purelyfrance

 Bonjour à Tous,

 I spotted fleetingly, a newspaper headline where Hilary Clinton was telling the USA they were ready for a female President. Or was she asking if they were ready?  No, probably ‘telling’, that Madame Clinton is no shrinking violet.

Naturellement, it begs the question, is France ready for a female President?  A question that is most appropriate as voting in the French Presidential elections commences in April. (the candidates have just been elected - no two year campaigns like one country that can and should remain nameless - I mean seriously, the front cover of Time this week is all about the ‘race’ being on. Cat-a-strophe!)  The Socialist Party candidate, Mme Segolene Royal is one of the leading presidential hopefuls, (a name like that must be a marketers dream)and along with the centre/right candidate Nicholas Sarkozy is favoured to proceed into the second round of voting.

Mme Royal is a comparitive political novice, not wet behind the ears, but certainly lacking in experience.  Her critics (i.e. political opponents) have drawn attention to a couple of recent diplomatic ‘faux pas’ situations claiming she says what she thinks her audience wants to hear. (doesn’t every politician?)  The Socialists know however that they have a candidate who is colourful, projects a stimulating personality and who is very electronic media friendly. Think Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher, Bob Hawke and David Lange. The P.S. (of course in France it is the Partie Socialiste) think they are on to a winner, a candidate who will appeal directly to the ‘masses’ and let’s not allow the detail of policies and plans get in the road of entertaining rhetoric.

 But are the ‘masses’ going to be receptive?  In the USA there is probably little debate that the culture exists to readily accept a female President. (more…)

Bonjour à Tous,

 In France there are several thousand ‘etrangers’ (foreigners) who own and operate holiday accommodation, usually either Bed and Breakfast or Gite/Apartment/Cottage  accommodation on a self-catering basis. Owners cover a diverse range of nationalities. We personally know of English owners, Scottish, American, Australian, French, German, New Zealand, Canadian, Egyptian and Belgian. No doubt there are many, many others.

Accommodation owners spring from a variety of backgrounds. The most common thread amongst us being our love of France and the French, and our desire to change our traditional lifestyle. (more on that latter misconception later!!)  Offering holiday accommodation is also one of the few income earning activities that can be achieved without the need to be fluent in French.

We always take a very open attitude and provide detailed information willingly to anyone who has quizzed us on the ‘ins and outs’ of operating holiday accommodation. Now that we are entering our 5th season of offering both B n B and self-catering accommodation we feel we have a number of helpful experiences to share. We tell ourselves we have operated successfully but in reality we dont really know. We have tried a lot of different methods; some have worked well, while others have been a lot of work for little return either economically or in relation to the needs of our guests.

It occurs to us that there could be much benefit in establishing a forum where existing and potential property owners can exchange views, ideas and observations. Additionally as these Posts will be read by guests and potential guests it can also act as productive interaction between owners and clients. We will certainly be sharing what we have learnt in some detail. We wont claim it is the ‘best’ way, but more describing what has worked well for us and perhaps just as usefully, what has been a waste of time, effort and money. So we will give this a crack and see how it goes!

In our next Post in this category we will discuss the pros and cons of Bed and Breakfast accommodation versus self-catering holiday accommodation.

A Bientot,

Bruce.

Bonjour a Tous,

In the 7 stimulating (to put it mildly!) years we have been living in France full time we have experienced 5 property transactions. Three purchases and two of those became sales.There must be a bit of gypsy in our bloodline somewhere. Our first home in St Remy de Provence was a village house which we converted into a small Bed and Breakfast. We then traded that in for a 4th floor apartment a few blocks back from the Promenade des Anglais in Nice. Our current home in Chaudenay, Burgundy is a more extensive property with a large Maison, many outbuildings (les dependances) and an acre of parkland. The ‘outbuildings’ house two apartments and a Cottage which we rent out as holiday accommodation.

In our view, buying property in France is not fraught with anything like the difficulty you may be lead to believe. For our first purchase we had very little French language skills and in fact were not even in France when the sale document (acte de vente) was signed. Yes, there are matters to be aware of and at times it is important to seek professional guidance to ensure you have a hassle free transaction. But as long as you have that one ingredient, desire, then anyone and everyone is capable of buying their own ‘dream’ home and/or business in France.

So, during the course of 25 to 30 posts we will share with you our property transaction experiences. They will follow a rough chronological order of thinking, decisions and events. Not all posts will neccessarily be totally helpful to you but we hope they will at least help to lower the risks which exist in any property transaction undertaken anywhere. If our information merely provides you with more courage to proceed, then we will be happy about that too.

Our next Buying French bricks and mortar post will provide suggestions on how to select the area of France that is ‘right’ for you.

A Bientot,

Bruce.

 Bonjour a Tous,

Anyone who has arrived to live in France with minimal French language needs help.  If your language skills are good, you still need help.  If anyone tries to tell you differently they must be talking about another France somewhere else. Like in fantasyland.

Fortunately, and this may surprise you, the French are very good at giving assistance.  Over the past 7 years we have lived in three different areas. In each we have been blessed with our own local ’guardian angel’. In St Remy de Provence it was Jacques, in Nice we had Marc, and here in Chaudenay, Burgundy it is Gilbert. Without them we would probably be in serious counselling sessions by now.

This is the story of Gilbert, and why we love him so much.

If you pronounce his name a la Francais, it comes out as ‘Shel-bare’. This will start to give you a feel for him.  We didn’t realise it at the time but when we bought our Maison, it appears Shelbare came with the fittings.  Shelbare is your standard Frenchman height, 4ft 11 inches (well, may be 5ft 4in) stocky build, at birth was accorded the mandatory nez, moustache, and dark features. In his own private time Shelbare was the ‘handyman’ for the previous owners and knows more about the property than they did. His ‘proper’ employment is with the local village administration.

 He is eternally cheerful and enthusiastic, as willing as the day is long. Longer even. He explains to us he does everything except electrical work. He holds up the black lifeless third finger on his right hand. We get the message. Everything is done at pace. Walking at 50 mph, thinking at 100 mph, and talking at 200 mph. Consequently we catch about every 10th word while saying ‘oui’ and nodding wisely.

Our second day in residence we woke up to no hot water. The call goes out for Shelbare. I will arrive tout de suite he tells us. And he actually does. You must keep this number 8 switch down. (we have 10 of them in the laundry) D’accord Shelbare, merci we say gratefully. The third morning, c’est le meme chose.(it is the same thing) The number 8 switch will go down, but it doesn’t want to stay down. Cat-a-strophe! So we get on the phone again to Shelbare. Again, he arrives tout de suite. The number 8 switch only needs to be forced down during the day time, otherwise the system overrides it and defaults to automatique. D’accord Shelbare, merci, we say feeling somewhat like small children.

Over the next two weeks we see Shelbare frequently as he is still clearing from our property a myriad of furniture left behind from the previous owners. Shelving from the Swiss oven room, a washing machine from one of the apartments, old mattresses and a huge kit set armoire. (bear in mind possession date was two months earlier!) Shelbare declares that the armoire is too heavy to lift so he proceeded to dismantle it. Remember the speed thing, it took about 75 seconds to have it in 18 different carry-able parts.

 If you require any demolition jobs, then Shelbare is your man. If they ever want to replace the Eiffel Tower we are sure Chirac will put out a call for Shelbare. He would finish his day’s work in the village, race up to Paris, the city would awake in the morning to find the Eiffel Tower has vanished from its skyline and Shelbare would be back on the job at la village Chaudenay that same morning.

Two months later we are at a village welcome function meeting the Mayor, various local officials and identities such as the secretary of the tennis club.  But the grand surprise is our ami Shelbare. Not only is he a member of the team but blow us down if he’s not wearing a policeman’s uniform! So we call him Captain and salute him. Privately he seems chuffed that he has surprised us. We learn later he is not strictly a policeman as such but has a wide number of security like functions within the boundries of Chaudenay.

So that for now is our ‘angel’ Shelbare, I am sure it wont be the last you hear about him!

A Bientot,

Bruce.