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

Primelocation property blog awards - winner, "best blog"!

I'm thrilled.

Being shortlisted was an honour in itself.  My fellow entrants were of an exceptionally high quality and The House Historian leads the way in showing how social media can be used in the property industry. Everything about it is top quality from the design & graphics to the research & writing.

I'm in distinguished company and I know it.

Here's what the judges kindly said about A little drop of Cognac:

It was a closely fought battle, but A Little Drop of Cognac’s Graham Downie has emerged victorious with the top prize. The judges were won over by his refreshing and entertaining mix of property market musings and insights into his life in France, alongside some great images and interesting guest posts.

Have to dash as I have a day job to run but I'm sure I'll be back later to give a more considered opinion once things have sunk in.

www.cognacproperty.com

Primelocation blog awards - pls don't vote more than once

I had an email earlier today from a beautiful cousin of mine on the other side of the world.  She told me that she'd voted for me a dozen times.  Of course I love her dearly for this and am truly grateful for her kind support.

It's not really cricket though and against the spirit of things so, tempting as it is, please only cast a single vote per person.

I'm grateful too to the owners of my favourite internet café who have encouraged all their regulars to put down their café & croissants and vote for their "local" entrepreneur (whether they can read English or not).

It's all a bit of fun and takes my mind away from what is a pretty appalling property market over here.  I was out with a well known French agent this morning and I asked him what style of house was currently in vogue with his local buyers.

"Graham" he said "they couldn't care less about the style - they're interested in one thing only and that's the price.  If it's cheap enough they'll buy it otherwise they'll wait".

It's a buyers market for sure.  There are some terrific bargains around and if you're considering buying in France this year your problem will be wading through the average & good to find the outstanding.

www.cognacproperty.com

Thanks for the nominations - Primelocation property blog awards

Wow - thanks a million to those people who nominated me for the Primelocation property blog awards.

I have been shortlisted for three of the four available categories and if you really want to make my day you can vote for this blog here.

It's a tough one though as I'm up against some full time journalists/bloggers with massive resources behind them.  Still, if Rage against the machine can knock the X factor winner off the christmas number one slot then anything is possible.

I'm actually chuffed to bits that A little drop of Cognac has done so well.  There are literally thousands of property blogs and many of them have professional writers funded by major corporations.

I write this for fun and (sadly) have to put most of my time and energy into running my business and finding beautiful houses for my clients.

Anyway, that's enough self promotion....my ego will explode if it gets any larger so it's back to "day to day" life now.

And, as regular readers know, that means it's off down to Jarnac, buy L'Equipe and into the bar for my Saturday morning ritual.

Enjoy the week-end (and don't forget to vote!)

www.cognacproperty.com