We are a bit stunned, we think we are buying a house even with the downward spiral of the pound in the last two weeks............. our cooling off period has now expired, and we spent the whole of this week deciding to be sensible and pull out, then to be a bit more bullish and think of the long term, we even wrote the letter to the agent last night to pull out........... and changed our minds at 2pm today..... over phone conversations whilst trying to work. We missed that 1.28 rate at the end of October by three days as we had to wait for a cheque to clear and the revised French mortgage offer, kept hoping it would get better but it didn't, our 20% deposit is going over at 1.17.....but it's a 25 year plan!
Not a great deal in the pot to finish the house off now, lots of elbow grease required in our two week visit at Easter. It will have to be ready for a summer letting season........ presuming we complete in mid January as planned.
..and we are buying a 200sq m 4 bed longere in Charente Maritime between Aulnay and Matha, with a totally walled garden, 12x6m pool and the shutters are white, which will be painted blue in phase b I suspect, after the more urgent internal tidying up! The agent thinks the vendors are nuts selling at the price we finally settled on after an extended two week negotiating period, and Credit Foncier gave the valuation an Excellent rating, apparantly rarely dished out. So we hope we have minimised our madness.
I have sat on my hands and said nothing about our third attempt to buy something on LMH, I think we are totally nuts, but then there are so many reasons to buy and not to buy that we decided to be a bit less risk averse than normal. As we already are both used to running our own businesses hopefully there is a bit of method in our madness, but not much.
Finally, we are buying!!
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Blue Shutters
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Rocket Rab
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Blue Shutters
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There wasn't a credit crunch when we came 6 years ago but it still felt like we had jumped from the plane hoping the parachute would open - best thing we ever did! We love our life here and although it has been hard work it has been so rewarding. If we always waited for the perfect time to do things we 'd never do anything.we definitely are taking a running jump at the deep end!!
I wish you every happiness and success in your new venture.
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Giddy Goat
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Great news Blue Shutters, I so related to your story! Don't waste too much time agonising over the exchange rate - it seems you agreed a very good price on the purchase! This sounds like "the one" at last, and I'm sure I'm not the only member here who'd like hear more. Be sure to post us a pic or two on completion! Do you have enough pics to think about starting to advertise after Christmas? You can always add more images at Easter. Now's a good time to at least get some text together, pending going live anyway - and all good fun. The enthusiasm will come over in your writing I'm sure, as it has here!
We had only a month to turn our property round before the first lot of guests arrived, but were lucky in that in respect of the property itself it was ready to move into. Is there much to do there?
We had only a month to turn our property round before the first lot of guests arrived, but were lucky in that in respect of the property itself it was ready to move into. Is there much to do there?
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be
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Blue Shutters
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House shut up at the end of October
Agents pics taken in August
Pool
Living Room
Kitchen (not to my taste but solid!)
As for exchange rates, 1/2 of the deposit secured for Jan at 1.18+ so we are happy to accept that.......and are playing Russian Roulette with the other half!
Agents pics taken in August
Pool
Living Room
Kitchen (not to my taste but solid!)
As for exchange rates, 1/2 of the deposit secured for Jan at 1.18+ so we are happy to accept that.......and are playing Russian Roulette with the other half!
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Blue Shutters
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Hope you're not being polite!! We are hoping we have the "wow" factor for photos, the garden is low maintenance (pool higher maintenance!) and totally walled so no miles of hedges to cut! We are 6km from Aulnay so nice cycling distance to Sunday market, and just under the magic hour to the coast. So we hope we have the location as right as we can afford it (not quite Rocket Rab's location!)Big Sis.. wrote:Wow BSLooks stunning.........Well done you!!!!!!!
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Rocket Rab
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Blue Shutters
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Yes shade round pool is one of my requirements, the house is south facing so plenty of sun and shade from the walls (and far less cost, as we won't be resident, in not having hedges!), I am very very fair and so always sit in the shade. I think years of gite holidays fine tune requirements!
...and yes I would paint the kitchen units (would prefer more rustic style and less fitted too) but DH thinks they are lovely, I know they will have cost a lot, I'd have spent a lot less on a lot simpler style, and not wall units! I'm sure we can Frenchify it.....
Location re sensible day's drive from ports (we use Le Harvre but OK from Calais too) and 3 low cost (but for how long?) airports Poitiers, la Rochelle and Angouleme and Limoges and Bordeaux are not too far away either. That was part of the planning, and when I read (probably on LMH) that La Rochelle airport was moving that was a big bonus too!
...and yes I would paint the kitchen units (would prefer more rustic style and less fitted too) but DH thinks they are lovely, I know they will have cost a lot, I'd have spent a lot less on a lot simpler style, and not wall units! I'm sure we can Frenchify it.....
Location re sensible day's drive from ports (we use Le Harvre but OK from Calais too) and 3 low cost (but for how long?) airports Poitiers, la Rochelle and Angouleme and Limoges and Bordeaux are not too far away either. That was part of the planning, and when I read (probably on LMH) that La Rochelle airport was moving that was a big bonus too!
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Blue Shutters
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Thank you everyone, I must say it's a roller coaster of doubt with everything that's happening financially, but fingers crossed our gamble to save changing the other half of the deposit into Euros until nearer January is paying off...... every E500 increase is another E500 for paint and pool alarm etc.
It will be so frustrating to complete in January and only have a day at the house before we can get our teeth into it at Easter.
It will be so frustrating to complete in January and only have a day at the house before we can get our teeth into it at Easter.