Winter olympics in the Charente

I'm sure that you are probably aware of the freak weather conditions we're currently "enjoying".  Temperatures of minus ten and the deepest covering of snow that we have seen since we arrived in 2003.

It's playing havoc with the three client searches that are live at the moment - the main roads have been cleared but the outlying towns and villages just aren't equipped to cope with this kind of weather.

The good news is that the girls and I have taken the opportunity to pretend that we live in the Alps or the Pyrenees and have been sledging every day.  Right on our doorstep is the St Meme les Carrieres "cresta run".

It's a 200m piste that leads down between two rows of vines.  The picture doesn't do justice to the gradient but the little dot in the distance is my youngest at the end of her run.  Of course it wouldn't pass any health and safety tests as we go swooping down between rows of Ugni-blanc grapevines....leave the piste and it's a long way to Cognac General Hospital (I'd also have an angry viticulteur banging on my door if we took out a row of his best producers).

Great fun though, with echoes of my youth..... 

www.cognacproperty.com

The France Show - a great start to the year

Apologies for the lack of posts lately but it's been a busy start to the year.

Earlier this month I was in London for The France Show in Earls Court.  The show happened to coincide with France losing it's AAA credit rating and I wondered if this would affect the mood of visitors to our stand.

The answer was a resounding "not at all".

We had, literally, thousands of visitors over the three days and the ones that I spoke to didn't mention credit ratings, the forthcoming election, PIIGS or the fate of the euro.

Instead they asked me about sunshine, vineyards, education, healthcare and "respect" (of elders, teachers, policemen and each other).  It was clear that whilst funding the dream may be proving difficult, the attraction of France remains undiminished.

Within hours of returning home I had picked up two search mandates and have others "bubbling under" which I expect to come to fruition over the coming days.

I'm pretty sure that overall housing transaction numbers will be down this year in France - I'm optimistic though that by increasing market share there will still be plenty of opportunities to prosper.

www.cognacproperty.com

Primelocation property blog awards - placed again!

It's that time of year again, when Primelocation announce the results of their annual property blog awards.

Now in their third year, the main award has been won previously by yours truly and the much respected property journalist Graham Norwood.  This years winner is another journalist, Roger Hunt, you can see his excellent blog here.

I'm delighted to say that A little drop of Cognac was "placed" for the third year running.  I wrote "House prices - will Google ruin your dinner party?" back in the summer and the judges decided that this particular entry was worthy of the runner-up spot.

I guess the thing I am most thrilled about is the consistency - a win and two runners-up in the three years that the awards have been running is no mean feat.  Being ultra cynical I write the blog in order to win business and to position myself as being an expert in both French property matters and in local issues pertinent to life here in the Charente.  The awards give added authority (and perhaps even a much needed gravitas) to what  are some quite personal and parochial postings.

Anyway, I'm thrilled that my work is recognised and will do my utmost to justify the award.

Here's to the 2012 competition.....

www.cognacproperty.com

63% of Americans use a buying agent to help find their dream home

Earlier this week I had a most interesting Google+ "hangout" with some of my colleagues in the FrenchEntrée property finders network.

One of the agents, Sophia, was telling us about her experiences in America where she lived and studied for a while.  She was saying that it is the norm for buyers to have representation when looking for a house - it's probably the biggest expenditure they will ever make so this makes perfect sense.

I looked it up and, according to this article in Wikipedia 63% of Americans do indeed instruct a buying agent.  The article goes on to say:

"Most Buying Agents specialise in a particular location: a large part of their expertise is derived from local knowledge, personal contacts with local estate agents, and inside-information about properties that are not yet on the open market".

This combination of local knowledge and contacts is doubly important if you are looking to buy a property abroad.

For example, if you are currently living in the USA, Australia, South Africa or the far east there is simply no way that you could expect to fully search the market here, or indeed gather the comparable evidence needed to help you negotiate the lowest price possible.

We are seeing an increasing amount of business coming from international clients and whilst it is hard on my telephone bill it is also comforting to know that we have such a robust and long standing business model.....one that more and more UK buyers are adopting.

http://www.cognacproperty.com/

Knight Frank global housing predictions for 2012

Regular readers will know that I'm a fan of the research team at Knight Frank and particularly like the way they present their research.

Of course we have to understand that they have an extraordinarily wealthy client base and look at things from a different viewpoint to the majority of other property analysts.

Their 2012 property predictions report says that instability in the Eurozone has led to very weak mainstream housing markets but, perversely, this has helped "prime" markets such as London & Paris.

They forecast that 44% of the worldwide cities they monitor are set to see house price increases.

Several Asian cities are set to see soaring house prices, including price rises of up to 20% in Bangkok and Jakarta, with Paris (yet again), Kiev and St Petersburg forecast to see similar increases.

However, certain cities are pipped to see massive falls, with values declining by up to 20% in Shanghai, Mumbai, Hong Kong and Geneva.

As regular readers will also know I don't have much (any) faith in house price indices - transaction numbers are the only key indicator that really count.

A double digit rise in Paris would mean plenty of misleading headlines about "soaring French house prices" but would be distinctly unhelpful when it comes to matching vendor expectations with reality here in SW France.

It all makes interesting reading if you have the coffee ready and a spare fifteen minutes though.

www.cognacproperty.com

Bring me sunshine....

 Let's face it, one of the big attractions of moving to France is the weather.

Pretty much all of us like sunshine and it's a proven fact that it makes us happy.

Back in the summer I saw this posting on the Leggett Immobilier website which shows that here in the Charente I am getting around two and a half more hours of sunshine per day than I was when I lived in the UK.

The photo at the top of this post was taken on Christmas day  - as you can see it was a crystal clear blue sky. Our traditional family walk was taken in just jeans, polo shirt and light jumper (which came off half way round).

We went to visit friends on the cote d'azur for new year and the photo below was taken on new years day.

It's a far cry from my native north-east of England and the freezing cold winters of my childhood.

www.cognacproperty.com

Come and say hello at The France Show 2012

It's coming up to that time of (the new) year again, where the great and the good of the French property industry get together in Earls Court to present their wares.  Of course there's plenty of non property related things to do as well, including wine tasting, cookery exhibitions, a huge French market and pretty girls doing the can-can.

The France Show is taking place in London between 13-15 January 2012 and you can see full details here.

I will be joining colleagues from all over France and you can find us on the FrenchEntrée Property Finders stand which is number 207.  Please do drop by and say hello, it always gives me a boost when someone says "I read your blog".  In addition you'll be able to talk with a friendly bunch of professional buying agents who, this year, have helped clients buy properties from €40,000 to €4,000,000.

I have been exhibiting at the show for a few years now and it has been rewarding to journey from a tentative "Hi, can you help me, I'm thinking about......" to finding somewhere special for the same people and occasionally even sharing an aperitif in their new home.

Who knows, this year it could be you!

See you there.....

www.cognacproperty.com

French housing numbers v UK housing numbers

The other day I was asked how many houses were sold in France each year and I didn't know the answer. So I decided to look it up and do a simple comparison between the French and UK housing markets in 2011.  Here are the results:

France
Population: 63 million
Size: 551,000 km2
Estimated number of house sales in 2011:  circa 790,000
Average house price Paris: €316,900
Average house price regions: €165,000


UK
Population: 62 million
Size: 243,000 km2
Estimated number of house sales in 2011: circa 840,000
Average house price London: €398,000
Average house price England & Wales: €187,200

OK - I know that the UK isn't just England & Wales but these were the figures that I could find easily and I'm only undertaking this exercise as a quick comparison.

French figures are raken from the Notaires de France, England & Wales figures are from the Land Registry, currency conversion rate taken as 1.17 euros to the pound.

A point to note is that the UK transaction figure is the lowest for 40 years (see full story here) while the French transaction numbers for 2011 are higher than in 2010 (see full story here).

However, transaction numbers in France are forecast to fall "significantly" next year according to the Notaires, due to the general economic crisis, CGT reforms and a "wait and see" attitude in the run up to the election.

I'm not sure that we can draw any conclusions from the above other than the blindingly obvious one that 2012 is going to be another tough year for both estate agents and agence immobiliere no matter which side of the channel they are on.

The good news though is that at least I'll have some dazzling stats at my fingertips during the numerous functions and dinner parties I have in the run up to Christmas.

www.cognacproperty.com