The chasm between sellers/buyers expectations still needs to be bridged

Regular readers know that I'm 100% on the side of the buyer throughout the search and transaction process.

There's no grey area - my clients appoint me because of my expertise in sourcing property and buying it at the lowest price possible.

One of the most important parts of my job then is to ensure that my clients have realistic expectations about what their money will buy and the current state of the market.

With our TV and computer screens full of bad news stories it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that property vendors are on their knees and willing to accept huge discounts on the asking price of their properties.

Sadly, this simply isn't true...at least in my particular slice of France.

Sure, most sellers are realistic and are open to offers but a general 20-25% reduction on all asking prices, forget it. 

In the last two deals that I have been involved with we have managed to obtain around 15% from the asking price....and both of those were after a great deal of negotiation and our introduction of "comparable evidence" (research into the cost of similar properties).

Of course there will always be stories about the man who has a friend who knocked 40% off the asking price of a house but these rarely stand up to scrutiny (usually the price was hugely inflated in the first place).

It's a buyers market and there are bargains to be had but don't be fooled into thinking that all vendors will bend over backwards.

In this market "research, research, research" is almost as important as "location, location, location".

www.cognacproperty.com

Come to the charente and get off that treadmill

One of the biggest reasons for our move from suburban life in the UK was to find a slower pace of life.  We had both worked in central London for years and never seemed to have a second to ourselves and to "smell the flowers" as Walter Hagen so aptly put it.

We found our dream in the Charente.  Sure there are times (like at the moment) when I'm working hard and out viewing houses from dawn to dusk but it's a pleasure and there's always time to stop for a coffee along the way.

Don't just take my word for it though. This article in the Charente Libre explains that Segonzac is the first town in France to be awarded "Cittaslow" status. Wikipedia describes this as:

Cittaslow is part of a cultural trend known as the Slow movement.

The inspiration was the Slow Food organization. Cittaslow's goals include improving the quality of life in towns while resisting "the fast-lane, homogenized world so often seen in other cities throughout the world"

I, for one, don't miss grabbing a burger at Waterloo before catching the 11.58pm train back to Walton on Thames....fortunately, this particular hamster jumped off the wheel and left the cage a while ago!

www.cognacproperty.com

Trick photography doesn't help anyone

It's a beautiful, sunny day here in the rural charente valley, just the kind of afternoon when I should be thanking my lucky stars that I'm not stuck in a west end office thinking about the commute home.

Sadly though I'm seething.

Technology is changing my business, mostly for the better. However, I do now regularly get emails from clients saying "seen this on the internet and it looks great, can you check it out".

Of course, I'm usually happy to do so and it's good that I work with such serious and involved buyers.  The bad news is that virtually without exception the fantastic looking "maison de maitre" for €150,000 is blighted.

The wonderful photography, taken with a wide angle lens, skillfully makes 500m2 look like a couple of acres or conveniently stops just short of showing the lorries streaming down the N10 towards Spain and Portugal.

I was out this afternoon visiting one such house - it bore no resemblance to the details on the internet and even whilst driving up I knew I'd just wasted my time going there.  I understand that agents & owners want to market the positive attributes of their property but come on, let's keep things realistic.

Finally a true story.  Friends were over from England last week and went into the estate agents that are selling their holiday home.  They saw the details in the window but with a photo of the wrong house.

When quizzed the agent said:

"I know but it's in the same road as yours and it's much prettier".

www.cognacproperty.com

Demand for French property on the up.

Now, I don't want to tempt fate but......

As regular readers will know the demand for French property from international buyers fell off a cliff the day that Lehman Brothers hit the dust in September 2008.

It's been consistently low since then but, at last, the buyers seem to be flooding back. Well, if flooding back is a slight over emphasis it's certainly a steady stream.  My business is all about quality of clients not quantity and I rarely have more than three client searches on the go at any one time.

For the record I am currently mandated as follows (these aren't their real initials of course but I promise they are genuine clients):

• Mr & Mrs A who are looking for a 3 bed country house with barns and gite potential.
• Mr & Mrs B who have mandated me to find a 5 bed house with space for their teenage children
• Mr & Mrs C who are desperate to find a characterful old house that they can bring back to life
• Mr & Mrs D who want a classical charentaise house that they can retire to
• Mr & Mrs E who's dream is a property with views of the vines, a pool and a sunny terrace.

I'm working flat out and have a couple of other clients "bubbling under" who are talking about instructing me to find them something this summer.

These instructions have come from all kinds of different sources - this blog, my recent coverage in the Daily Telegraph, my affiliation with FrenchEntrée and my regular musings in French Property News and French magazine.

I know that straw polls like this don't quite carry the same credence as the BBC/Mori exit poll but I'm sure you get my drift.

Long may it continue.

www.cognacproperty.com

Cycling in the charente valley

Can't think of a better way to start off a Sunday morning - left the senior partner having a well deserved "grace matinée" and met up with Paddy on the bridge in Jarnac.  The charente was sparkling in the early morning sunlight and the town was slowly wakening with locals making their way to the market to pick up their bread & croissants.

We set off through the vines and, not for the first time, chatted about how lucky we are to live amongst the rolling hills of what must be one of the prettiest areas of France.  No traffic in sight on the back roads either...just the occasional farmer out on his tractor and a rush of "bonjour's" as we passed a swarming pack of real cyclists on their way to Cognac and out towards the coast.

We're working our way up to something similar too - it would be a huge trek for our strictly amateur muscles but with the sun on our backs and the thought of a leisurely lunch when we get there we're confident of tackling it soon.

Meanwhile we're content to take it easy, soak up the spring sunshine and revel in the fact that neither of us will be on the 6.42 am into Waterloo tomorrow.

www.cognacproperty.com

"This is money" article - Can a buying agent save you money?

Interesting article on This is Money which you can read here.

"If you are serious about moving it's hard to see the flaws"

I'm not sure that people still see buying agents as being just for the super-rich - thanks to Phil,  Kirsty and others that view seems to be a thing of the past.

If I was moving a long distance in the UK I would certainly use a buying agent, if I were buying a property in a different country with additional linguistic, legal and cultural barriers then it's clearly a "no brainer".

We may not have "super powers" but we certainly know our local market and you'll be safe in the knowledge that we are acting solely for you and not the seller.

One final thought on the idea mentioned of taking a fee as a percentage of the saving made (in this case 15%). 

Yesterday morning I sent a client a shortlist of houses I'm suggesting he visit when he comes out.

Top of the list is a house that is being marketed for €330,000.  His budget is €250,000 and I sent it to my client as I know that the owners would accept this. 

In the "buyers" market that currently exists I think it's far fairer to take a simple percentage of the purchase price.

Mind you, the client is always right so if anyone wants to work with me on this basis then I'm happy to hear from them!

www.cognacproperty.com

Some French property blogs to follow:

I know that my life seems to revolve around the charente valley but France is such a great country that sometimes it does no harm to broaden our horizons.

With this in mind I would heartily recommend you dip into (and maybe even follow) these other excellent blogs about life and property over here.

First up we have the newly created "A word from Calvados" coming to us from the area in and around Bayeux on the north coast. Welcome to cyberspace Janine, I hope you enjoy the ride and I look forward to seeing the blog evolve.

Then we travel a wee bit south to take in the Loire and Alison Morton's entertaining & varied blog from Thouet.  Topic....just about everything..... from M&S in France to local house prices.

Keep going down, almost to the Spanish border, and you'll discover Perpignan Post - here you'll be able to compare a day in the life of Caroline Hill as a property finder to some of my entries in a similar vein (hopefully you'll also see that we share a passion for client service).

Finally you should head due east along the riviera to Cote Abode where you'll find some delicious posts from the exciting and exotic life of Rebecca Russell.

Hope you enjoy them.......don't desert me though!

www.cognacproperty.com

The Sunday Telegraph discovers Cognac....

There was a good article in the Telegraph on Sunday which you can read here.

The journalist, Adrian Woodford, obviously had a good time when he came here and our wonderful region of SW France made a lasting impression on him.   I really liked this bit:

Farther down rue d'Angoulême, Cognac pulls off the neat trick of becoming emptier as it becomes more beautiful. There is a fabulous half-timbered building guarding one end, sending several smaller streets splintering and scuttling down to the river. Whichever way you chose from here, the streets are lovely, a jumble of lanes that has barely changed since the 17th century.

He's right you know...the streets of Cognac are indeed lovely.  When you live here you tend to take things for granted and it was most refreshing to read about "my" town through someone elses eyes.

www.cognacproperty.com

The mystery of the disappearing house

It sounds a little like one of the stories I read my children at night doesn't it.

Yesterday I was with a lovely couple who are selling their home just north of Cognac.  They were telling me that when they were originally looking to buy over here they did lots of research on the internet from the UK. 

They identified a really pretty house they liked and had lots of conversations with the agent about it to make sure it fitted their brief.

Sure enough it did, indeed it looked and sounded idyllic. 

So they flew over to view it and turned up at the local estate agency at the appointed time.

In fact they arrived a little early.

So early that their guy wasn't in the office yet.  They excitedly chatted to one of the other negotiators about the house they had come to view and he accidentally spilled the beans that it had been sold almost a year ago. They just hadn't taken it off the website yet because it was pretty and got people through the door.

A few minutes later their contact arrived and casually said "sorry, the house you were interested in has just gone under offer. Don't worry though, I have some other viewings lined up for you".

If I hadn't heard similar stories dozens and dozens of times before I might have been shocked.

www.cognacproperty.com

Professional rugby comes to the Charente

The charente has never had a professional rugby team.

Until now. 

Plans for CAC 16 were unveiled in Jarnac last week and are raising €1.2 millions for the launch.  CAC stands for Cognac Angouleme Charente (the two towns are ultra competitive) and to make things fair the team will be based in Jarnac.

Coached by Daniel Herrero (ex Toulon hooker & coach, pictured above) they aim to be in the second tier of the top flight of French rugby within three years.  You can read further details here.

They will have to develop the "stade" in Jarnac and whilst it may never be Twickers I can't think of a better place to have a pre-match Pimms & picnic than outside the Courvoisier chateau on the river front.

CAC 16 v Wasps with Jonny Wilkinson kicking a last minute drop goal to send the locals home happy....well a man can dream.

www.cognacproperty.com

Seal to headline at Cognac Blues Passions

The Cognac Blues Passions festival is one of the highlights of the year in this neck of the woods, regular readers will know that I had a wonderful time watching The Commitments perform on an island overlooking the Courvoisier chateau.

This year the festival starts on July 27th and Seal is performing on Wednesday 28th...I'll be booking tickets as soon as they go on sale.

Further details can be found on the Blues Passions website.

www.cognacproperty.com

Monkeying around in Poitou-Charentes

We undertook a lot of research before deciding to change our lives and move to this particular corner of France.

One of the biggest influences was our need for "things to do" with the children....we knew that we were spoilt in London and wanted to make sure that the girls didn't miss out.

Fortunately we chose well and the area around Cognac is idyllic for families like ours.

Cinemas, theatres, bowling, ice skating, water-skiing, horse riding, gym, dance, golf, canoeing...you name it the girls have done it.

There are also plenty of places to go. From Europe's finest zoo in Royan to Champions League football in Bordeaux.

We have visitors at the moment and seven of us piled into the trusty VW and spent a glorious day at the wonderful Vallée des Singes which is about an hour north of us.

Take a look at the website for some great pictures.  If you are visiting Poitou-Charentes and have never been I heartily recommend it.

As you can see, my two little monkeys loved it.

www.cognacproperty.com

Guest Blogger: Paul Hajek of Clutton Cox Solicitors

My guest blogger today is fellow Primelocation "property blog" award winner (and Spurs fanatic) Paul Hajek of Clutton Cox solicitors.

He describes his practice as "small but perfectly formed" and you can read more about the conveying services they offer here.

Twist Stick or Bust? How to Deal in the UK Housing Market, Spring 2010


The Good News:

The average growth in house prices in the year to February 2010 was 9%, although the average house price was 13% lower than in October 2007

Hometrack, the housing market research company shows the average time to sell a house now to be just over 8 weeks.

The Stamp Duty blanket exemption for homes up to £175000 ended in December 2009, and has been replaced in the recent Budget with a further “exemption holiday” for homes up to £250000, but strictly limited to first time buyers.

Some major lenders have reduced their insistence on 20 -30% deposits.

Second homeowners spurred on by negligible returns on deposit accounts and the lack of value in the traditional second hand markets of France and Spain, have lead to an increase to a record high of 245,385.

The Not So Good News:

We are not out of the woods yet. Economic uncertainty is still a reality

There is evidence that the mortgage companies have staved off wholesale repossessions, but with unemployment still perhaps not yet peaking, there will be room for more property on to the market to potentially weaken prices.

Mortgages have been as hard to come by as last year and the number of agreed home loans fell slightly fell in February 2010, from 48099 to 47094.

Any sustainable recovery would need 60000 or so approvals per month

The so called accidental landlords, forced to rent to avoid loses on their investments, who have shown signs of stirring, may yet be further encouraged to put their properties on the market.

It is usual that activity is dampened prior to a General Election with a spike in activity afterwards.

In 2005, the quarter before the election prices were flat at 0.8%, but went up to 5.2 % in the next quarter.

We all know about problem with relying on statistics and what was different back then was the relative ease in obtaining mortgage finance.

Should you Sell?

The increase in supply is not sufficient in itself to see a re-emergence of a buyers' market.

A necessary rebuilding of the depleted housing stock, which Estate Agents were complaining of at the beginning of the year, is clearly desirable.

Over the last six months of 2009 the supply of homes for sale grew by just 1% while sales volumes grew by 20%.

If you are only selling, provided you did not purchase at the height of the market in 2007, a reasonable return on your investment is likely: the better return depending on how long ago you purchased the property.

There is no likelihood of significant house price inflation in the foreseeable future.

Should you Buy?

The winners in this recession have undoubtedly been cash purchasers or low loan to value buyers picking up the best mortgages.

The Housing Market is still dependent on improvements in loan availability and a return of greater economic confidence.

If you are a first time buyer who can avail yourself of the new “stamp duty holiday” the clock has started to tick. Now is a good time to purchase.

Again, the deposits required are not as stringent as in the last year and more people should benefit

Twist Stick or Bust then?

An outright majority in the General Election would for most commentators be the best outcome not only for the housing market in Spring 2010 but throughout the rest of the year

In such a climate of economic uncertainty, it is highly unlikely interest rates will rise in the short term.

A change in Government or no, the outlook is for nevertheless tax rises, either directly or indirectly. This may depress the market.

But, if more property were to come to market this could indicate a growing optimism. It would suggest a revival of confidence among some homeowners in their ability to get a mortgage, to stay in employment and ensure that they meet their repayments. These were cited as concerns which lay behind owners’ reluctance to sell in 2008 and 2009.

Yet again for most homeowners, employment stability and mortgage availability will be key features determining the strength or weakness of the housing market in the coming months.

A slightly different version first appeared on Paul Hajek’s Clutton Cox blog on 6th April 2010.  You can contact him on 0844 372 3011, email info@cluttoncox.co.uk

www.cognacproperty.com

FNAIM figures for April 2010

The equivalent of the NAE (National association of Estate Agents) in France is the FNAIM and they have just released their report for quarter one of 2010.

As usual, it's a long, fairly turgid, document with plenty of meaningless diagrams but there are a few nuggets.

• While overall prices are still falling, particularly in the north and east of the country they are bouncing back a little in the south west.
• 78% of people think that prices are still too high.
• 16% of people surveyed said that they were looking to buy a house but only 5% thought it would be in the next 12 months.
• around 575,000 transactions took place in 2009 which was well down on the 800,000 "averages" since the year 2000.
• A house in Poitou-Charentes will cost you €1417 m2 on average which compares most favourably with other regions.

You can read the full report here.

www.cognacproperty.com

French whine

Last night, around 6.30pm the phone rang...it was my father in law.

"Hello, we've got some friends coming round for dinner, do you have a bottle of white wine we could borrow"?

My in-laws live a couple of hundred metres away (my fault, the mayor told me that they were going to put the old school up for sale and the rest, as they say, is history). It's actually quite delightful having them so close and we see them most days, if only for a coffee and quick chat.

Turns out though that a "bottle of white" was actually three bottles of my good stuff.... but here's the punch line:

"I'm just about to jump in the shower - you couldn't pop down and put them in the fridge could you old chap"?

Have to hand it to him, he's got style my beau pere.

www.cognacproperty.com

Angouleme flights to Gatwick confirmed

Local residents here in the charente valley will be able to fly directly from Angouleme to London again this summer thanks to Cityline Swiss.

The flights will arrive at Gatwick and we will also be able to fly directly to Lyon & Marseille (handy for those Bordeaux away matches).

The Gatwick flights are currently available from €49 and will be Monday, Wednesday & Friday from June 2nd.

www.cognacproperty.com

Homeowners in a hurry to sell as election fears loom

So says the Daily Mail anyway in this editorial comment on an RICS report out today.

A spokesperson for the RICS said...

'With the General Election approaching and uncertainty growing over the political direction of the country, many vendors who were previously inclined to sit on the sidelines now appear eager to put their properties on the market.'

...which some budding Piers Morgan at the Mail somehow turned into "Householders in a hurry to sell before the election decimates the market". Outrageous eh.

You can read the RICS press release here which contains a link to the full report.

www.cognacproperty.com

South West France voted "Top 10 dream destinations" by The Telegraph

Yet again, SW France heads up the list of 10 "dream destinations" in this Daily Telegraph article

The author says:

"It has a diverse and established property market, good range of international schools, easily reached by train, car or plane. Rates highly for relaxed lifestyle".

They're right of course but I wasn't feeling too relaxed earlier when trying to have a phone conversation with a prospective client from Australia and my youngest was banging on my office door to ask if I could help with her homework.

Hmmm - I wonder if the little monsters would like to board at the international school in bordeaux?

www.cognacproperty.com

Looking for an immobilier in Ruffec?

As you will know by now I deal with many local agents in my beautiful corner of France.

They come in all shapes, sizes and competency levels with some agencies employing ex-pats, with no property experience, who simply aren't up to the job.

No such problems with the excellent TIC team in Ruffec though.

I always look forward to viewings with them.  Christophe, Mike & Tiphaine are highly professional, honest, friendly and truly knowlegeable about their area.

I was out viewing with Christophe on Friday and he explained that he and Mike were in the process of buying the agency from the current owners (it's common knowledge now so I'm not breaking any confidences).

It's always been the "jewel in the crown" and I think that it's a shrewd move on their behalf. If they can make money in this market then they should do really well as things pick up.

If you're looking for property in or around Ruffec you should pop in and see them....I'm sure you'd receive the same warm welcome that I do.

You can see their current website here or simply contact Christophe by email at ticruffec@wanadoo.fr

Best of luck with the new venture chaps....look forward to watching you go from strength to strength and seeing the twin Porsche's in your car park within a couple of years.

www.cognacproperty.com

French buying agents - where to find them

Just had a heart warming conversation with a colleague of mine from Nice.

Rebecca Russell has been part of the FrenchEntrée property finder network for just over a year.

Despite the tough market, she has started to carve herself a niche on the Cote D'Azur and has recently found a spate of houses for international clients from all over the world.  The latest is a beautiful villa for a professional couple from the UK that was being marketed at well over a million euros.

She offers a professional and discrete service. Like all of the agents in our network she has been invited to write a number of articles for specialist magazines.  Read her blog and you will see why I think that journalists will continue to seek market comment from her. You can visit her website here.

Serious buyers are still in short supply but, as Rebecca is proving, if you are prepared to go the extra mile for a client then the service and value that buying agents can offer is invaluable.

All of our agents work to the same exacting standard and have true local knowledge (often of properties that are not being sold on the open market).  We all also follow a "quality charter" set out by our national federation.

If you are thinking of buying a property in France then a good opening move would be to click on the link to any of the experts below:

Normandy
Mayenne
Loire & Thouet valley
Limousin
Charente
Dordogne/Correze
Languedoc Roussillon
Provence
Cote D'Azur
French Alps

www.cognacproperty.com