Goodwill to all - even French estate agents

As it is Christmas, I thought I should sprinkle some goodwill over that much maligned species, the French estate agent. Most of my clients cannot understand how estate agents here in France can justify their commission of between 5 and 10% and I certainly know of agents who do not deserve to earn such large fees; these are the agents who never bother to return calls or emails, organize viewings of completely unsuitable properties and then wipe their hands of buyers the minute the Compromis is signed. These are the worst examples and I have learned from experience (and countless wasted viewings) who these agents are in my region and I do not use them – nor do I need to work with them as, in almost all cases, any property they have on their books will also be on the books of other agents. Conversely, I have built up an excellent network of very hard-working, proactive and extremely helpful agents who spend huge amounts of time and effort in helping me to find exactly the right property for my clients.

While the basic job of the estate agent in France and those in other parts of the world is essentially the same, in practice the role, workload and responsibility can actually be very different and there are reasons why agents here charge a higher commission:

Firstly, French estate agents do more work for each sale than their foreign counterparts and have a legally defined role in law which often includes drawing up the official Compromis de Vente before passing it to the Notaire and thus they have far more legal responsibility. In France, the agent also has a much closer link with all parties and has liability working as a professionally intermediary, liaising between them to make sure that the Notaire can process the sale efficiently and will even be there at the final signing to help with translation and to advise on the legal formalities and iron out any last minute problems.

Secondly, French estate agents have a much closer relationship with the seller and will work very closely with them and spend a great deal of time marketing their property over many months. In many countries, the agent will often carry out just one visit to a property to take all the initial details and that might well be the end of their direct involvement with seller with most subsequent communication taking place by phone or email. In France on the other hand, the agent will personally do every viewing with any potential buyer and once things come to negotiation stages, many of the agents I work with actually go to see the seller face-to-face to discuss each offer and the terms at each stage. Often however,  even after all this work and outlay of time, the agent is quite likely to see the sale go to another agent while they ultimately earn nothing for all their time and effort.

Thirdly, the French move house less frequently than in many countries so the volume of transactions is much smaller but the French population is dispersed over a much larger area than say Britain which means that accompanying buyers on viewings is vastly more time-consuming and expensive for agents here than it would be in the UK. Furthermore, it can also be a very frustrating job because an agent can only sell the property they have on their books so, however good and helpful they may be, if they get a potential buyer looking for something they just do not have for sale, there is very little they can do. Conversely, in my role as property finder, at least I am able to work with lots of different agents as well as Notaires and private sellers so that I have a far wider pool of properties from which to track down the perfect house for my clients.

Fourthly there are a far greater number of checks and tests that have to be done on a property in France before it can be sold and much of this extra information has to be organized and collated by the French agent. The proper checks have to be carried out for asbestos, lead, beetle and termites as well as tests covering such issues as electrical and gas connections, septic tanks and energy efficiency. Plus, most of the agents I work with will help the new owners with the reconnection of services such as water and electricity and remain available to answer questions in the days or weeks after the final documents have been signed.

Finally, it is always worth always keeping in mind that the majority of agents you will deal with in France are actually Agents Commercial which means that they are effectively self-employed and so do not receive a regular salary - the commission they make on a property is all they earn – and in reality it is often far less than the stated commission because this is then shared between the owner of the agency and their colleagues. Plus, pity the poor agents that work with me as, more often than not, I ask the agents to lower their fees in order to reach the best possible deal for my clients and hence they earn a lot less than their advertised commission on any sale I bring them. So it can be a thankless job and, despite what you might hear, I certainly do not deal with many wealthy french estate agents driving Mercedes.

So this is by way of a thank you to all the agents who have helped me find some fantastic properties for my clients this year. I look forward to working with you in 2012.

What is it about France?

In the last few weeks I have been very busy with clients out here viewing their short-lists of properties I have found for them and they all want to know what it is that makes France such a great place to live. This is a difficult question to answer because there is not really just one specific thing that I can tell them; it is more a question of lots of lovely aspects of living here which add up to what for us is a very good quality of life. So I thought I would run through some of those little things that have made up my week this week and most weeks and never fail to remind me what it is that is so lovely about living here:

1. Yesterday, after two days of rain I opened the shutters to blue skies and fresh snow on the mountains.

2. And it was Wednesday so I got to spend the afternoon with my children (no school in France on Wednesday afternoons)

3. My neighbour turned up with a huge pumpkin she thought I would like (and lots of suggestions as to how to prepare it!)

4. Today I got to sit outside in the sun and eat my lunch – working day or not, the French live to eat not to work (and it’s still possible to have a great three course meal for around 10 Euros)

5. The local towns have just started putting up a few Christmas trees and the local school children have begun to make decorations for them. This is as about as commercial as Christmas gets around here which is just fine by me.

6. Everywhere I’ve been today, I have bumped into somebody I know and they all are happy to stop and say hello. I also know all my neighbours by name and they know me which is probably one of the reasons we feel part of the community here.

7. When I went in to buy my baguette this morning, everyone in the shop said bonjour, au revoir and wished me a good day. It was the same in the bank, the chemist and at the children’s school.

8. And when I pick my teenage children up from school, their friends come up and peck me on the cheek. Girls do the same when they greet each other and the boys shake hands. My younger children kiss their teacher hello and goodbye. How civilised.

9. Most days I get to walk the dog in the fields behind the house – today I saw two deer, numerous red kites and kestrels and a red squirrel. Sometimes we spot eagles, owls and even once a pole cat. The farmers don’t use pesticides here and we have predominantly meadow, full of wildflowers and wildlife.

10. The ski resorts are about to open and soon we will be able to spend our weekends on the ski slopes.

11. Nobody locks their doors here

12. The owner of the cafe where I often have my morning caffeine shot, told me that my coffee was on him today.

13. I can do most of my weekly food shop at the local market where everything is uncertified organic (not ones for bureaucracy here!), very fresh (hours old, not days or even weeks) and very local – everyone at market comes from within a few kilometres radius.

14. Everything shuts on Sundays – family and friends are king here not the supermarkets

15. Oh and I get to look around lovely houses and explore new areas on a daily basis and meet lots of interesting people.

There are many many other reasons that make me happy to live here but these are just some of the small events that make up my week and make me smile.

Found - the classic French house

I think I have just seen a house which could legitimately be said to define the 'classic French house', something that many of my clients ask me to find for them. I still get excited during a search when I come across a property which I know at once matches exactly my client's brief and also their dream (not always one and the same.)

As soon as I turned up the drive to this house and glimpsed it ahead of me on the hill, I knew I had struck gold. Here was a picture-perfect house; the type that a child would draw with entrance in the middle, windows each side, blue shutters, a chimney and roses around the door (yes it did even have roses around the door) and perfect symmetry. Inside the house didn't disappoint either; it was packed full of original features including a large open fireplace, terracotta floor tiles, exposed beams, elegant staircase and original floor boards. Admittedly it was not luxurious by any means with dated decor and basic facilities but I know that most of my clients are happy to do internal decoration, bathrooms and kitchens to put their own stamp on a property.

Moreover, the house was set perfectly in the middle of its own land, completely private with views to the Pyrenees in the distance and yet it was within walking distance of the village.

This house ticks the boxes for so many of my clients and matches the brief exactly for this particular client. Which means it is likely to be many people's dream home and hence I am going to have to move fast on this one even though it is not yet officially on the market. Luckily my clients are due out next week to view the short-list of properties I have put together and, because I am in the fortunate position that I often hear about properties first, before they are officially for sale, we are at a great advantage here and I am confident that I will be able to secure them their dream home in France.

Sunshine and snow

November was one of my least favourite months when we lived in the UK but here, despite Autumn being well and truly upon us, we have just enjoyed lunch outside in the sunshine and now I am almost  too hot sitting at my desk with the sun blazing through the window. Even better, I can’t resist peaking out of the window every few minutes because over the weekend we had the first substantial snow fall on top of the mountains and they are now sparkling white against the blue sky. We have been here for eight years and yet I still find this sight quite magical.

Autumn colours and fresh snow

I am often asked what it is we like about living here and why we chose this region and I always struggle to answer that question as there are so many things and so many reasons but certainly waking up to the ever-changing view of the mountains is one of the most special aspects about living here – even though it wasn’t one of our criteria when searching for a property.

It is only in retrospect I realize that we probably fell for this house because of the mountain views and I am very thankful that we did. A view of the mountains is something that it is very hard to put a value on in property terms but, for me, it is priceless.

The perfect time to bag a bargain

There are always some incredibly good value properties to be had in this region but right now, there are some fantastic bargains – the unintended consequence of the change in the law ‘plus value’ or capital gains tax. This won’t alter anything for non-French residents with second homes in France, nor for those of us who have our permanent homes in France but it is having a big effect on the French property market right now, particularly here where many locals own second and holiday homes.

In the past, French owners of second homes would have had no capital gains tax to pay on the sale of these properties after 15 years and a generous taper allowance when selling before 15 years but this law is due to change on the 1^st February meaning that capital gains tax will be due for all second properties owned by French residents for less than 30 years and with a much reduced taper allowance up to the 30 years.

Hence suddenly I am seeing a lot of fantastic properties coming onto the market with owners very keen to sell and very willing to take offers if it means that they will complete by January 31^st. In fact, they are in many cases putting their property on the market at less than it has been valued for but only until the end of January; here’s an example of a private sale;

Bien estimé par notaire et agences 150 000€, cédé à 137 000€ en raison nouvelle taxe sur la plus valu.
Au premier février cette offre ne tiendra plus. (Valued by notaires and agencies at 150,000 Euros but offered at 137,000 Euros because of the new capital gains tax. From 1^st February, this offer will no longer be available.)

Hence, for anyone who is looking for a bargain (and let’s be honest, who isn’t?) this, along with historically low interest rates, is making the next few months look like a very good time to be buying a house in the Midi-Pyrénées.

Scaling the heights

The Pic du Midi

One of the lovely things about living in the foothills of the Pyrenees is the ever-changing views; the mountains have a life of their own and like to put on a good show. Today we woke up to a dusting of fresh snow on the top of the highest peaks which completely changed the landscape and the perspective and motivated us to make a quick trip up to one of the highest peaks to take in what must be one of the best views in France.

This is an ideal time of year to head up into the mountains – the air is clear and cool in the mornings but beautifully warm in the afternoons and the clarity of the light is almost unreal. The highest easily accessible peak in the Pyrenees is the Pic du Midi where a journey of two cable cars whisks you up to 2877 metres. (The actual highest peak in the Pyrenean range is on the Spanish side, Pico de Aneto at 3406 metres.)

The cable car to the summit

The Pic du Midi is visible from all over this region, particularly driving around the Haute Garonne, its telescopes and large aerial making it stand out clearly from the other peaks. Most people take the trip to the top just for the view and it is certainly worth it for that alone although also at the summit you will find the highest museum in Europe. More serious star gazers can book into the small hotel (just 19 guests) for an overnight stay with conducted tours and use of the telescopes – as well of course, gourmet dining. At night from the top, they say you can see the lights all the way from Biarritz to Barcelona.

For me it is just great to be driving around looking at the Pic du Midi every day and knowing what it feels like to stand up there, on the top of the world.

One of the telescopes and the view

Making the dream happen

I have just completed a search and agreed a deal on a fantastic property for some lovely clients. They could not be happier and neither could I – when everything clicks with a search and the people and property fit like a glove, it is an immensely satisfying feeling.

I had a strong inkling during this search – as I always do – which property would really work for these clients but of course, buying a home is a very personal and emotive experience so it is never possible to make exact predictions nor do I want to influence my clients other than in a professional capacity. However, this is a couple who have really planned this move down to the last detail and know exactly what they want to achieve and how they are going to do it and they definitely have the energy and vision to see it through so it is very exciting to be part of this; another step on the way to their new life.

My main motivation for setting up this property finding business was to help people acquire the best possible property for them, while ensuring they avoid the pitfalls and the stress so that the whole process becomes a pleasure. What a great feeling; knowing you have helped someone’s dream come true.

La Rentrée

La Rentrée has just taken place here and it is a big event in France which is probably why they have a word for it and we don’t, relying instead on the rather more prescriptive phrase ‘back to school’. But here it doesn’t really just refer to the children, rather for everyone returning to work after the summer. Of course, not all of us have had the luxury of taking the whole of July and August as holiday like the children but most friends and neighbours here seem to manage to be off for August and even those who are working tend to do so in, shall we say, a rather relaxed and laid back way! There is no doubt that the summer months here have a very different feel about them to the other months of the year which is no doubt why it is important to have a set date for La Rentrée to snap everyone back into a slightly more dynamic work mode.

When we first moved to France, it was two days before the rentrée and the first experience of French school for our eldest daughter who was six at the time; I don’t know who found that first day more traumatic, her or her parents. As it turned out, the children adapted to life in France remarkably quickly and easily which usually tends to be the case. When worrying about moving children to France, it is probably worth bearing in mind that children are pretty resilient and very flexible; they are less self-conscious than adults and will mix with local children without worrying too much about their language abilities.

The French school system, albeit very traditional if not old-fashioned, is generally renowned for setting high standards for its students, as the French take education very seriously.  School is not compulsory in France until children are 6 years old although almost all 3 year old children are enrolled in the voluntary écoles maternelles, often attached to the primary school. Primary school hours are generally from 8.30/9 am to 4.30/5 pm with lunch between 12 and 2pm when many children go home. On Wednesday afternoon there is no school and in many departments schools have Wednesday off completely. The good news for working parents is pre and after school clubs are the norm in France and usually excellent.

At college (secondary school for 11-15 year olds) maths and French are still the most important subjects and practical subjects that we are used to in the UK, such as home economics, woodwork and drama are not common in France where they concentrate on more academic subjects. Homework increases dramatically at this stage but Wednesday afternoons are still free for sports and other activities. As in the UK, students can leave school when they are 16, but approximately 94% go on to further education. At the end of the 3ème (aged 14-15), students take an examination known as the Brevet which, like GCSE’s, is a knowledge test for the end of this section of the child's education. The results and choices made at this stage will affect the type of Lycée (sixth form) to which your child will next progress.

The final school years (15-18) are taken in the Lycée culminating in the final Baccalauréat (Bac) examination which is an automatic entrance qualification to French university. Students also have the option of working towards vocational certificates such as Certificate d'Aptitude Professionnelle (CAP) and Brévet d'enseignement professionnelle (BEP), which either lead to a job or a vocational technical Bac.

To go to university in France, the only entrance requirement is normally to pass the Bac and universities must accept anyone who has passed. As a result, there is generally high competition to enrol on the course of your choice at the university of your choice. University students don't pay tuition fees and many attend the university closest to their home.

The School 

Like any education system, the French method has its strengths and weaknesses but, if nothing else, surely the one of the most important parts of bringing up children is to open their eyes to other cultures and help them to understand that different countries have different ways of doing things; that there is not necessarily any one right way. Thus hopefully, moving children to France at least widens their horizons and expands their aspirations. And, if nothing else, it gives them the great advantage of being completely bilingual with a perfect French accent – something us parents can only dream of. 

Le Parc Naturel des Pyrénées (or the Pyrenees holiday park!)

When you have a house in southern France, it tends to fill up in the summers and most holidays with lots of friends and relatives, which is why we are always grateful that we live in the entertainment park that is the Pyrénées. Here our guests, whatever their ages or inclinations, are spoiled for choice when it comes to deciding how to spend their days.

Our guests this summer have ranged in ages from babies to septuagenarians and all have been persuaded to venture into the mountains either for some serious walking or biking or simply to picnic or splash around in the mountain rivers. For little ones who can’t walk too far, there is the option to borrow a donkey for a few hours to take the strain- or even just the picnic - and for those looking for adventure, there is the chance to try their hand at kayaking or canyoning or to hike right over the Pyrénées and into Spain either on foot or on horseback.

At Superbagnères, the ski resort above Bagnères de Luchon, the telecabine opens in July and August, fitted with special carriers so you can take your bike up to the top of the mountain and then cycle around the trails at the top before making your way back down. Bikes and push scooters are available to hire as is almost any type of mountain equipment you can think of or you can just take the lift to the top to admire the scenery. And on most sunny mornings in summer we open our shutters to the sight of the local hot air balloon taking visitors up and down the valleys for a wonderful bird’s eye view of the Pyrénées.

If all that sounds far too active, there is nothing nicer than sitting on one of the café terraces dotted around the towns and villages here and admiring the mountains from afar whilst enjoying the benefit of the wonderful produce that the region provides in abundance.

If we didn’t live here, this is certainly where we would choose to spend our holidays!

Gold or a house in France?

During a search, it usually takes me around eight weeks to draw up a short-list of perfect properties for my clients. That usually means I will have visited around 80 to 100 properties, most of which I will have eliminated as not matching all the important criteria. The short-list builds up slowly until there are about eight to ten properties by the time my clients come out to view them with me.

Sometimes however, people are happy for me to take a bit longer with the search, particularly over the summer months when they don’t really want to come out to look at properties in the height of the holidays when accommodation is often booked up and the cafe and restaurant terraces are crowded. Plus many estate agents close down for two or three weeks in August anyway so as to avoid what they call ‘property tourism’ which involves bored tourists deciding to get a free tour of the area with the local estate agent even though they have absolutely no intention of buying anything.

Usually a longer search is no problem – houses don’t generally sell that quickly in France and many of the places I find are new to the market anyway or sometimes have yet to actually reach the open market. However there has been a bit of a shift lately and a slightly surprising one considering all the doom and gloom surrounding the property market in many parts of the world. Here there are certain price brackets where property seems to sell almost as soon as it reaches the market. Whether this is just here in the Midi-Pyrenees or all over France, I don’t know but here, the last few searches I have done between the 150-200,000 Euro price range and above 500,000 price range, I have seen houses new to the market, actually sell in the few weeks between making it to the short-list and my client’s viewing trip.

I am no economist and can only hazard a guess at why this is; so here is my theory. Within the 150-200,000 Euro price bracket, there is a great deal of buyer competition and not a huge number of properties available. This is the bracket in which many of the French find themselves as well as many foreigners looking for holiday properties so it is just simply a case of too many buyers after too few houses and hence, the minute a good one comes onto the market and it is priced correctly, it will sell. The second category; property above 500,000 Euros, is perhaps harder to explain in the current economic climate but my guess would be that there are people all over the world who do still have money and are looking for somewhere safe to invest it. Gold is now looking like a bubble, the dollar and the Euro are both basket cases, the Swiss Franc is on a run and many property markets have collapsed. French stone property however still looks like very good value – prices have stayed relatively steady, the government and the economy of France are also more stable than most – and, in the very worst case scenario, if everything else collapses around you, you still have a very nice, comfortable, well-built and usually rather lovely house to live in and escape the troubles of the world.

Certainly if I had money to spend, I know where I would be putting it and it wouldn’t be gold bars – nor would I hang around too long!

All quiet in the foothills

Scenes of sunflowers and mountains instead of rioting here in the Haute Garonne

My French friends and neighbours have been, if anything more shocked than us to see the images on the news of the English rioting, looting and setting cars and shops alight. This just does not fit the stereotype of the British that the French have in their heads in which we are still a quaint and proper, slightly uptight and certainly a non-demonstrative people. They expect such uncontrolled behaviour of the hot-headed Greeks, the fiery Spanish or even the Parisians (Paris is considered another country by people in this region) but they really never imagined seeing such images beamed out of Grande Bretagne.

We are lucky to be very distant from such troubles here; the nearest thing we get to a riot is when one of the old ladies queuing at the market gets served out of turn. Politeness is still king in this part of the world (drivers being the exception) and even chivalry still has its place, as I discovered yesterday.

I was viewing some properties and building plots with one of the best agents in this region. True that flip flops may not have been the best choice of footwear for plodding around the hills looking at terrain and luckily I was holding the camera when I spectacularly failed to make the jump over a ditch and up the hill with embarrassing results (what I do for my clients!) So when I did finally manage to clamber up the hillside to the relevant plot, it was with huge relief that my now favourite agent provided the solution to my dilemma of climbing back down again, below:

I think it is safe to say that here are certainly worse places to be right now than the sunny South West of France! 

Best of both worlds

The great thing about living right on the border of France and Spain is that, here in the Ariège and Haute Garonne, we get flavours of both cultures - with the emphasis on the best bits of each of course. Thus we have paella in the local markets and lots of Spanish themed festivals but these will generally be accompanied by French wine and croustade or tarte tatin.

Living so close to Spain also means that we are able to just pop over the border into Spain if we fancy the idea of tapas for lunch; which is exactly what we did yesterday, not so much for the food this time – although it was fantastic – as for the sunshine. Very unusually for this part of the world, we have just had a week of almost continuous rain (last seen in 1972, according to our local doctor) and, having lived here for a long time now, we seem to have rather lost that English tolerance to such weather.

Hence we decided that we would take a two hour drive (we are only 20 kilometres from Spain as the crow flies but the car journey is slightly more convoluted) over the mountains to see if we could find some sunshine. Sure enough, as we sat at the traffic lights on the French side of the tunnel leading into Spain, the temperature gauge in the car read 14 degrees; by the time we had travelled three kilometres through the tunnel and down the other side of the mountain, the temperature was already 27 degrees and by the time we were installed on the Spanish restaurant terrace 20 minutes later, it was 30 degrees.

What an amazing spot to live; where it is possible to travel a few kilometres through the mountainside not only from one country to another but from one completely different weather system to another, speak another language and eat completely different food. There can’t be too many places like this, where you really can enjoy the best of both worlds.

The Tour de France – Bon Appétit !

It’s Tour de France time here in the Pyrenees and, as usual, we went up into the mountains to cheer on the riders. What I love about the Tour de France is that it is really just one big picnic with a cycling race attached. And the French certainly know how to picnic - no stale cheese and pickle rolls for them; even on the side of a mountain, out comes the table and chairs, the table cloth, the chilled bottle of wine and the three course meal.

Moreover, on the way home, when we managed to get caught in a ‘bouchon’ of camper vans going nowhere, it wasn’t long before the driver and his passenger in the car in front decided that it was their supper time and, traffic jam or no traffic jam, they were ready to eat. So sure enough, they pulled over onto the verge and once again, out came the table, the chairs, the olives and hors d’oeuvre and they began their repas, seemingly oblivious of their audience in the stationery cars besides them looking on jealously. That was until more and more people decided that they had the right idea and started to join them. What in the UK would have been a fairly miserable or at the very least boring experience, here turned into a street party.

This ability to turn every occasion into an excuse for a good sit-down meal and opportunity to set the world to rights just makes me admire the French even more and reminds me yet again what we are doing here.

House sharing

Every year since we have lived in France, we have been joined in our home in the spring and early summer by a family of kestrels. And when I say ‘in our home’, I really do mean ‘in’ – the kestrels return each year to nest in the same hole in the wall of our house, just above our back terrace and right outside our kitchen door. From a bit of research into these birds, it would appear that these are the same breeding pair each year; they are long lived at 15 or more years, they mate for life and are very territorial.

‘Our’ kestrels have become part of the family now; they are used to our habits and seem unperturbed by our comings and goings, loud mealtimes on the terrace below their nest or by noisy children (and shouting parents!) The only thing that really upsets them is our two cats who take to hiding under the table when the kestrels are nesting to avoid being dive-bombed. We also have got used to their habits and are careful never to walk directly under the nest nor sit too close, particularly as the babies grow and get more adept at dropping pellets and everything else out of the nest onto unsuspecting loiterers below. We have had at least two visitors who have lingered too long outside the kitchen door and have had a very lucky day as a result.

Despite this, we love having them here and look forward to their return each year, eagerly watching for the first signs of nesting which is followed by the calling of the chicks and then our first glimpse of them as they demand more and more food from their industrious parents. We watch as they get so big that they barely any longer fit in their nest hole and seem to literally teeter on the edge for much of the day, calmly observing the comings and goings below. When they finally fledge, most seem to make it safely to the walnut tree opposite although occasionally they join us on the terrace for a few hours, like this one in the photo, before managing to get properly air bound.

Then they gradually move further and further afield although still close enough that we hear their distinctive calls for the rest of the summer and often see them perched watching us from the roof of the house. We feel very privileged to have such a ringside view of the life cycle of such a magnificent bird – another bonus of living in a region where there is plenty of unspoiled habitat, meadows and food for them, thanks to the ubiquity of organic and traditional methods of farming here.  

Proposed tax on second homes scrapped

Good news for people looking to buy a holiday home in France; the French government has abandoned plans to levy a controversial new tax on holiday homes owned by non-residents. This has been worrying many people although, as it turned out, if this new tax had been imposed, it would probably only have amounted to a few hundred pounds a year on the average holiday home.

Up to 360,000 homes would have been liable for the tax under the proposals and it is thought that President Sarkozy backtracked when it was pointed out to him how many French nationals living abroad would also have to pay the tax. The French have a tendency, thanks to their inheritance laws, to hang onto property over generations and so a huge number of French people own second homes, including many who now live and work abroad.  The government was also said to be worried about the effect the tax would have on tourism to France. Moreover, it was suggested that this new tax could have been unlawful under European laws designed to allow the free movement of Capital.

Whatever the political ins and outs, it is good news for my clients currently buying or looking to buy holiday homes and means that France looks set to remain one of the most popular and best value holiday destinations in the world.

Atlantic or Mediterranean for a day at the beach?

We had yet another tough decision to make last weekend – should we head to the Mediterranean or the Atlantic for a day on the beach?

There can’t be many places you can live (in fact there aren’t because I checked on the map) where you can choose to spend the day either at the Mediterranean coast or at the Atlantic, depending on weather and sea conditions. We happen to live roughly equidistant to both and hence, yesterday, having studied Meteo France’s forecast the night before, we decided we would have a day on the beach in the lovely town of St Jean de Luz on the Atlantic, just over two hours’ drive away. The Mediterranean lost out this time as it was forecast to be a good few degrees cooler than the Atlantic. Had we decided to go east to the Med however, we would probably have headed down to the lovely town and beaches of Collioure,  also around a two hour drive away. Either direction is a very easy drive with great mountain views most of the way.

Often the Mediterranean coast is warmer in the Spring and Summer months than the Atlantic, as you would expect but it is also affected by the Tramontane wind which blows along the coastline from Spain sandblasting anything in its way. Not a pleasant experience and even worse for little ones who get the full force of the sand in their face.  The Atlantic on the other hand, is known for its surf and can be dangerous for swimming in places but there are plenty of protected bays where it is calm and safe to swim plus the sea stays warm through the Autumn and right into November when it is certainly still warm enough to paddle, sit on the beach and have lunch on the terrace. Well for us Brits anyway; our French neighbours think we are completely mad to venture near the sea out of season, which is just fine as far as we are concerned  – all the more beach for us. In fact we are quite happy to avoid the peak holiday season of July and August at either the Med or the Atlantic, preferring to head to the mountain lakes and rivers for our picnics and paddling, away from the tourist crowds.

St Jean de Luz yesterday was just perfect – we were enjoying coffee and Gateau Basque on the terrace by 10am and then spent the morning on the beach before tucking into plates of seafood at our favourite restaurant for lunch. Then back to the beach for some tennis, serious sandcastle construction and swimming. We finished the day with a final ice-cream and walk around the pretty streets before heading off around 7pm. A great day out and another tough decision made successfully!

The perfect French house?

More often than not when I view a house for a client, it does not live up to expectations or meet important criteria which means that the majority of houses I view never make the short-list of ‘possible properties’ to show my clients. There could be many reasons for this such as location, the state of the property or unrealistic pricing. So when I see a property which ticks all the boxes, I can’t help getting excited.

Today was one such day when I saw what I might even be prepared to call the perfect French house. By that I mean the type of house which is the epitome of the French dream for many; a classic, stone farmhouse full of character with lots of original features, some outbuildings and land, quiet but not isolated and lots of potential for the new owners to make it their own. This one even had roses around the door. What’s more, it was in that sought-after location on the edge of a nice village within walking distance of a bakery and a cafe.

Actually this is also the type of property that so many people are looking for in the UK but the prices have become prohibitive over the last decade putting such properties out of the reach of most of us. This is not the case here in the Ariège and the Haute Garonne though where you can still find a fantastic farmhouse (needing a bit of TLC) for between 200,000 and 300,000 Euros.

Thus, when I am exploring, I am always on the look-out for any property that might fit this bill. Certainly in this region we are lucky enough to have plenty of lovely traditional stone farmhouses but the difficulty is finding those owners ready or willing to sell.

Sure enough the house I just viewed is exactly what my clients have been looking for (unsuccessfully) for the last two years and they put in an offer on the first viewing which, after a bit of negotiation, has now been accepted. I do like a happy ending.

Delays ahead - with bells on...

In the next couple of weeks I will be allowing extra time when out on property searches and viewings in the high valleys of the Pyrenees. At this time of year roads and even whole villages are likely to be closed at certain times to accommodate one of the great cultural traditions of this part of the Ariège; the transhumance or literally ‘the seasonal movement of livestock,’ a practice which dates from at least the Middle Ages.

This happens twice a year and takes on epic proportions when the animals from the farms on the valley plains are herded up to the high mountain pastures to spend the summer months in freedom. In October it is the opposite procedure with the descent back down from the mountains to the valleys for the winter. The numbers are impressive - in the Ariège over 12,000 cattle, 40,000 sheep and over 1,000 horses make this annual pilgrimage to higher pastures. This is why, when walking the mountain trails and passes around here in the summer, the hills are alive with the sound of bells; you will often come across groups of Merens, the local breed of horse, a bell around the neck of the leader, free to wander where they please, or cows similarly oblivious to the gentle chiming they make with every move. Likewise, you will find herds of sheep seemingly quite alone but actually guarded by the beautiful white dogs of the Pyrenees, the Patou, who stay with the animals and protect them from attack or harm.

The journey from valley to mountain with the herds of animals during the transhumance can take several days and takes on a holiday atmosphere with many members of the villages and surrounding farms helping out and camping together each night. The whole event has become a friendly social gathering and walkers are always welcome to join the farmers as they move their animals. Many have no experience of farming but take part in order to encounter a way of life still so firmly rooted in tradition and something that probably most of us imagined had died out centuries ago.

For me, the most dramatic procession from a spectator’s point of view is the troupe of 200 or so Merans horses (the local breed) making the journey from their fields in St Lizier through the narrow streets of the towns and villages and then slowly up the mountain roads, expertly herded by a few brave souls whose main means of controlling them seems to be a frantic waving of arms. It’s certainly not a sight that you see every day and a perfect illustration of the enduring and unchanging way of life here in the foothills of the French Pyrenees – and certainly a more entertaining way to be delayed on the way to work than heavy traffic on the M25.

 

Have the French found the recipe for happiness?

According to a survey by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the French spend more time eating, sleeping and shopping than any other country. I have lived in France for eight years now and I would say that yes, it’s all true – but how do they do it, how do they find all this extra time in their lives when the rest of us seem to struggle to find time to grab a sandwich or even get enough sleep?

Apparently the French sleep an average of 8.5 hours (yes average!) It makes France the longest sleepers out of all 34 of the OECD’s members. Does this mean that the French have less to fit into their days or are they just more relaxed about what does and doesn’t get done? Do they have less to worry about – or maybe they expect the state to do their worrying for them – and thus sleep easy at night (or in the afternoon!)

The French also spend the most time eating and drinking at more than two hours per day on average which is nearly twice as long as the Americans and Canadians. Looking at obesity rates though, clearly time spent consuming doesn’t necessarily mean more consumed. Of course it is this emphasis on long, lazy lunches that brought many of us here in the first place but it is very noticeable that the French do not eat or drink excessively – a meal is probably less dense than in the UK but each element makes up a separate course to be lingered over, enjoyed and never rushed. Nor do the French tend to snack in my experience. So more food and wine isn’t crossing the lips of the French – it just feels as if it is.

It turns out that the French are big shoppers too – or perhaps just slow shoppers.  According to the report, the French spend 32 minutes each day shopping. However, I would guess that we are primarily talking about shopping for food here. Most of the French people I know shop for fresh ingredients every day and have no problem taking their time about it – it is all part of that pleasure of appreciating their food.

Unsurprisingly therefore, the report also shows that French people have the second-highest life expectancy in the OECD, presumably thanks to the high amount of time spent enjoying themselves. Add that to the 28% of GDP that the French state spends on healthcare and social welfare, the highest spending of any OECD country and it all starts to make perfect sense.

The rest of us can only look on enviously - or make that move to France and hope that some of the magic dust rubs off. Vive la France!

To be or not to be – your very own Hamlet

One of the best bits about this job is getting to visit lots of interesting houses, barns and ruins, many of them tucked away in hidden corners of the region. Some are wonderful, others less so but this morning I have just been to see something really unusual; a complete hamlet for sale made up of a large stone house, a six person gîte, a four person gîte and three lovely un-restored barns.

The owners, now selling up, have been living ‘the dream’  here in the Couserans region of the Ariège for the last 30 years, having restored this collection of crumbling houses and stone buildings and transformed them into a thriving gîte business. They have two horses on the couple of hectares of land surrounding the hamlet and beautiful gardens with mountain views in all directions. If only I were an estate agent, this is one I could certainly wax lyrical about.

Unfortunately I don’t have a client with the necessary million Euro budget to buy this right now but I do know from the enquiries I get that more and more people are looking for a better work-life balance and a bit of land where they can live a life more attuned to their environment. One of the most popular ways of achieving this is moving to rural France to set up a gîte business but the problem with this is that, in many parts of France, the market is now saturated and gîte owners are finding it increasingly hard to compete and earn a living. 

Interestingly however, this is not yet the case in the Ariège which has a distinct lack of good quality gîtes in an area which otherwise provides the perfect holiday destination summer and winter. Hence this gîte complex is already almost booked up for the summer and also regularly booked up for the ski season, the nearest resort of Guzet Neige being just half an hour away.

So while not everybody looking to move here is going to have this kind of budget, the dream of running a gîte business in the Ariege is probably more achievable than it would be in most parts of France. And if you are interested in being Lord of the Manor, just get in touch for more details.