a general feeling of history.

House construction/style

The house to be constructed from limestone, be at least 100 years old and have some character even if not yet revealed and to be structurally sound with a solid roof. Our DIY dream did not include propping up a ruin. Tip  It is not usual to get an engineers certificate in France and can be difficult to include in your offer.  Friends have often brought their own with them from the UK or beyond prior to settlement.

Situation 

The house must have living areas south facing.  This Australian could not survive a dark or damp existence.  Tip I travelled with a pocket compass at all times to ensure no fibs were told to us.

Land size 

For us a minimum two hectares (five acres) of land that is relatively low maintenance. Adjacent to woods would be nice but not essential. We did not want large animals – well at least husband didn’t.

Village, city, town or rural 

To be reasonably remote (not overlooked) but easy drive to basic daily supplies such as a bakery and small supermarket.  The privacy aspect a high priority.

Ruin, live-able or completed

As I had no intentions of living in a caravan or barn in the interim, the house had to have an internal area or annex for surviving from within the first few weeks of arrival.  A working toilet, power and hot water and preferably some form of heating were not negotiable.

Risks

House not near a river or flood zone.  Husband ruled out old mills from the beginning and I now know why.

Road access

The area should be easily accessible to an Autoroute but the house could not be on or too near a major road.

Outbuildings/additional needs

This point is way down the list here but I know husband listed it near the top during our search.  Must have a good sized barn and or outbuildings with space for a workshop. I secretly hoped for a studio also but the cellar will do for now.

Pool?

If no swimming pool, then the perfect south facing place to install one.

Architectural style

The shape of our stone house must be a classic “maison de maitre” style.

House size?

A minimum of four bedrooms with a gite or space/potential to construct one. Ease of making bedrooms en-suite also important.

Be prepared to be surprised!

We spent tens of thousands of euros in travel expenses and several years on and off searching which was fun.

However, it was also filled with disappointments, shocks and even horror at how some people showed their homes that they wanted to sell to us.

We have stumbled over sleeping naked stinky teenagers, climbed over filthy piles of washing up to move through a kitchen, hacked our way through stinging nettles to find a front door and even herded a donkey out of a living room.

Other things we know NOW ….

Hopefully, this list of basic tips is a good starting point for you if you are still to finalize yours. There are a few other points that we did not know at the time of our search and I am including them below.  I wish I had known tips 1 and 2 here at the time of our search.

1. Fast and strong internet connection – preferably fibre optic or at the very least WiMax accessible.
2. A strong mobile phone signal.  France is notoriously bad on both of these points and it is worth checking.
3. If in a rural location, know the crops around you and what chemicals they are allowed to spray. France is anything but organic.
4. Make friends with one or two real estate agents and work with them. They can make life a lot easier.
5. Don’t be disheartened when you send this list as your brief to an agent and they laugh. Most told us it was impossible but we found everything we were looking for in the end. A good brief can save both you and the agent a lot of wasted time and travel expense.
6. A cultural breakdown of your village or town. Find out who really lives there and when, where they are from, what they do (not do) and how social/active it is.  Closed shutters does not necessarily reflect a dying village.
7. If you are renovating, how far are local good hardware and building suppliers. Your life will be filled with procurement trips and often quick dashes needed.

Spend some time

Once you think you have found areas that you prefer, take a gite or apartment for a period of time in the area and actually experience the lifestyle, amenities, climate etc. Visit the tourist office and discover what if any events are scheduled, especially out of summer. For full-time movers, visit in winter and see if there is still a pulse.

Coming blogs will feature some additional home search and purchase tips plus our favourite French real estate websites.  For budget considerations during your home search see our page – DIY Reno Budgets.

But first – Write your list!

Open a good bottle of (French) wine, find a quiet place with whoever is joining you on this search and write your list. It is the brief and a reminder to yourselves on what you want/need, that you can afford and where ever it is, that it provides most of what you are dreaming of.

The initial list above was the foundation for us to find what we wanted – and we did!  You can too!

Good luck on your search. Let us know how you get on.

Au revoir

Penny

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We purchased this 200 year old stone “maison de maitre”, previously an Armagnac producing property, with the knowledge it was truly a major project.

She was very tired and needing a lot of love, care and upgrading but her full potential was immediately evident to us. However, the scale of the works to be undertake would test our DIY learning curve.

Our rose-coloured glasses were hard to share with friends and family. Their unconscious flinches when shown the property or photos were something we learnt to ignore.

Under her blanket of grey concrete render, early to mid 20th century (moldy) wallpapers and years of being unoccupied, she was a Cinderella waiting to dress up for the ball.

On these pages we will share much of what we learned about searching for and purchasing a house in France, the projects undertaken and where we found the best renovation materials bargains.

Our property is also covered in fruit trees, berry bushes and has a very large potager (vegetable garden). We have had great fun creating recipes for food and drinks from our seasonal produce and will share our recipe success stories with you.

Managing our DIY priorities – the list was long

However, the Notaire who managed the sale process did not possess our level of enthusiasm. This was very evident as he read off the various mandatory reports that French Law requires. His tone was one of “not too late to change your mind”.

We apparently had work orders on the electrics, plumbing and the septic system, pages of warnings about lead paint and asbestos and essential things like boilers etc were all over 25 years old.

She “listed a bit to port” but we were not deterred.  She had thick stone walls, a good roof, various ponds and a large lake. Along with a couple of hectares of gardens, a huge stone barn and south facing outlook, we loved her, wanted her and everything else we would work out as we went along.

“In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can” 

Furthermore, we were total “newbies” to all DIY and renovation skills needed but definitely not short on enthusiasm or motivation.

My old adage of EQ>IQ is a daily mantra here and has kept us going.

Delivering the dream

The main aim (dream) of this renovation was to undertake most of it with our own hands and minds.

We knew that the little French language skills we possessed might create some procurement challenges – and it has. However, we now have oodles of tips to share.

Together Husband and I are now well on our way to living the dream in France and loving it.

Finally, our lovely old house is starting to emerge and much to the surprise of many, exceeding expectations. However, there is still much to do.

DIY tips, ideas and tutorials

We look forward to sharing our know-how and acquired skills. In addition we will include living in France tips, our projects and products, recipes and other fun stuff.

We hope that as a result of the dream we are following, we might inspire someone else to take on similar challenges. Perhaps we could inspire you to a move away from your comfort zone and a whole new life!

Have a great day, breathe and don’t forget to have a dream!

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