Now while we cannot claim to be experts, and we’ve only been in France full-time for just over two years, there’s some things we’ve noticed about house hunters here in the Haute Vienne and what they buy.
We think these are basic mistakes. Maybe they aren’t, but give them your consideration. There’s only three of them….
1. Too much
2. Too old
3. Too remote
Let’s take them one at a time, this time…
Too much…
The old farm, with the outbuildings and barn to convert into gites, with lots of land, it’s cheap, seems too good to be true. But, the old farm has been run down over the years before it went on the market. The farmhouse itself needs major renovation work. Do you know how cold those stone houses can be in the winter? Here’s an example – Our neighbour who lives in such a house, gets through more than 30 cubic metres of firewood each winter. Compare this with another neighbour living in a modern house. They burn 6 cubic metres!
A derelict croft with 3 adjoining barns on 0.37 acres (1 500m²) of land. Restoration project Village location. 65,000€” – there’s loads like this!
The outbuildings and barn that could be converted into gites. It’s a reasonable idea, but unless they’re going to be something really special it’s a flawed one. Why? Well, even in the height of the season in August we see really nice gites standing empty. You can take your pick, so you’d pick something pretty special.
Lots of land. It sounds great, but things grow fast here in the Limousin. It’s not really green for no reason. In the growing season grass grows at an alarming rate. I’d swear you can almost see it grow. Certainly people cut their grass once a week. Trying to keep a couple of paddocks, or a large garden in check is a full-time occupation. If you are here all the time you’re in with a chance, but if not, you’ll need to hire someone to do it for you. We’ve seen couples who come out for a fortnight to work on their renovation. They spend most of their time trying to get the garden back to square one, even beat a path to the front door. Problem is, next visit it’ll be just as bad.
Number 2 next time.
