Buying French bricks and mortar (3)
Creating a Property Specification - it pays dividends
This Post talks about drawing up a Property Specification. We recommend you do it. At the very least it could save your marriage or friendship!! A Property spec also provides a number of benefits. It acts as a good discipline and a base document to refer to; it is helpful when you need to provide information to Immobiliers (real estate agencies); and importantly it ensures that there is total agreement between spouses/partners as to your expectations!!
Here is the spec we created when we were searching for our Burgundy B n B property, which we originally bought in partnership with another couple. In italics, I have indicated how we actually fared against our initial desires!!
1. Location - within 40 kms of Beaune, or within 20 kms of Cluny, or within 20 kms of Chablis/Auxerre
As we were going to create a B n B, our starting point was to be located somewhere close to a Tourist attraction. People don’t come to an area just because you have a B n B!! We saw one beautiful property, a Chateau, which would have been ideal and was at a very good price, but its location was far too remote so rightly we resisted the temptation. We ended up 15kms from Beaune.
2. Situated - in a village or very close to a village
We are on the fringes of a village. We would have liked the village to have more services/facilities, so we compromised on this one.
3. Property - with character or memorable appeal, a grande maison, moulin, small château, etc
Our property consists of an elegant Maison de Maitre, extensive outbuildings and ‘extra’ features such as a 16th c wine press and an ancient Swiss oven room.
4. Possibly an existing chambres d’hôte or small hotel or has potential to be operated as one
It was a private home when we bought it but it clearly had potential as B n B/Gite accommodation.
5. 10 - 12 bedrooms
It had 5 bedrooms in the ‘Maison’ (just as importantly, 3 existing bathrooms) and potential to create 3 further Gites.
6. Property Condition - little or no significant restoration works required
We always recommend buying a property that is currently being lived in. Unless you have lots of money and three years of your life to spare!! Not always of course, but it does lower the risk of any ‘nasty’ surprises. Our property required a lot of renovation, some installation of second walls to minimise noise, and a rework of bathrooms. It had however been built with quality materials and was in good condition. It still took a year to complete!!
Nice old house to renovate said the Advertisement - I don’t think so!
7. Owners Accommodation - required for two couples, can be apartments contained within the main building or separate outbuilding (dépendance)
We managed this with two apartments located in the outbuildings.
8. Terrain - preferably 2 - 4 hectares
In retrospect the size of land was a bit ambitious, we ended up with 1 hectare (2.5 acres) which is more than ample and that takes enough time to keep maintained!!
One of the major advantages of having a written spec is that it enables you to very quickly eliminate a lot of properties, even without sighting them, therefore saving you a lot of time and frustration. We definitely recommend you create your own, it worked really well for us!
A Bientot,
Bruce.