Military campaign

February 2011
We arrived in Paris in the early morning of on Saturday 19th February 2011 and caught the train to Limoges, where we spent the first night. After collecting our car the next morning, we headed for La Creuse and there began an intensive week of visiting properties and meeting agents in the towns and villages of, among others:

La Souterraine, Arnac, Lauriere, St Sulpice, Lafat, Colondannes, Chalus, Excideuil, Dussac, Objat, Chabrignac, Donzenac, Uzerche, Chamboulive, Coussac Bonneval....

It felt like a privilege to have access to some of those old buildings, with their magnificent roofs and cool interiors smelling of hay. Some were still in use; others had urgent need of TLC.  The weather was icy cold, there was often mud and lots of it, and we were often exhausted, but it was exhilirating too. The Military Operation was going according to plan. We were where we said we'd be; and miraculously, so were they!

Some of the agents spoke English; some were English; others spoke no English at all. G was - and is - my hero.

We managed to see some 13 properties that first week. All but two had a major if and a but.

Possibility # 1. The barn in Lafat was beautiful. It was large but not cavernous and was part of a small village. It had a small lean-to outbuilding which was characterful and had Potential. And it had a nice flat garden heading off down to a stream. Its cons were that it faced north, so the grass was dominated by moss. It was bigger than we needed (and therefore more expensive to renovate and maintain). And it was about as far north as we wanted to be. Perhaps too far north, from the point of view of winter weather and reliably warm summers...

Possibility # 2. The barn in Chabrignac was beautiful. Not very large but tall. And it had a commanding view of the stunning countryside in almost all directions. It was big sky country, here. It faced south-ish. It had a small four du pain, a meadow with three apple trees, and a field under cultivation. Part of a hamlet of about 6 dwellings. Its cons were that it sat at a crossroads, though the roads were quiet; that it had a neighbour's metal shed right hard up against it. And its field was not adjacent to the barn, whereas the neighbour's field was. Adjacent, that is. Odd.

We spent a quiet weekend at Uzerche, holed up in the Hotel Teyssier, on the river. The town was almost deserted and it was hard to imagine it a bustling centre in the summer. We had a wonderful walk along the river, watched formations of geese flying north overhead, and picnicked on bread and cheese and saucisson while watching kayakers on the river.

The following week, we revisited the two barns we were keen on and spent hours cogitating and discussing their relative merits.

We put an offer in on Chabrignac the day before we had to leave, and a few nailbiting hours later, it was accepted. We had taken our plunge into the waters of French property purchasing!

Nos devoirs

September 2010-February 2011
Serious homework. Six months of it.

G and I returned home on a mission. There ensued weeks of poring over maps of France, trying to decide on an area in which to concentrate our search for a property. At the same time, we were searching online the many websites of French Immobiliers who were advertising properties in our price range. A price range which variously includes piles of stone rubble far from any sniff of electricity or water, to small houses currently occupied via barns of different sizes, from the cathedral to the une-vache miniscule.

We became more and more familiar with the terminology of the real estate industry in France; better at assessing the value of places; thoroughly obsessive about looking at just...one...more. The next property  always held the promise of being The One.

Slowly we narrowed the search to the Limousin, where, it became clear, one could get better value for money amid still unspoiled French countryside. To us, it seemed as if the Dordogne was overrun by the British and was very expensive; the Lot was going that way too. Further north - too cold; further east - ditto. Much further south we felt would be harder to access from Paris...GoogleEarth helped us gain a topographical perspective.

Trying to get les Immobiliers to take us seriously was a challenge. Numerous online enquiries went unanswered. Some agencies responded with a 'contact us when you are in the area' standard line.

So we booked our flights.  We chose to go in February, since we would see the countryside and properties at their worst and, we hoped, our sincerity would be without question: we would not be mistaken for the usual summertime time-wasters (or tyre-kickers, as the Aussies call them). Once we had our dates, we could start to discuss possible meetings and visits to properties, and with that, the tide turned and we were on a roll.

The following agencies and their proprietors/staff were extremely helpful. I'm sure they won't mind if I mention them by name:

Paul Holt of www.holtimmo.eu  -  La Souterraine
Kim Layton of Maupuy Immobilier  - Dun-le-Palestel
Richard Copeland of Grandchamp Immobilier - Excideuil
Véronique Baudry of Bourse L'Immobilier www.bourse-immobilier.fr - Objat
Brigitte Le Goff of Selection Habitat - Nuces
Laetitia Bonnard of Bourse L'Immobilier - Uzerche
Tanya Bright of www.LimousinPropertyAgents.com - Coussac Bonneval
Nigel of Agence de Piegut-Pluviers - Piegut-Pluviers

Slowly, slowly, we started to gather a list of interesting properties. By Christmas, we had a short list.
G spent hours organising appointments to see agents and specific properties. Then he had to go away on business, leaving me with the next phase to deal with... and a house full of guests. Trying to juggle household routines, work, guests and our Magnum Opus became increasingly difficult.

After everyone had gone to bed at night, I began to pull together the itinerary, which involved finding accommodation within striking distance of a morning appointment; not too far from the last in a full day's appointments. I made a folder containing info on each of the dozen or so properties on our list, together with their Google directions from the nearest town or hotel, the contact details of the agent and a photo of the property. The folder was arranged in date order, so that the relevant documents (tickets/booking references/contact details/appointments) and info for any given day were filed together. It was a masterpiece of organisation, though I say so myself.