House Hunting Basics

(Part 3)

   Buying a house, whether in the States or in France, can be fraught with serious dangers – psychological, emotional and financial – especially for a married couple…especially if the husband and the wife have differing preferences and requirements. Fortunately, Cathey and I had complimentary rather than contradictory concerns.

   Cathey required a village house in a village with all amenities, in move-in condition, with an American-style kitchen, a discreet dining area and a minimum of two bedrooms. She wanted outdoor space – a private terrace or a courtyard – with no grounds like a lawn or a garden requiring year-round maintenance. She was unconcerned with price.

   I worried about price and was unconcerned with the rest.

   Talk about marriage as a partnership!

   My maximum price? 100,000 euros. Perhaps a bit unrealistic but understand, this was the spring of 2003. By the time that we actually bought in the fall of 2004, given the deteriorating exchange rate and the appreciation of property values over the period, I was willing to allow a few more moths to escape from my purse. And we knew that our first stop wouldn’t be our last stop. This was our ‘foothold,’ our entry property. When the time came for us to live in the Languedoc permanently, we’d trade up and there would be different, more elaborate, more costly requirements.

   My advice? Begin by making a list of ‘Must Haves’, ‘Would Be Nice’ and ‘Doesn’t Matter’. Write them down. For instance, there are village houses that are on pedestrian alleys too narrow for a car to access. For the young and vigorous, that may not matter. For us, a parking space at our door was a Must Have – a garage Would Be Nice. Check out properties available for viewing on the web to determine how realistic your requirements are at the price that you’ve set.

   As you Google and bookmark, remember that the French system of offering real estate for sale is different from ours in the States. There is no multi-list and there are seldom For Sale signs posted on properties. An agent may take you to a horrible property in a perfectly marvelous village, completely unaware that the house next door is for sale and is just the one for you. (Or the agent may, indeed, be aware that a suitable property is for sale but still be unwilling to let you know about it because he hasn’t made his deal with the property’s agent for a piece of the action.)

   As a result, the French have both real estate agents and property advisers. The agents have their portfolios of properties and the advisers have their stables of agents. Your internet investigations will reveal both. Email is your best friend. Don’t be shy. Be specific about your requirements. Just as in the States, there are agents adept at the ‘bait and switch’…agents who will send you information on properties pretty as a picture and priced to sell, then show you properties well above your price range or in more dismal condition than you can imagine, explaining that the properties whose information that they sent you have already been sold. If you’ve done your due diligence, stick to your guns.

   Prior to our first visit to the Languedoc, we made appointments with one agent, Paul Pasco, and one international firm of advisors – that shall remain nameless – with a franchise in the area.

   Pasco’s firm, Midi Maisons, is located in Capestang along the Canal du Midi. Paul is a Brit who has lived in France for over 20 years and knows the ropes. Of all our subsequent guides, Paul was the one who appeared to have actually read our emails, taken them to heart and, as a consequence, wasted the least of our time. He showed us two houses that came close to meeting our needs.

   The first was in the picturesque village of Bize Minervois along the River Cesse.  The village was perfect…all shops, a great restaurant and a clean, inviting riverfront for wading, fishing or just plain loafing. The house itself had recently been fully renovated inside and out. Stone exterior cleaned and pointed. Brand new kitchen. Washer and dryer in a cupboard under the stairs. View of the church tower from the terrace. And the price was right. If the two bedrooms had just been a bit bigger than walk-in closets…if the terrace had been private instead of hanging over the street…

    The second house Paul showed us nestled up against the Languedoc National Park in a hamlet above the resort town of Lamalou-Les-Bains. Again, well renovated. Great view of the wooded countryside from the terrace. But cooking was confined to a two-ring burner, the fridge was sized for a college dorm room and the nearest shops were a ten-minute drive away. Again, close but no cigar.

   Had Cathey and I not made our lists, had we been blinded by the beauty of the place, we might have bought either of those houses…and probably been most happy with our purchase. Certainly, either would probably have been a more ‘commercial’ choice with greater leasing potential than that which we eventually chose. Remember, we’re still a few years from retirement so owning a house that could defray some of the cost of ownership through holiday lettings was desirable. But not dispositive. In the end, we stuck to our plan and we’re happy that we did so.

   The property advisers were a complete waste of time. They got lost constantly. They showed us properties that were 50% more expensive than our high-end limit, properties without kitchen appliances – not even a sink – that needed to have every surface replastered or repainted or both. “Would you rather have the nicest house in the least desirable village or the least attractive house in the best village?”

   When we said ‘move in condition,’ we meant it. Stick to your list. ‘Nuf said.

   So, we came home from our first trip to the Languedoc without having secured our foothold. That was probably a good thing, giving us time to sit back, reflect and refine our parameters. It also meant that we had the time to decide in a more leisurely fashion exactly how we would finance our purchase. What exactly are the mechanics of buying property in France? Should we pay in cash? How and from whom could we secure a mortgage?

   To answer these questions, we went up on a couple of internet message boards: www.expatexchange.com and www.the-languedoc-page.com. ExpatExchange is multi-national, The Languedoc Page region-specific. I still check in on both frequently. On one of these, we met and began a correspondence with Kirk and Anne Woodyard.

   The Woodyards had recently purchased a house along the coast in Vias and were running an interesting little tour business. Cruise their website: www.musicetc.us.  They turned us on to their mortgage bank, Banque Patrimoine & Immobilier in Paris: www.bpi-online.net. The website is in French only but the Woodyard’s contact person, who has since moved on, had sufficient English for our needs.

   Pre-approval for a mortgage in the amount of 100,000 euros was surprisingly easy. After an exchange of emails, we FedExed a pile of documentation – copies of our passports, marriage certificate, bank statements, pay stubs and such. Another exchange of emails and we were approved. Pre-approved. There was more to be done when we actually chose a property. But eventually, the process led to a sixteen year mortgage at 4.6% that included 80% of the purchase price, points, interest and insurance.

   So, we had fallen in love with the Languedoc. We had seen what types of properties were available and were convinced we could find something suitable. We were pre-approved for a mortgage. All that we had to do was put it all together.