Perpignan Post

The France Show

2012-01-23T05:22:00.000-08:00

I’ve just been on The France Show website and there is a video showing highlights of the weekend’s Show. It looks wonderful – Can Can dancers, wine-tastings, people playing boules, buying cheese, watching cookery demonstrations etc. etc. Nowhere does it show the French Entree Property Stand where you would have seen a middle-aged woman slumped over a table rubbing her tired feet!

To be fair, Head Office had produced a ‘rota’ to ensure that all the Property Finders took their turn in manning the stand but this turned into a work of fiction as we were inundated with enquiries & clients from the moment the show opened until the end of each day. Despite the current economic climate (and also the untimely news that France’s credit rating had been downgrade) the ‘vrai Francophiles’ seem more determined than ever that 2012 will be the year they buy their new property in France. But despite the painful feet, lack of lunch & the frustration (& temptation) of being next to the Champagne Bar I thoroughly enjoyed myself and loved meeting potential new clients and talking about their plans, whether it was for a tiny pied-a-terre or for the dream villa with pool. I was able to answer the ‘normal’ questions regarding property prices, finances etc. but have to admit to failure when a gentleman asked if I knew anything about the laws regarding the importation of bees! I also watched my colleague struggle to keep a straight face when, despite the fact that our stand was covered with the “French Entree” logo and we were at “The France Show” she was asked whether we had any properties in Spain....

It appears that The Languedoc is still a popular location with UK buyers (and why wouldn’t it be?!) so it looks like being a busy year for me!

New Year, New Resolutions!

2012-01-07T08:04:00.000-08:00

One of my many resolutions this year is to get to grips with this blog. I started with the intention of providing regular, informative, informal updates based on my experiences of France, the French, life in general and the property market in particular but last year I got side-tracked by the purchase of a new house and I’m ashamed to see that my last posting was in October!

And talking of being side-tracked, as I sat down to write this I started playing with the ‘tools’ on the website instead and found this new widget where readers can subscribe to receive updates by email – so here it is, at the top right-hand corner! I would love as many people as possible to subscribe – and it will encourage me to write more often (and hopefully with better content!)

Finally, the main reason for writing today is to mention that next weekend is The France Show at Earl’s Court, London. “You can expect top-notch tutored wine tastings, inspirational cookery demonstrations, a lively French market and live music to indulge your love of France. Get information on buying property, learning the language, holiday ideas and hear about real life experiences of relocation in our enlightening talks. Those interested in making the move to France will love browsing through the thousands of properties for all budgets in the UK’s largest French property exhibition. There will be so much to see and do at the show that one day there may not be enough!” (OK, I pinched the last bit from their website at www.thefranceshow.com but as I see they are using an article I wrote (albeit buried on page 2 of the property section) I am sure they won’t mind!). I’ll be on the FrenchEntree stand on Friday 13^th & Saturday 14^th Jan and look forward to saying hello to anybody who is passing.

Happy 2012 - and don't forget to subscribe!

Purchase of the 'House with no Name' - The End (or just the beginning...)

2011-10-16T03:05:00.000-07:00

Hopefully this picture will explain why I haven’t managed to drag myself in front of my computer recently! I cannot stop looking at the view - so much sky, so much sunshine and so much work to do! However, for the benefit of those of you who are actually reading this because I said I would describe how the buying process here works, I shall continue by writing about the Acte de Vente and how the house finally became ours.

Our appointment with the Notaire was for 10am in the morning so we arranged to carry out an ’inspection’ of the house the evening before. This is important as, when you sign the Acte de Vente you sign to say that you are accepting the property in the condition you find it on the day so it is important to verify that everything that you have agreed to purchase is still in place and that they haven’t removed kitchen units or ripped up floor tiles without your knowledge (although we would have been pleased in this case as they are so awful!). Monsieur & Madame G looked absolutely shattered when we turned up as they had spent the day supervising the removal of 30 years of possessions, which at their age is no mean feat. Monsieur G had such a bad back that he could hardly stand up straight but still insisted on showing us how to clean the swimming pool steps and how to work the garden watering system etc. We had a brief inspection of the house and had to try hard to express our pleasure at the furniture they had left for us - some hideous table lamps, a couple of very antique (and not in a good way!) beds, and some assorted tables & chairs for the garden.

The next morning we arrived at the Place de la Republique so early that we went for a coffee and then strolled towards the Notaire’s office. On the way I was startled to hear a cry of ’Madame Eeell’ and turned to see the excitable estate agent bounding towards us. He suggested we go for a coffee before our appointment and just as we were demurring he caught sight of Monsieur & Madame G and included them in the invitation. They also suggested that perhaps there was not time as our meeting was in 5 minutes so he pointed out that without all of us there would be no meeting and then dragged us off to a café! This was my first clue that Notaires are not quite as ’scary and official’ as I had first thought. I was also surprised to see that Monsieur G was wearing shorts, having earlier suggested to my husband that this was not an occasion to wear Jeans - you can imagine how delighted my husband was when we discovered that the Notaire himself was wearing Jeans!

The Notaire then read through all 27 pages of the Contract document, checked our passports, and then we came to the final part - the signature. The contract was opened on the page showing the property outlined on the ’Plan Cadastral’ (land registry) and then we all had to make sure our signatures started in the outlined section - presumably so that we all knew exactly what we were buying (and selling). And that was it - a shake of the hands and the house was ours.

Purchase of 'The House with no Name' - nearly there!

2011-07-15T11:40:00.000-07:00

After a ‘quiet’ few weeks where very little seemed to be happening, everything is now back in full flow again and we have a completion date. The old couple who are selling the house to us were having trouble finding a new one to move into and while legally (thanks to the wonderful french system) we could have forced them out on a certain date, even I would have felt a bit mean making a couple of 80 year-olds homeless so we gave them a bit more time and have all now agreed on July 28^th!

Technically this now means that we are ‘homeless’ in France for a few weeks as we have a tenant renting our apartment in Perpignan so I am now back in the UK and trying to sort out the move ‘long-distance’ which is even harder than doing it in person and not to be recommended. The traumas of moving all our personal possessions out of a 5^th floor apartment (with a very tiny lift) and then cramming it all into a Peugeot 206 to transport it all to store it in a room in the new house pale into insignificance compared to dealing with all the relevant ‘services’. EDF were initially quite easy to get hold of but when I told the girl on the phone that I had no idea which of the 4 meters in the communal cupboard on the stairwell related to my apartment she just suggested I turn each of them off in turn. As I was leaving the building I figured it didn’t really matter whether my neighbours hated me for plunging them into darkness so went out to the cupboard and then realised that none of the meters even had ‘off’ switches. I tried again the next day and apart from an initial argument when the man accused me of giving the wrong account number (I later had to admit I thought I was talking to France Telecom!) managed to give all 4 meter readings and we managed to guess which one was mine! France Telecom was a different story – you can ring the customer helpline until you are blue in the face but if they are busy there is no option to ‘hold’ forever, they just tell you to try again another time and hang up on you! I must have tried 20 times with no success. I even tried from the UK on the ‘english-speaking helpline’ (which, naturally is only open from 9-5). During the ‘we are very busy’ speech they do suggest that if you speak good french you could try ringing the french helpline BUT you cannot access it from the UK! Grrrr. I did manage to get through on one occasion and was told that ‘yes, it is easy to cancel your phone-line but you must ring back tomorrow’ which seemed bizarre and when I questioned her further, she admitted that the computer was down! So near and yet so far. I ended up writing them a letter but am probably still paying for the landline even now!

My abiding memory of finally moving out of the apartment was when I dropped into the agent’s office to drop off the last set of keys – there were two girls at the reception desk and as I greeted one with ‘Voici les clefs de mon appartement’ they both burst into song and assured me that there was a famous french song entitled ‘Here are the keys to my apartment’......!

Yes there is such a thing as a Free Lunch!

2011-06-17T10:05:00.000-07:00

Just spotted an announcement in the paper that there will be a free ‘degustation’ and distribution of Cucumbers in the Place de La Victoire tomorrow. This event has been initiated by l'AOP Tomates et Concombres de France (I wonder if every salad ingredient has its’ own committee?) and is by way of restoring public confidence following the recent E.Coli epidemic in Germany.

I shall go and take my life in my hands – also a baguette!

Purchase of 'The House with no Name' - continued

2011-05-30T07:53:00.000-07:00

I am still grappling with paperwork and am batting it away whenever it arrives in the inbox or the letterbox by signing, initialling or putting ‘lu et approuve’ (whether I have read or approved it or not). In no particular order, here is the latest update:

1. Mortgage Broker advises that the bank is almost ready to confirm the mortgage offer – but this is subject to the valuation of the property. Am not too concerned about this as we have not asked for a high LTV ratio (Loan to Value) (am so impressed with myself for learning all these new things)!

2. Solicitor – There are 3 (if not more) options for dealing with the legalities of buying a house. The first is for both parties to use the same notaire (who work for the government and are totally impartial), the second is to appoint your own notaire (who then shares the costs with the vendor’s notaire) and the third option is to do either of the first two options but then in addition, use a UK solicitor who is an expert in french law. We are gone for the third option, in that we are ‘sharing’ the notaire recommended by the vendors (as this notaire dealt with the original sale of the house so has all the relevant documents to hand) but also using a UK solicitor (at additional expense) as our intermediary so all the documents & contracts are sent & received via her. Although we understand the language and the purchase system we felt that as this is a major investment we wanted to get all our facts right regarding french inheritance laws, french wills, purchasing ‘en tontine’ etc. When we purchased our appartement in Perpignan four years ago our family Solicitor recommended a colleague who just happened to have lived and worked in France for several years and she helped us by checking through the Contract for us. I rang "Mrs Double-Barrelled" and explained that we were in the process of buying another property and she was delighted to help (and I would be ‘delighted’ too if I could charge fees like that!). It is good to have somebody I can just forward some of the emails/paperwork to without having to worry about it.

3. Rental of our current appartement – As it is a buyer’s market at the moment it is not a good time to sell, so we have decided to rent it out. The agent came round and explained the pros and cons of renting furnished or unfurnished (details available on most websites!) and we have decided to rent it fully-furnished – mainly because our furniture is very modern and I don’t think it will look right in a house in the country, but also because we get a higher rental and the tenancy can be reviewed annually. The agent noticed a crack in some plasterwork on a beam – in fact he couldn’t fail to see it as the beam is currently supported by some bits of rough timber in case the damage gets any worse! I explained that this had happened when the neighbour upstairs had been particularly heavy-handed while laying floor tiles but that I had struggled to find a tradesman to do the job for me (it has actually been like that for 6 months!) He assured me that this was not a problem as his uncle just happened to be an ‘artisan’ and he would get him round to give me a quote! In the meantime he has given me a rental Mandate to fill in – more paperwork, just what I wanted..

4. Accountant – To avoid any comments in the future of ‘why didn’t you do it this way and save yourself unnecessary tax’ (bitter voice of experience here) I decided to just run the whole idea past our UK accountant. While he is the first to admit that he knows nothing about the french way of doing anything, he has coped admirably with finding the right place to put my french income down on my UK tax return. When I explained how the rental of the appartement would fund the mortgage and that everything would run through our French bank account (and therefore we won’t be troubled by vagaries in the exchange rate) he actually couldn’t find anything wrong with the plan! I bet he’s having sleepless nights now trying to find an error!

So, for the moment, that seems to be everything - I can’t believe how many people are involved, how much time it has taken and how much work I have been doing, but I keep looking at the photographs and realise it will be worth the effort.

Give me a mortgage please!

2011-05-18T03:35:00.000-07:00

Getting a French mortgage (rather than through a UK bank) for the new French property seemed a sensible option – particularly in view of the fact that while the euro/£1 rate is so bad at the moment, we can keep our eyes on when the rate is more favourable and then perhaps start paying some of it off (when we win the lottery). Having had several discussions with several different mortgage brokers, I had narrowed the choice down to the one who seemed the most patient and understanding of all my questions – so I rang him to confirm that we had found a property, confirmed that we would like to take up ‘Option B’ of the various proposals he had outlined, paid the £200 administration fee and then watched in horror as my inbox filled up with pages and pages of forms to be filled in. I pride myself on my methodical filing system but this was a real challenge and it took an entire weekend (and more) to track down everything they asked for which included: Copies of Passports, Birth Certificates, Wedding Certificate, up-to-date statements of any assets (savings accounts, bonds, stock portfolios etc), current valuation of any properties we own, the last 3 month’s payslips, the last 3 month’s bank statements (to prove that we didn’t have any undisclosed regular debts), a letter from an Employer confirming your status & salary, copies of last tax returns, and, as my husband also has his own business, copies of the last 3 years annual accounts. I was very tempted to send my 10-metre swimming certificate, just in case it might be useful.

The whole thing was a massive task but made me realise why the french banks have not suffered to the same extent as others during the ‘Banking Crisis’ – they do not allow people to get into debt easily.

The feeling of relief was fantastic as I posted/emailed everything and sat back in my by now well-ordered office and waited to see if I had ‘passed the test’. (Sadly not quite as the broker rang back with 3 queries – one was that I needed to photocopy the outside envelope of the payslip (?), another was that a statement said that it was ‘page 1 of 2’ and they needed page 2 (just a list of my loyalty points I believe!) and finally querying a couple of entries on the bank statement). Finally I was assured that all was in place and ready to be sent to France for ‘consideration’. Scary!

Purchase of 'The House with no Name'

2011-05-02T07:21:00.000-07:00

I did a little bit of homework before rushing into buying a house in an attempt to have everything vaguely in place – so this week was the time to get everything into action. The first job was to get a surveyor to check out the property for us – the French are always appalled by this idea (as they think that surveyors always find too many things wrong!) but as this house is pretty substantial and has several cracks – not to mention the fact that it relies on a well for water and is not on mains-drainage - we felt that an expert opinion was in order. During the course of my work I had met a very well-qualified bi-lingual surveyor (name available on request) and he agreed to visit the property on our behalf the following week. One problem became apparent when he asked for the address and I realised that the property didn’t have one – no name, no number, just the name of the road, the nearest village, and a postcode which encompassed an entire commune. Luckily our agent agreed to meet the surveyor and guide him to the house on the appointed day, but it made me realise that arranging furniture deliveries, France telecom/EDF visits etc. could prove very difficult in future so we will now have to work out how (and what) to name the property to make life easier for everybody. No doubt it will involve plying the Mayor with drink!

The agent had emailed through copies of all the ‘Expertises’ that had been carried out (like the ill-fated UK Home Information Pack) so I forwarded a copy of these to Mr. M the Surveyor who promptly rang up to make sure that we were talking about the same property – I had originally shown him the website details of the house and he had based his quotation on the amount of rooms listed there, but the ‘Expertises’ mentioned a hallway, bureau, cave, 2 garages and 2 additional attic rooms which, in his opinion, made this a ‘different animal’! We renegotiated the fee and, as it turned out, the poor man ended up spending a solid 8 hours at the property.

The Surveyor’s Report put our minds at rest about several issues – the cracks have been explained, the water & drainage situation appear to be normal (for France!), and even the fact that the Expertises regarding the electrics had, in several rooms, mentioned ‘Danger de Mort’, this was ‘something that they always say’ and is just a question of adding a few earth sockets. So far, so good. And now on to the mortgage....

I gave in to temptation!

2011-04-20T08:18:00.000-07:00

Regular readers (hello to both of you!) may remember that a few blogs ago I mentioned that, despite being a townie, I was beginning to feel tempted by some of the more rural properties I have been viewing. Well, we are now in the process of buying one!

I had asked some of my regular agents to keep an eye out for anything ‘especial’ and a few weeks ago was taken to see a house that I fell in love with. Despite the fact that his visit coincided with the 3-day ‘monsoon’ we experienced in March, my husband also loved it, but (being a typically sensible man) insisted on not rushing into making an offer there and then but to wait a couple of weeks until his next visit and see it again on a sunny day. He also wanted me to check out irritating little details such as whether we could actually afford it! I had an agent out to value our apartment in Perpignan and decided that rather than sell it we would rent it out fully-furnished which seems to make a lot of sense as property prices are very low so it is not a good time to sell. The rental income will pay for a French-mortgage and we will therefore only have to sell one of our two children to be able to afford it!

We went back to the property on a beautiful sunny afternoon and now that there were no clouds or rain obscuring our views of the Pyrenees, the decision was easy. Everybody had smiles on their faces when we said that we would be making an offer – particularly the agent – and he gave us a Proposition d’Achat form for us to fill in with our full names, addresses etc. and the details of our offer. He had asked me to fax it over to him that evening but in the event, was so excited about the deal that he actually came to collect the document personally the next morning, took it to the vendors, rang from their house to negotiate further (they weren’t smiling so much when they saw our offer apparently!), and then came back with their signed acceptance later that afternoon!

So, here we are again at the beginning of a purchase process, which will no doubt run totally smoothly – watch this space!

Trials & Tribulations of Property Finding - Part 2 of many!

2011-04-07T08:09:00.000-07:00

I have met some strange estate agents in my time but this one really takes the ‘gateau’. I had been trawling the internet looking for a very specific type of property and came across a new ‘team’ of estate agents I had never heard of before. They seemed extremely specialised in that there are perhaps 5 of them scattered around the Pyrenees-Orientales but just covering one or two villages each – which is a pain in the neck when you want to see a house in one village and then another just 5 miles away which is handled by a different agent entailing a separate appointment. However, ‘Mr. B’ had two properties which looked good so I called him and we arranged to meet outside the bakery in St. Esteve. My heart sank when his car pulled up next to mine – I believe it used to be some type of Audi but the only clue was the four-circle logo on the bonnet, the rest of the car was so scratched and dented that it was practically unrecognisable. He cleared the front seat of sweet wrappers, cans and childrens’ toys and then we set off. We had a good chat about how his ‘team’ worked and he explained that he specialised in just 2 or 3 villages as he felt this made him an expert in the area and that anyone wanting to buy or sell properties in these villages would come to him. (I think it also helped that there were no other Estate Agents offices in these villages too)!

The two properties we saw were totally unsuitable but he then mentioned that he knew of a house for sale about 30 minutes away, which was technically not in his area of ‘expertise’ but the owners were friends of his etc. etc. So off we drove – as he explained the various short-cuts he knew which avoided the main roads with their fixed speed cameras. We drove for miles at high speed through country lanes, narrowly avoiding tractors, red squirrels, ramblers etc. until after 45 minutes he stopped the car and admitted he was totally lost! A telephone call to the owners eventually guided us to the property which turned out to fit the search brief in every detail except for the fact that it was just too far away from civilisation. It was only later that evening as I was typing out my report to the clients summarising the day’s viewings that I glanced at the map and suddenly realised that the house was in fact just 10 minutes away from a lovely town full of shops and restaurants and not in the middle of nowhere after all!

But I shall certainly be using Mr. B again, not least because of the fact that he charges the vendors a flat-fee of 10,000euros regardless of the value of the property, rather than the more usual 4 – 6% commission that most other agencies seem to charge. For example, say you wanted to make an offer of 425,000 euros for a house which was for sale at 450,000euros, the owners would be more likely to accept it under Mr. B’s arrangement whereby they would receive 415,000euros, but if it was for sale with a regular agency, the figure they would receive (after deducting commission of 21,250euros) would be 403,750euros which they would be unlikely to accept. Sadly this maths doesn’t work for anything much under 250,000euros but I shall definitely keep in touch with this agent – providing he buys a sat-nav!

A storm in a teacup

2011-03-20T04:52:00.000-07:00

The Languedoc is one of the sunniest places in France with over 300 (or 320 depending on whose website you read) days of sunshine every year. We can sit out and enjoy al fresco lunches in December, in January while the UK is experiencing the grey, post Christmas depressive weather we can go for long walks on the beach, in February we can drive through the vineyards and admire the blossom on the fruit trees in the orchards.

But not last week. Last week it rained solidly for 5 days. The streets were deserted apart from the occasional intrepid shopper seen scurrying along clutching a soggy baguette; the pavements were a nightmare as, for some reason, all drainpipes spill out over the tarmac rather than into drains; and all the bars & cafes were filled with sodden customers sharing stories about which roads were closed.

The bitter irony for me was that I was facing a deadline to finish a magazine article entitled ‘Why I Love Perpignan’!

Obviously the recent weather/geographical-related disasters that have happened around the world in recent weeks put life very much in perspective and makes us all realise that this is just a very minor storm in a tea-cup.

Trials & Tribulations of Property Finding - Part 1 of many!

2011-03-09T10:47:00.000-08:00

I have had two terrible house viewings today. There was nothing wrong with the actual properties – it was the owners! The first house was owned by a gentleman who had designed and built the house himself and was naturally extremely proud of it and insisted on showing me every last detail, including the original blueprints. The house was on nine ‘levels’ which I actually found quite dangerous – imagine carrying a tray of drinks and having to remember that there is one step down to the living room, two steps up to the tv corner, and seven steps up to a mini-mezzanine level. (And also imagine remembering all that on the way back to the kitchen, having drunk the contents of the tray of drinks…) We looked in every single cupboard – although I would dispute the fact that there is a tiny step down to ‘Le Dressing’ counts as one of the levels. I left the house thinking that bungalows were a fantastic idea!

The second visit was twice as bad because there were two of them! A really sweet elderly couple for whom our visit was obviously the highlight of their week – they had even laid out a tray of coffee & cakes. Luckily the house was fantastic but it was very hard to see as they preceded us into every room (even the tiny toilets) so it was difficult to take my usual realistic photographs – even my picture of the ‘spectacular sea view’ has Madame’s tightly permed head in the corner! The worst thing was that Monsieur had obviously had little else to do since his retirement than to invent ways of ‘improving’ the house. He was delighted to show me the special light-system in the entrance hall which showed whether the garage door had been closed or not, the electrically-operated sunshades on the 3 terraces (all of which were extended to 10cm and then closed to prove that they worked), and the recycling system for rainwater which was somehow involved the sprinkler system and the pool filtration unit. There was absolutely nothing that hadn’t been thought of. Even the ‘Summer Kitchen’ had electric shutters to protect the barbecue from the winter weather. We watched in sarcastic awe as he pressed a button and the shutters went up and down, and then he explained that he had found a solution to a problem that we hadn’t even thought of – what if there was a power cut and you couldn’t open the shutters? This would obviously be une catastrophe! But no, he smiled, and produced a special key which allowed one to open the shutters manually!

This house is definitely on my list of recommendations for my clients to view BUT only when I find out when the owners are on holiday and the agent has the keys!

If you go down to the woods today....

2011-02-14T10:30:00.000-08:00

I always thought I was a true ‘townie’ but my current property search is leading me astray. I have been asked to find a family home in the country with plenty of land, views and a pool, and some of the properties I have found have made me have a bit of a rethink. I can now imagine flinging open the shutters of my stone mas and taking my cup of coffee down to the pool where I can look down the garden, to the fruit trees in the orchard, and admire the view of the Pyrenees in the distance. I was almost thinking about chickens and perhaps a donkey until a viewing last week reminded me that country living is not always as idyllic as you might think.

The owner showing me around was accompanied by a very enthusiastic and bouncy dog who, having given me a very inappropriate greeting (the dog not the owner!) insisted on following us around and getting in the way to such an extent that we finished the house in 10 minutes and then proceeded into the garden. The garden was fabulous – about an acre of flat land with terraces near the house, a swimming pool in the middle, and then grass and trees dipping down to a river just beyond the fence. On the other side of the river was woodland which also belonged to the property. I could just picture my clients and their children paddling in the river and strolling through their woodland but there is a price to pay for everything: the first thing to consider is that if you ‘own’ part of a river it is your responsibility to keep it clear of debris, the second is that woodland generally needs annual ‘clearing’ of undergrowth and if it is left to run totally wild the Commune can fine you. I’m not suggesting these are reasons not to buy a property but are just worth bearing in mind if, like me, your idea of outdoor life is lying on a sun-lounger rather than intensive manual labour!

The dog was still galloping around and coming back for surprise rugby tackles as the owner laughed at how ‘playful’ Bob was being and then, as an aside, mentioned that they were lucky to have him as he kept the ‘Wild Pigs’ from the garden. Have my clients got a dog? – No. End of viewing. Wild pigs (or Sangliers) are very common here in the Pyrenees-Orientales and although they prefer to live in densely wooded areas, are not averse to making nocturnal visits to neighbouring gardens where they can do a lot of damage through digging and scratching young trees. Also, where there are Sangliers there will be hunters - during the season of ‘La Chasse’ you will come across groups of men with guns up to 3 times a week, and whether you put up signs on your land saying ‘no hunting’ (or even have your land designated as ‘non-hunting’ land), Sangliers cannot read and hunters are not renowned for checking out local bye-laws!

Wildlife apart ‘though, I really am beginning to see the merits of living in the country – any excuse to buy a pair of Cath Kidston wellies!

Thankyou Ryanair

2011-02-02T01:36:00.000-08:00

I bet that caught your attention - two words you would not normally expect to find in the same sentence! Ryanair gets a lot of bad press (not least from me) but they surprised me so much in December that I wanted to publicly thank them!

I was in the UK when the blizzards hit. I had a flight booked to Girona on the Tuesday and despite the fact that that no cars had been in or out of our hilly cul-de-sac for 3 days, I optimistically packed my case. (Which only involves transferring files from my computer onto a digi-stick and making sure I have my inflatable pillow and i-pod headphones to make the flight bearable but it makes the story sound more dramatic!).

On Tuesday morning things were looking even worse – there had been even more snow overnight, the AA were warning that journeys should only be made in an emergency and the airport was only managing 50% of scheduled flights. I decided to abandon the idea (it was one of my ‘bargain’ £5 all-in flights so I wasn’t losing much) and, having found another flight for £29 on the Saturday, decided to rebook.

Saturday just happened to be the day that the Spanish Air Traffic Controllers decided to walk out on an unofficial strike. Thwarted again!

The only positive part of this sorry tale is that when I went back on the Ryanair site, there was a very easy to use link to click on for a refund. I filled in the very brief details and sure enough, a couple of weeks later, the money was refunded onto my card. Fantastic service and it is good to know that they look after their clients so well – apart from when they are flying them somewhere!

My first 'Present' from an agent!

2010-11-03T13:13:00.000-07:00

Many people who call themselves Property Finders actually work in partnership with estate agencies and take a share of their commission – which naturally means they are drawn to certain agencies which, in my opinion, narrows down the search options for their clients. I don’t do this. When I first started doing this job and explained to estate agents that I was part of a national network of fully licenced Property Finders and that essentially I could be introducing new clients to them and not expecting anything in return (apart from a good working relationship) I was greeted with great suspicion. Even now some of them can’t quite believe their luck, but it makes total sense to me as it means I can be totally independent and provide a much better service for my clients.

I must admit that I harboured hopes of receiving the odd bottle of wine (or case, even!) when a sale goes through, but sadly, apart from occasional coffees or lunches I have received no' bribes' or thank you presents! I was therefore ridiculously pleased to open an email from an agent I spent quite some time with last week which appeared to be ‘offering’ me a client!

This particular agency proudly advertises the fact that they speak English & German – but this is also the agent who advertises properties with ‘a toilet not to miss’. In his email he explains that he has had an enquiry from an English lady who is interested in one of the properties on his website but that this particular property is for sale in 3 different ways and that it is beyond his language skills to explain this to her so would I like to contact her. It is one of those ‘En Viager’ situations which I won’t explain here as I feel a whole magazine article coming on, but I can imagine how hard it must be to explain it in a different language. Sadly I have not yet had a response from the client but I feel that the gesture is a small step towards entente cordiale – although I would have preferred wine!

First Bank Holidays, now Strikes!

2010-10-24T08:40:00.000-07:00

I regularly travel back and forth between France and the UK and have never had any problems (apart from the Ryanair cabin-crew’s non-stop attempts to sell me tepid pizza, over-priced perfume and ’smokeless’ cigarettes), until last week. Due to UK commitments I was doing a Monday - Friday trip so despite the fact that a General Strike was announced for the Tuesday I thought I would be fine. Stupid me! We landed early at Carcassonne (to the usual fanfare of tinny Ryanair trumpets) and I was in plenty of time to catch the 3pm train - if it had existed. The ticket machine then managed to sell me a ticket for the next train, even though that one had also been cancelled. Then, as if by magic, they announced that the train from Toulouse was finally arriving after a 45 minute delay. Me and possibly 200 other travellers decided that this was our only chance out of Carcassonne so we all piled on. I’m sure I have read somewhere that reservations are compulsory on French trains and that standing is prohibited but nobody else seemed aware of this and the aisles & corridors were so blocked that there was little chance of a guard complaining. I managed to extricate myself from the mass of humanity, dogs & suitcases and got off at Narbonne, knowing that the next train to Perpignan was not for 1 hour - but there it was on the other side of the platform just waiting for us! I arrived home in plenty of time to get ready and go out for dinner with clients, and felt extremely smug that I had somehow managed to beat the system. This smugness lasted until Friday…..

…. Friday morning at 7am I arrived at Perpignan station optimistically clutching my train ticket for the journey to Carcassonne, via Narbonne again. I had checked the newspaper and the internet the day before and SNCF was confident that there would be ’No Perturbations’ to the circulation. One glance at the departure information board made me very perturbed indeed. Yet again, my train did not exist - and if I missed my connection in Narbonne I would miss my flight. The only train leaving anytime soon was a sleek & shiny TGV heading off to Paris (via Narbonne!). I sneaked on, reasoning that as there were no stops until Narbonne, I could hardly be thrown off, and with a bit of luck, the guards would be on strike too. I made it to Narbonne station and there my luck ran out - the departure board was a disaster zone showing that no local trains were running. They had helpfully put on a couple of buses as an alternative but only at 4 hourly intervals and I needed to be at the airport within 2 hours. How I managed not to cry as I handed a taxi driver 110 euros to drive me 30 minutes up the auto route I will never know.

Lost in Translation

2010-09-15T08:29:00.000-07:00

Several estate agents in this area of France now claim to speak English – but this is more a matter of opinion than fact. Some of them even have their websites translated into English. My favourite used to be one who frequently advertised properties as having ‘A toilet not to be missed’, but I have just discovered a new one whose descriptions are as baffling as a flat-pack furniture instruction booket. Here are just 4 examples:

15 min of Perpignan Ouest~Dans the heart of city, near the trade and schools, house of stone village, renovated in 2006, high quality services. with rez of roadway: Arranged part, porche.~au 1st: opened kitchen, living room/stay, room and room water. Reversible Clim.

Large house of town of F5 type of 134 M ² livable, in calm environment and without opposite, made up 3 rooms, living room, dining room, arranged kitchen equipped, dependences, garage possibility. Beaucoupe of seal with released sight.

Dans district calms villa 2 faces including/understanding entered giving on stay, opened kitchen, dining room 3 rooms a bathroom 2 wc garage and dependence the whole on 252 m ² and portions out ground.

Village at two minutes of Prades~Sur heights of the village with released sight, without opposite, House of village renovated, Beams and Stones apparent with terrace of 55M ²,

I think I can confidently say that my services as a bi-lingual property finder will continue to be necessary for many years to come!

Roadworks Ahead - perhaps?

2010-08-14T13:01:00.001-07:00

They are digging up the road just on the bridge near my apartment. There are plenty yellow signs warning ‘Route Barree a 100 metres’ and a sign pointing left indication ‘Deviation’. Why do people not believe these signs? You can clearly see a massive coned off area encircling an enormous digger machine and yet people continue to drive straight ahead as if the signs are lying or they are expecting some kind of parting of the red seas miracle to occur. Apart from the extra traffic noise (as the detour runs straight past me) it adds a certain je ne sais quoi to my evening glass of wine on the balcony as I watch the traffic drive forward, look right and left hoping for some other escape route, and then have to turn around. The strangest sight so far was this morning when the crazily named ‘Frogbus’ (a brilliant bus link between Perpignan Train Station and Girona Airport) did exactly the same thing as all the other optimistic drivers. It was particularly bizarre as it had no reason to be travelling along this particular stretch of road in the first place!

On a related note, I had arranged to meet a friend for coffee in a town called Thuir, just 10 minutes drive away. I took the normal road and travelled for the usual 10 minutes with the train-line on my right, heading for the roundabout, when, out of the blue there was a large yellow sign with the horrible message ‘Route Barree’ - but no other clues! No prior warning, no helpful deviation signs. Apart from doing a 3-point turn (which has never been one of my strong points) and travelling back the way I came for another 10 minutes, the only possible solution seemed to be to take the road to the left. It was a bit narrow but I (and an entourage of 4 other cars) followed it until we came to a complete dead end. I am proud to say I have learned some new hand signals!!!

A Fete worse than death???

2010-07-30T11:13:00.000-07:00

I’ve previously mentioned some of the strange ‘Fetes’ that the local villages celebrate – Cherries, Artichokes, Apricots, the Sardane, the Flame of the Canigou etc. etc. These pale into insignificance compared to the one I discovered last weekend. Prats-de-Mollo, a small medieval village up in the Pyrenees recently invited everyone to come and attend the annual “Fete du Slip”. Yes, the Underpants Festival! Here is my translation of an extract from the Tourist Office Website details:

The Programme: In the afternoon a 7-a-side rugby tournament and other diverse inter-village competitions will take place. This is a family occasion so everybody is therefore invited to remain fully-dressed. It is not until around 21h, after the aperitifs and barbecues that the participants will be invited to feel more relaxed. Underpants and swimwear will therefore be de rigueur when the foam party commences. Anybody is welcome to show off their underwear by taking part in the grand parade organised for the occasion.

Having done a little more research on the matter (thank you Google) I find that there is a story/legend that tells of a General who was so displeased by the performance of his troops that, as a punishment, he ordered them to complete an assault course dressed only in their underwear. The young men of Prats de Mollo decided that this was something worth celebrating and this is now an annual event run by a committee calling themselves ‘Les Slipards’. Who cares whether it is true or not – what a great excuse for a party!

Le Castillet - Perpignan

2010-07-19T10:20:00.000-07:00

I was watching the Bastille Day fireworks last Wednesday – a fabulous display let off from the roof of the Castillet. What would Perpignan do without its' most famous landmark? So far I have seen it covered in Catalan Flags celebrating the local Rugby Team’s victory, it has had films played on the walls, it has had abseilers climbing up carrying the ‘sacred flame of the Canigou’ and it also housed the the clock counting down the days to the opening of the new TGV link to Barcelona (unfortunately I wasn’t there on the last day but presumably they put up a sign saying ‘Train Delayed’). It is always used as a focal point for any Perpignan festival or celebration and it is an ideal ‘meeting-point’ when arranging to meet visitors to the City as you cannot miss it! But what is it?
The Castillet was built in the 14th century as a gateway in the city ramparts. 100 years later, Louis 16th ordered its’ conversion to a state prison, and later its’ walls were fortified and it became a defensive bastion. Early in the 1900s many of Perpignan’s ramparts were pulled down to allow for the expansion of the City but the Castillet was left. It now houses the ‘Casa Pairal’, a museum of Roussillon folklore & culture, and you can also climb the steps to the tower for a spectacular view. It well deserves its’ role as the symbol for Perpignan – and even has its’ own page on Facebook!

Will I ever be able to speak French?

2010-07-08T12:59:00.000-07:00

I’ve always considered myself as fluent in French - obviously some of the terms I have come across during my work as a property finder reveal gaps in my education (why was I never taught the words for ‘mains-drainage’ ‘down pipe’ and ‘public right of way’ at school) but a couple of hours with the dictionary always helps. What I now find confusing is that the French either use different words or even words that I have never heard of - they respond to my cheery greeting of ‘Bonjour’ or ‘Bonsoir’ with ‘Bon-journee’, ‘Bon fin-de l’apres midi’, ‘Bon appetit’ etc. This morning I answered a second telephone call from an agent who greeted me with ‘Rebonjour’ - that is not even in the dictionary! And nor is ‘Sandwicherie’ but that is another Blog entirely! The local paper has just run an article about visitors who take their holidays in July rather than August and refer to them as ‘Juillettistes’ and ‘Aoutiens’.

I have had to take up drinking black coffee as whenever I ordered Café-au-lait I was informed that I wanted Café-Crème (or Vice-Versa depending upon which part of France you are in). Actually, during these hot sunny days I seem to have even more trouble ordering coffee as I somehow always seem to end up with a beer or glass of rose in front of me - it must be my accent!

My husband is ‘fairly fluent’ but is always keen to improve his vocabulary. The other day I was explaining how ‘bouchon’ literally translates as ‘cork’ but also describes a traffic jam. He was still mulling this over as we walked over to the newsagent. There was a man with a dog on his way out of the doorway and two large ladies standing back to let him pass, and then out of nowhere a woman with a pushchair containing the ugliest baby I have ever seen tried to barge through the middle of everybody. My husband recognised that this was the perfect opportunity to use his new word - but unfortunately announced ‘C’est un cochon’.......

No such thing as a free lunch?

2010-06-28T10:29:00.000-07:00

One of the occupational hazards of my job as a property finder is that I spend a lot of time in cars with strange men. Not the clients, I hasten to add, but estate agents. So far, the only time I have been scared is by the way some of them drive, but last week I was nervous for a different reason.

There is a nice old man who lives opposite me in the ground floor apartment. He has a large terrace and he spends much of his time tending to his many potted plants. From an initial ‘waving’ and ‘calling out greetings’ acquaintance we are now at the stage where we occasionally invite each other over for coffee. Although the chances of him reading this are slim (as he does not speak a word of English or possess a computer), to avoid embarrassment (mainly mine!) I shall refer to him only as JC.

Soon after noon last Friday JC telephoned to ask, if I hadn’t already started my ‘preparations’, would I like to join him for lunch? As my ‘preparations’ had only so far extended to getting a rock-hard slab of Brie out of the fridge that didn’t show any signs of being soft enough to eat that day I replied that I would be delighted to join him. He then informed me that we would be going in the car and we agreed to meet outside the garage entrance at 1pm. To be honest I was quite pleased at the thought that we were going to a restaurant as he didn’t strike me as being a gourmet cook!

When we set off I asked where we were going and JC replied ‘La Boucherie’. My heart sank – we were obviously going to choose the food, take it back to his apartment, he was then going to cook and it was going to be a long afternoon! I then wondered (to myself) why we were driving to the butcher’s when there were so many in our own locality. JC continued to chatter about his family, his heart condition, Sarkozy etc. etc. as we drove and I watched where we were going and worked out that it was probably to Porte d’Espagne (on the outskirts of Perpignan) where there was a large shopping mall that stayed open all day. But no, we turned left at the island and ended up on the ring road leading westwards towards Spain! I was beginning to quietly panic by now - how could I have been so stupid, this man was obviously not a friendly old pensioner but a psychotic killer, bits of my dismembered body would be found scattered over the Pyrenees, I would never see my family again, nobody knew where I was etc. etc.

I was brought back to reality by JC tapping my arm and pointing to the left where to my great relief I could see what was at that moment the most beautiful sight in the world – it was a building with enormous model chickens, cows & pigs on the roof, and best of all, a large sign in front of it saying “Restaurant – La Boucherie”!

....and by the way, despite the outside decor, the food was delicious!

And the Winner is - Ryanair!

2010-06-15T10:25:00.000-07:00

After my very smug blog in March about how to beat Ryanair and get the best prices I am ashamed to say that they have won the battle. A few weeks ago I was looking into flights from Carcassonne to East Midlands and found one at a pretty reasonable 19 euros including taxes etc. As it had a notice saying ‘last seat available at this price’ I clicked and booked it. Today I was just browsing their site wondering whether my daughter could come out for a few days and then fly back with me on the same flight and find the price is now just 9 euros! Grrrr!

2010-06-05T10:44:00.000-07:00

Whoops – nearly three weeks since my last post. My excuse is that I’ve been working very hard (which was never part of my game plan!) (And the picture shows the view of Mt. Canigou that I saw every morning on my way to pick up the clients so I can hardly complain). Some clients were over to view the properties that I had been searching for on their behalf over the past few weeks and as usual it has been a packed and busy schedule for all of us.

Drawing up a Viewing Schedule is sometimes the hardest part about property-finding: ideally I like to show 4 properties per day as any more can cause information overload for the clients, I then have to decide whether to show my personal favourites at the beginning or the end, and then I like to make sure that the viewings are in a sensible order and that we are not zig-zagging up and down the region too much. These idealistic plans would be marvellous if it wasn’t for the fact that apart from having to work around the weekly public holidays and daily two hour lunch breaks you have to throw estate agents and vendors into the equation. I cannot count the number of times that I have met an agent outside a house and we cannot get in because he has forgotten the keys (luckily only twice with clients), and as for vendors, I think it would be nice if they would put out their cigarettes, turn the television off and lock up their enormous dogs (and small children!) before allowing visitors into their houses. Have they never seen ‘House Doctor’!

Luckily last week’s viewings seemed to run fairly smoothly – the weather was glorious, the clients were lovely, only one vendor was out and none of the agents had to chase a tow-truck up a street in an attempt to rescue his car (as I witnessed last year)! The only time I felt things were not going so well was on the very first day and was entirely my fault – we had stopped for lunch in a little square and the clients chose salad and I chose to have prawns. It was only after the meal when my plate was littered with heads and tails that they told me they were vegetarian....!

2010-05-18T10:50:00.000-07:00

Every Monday the local paper publishes the week’s menu for the local community schools - presumably so that the parents can plan their evening menus and not accidentally serve foie gras to their child for the second time in one day! I'm just surprised they don't also publish a wine list....!

LUNDI
Blancs de poireaux ou Haricots verts/mais
Fricassee porc/Semoule
Yaourt aromatise – Fruit

MARDI
Salade Coleslaw ou conconbre vinaigrette
Escalope de dinde/Petits pois
Comte – Compote tous fruits

MERCREDI
Salae de coquillettes au thon
Salade de ble provencale
Steak hache de boeuf
Courgettes provencales
Bleu – Fruit de saison

JEUDI
“Lulu au pais de miel”
Melon d’Espagne
Gigot d’agneau
Due carottes/salsifis au miel
Fromage blanc et miel
Tranche de pain d’epices

VENDREDI
Terrine de campagne ou Mortadelle volaille
Calamars/Pommes vapeur
Suisse nature – Fruit de saison