Property bargains to be had in the Charente

I have just finished showing clients round a selection of properties in the Charente valley, including the magnificent house shown above which is in a prime location right by Cognac golf course.

We really did see some terrific houses - the weather wasn't kind which was most unusual in June but even with leaden grey skies my clients commented on the natural beauty of the shortlist we had put together.

As 2013 progresses it's becoming clearer that many owners see no sign of respite to the "crise financiere" and are willing to accept offers so that they can move on with their life.  This can only be good for the market as the gap between vendors & buyers expectations closes.

Whether it's stood outside the school gates, over dinner with friends or chatting with local agents & notaires I'm constantly hearing tales of houses being sold at well below "sticker price" - at all price levels.

Combine this with the ridiculously cheap cost of borrowing and the time could be right for picking up a property that has both long term capital growth potential and sheer natural beauty.

The houses we visited this week ranged from around €350-500,000 and I'd say that they would sit comfortably alongside any portfolio of country houses that are being offered by my old employers such as Savills, Jackson-Stops & Staff and Chestertons.

Just make sure you do your homework and work with someone who knows the local market intimately - that way you'll be able to negotiate hard and secure a bargain of your own.

www.cognacproperty.com

Ideal holiday home for sale privately in the Charente

Town house in sought after village with commerce, near Cognac

Private sale - €189,000

Four bedroom/two bathroom townhouse with home office & large garage

10 minutes from Cognac town centre

This 19th century house is in immaculate condition and faces onto the historic church of St Meme les Carrieres. The village has a co-op, two boulangeries, popular bar/restaurant, chemist and post office as well as water-skiing facilities, fishing lake, tennis courts and football pitch.

Ground floor:
The front door opens onto a tiled entrance hall which runs the length of the house and leads through to the courtyard garden at the rear of the house. To the left is a fully fitted kitchen with separate utility room. To the right is a large (36m2) reception room with tiled floor and exposed beams.

First floor:
The stairs rise to a large landing with fitted cupboards and three double bedrooms, all of which have beautiful wooden floorboards and two of which have exposed beam ceilings. At the far end of the landing is a slate tiled shower room and separate wc.

Second floor:

A second staircase leads to an enormous master bedroom with exposed beams and large ensuite bathroom with bath, washbasin and wc.

Courtyard garden & home office:

To the rear of the house is an attractive courtyard garden with barbecue and dining area. The home office has high speed broadband, heating and lighting.

Garage:
To one side of the courtyard is a huge double height barn/garage which could easily be converted into extra accommodation.

Orchard:
The house has an orchard garden which is situated behind the church. The orchard is 634m2 with views over the Charente valley and contains cherry, apple, pear, walnut and hazelnut trees.

The house has mains drainage, oil central heating, was rewired in 2005 and is easy to secure as all windows have wooden shutters. The pretty market town of Jarnac is less than five minutes by car while Cognac is around 10 minutes away.

Contact: info@grahamdownie.com or call +33 (0)5 45 32 46 41

French Magazine - a trip through western France

This is a reproduction of an article I wrote for French Magazine this summer.

I took a trip through some of my favourite parts of western France, a couple of hours north of where I live - from La Rochelle up towards Tours.

You'll see that I also took the opportunity to promote this blog by listing it as one of six that cover France and French property - a bit cheeky I know but hey I put a lot of effort in and need the readers!

If you would rather read the article in your browser then just click here.

www.cognacproperty.com

Don't move - the baguette is fully loaded

I read this interesting report from Agent Genius earlier this week.

Entitled "One in four male realtors are packing heat while on the job" it highlighted the light years that separate life in Urban USA and life in deepest rural Charente.

If the research is to be believed then 15% of male estate agents in the US carry a gun and 10% carry a knife for protection. I'm guessing that the stats are a bit distorted but even so it makes me grateful for the life we have out here.

I'm not naive and understand the risks that (particularly female) agents take - I was at Savills when Suzy Lamplugh went missing in 1986 and fully support the brilliant work done in her name by the Suzy Lamplugh Trust.

Life is, thankfully, slower & safer here.

I did a quick straw poll of some of the local agents I deal with in and around Jarnac.  All carried a mobile phone with them but the most dangerous weapon that anyone admitted to was "yesterday's baguette which I left in the car by mistake"....

www.cognacproperty.com 

French holiday homes - is it "le recovery"....The Guardian 26/3/11

There's a nice story in The Guardian this morning which I'm delighted to say features a couple of quotes from yours truly.

Written by respected journalist Graham Norwood the sub-head is "Britons who own a French holiday home have had to weather a much gentler downturn than in Spain – and house prices may now be on the up".

You can read the full story here.

I'm not convinced that we are going to see substantial changes in price (in either direction) anytime soon over here but I definitely stand by my quotes that transaction numbers of international buyers are on the increase again. 

I think that we may see a small, single digit, increase in prices reported for 2011 but as I have said so many times before stats like this are pretty meaningless.

France is a series of hundreds (if not thousands) of micro markets and scientific valuation techniques are non existent.  The owner says how much they want and the agents add their fees on.

If you're thinking of buying in France then for goodness sake take the advice of someone who lives, works and breathes in their local market.

Meanwhile I'm waiting for a few of the 1,130,000 Guardian readers to get on the phone and brief me to find them a holiday home in the Charente!

www.cognacproperty.com

Top 10 things I love about our life in the Charente

I've just finished reading the Chris Evans book "Memoirs of a fruitcake".  I happen to think that he's a broadcasting genius who pretty much invented the format that all breakfast shows now seem to take.

He starts each chapter with a top 10 listing and it got me to thinking about the aspects of my life here in rural SW France that I most enjoy.  Some of them would be possible in the UK too.....just sadly not if you happen to be commuting up to the West End with the senior partner of a leading property consultancy demanding his pound of flesh each day.

So here goes:

10. The weather.  It's the 2nd sunniest part of France and that little yellow ball in the sky tends to make me happy.

9. The landscape.  What's not to like about rolling hills full to bursting with vines & sunflowers.

8. Reading L'Equipe each morning in my local café...and teasing the owner about the rugby when England win.

7. The schooling.  So far so good - sadly the girls are saddled with my DNA (and subsequent lack of academic ability) but the schooling is excellent and they're thriving.

6. The dinner parties.  Beef from the Limousin, wine from Bordeaux and the company of some of the friendliest people on earth.  It helps that a few of them own their own vineyards!

5. My job.  Driving through the vines and coming across houses that have stood proudly for hundreds of years.  What's not to like?

4. Being able to eat a sandwich outside in my garden that costs a few centimes to make, rather than raiding "pret a manger" and paying fifteen quid to eat lunch while reading two page memos.

3. Cognac town itself.  Blues festival, lunch at Chez Claude, walking along the river, going to the cinema on a rainy Saturday in winter, taking the kids ice skating....it's a charming town and I love it more each day I live here.

2. That we eat together "en famille".....every single night of the week.

1. The fact that I know the names of all the children in my youngest daughters class and most of them in my eldest daughters too.  I've even been known to take the odd hooky day to go on day trips out with the school.

Sorry if this comes across as "smug" at all....it's not meant to.  Without the experience & money I gained over those 20 years in London then the move wouldn't have been possible.

I just wanted to share some of the best bits about life out here and say that if you're at all tempted to quit the ratrace and do the same thing then it truly can work.

www.cognacproperty.com

Charente estate agents - my wall of fame

Fortunately I have been pretty busy lately, scouring the countryside (weather permitting) on behalf of four different clients, all of whom want to visit, and buy, either in December or January.  I have racked up plenty of kilometres in the company of many local agents immobiliers.

There are literally hundreds of estate agents on my patch.  Even I don't know them all and I'm living and breathing property out here five days a week, 52 weeks of the year (well, maybe with the odd holiday thrown in, but you get the picture).

Some of these agents really are first class - helpful, professional and trustworthy and so I thought it worthwhile sharing some of my favourites with you.

Cognac - the first house I ever bought on behalf of a client was a small townhouse in the centre of Cognac and we bought it through a delightful chap called Jerome Desset. He has since started his own agency and I have yet to find a more thorough agent out here.

Jarnac - there are some terrific agents in Jarnac including Charente Immobilier and Ariane Immobilier. The one that I would like to highlight though is an agent immobilier called Hervé Pauillac who will be starting an office on behalf of Maison d'Immobilier in the town centre.  It will be a tough market to crack but Hervé is the most honest and mild mannered agent I have worked with and I wish him luck.

Ruffec - I have mentioned them before but I always look forward to viewings with Christophe Guay and his team at TIC Immo.  They are a truly friendly and professional bunch and heartily recommended.

Chateauneuf - there's only one winner here.  I have been working with Don Kingdom of Cabinet Pellet since I started out in 2003 and it's been a pleasure.  We must have shared thousands of cups of coffee while out on viewings and his agency always seems to have something different to offer.

Angouleme - what a crowded market place with nigh on 100 agencies to choose from.  My favourite for sure is John West of Leggett Immobilier.  He's a trained architect and a true professional. When I view houses with him I tend to stand back and listen as he can spot things in an instant that it would take me a week to come up with.

St Jean D'Angely - another town swimming with agents.  My favourites are the little known Immobiliere Saintongeaise and Caroline Knight.  They are a small, friendly agency and I know from experience that Caroline really looks after her clients well, guiding them through the process from start to finish.

Villebois Lavalette - this is a simply stunning town and my first port of call is Anne Montauban of Europ Immobilier.  She's enthusiastic and knows her local market like the back of her hand (or "like her pocket" as they say over here).

Barbezieux - I usually start any searches here by speaking to Georgia Taylor.  She has lived in the area for a while now and her "little black book" of local artisans is almost as full as mine!

La Rochebeaucourt - this is a bit of a cheat as it's Joanna Leggett of Leggett Immobilier.  They actually have agents all over France including Charente, Charente-Maritime and my other neighbouring departments. Their website is one of the best around and Joanna is always most helpful.

Of course these are only a few of the agents I deal with - there are dozens more that could have made this list and apologies to those who I have left out.

If you have the time & inclination to visit them then I'm sure you will be given a warm welcome.

Don't forget though that by appointing me you would automatically be given access to all of these agents plus hundreds more (as well as those notaires who sell houses too). 

The beauty of appointing a buying agent is that we have the time, contacts and local knowledge to help you view everything that is on the market.....and often properties that aren't even being formally marketed or are only for sale privately.

Anyway, hope you found this useful and if you're an estate agent covering departments 16 & 17 and think you have something different to offer my clients then please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Who knows you might even get a mention on my next wall of fame!

www.cognacproperty.com

Charente property values - all over the place

Let's get one thing straight.  The valuation of residential property in France is not, and never has been, an art form.

Out here it's usually the vendor who decides how much he wants and then the agents add their fees on top.  That's why you can walk down a high street and see the same property at different prices in each agents window.

Throw in the fact that vendors often don't tell all the agents that they're changing the asking price and I've seen a difference of €70,000 on the same house (I kid you not).

It does seem to have hit new heights recently though.  Ever since Lehmann brothers tumbled and the crise financiere began in earnest property prices seem to have gone haywire.

Some owners have slashed the asking price, others refuse to budge.  Some agents still say they're busy and that the market has not changed (hmmm) while many others have simply shut up shop and left the premises.

I mention all of this because I had a client out last week and at one stage we spoke about value for money.  It's a difficult one to call at the moment and you have to rely upon experience and gut instinct more than ever.

What I can say for sure is that the first house I took him to was a corker.  With an (albeit over inflated) asking price of €475,000 and a nod & a wink from the agent that the desperate owners would accept around  €330,000 it has the makings of an exceptional bargain too.

www.cognacproperty.com

Under €100,000....the gems still abound in charente

How's this for a view?

I've just finished a search for some clients from Sweden. They estimated that it costs them €1700 every viewing trip and they instructed me after their last visit didn't uncover the house of their dreams.

It was possibly my most fulfilling search of the year with an ultra tight budget and a pretty specific brief.

Anyway, I managed to find a dozen or so absolute top notch properties for around the €100,000 mark.

We managed to negotiate an excellent price on their favourite and the papers are with the notaire now.

Good condition, three bedrooms, 800m2 of gardens and close to a pretty village complete with bar/restaurant.....oh, and a view from the hamlet that is simply out of this world.

www.cognacproperty.com

Immobiliers - time to change your DNA

Thanks to Jim Muttram for pointing me in the direction of this article in business week.

The bit I really like is this:

The old rules taught you to ask, "What is my product or service, and how can I sell it to you?" With that question, adversarialism was baked into the DNA of the buyer-seller transaction.

The new rules ask, "Who are you? What do you need? How can I help?" This creates a dynamic of advocacy and mutual accountability. The more trust you build, the more value you release, and the more wealth you create.

This is exactly how I feel about my business. Traditional estate agents say & think "I have these houses on my books, which one would you like to buy".

My business model is all about communication. Finding out what my clients dreams are and helping turn them into reality. Interpreting the brief, doing the legwork and working together to find the ideal property for them.

It sounds grand for a small business finding property in the charente but it's true and the fact that many of my clients have also turned into friends seems to bear testimony to it!

www.cognacproperty.com

The "once in a year" house

This is year six of my life finding houses in the cognac region for clients.

Each year I find the "once a year" house where I come rushing home saying "what a place I've just seen, we really need to buy it".

Yesterday was just such a day.

I was out viewing with Jerome, one of my favourite agents.

He showed me a house 2 km's from the centre of cognac with a garden that slopes gently down to an arm of the charente.

The house is architect designed, light & airy with all mod cons including underfloor heating and a beautiful log burner.

You can see by the photos above that it's a pretty special place with both a pool and canoes ready to launch on the river.

All for under €400,000.

Sadly the senior partner is having none of it which I guess is a good thing and, of course, we won't be making an offer - but boy is it a special place.

www.cognacproperty.com

What price ear plugs?

I went to visit this house today on behalf of clients.

It truly is one of the most magnificent houses I have ever seen and is on the market for just €400,000.

The salon is 120m2 (about the size of most normal houses), it has a marble staircase running from the entrance hall, 6 bedrooms/4 bathrooms and a stone terrace with steps down to the pool.....all surrounded by about four acres of land that runs down to the Charente.

Sadly it's on the N10/N141 axis and the traffic noise is constant.

How on earth do you put a value on a house like that. Just about anywhere else in the Charente and it would be a million euros. What price ear plugs?

I'll send details to my clients of course but quite what I'll say about it I just don't know.

www.cognacproperty.com

French property purchases go global....

It looks as though the property market is coming back to life and it's not just UK buyers that want to buy into the French dream.

Readers of this blog will know that I'm currently mandated by a South African family and a couple from Sweden as well as clients from the UK.

The FrenchEntrée Property Finders network is also beginning to take off.

My colleague Janine in Bayeux has just had some clients visit from Hawaii (and signed the compromis on the first house they saw).

John (Dordogne) has just finished a search for a chap from Holland, Caroline (Mayenne) is just signing up a client from Thailand and Rebecca (Nice) hopes to sign up a US client this week.

That's not a bad global portfolio. Of course our core business will probably always be from UK purchasers and now we just need the green shoots of recovery to continue to grow unhindered.

www.cognacproperty.com

Bleak headlines.....but charente houses prove popular

More economic doom mongering has been hidden away by a swathe of corrupt and immoral politicians. Question Time was spikey last night.

The fact that the UK has so many "leaders" who clearly lack integrity is mind blowing and I feel sorry for those who have done no wrong and who are currently tarred with the same brush.

I read this morning that the EIU say that the "brutal slump" shows no sign of abating http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/may/21/uk-economy-property-unemployment-slump with the housing market set to slow further.

On a micro level though I have seen a sharp increase in enquiries for property in the Charente and am now searching for four different clients. This is just about capacity for me as I couldn't do a thorough search of the market if I took any more on.

I realise that, given I'm such a small business, statistics like this are meaningless but it does give me cause for optimism (not that I ever need an excuse).

MP's may live in cloud cuckoo land and Rupert Murdoch may still be raking it in by churning out bad news but it looks as though the man in the street has had enough of putting his life on hold.

Here in France the sunshine beckons, the cherries are out and I even had a handful of strawberries from my plot last night. There are some bargain houses to be had and it looks as though the market is returning.

Bon appetit, don't let those buggers in Westminster give you indigestion.

Charente property values remain stable

This was in my local paper yesterday:

http://english-news.charentelibre.com/editionEn.html

The local notaires say that despite fewer transactions and fewer British buyers prices in Charente rose by 0.8% last year.

Now, who am I to contradict the might of our respected notaries but my experience has been that while window prices remain stable vendors have been far more open to low offers.

This leads me to think that the 0.8% rise is a statistical anomoly....there are relatively few transactions anyway and maybe people were just buying more expensive houses last year.

I'm still advising clients to go in below the asking price and drive a hard bargain and can't see this changing for a long time yet.

Still, it's good to see some positive news stories for a change rather than the doom mongering that's been going on since Lehman's collapsed.

Houses in France - popular around the World

A short conversation yesterday brought home to me how popular France is around the World (and yes I know that sometimes the people, unjustifiably, get a bad press but I'm talking about the country).

Those of you who know me will be aware that last year I franchised my business to launch a network of property finders across the country http://www.frenchentree.com/french-property-finders/

Well, my partner called me to say that so far this year we've been fielding enquiries from the UK (of course) but also from Hawaii, Norway, Portugal, the USA, Dubai, Germany and New Zealand.

Who knows the reason - maybe in times of a true global recession people think that France is one of the last safe havens. Or maybe it's just the wine.

Anyway, long may it continue.....I don't care if I earn money in pounds, euros, dollars or yen and seeing some, albeit small, signs of recovery in the market are most welcome.