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Taken from Cover and pages 3, 14, 15 & 16 of My Pet Lifestyle magazine Allez Français! Property programmes are now popular TV, especially those where people buy a home in the sun. Peter Elias from Allez-Français gives us some guidance on what to watch out for and also a preview of some gorgeous properties now for sale in France. We moved here at the start of 2001, having encountered such a disappointing time viewing houses with agents, but had learned so much during the 12 month trawl of internet sites and Immobilier offices. I thought that there must be a good way of passing on our expertise to others about to follow in our tracks to save them the inevitable moments of dispair. Having been a financial adviser in the UK, that was my original plan to offer advice for clients moving in this direction. But somehow, we became involved in the Estate Agency business, launched our venture at Olympia in January 2002 and have been busy ever since! Think very carefully why, where and what type of property you want to buy, it may be just for family and friends to holiday in, you may be thinking of it as an investment for your retirement and in the mean time you can rent it out to pay its way, or you may be thinking of relocating to France, but whichever it is it does need very thorough consideration as your reason for buying will depend on what you buy. We all have budgets, and my personal advice is to spend 20,000 ? less on the purchase than you have budgeted for, because there is always something that needs doing or was not considered at the time of purchase. This approach will leave you with some cash to put things right. If you need a mortgage get it approved in principle in advance ? this makes you as good as a cash buyer. I always find it strange that purchasers of property in France are always keen to negotiate a good price on the house of their dreams, but then fail to appreciate that great savings can be made by ensuring that they receive the best exchange rate from £ into ?uros. We recommend all of our clients to use our chosen currency experts, we even have a dedicated dealer to offer personalised advice. (N.B. between December 2000 and January 2001 the cost of a property in ?uroland would have increased by over 6% in less than 3 weeks). If you have got children who need to integrate into French culture and make friends, it's no good being 20 miles from your next door neighbour. If you are starting to age, you also need think that in the future you may need to fetch fresh bread and milk frequently, it can become tedious every day if its miles away, the same goes for schools, doctors and hospitals and the transport system. The French buying process is reasonably straightforward and does offer the buyer a 7 day cooling off period. However, most estate agents will expect you to sign a preliminary contract once your offer is accepted. In order to assist our potential clients, we have provided as much information as possible on our website, where there is an extensive library section. We generally spend a minimum of a day, but sometimes 2 or 3 with clients looking at properties, and we are usually all pleased with the outcome. Hopefully we can achieve the same goal for you! Several Allez-Français houses were "showcased". Top 10 Tips
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