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Everything you always wanted to know about France |
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France Voila - Newsletter #64
Pezenas - France - August 24 , 2002 1. Welcome home Jack 2. Yoga in Provence this September 3. Cost of Living in France 4. How to check if it is a "Scam" 5. Property in France - Is It an Investment? 6. New Services for Owners 7. Discounts and coupons from us 8. New Swimming Pool Safety Standards in France 9. Nizas - Swallows, Stars, Wine and Weblogs Plus answers to some of your questions and a new regular series of restaurant reviews starts at... http://francevoila.com/ The archives with over 600 features and articles are at... http://francevoila.com/archives/ == Sent from France by.. http://francevoila.com/ All you need to know to visit - or live - in France. Full details to subscribe, change address and unsubscribe are at the end of this newsletter. Write to me at... mailto:tony@nizas.com I really do try to answer all letters - if you don't hear from me in a few days - write louder. ===== 1. Welcome home Jack In the last newsletter Jack, our 7 year old, had just left for a 2 week summer camp. These are run by well organised and semi-official organisations partly subsidised by the region and they are very popular in France so you have to book up a year ahead. Some kids go for over a month. Jack loved it - he was in the hills about 40 miles from our village, in a group of about 30 others. Although parents are not encouraged to visit - no mobile phones although we can phone once a week - no game-boys - lots of activities and animals, horses, swimming and football and everyone is encouraged to write letters. I remember my happy days as a boy scout - but we didn't have girls in our camp !! ===== BUYING A HOME IN FRANCE FOR A BUSINESS Hello Tony My husband and I are about to purchase a property in the Lot region of France and are interested in renting it as a gite. I do not know anything about this and would like to know if you provide any guide to providing rental accommodation via your company, for example Do you have any criteria that each property must meet? How do you select your properties? How do you arrive at pricing a property for rent? What are your charges ? Do you have any statistics on which property sizes are most in demand? Would we be better off to offer accommodation for 4,6 or 8 people for example? We are looking to buy a reasonable size property in a tourist area (250m2) with outbuildings that can be converted to provide holiday accommodation. I would appreciate any advice that you can provide, Thank-you in advance, Karen = Hello Karen This is a very large and complex subject which we continually research. I have started writing a series of articles which may help - you can see these at our site Rentals There is a steady but small increase in the number of visitors to France at about 2% a year, but there is a huge increase (over 500% increase in some areas in the last three years) in the number of properties now offering seasonal rental accommodation and this is already affecting booking levels and prices. Best wishes Tony ===== 2. Yoga in Provence this September Last chance to get rid of the stress of your summer vacation (you should have booked through us) The first week of September (harvest time) in Provence in a beautiful traditional stone house, top quality cuisine - good company - learning how to lose stress through yoga, or just relaxing by the pool - seems a great idea. Still a few places left $900 per person, food lodging and tuition included. http://rentalsfrance.com/granddarene/ If I can get some of you to sign up I may be able to come myself - I need it badly ===== WHERE IS THE BEST PLACE TO LIVE ? I am frequently asked about the lifestyle and weather in other regions of France. Before moving to Nizas in the Herault Valley eight years ago we lived for four years near Lyon. We spent a lot of time travelling to every corner of France to explore and enjoyed every minute. For us, we found our perfect corner in Nizas right in the south , near Montpellier. If you ask me about rentals and tourism I can give some qualified answers about occupancy rates and visitor levels, but for the "quality of life", this can only be a personal choice. Here is a short exchange of mail I had recently where I try to be objective - but the final analysis must be an individual decision. = Hello Tony My wife and I are thinking of moving from Bath in England to France. I'm retired and think that the quality of life will be better over there and property price differentials are favorable. We are seeking a quiet location within an hour of a beautiful city and a short distance from a pretty town. Some friends have recommended the Drome and we happen to be going to stay for a week in Charlieu, north-west of Lyons, next month and will take the opportunity of exploring Drome. I would be grateful if you could recommend towns and cities for us to inspect. I've searched the bookshelves in London and there is almost nothing on this area available. I happen to enjoy walking so scenery is important without being too remote. - Tim = Hello Tim I believe the quality of life is good in France and there is still an advantage in relative living costs. Personally I would not consider living in the Drome - it has a cold winter and is remote - we do not have, or look for, vacation rental accommodation there as it is a very "specialised" market - the reason why you are finding it difficult to get information is that there really is not much to say about the area. It is beautiful in spring and summer. Valence is the main center - there is not much else of significant interest (although a lot of places interesting to visit - but not to live in). This is a personal observation, but the numbers show people travel the extra miles to the south for a better climate and more activity. - Hope this helps, Tony = Thanks Tony.............where would you recommend then? Good walking, little traffic, not too many tourists in the summer and close to lovely towns etc? - Tim = We chose, after searching hard, to buy a place and live in the department of Herault (34). If offers everything you ask for - it will change - the present population of 800,000 is scheduled to rise to 1.2 million - it is also becoming one of the most popular tourist areas of the Mediterranean - tourism is the biggest industry in France - over 30% of the French GNP is created along the Mediterranean. This year 40,000 homes in France will be purchased by people from the UK alone. Not all change is bad - when we moved to our village of Nizas 8 years ago there were 22 kids in the village school, our arrival increased this by 9% with our 2 kids, now there are over 60 in the school. The towns and villages are real living places - not tourist towns only alive in the summer. You need to come, stay and look - Tony ===== 3. Cost of Living in France I found this very interesting calculator which gives a good indication of what your salary is worth in many different countries and cities. Calculator For example, if you are earning 40,000 and live in Manchester, you will need to earn 31,442 to have the same standard of living in Aix-en-Provence - or if you earn $60,000 and live in New York, you only need $34,867 to live in Aix-en-Provence. (You will only need $24,555 to live in Afghanistan) ===== BECOMING A FOREIGNER Bonjour Tony et tout le monde, Our young family of 4 (Mum & Dad, Felix 2 1/2 & Adeline 1) are seriously considering moving to somewhere in the southern half of France (Aquitane, Midi Pyrenees or Languedoc but excluding the Cevennes area which we have read has the most rainfall in France?). We have arranged for Auntie Jo to look after the kids for a week in September and are flying into Carcassonne with a more in depth 6 month tour loosely planned for after winter with Children in tow), Should we decide to sell our wildly overpriced corner plot in East Hertfordshire our budget is in the region of 150,000 - 175,000 (restoration et al), (with a further 100k for investment purposes) and are looking for a 'project' house in need of light restoration but which has at least got services and a solid structure. The house should have at least a good sized garden or preferably some land/outbuildings with it (for agricultural and/or leisure uses & b&b/gite potential) - sounds great doesn't it..!. We want to live in an area of France with a considerably better climate than England but don't want to be too isolated (not retiring just yet!!) that has an accessible infrastructure for schooling, business, UK accessible airport. If anyone would be happy to share their own experiences or depart some practical information regarding our weeks excursion in Sept. and then our wider plan, we would sincerely love to hear from them A Bientot - Anthony & Carmella = Hello Anthony & Carmella Yours is a dream shared by many others - over 40,000 properties will be sold to buyers from the UK alone this year, many will be for second vacation homes, but an increasing percentage are people moving here permanently. This is affecting prices and availability, compared to most other countries property prices are still low and if you spend time and with a bit of luck, you can find some wonderful buys. However - if you are looking for income from vacation rentals - then the location is absolutely vital - a wonderful farmhouse in the countryside is often very cheap because it is in the middle of nowhere - there is a market for people renting this type of accommodation - but it is getting over supplied and the rental income is much lower than a place near the sea in a good year round climate. My advice is not to come to look for somewhere to buy - but to come to look for a general area, town or village you would like to live in - then stay there a while, at least a month, preferably a year and you will have a very good chance to find your ideal property. It is still a fact that most property for sale is not shown in real-estate agents window - but is sold privately by local residents. Old houses needing a bit of repair are money pits - I guarantee that it will cost more than double what you may think (and I know of instances where the cost was over 15 times the buyers estimate for necessary repairs) especially if your experience is British or American prices. It is not the materials, which are about the same price as in the UK, but the sheer volume of work to do anything with an old stone built house. I am a great fan of Languedoc and the Herault valley in particular - we looked for over 5 years all over France before deciding on our home here 8 years ago. We are 20 kms from the Mediterranean and 15 kms from the mountains - the best climate in France and a superb quality of life. Good Schooling, food, wine, sunshine, sports, music, culture - but this is our preference. Our Home Come and stay with us, we are just over an hour from Carcassonne. - Best wishes,Tony ===== 4. How to Check if it is a "Scam" Unfortunately there are a lot of people using the Internet for illegal and fraudulent ways of taking your money. Fortunately there are some web-sites which expose these "scams". You can see some information we have gathered where you can find out if a site is a "con" at... Scams ===== STARTING A BUSINESS IN FRANCE Tony Hi Tony I have just found your website and I find it very interesting, I am hoping to start a electrical and air conditioning installation and maintenance company in the south of France in January 2003, basically just me and my van, any advice would be appreciated. Regards - Gordon = Hello Gordon Setting up a business in France is loaded with regulations and paperwork. You would be working across two areas of artisanal expertise, - electrical and plumbing - for both you must be registered at the chambres des Metiers and the chambres de commerce in your region - the whole aim of these associations is "protectionism". To do this you have to attend a 5 day course, which you pay for, to understand the social security payments and tax system - you then have a "numero Siret" which can go on your invoices - without this you are illegal and will definitely be reported by other tradesmen. You need this number to be able to give invoices and have insurance for you clients. All this registration is expensive and all building trades have to pay their taxes in advance so you must budget about 1,000 a month for advance taxes and social security - you don't get this back. To get work from other building contractors you will also need a diploma from the local "trades" associations for each of the trades you offer - this takes time. The alternative is to be the man with a van and work for ex-pats on the "black" - very dangerous as you can be reported and fined heavily - your clients are uninsured and so are you - there are thousands of workers doing this sort of work, mostly general building trades and mostly Moroccan or African labour . The electrical and plumbing systems in France are radically different from the UK or the USA standards and any British or American materials or techniques are illegal here and banned from use. Apart from that - bonne chance - the weather is great Best wishes - Tony ===== 5. Property in France - Is It an Investment? We are getting a lot of mail about discovery tours where you pay for a seminar telling you how to invest in French Property and then you can go on a (you pay again) tour of a region with "experts" to discover the region and meet local agents. The information we have been given suggests that these experts rarely know much about the region in which they profess expertise and they demand commissions from the people they introduce as an independent agent. Sounds like a scam to me - We have a new article from Dawn Ramsay who gives her own thoughts on this and on investment in French property at... Buyer Beware ===== HELP WANTED Dear Tony, Don't know if you can help me, but I'm writing to you in the hope that you can. We have just (last week) bought a property in the north of the Aveyron, between Figeac (20 minutes) and Rodez. We plan to create a B&B/g te business as soon as the house is ready to take guests; we would of course advertise through you when ready. We have 10 bedrooms and lots of space, and are hoping to find a couple or single person/people, who are perhaps looking to buy in France and need a base and who would exchange some handyman work with free accommodation. We need someone with carpentry experience and preferably knowledge and expertise in the final touches of hydronic heating. In exchange we can offer not only accommodation but also help in the search for their property. I speak and read French fluently and have lived here on and off for the last twelve years. We are Aussies and as a consequence fairly laid back, if that makes any difference. I really hope you can help us or even suggest another avenue. With our thanks in advance, - Ann. ===== 6. New Services for Owners - Update More people now use the Internet to book their travel, vacations and accommodation THAN FROM ANY OTHER SOURCE. The Internet is now the single largest way of getting your property seen by potential customers and in the next two years this is expected to grow much faster. The reason is simple, customers can now, by using simple Internet searches, very quickly compare and choose the best deal for them from a much larger choice of properties. The large travel companies are already "unpackaging" their "package" offers - next year you will be able to buy just the flight - car hire - apartment or hotel from many companies such as Thomson and create your own personal "package holiday" and you will be able to do all of this on-line. This is because airlines like Ryanair and websites like ours at.. RentalsFrance.com ...have made the real cost of the individual vacation items such as flights and accommodation "transparent" . If you want to succeed in renting your home next year in this increasingly competitive market, you will need every advantage you can get. There are thousands more properties being offered in France, high standards of service and fixtures are being demanded by tenants, the laws are getting much stricter and controls, like swimming pool safety (see this newsletter), are being enforced by the police from next January. Having your own website is useful - to show people who have already contacted you photos and maps etc - but to be commercially visible to get you customers, it will cost you a lot of time and money. The Internet is not free, it never was. Now the big boys are playing, the cost of being at the top and visible to the millions of people looking for accommodation is the same as newspapers, magazines or any other advertising. In the last newsletter I mentioned some of the services we are introducing for property owner in France who want to rent their homes to short-term visitors. A lot of our new software is ready and tested and we will be launching a comprehensive range of important services through our websites in September. As you are already a subscriber to this newsletter you will be the first to learn of our new plans. Our services to owners range from a FREE website - to a full web hosting and design service. We are packing our services with features like .. Calendars you can update yourself Guest Books you can add to directly Diary and 'blogs to tell visitors about yourself Special offer coupons to give discounts Access to private forums where you can meet other owners Currency and Credit Card facilities Plus many other services we are working on But most importantly you will be visible to the thousands of visitors we get every day to our sites and even more importantly - your home will be offered to the thousands of direct inquiries we get by e-mail asking us what we can offer. We are not an advertising site, not are we commission agents or an agency - we are now offering a marketing service - but you only pay if we are successful in renting your home. We now have our own servers and hosting company at http://23333.com/ You can have a FREE website like... yourname.rentalsfrance.com yourname.1stvacations.com yourname.gulliverstravels.com which will also include you in our main index. Write to me at mailto:tony@23333.com ===== HANDICAP FRIENDLY A lot of you wrote in to say that the handicap sign for a car is accepted everywhere in France in the special marked parking places. Here is some more advice... Hi Tony. You may remember us, Tora and Rasmus from Denmark 2 years ago with the house in Aspiran? We have during many years of systematic searching for accommodation which is suitable for wheel-chair users. If you want charming and french accommodation it is very difficult to find accommodation in houses for renting. Steps, narrow corridors, small bathrooms and narrow doorways are most typical barriers we have met. Modern holiday sites are usually accessible and less charming. We have found our own way through logis-de-france. Rather cheap small family-owned hotels both in towns and rural areas. They have a very good website www.logis-de-france.fr On this site you can filter different informations i.e. if the place is accessible. This year we went to both Alsace and to the Cevennes and both places were beautiful, charming and very french. And the prices are most reasonable. For a double room, 2 people including breakfast the price was less than you pay for a nice holiday house in high season. One of the hotels was outside the village, a former silk farm, with garden, pool a place you could play petanque during the evening and have beautiful home cooked food in the restaurant. Our experience is that more and more accessibility is to come also in France. You can travel by the TGV train if you use wheelchair, but the metro in Paris is impossible. I know of a place in Bordeaux and one in Strasbourg where people who need adapted cars can rent them. It also seems that public buildings, more and more are getting accessible for all. Best regards - Tora and Rasmus Dahl = Hello Tora and Rasmus How could I ever forget you both - I am gradually getting some data but not enough for a full website - it takes a lot of time and money now to create a viable site. Many thanks for your advice - I shall pass it on Best wishes to you all - Tony ===== 7. Discounts and Coupons from us In the last newsletter I introduced our FREE coupon and offered everyone a FREE 10 euro coupon for being a reader. At last I have got the software working properly, all of you who applied for one will be sent a coupon and here is you chance to apply again (only one per e-mail/IP address)... Coupon This is just the start of a new and important feature which will be on all of our sites. We will be offering a very wide selection of coupons for discounts and services from selected properties and shops all over France including : green fees, restaurants, car hire, boutiques, tours and hundreds of other places - You will be seeing our coupons on many pages of our sites. Each one is unique and registered on our database - so no cheating. ===== Tony, I have been monitoring your progress with the website, newsletters and accommodation rentals for the last couple of years now. You may recall we rented an apartment in La Villette from you for a week in October of 2000. Very enjoyable it was too. We shared some very acceptable wine with you and Carole. Since we spent time with you in 2000, we have visited France again in 2001 for one month and will be doing it again this October 2002 for another month. Unfortunately we will not be staying in your area; although not too far away. We have a cottage in Uzes for 2 weeks from mid October. However, that is not why I am writing to you. From reading your newsletter, you have obviously been monitoring the conduct of Rental Car companies and many of the tricks they get up to. My experience has not been too bad, (Hertz), in that I have never been charged for more than originally quoted. However, I do not believe the rates I have been quoted are the best rates available. I understand you may have companies whom you recommend (and also may take commission) that I could get a quote from for this year. We require a car for three weeks commencing 5th October this year; pick up in Paris, return in Avignon (TGV) on 26th October. Can you recommend any company that I should contact for a quotation ? I trust you and all the family are well and we will look you up in Nizas if we get to pass that way. I understand you now have an office in Pezenas. You must send me the address as if we do get down there we will certainly pop in. Regards, Neil and Robyn Packham Melbourne Australia - "Gods Own Country" (After France) = Hello Neil and Robyn How nice to hear from you - happy memories _ Your best deal is to lease a car, if you are here for more than 19 days you can get a special tax-free deal. You can get some details on our page at Car Hire Uzes is about 50 minutes from us - we remember that you do wonderful patchwork? best wishes Tony and Carole ===== 8. New Swimming Pool Safety Standards in France Dawn Ramsay has been researching the new laws relating to private Swimming pools in France ...In July this year France finally passed a law setting safety standards for every type of private pool: private use only, private with a collective use (like hotels or gites), in ground and above ground pools. All properties must become compliant with the new standards by January 1, 2003. Taking another monumental step, France even gave the rules "teeth" by turning over enforcement to the local police instead of a national agency... You can read the full article at... Pool Requirements ===== JAZZ IN FRANCE Dear Tony You would not believe the hassle I have been having with Auto Europe with an erroneous sum totalling 120 which they removed from my credit card. They have admitted it, but after 3 months I am still waiting for it to be repaid. Auto Europe also charged me twice on two different credit cards for the same car hire but then did actually repay me! I will keep you posted on the outcome of the 120 refund! Actually what I am really writing to ask you is - do you know where the gypsy jazz festival is held in France? I've searched but can only find artists and my French isn't yet good enough to be able to translate everything! Would be very grateful for any suggestions. Kind regards Jeni = Hello Jeni Have a look at www.jazzfrance.com I am sorry you have had bad service from Auto Europe - they are usually very good. Let me know what happens Tony ===== 9. Nizas - Swallows, Stars, Wine and Weblogs The swallows are leaving - another sure sign that the daylight is shortening - our woodpile is ready for the kitchen fire - we usually have to light it in November through to March in the chilly evenings. When I see shooting stars from the terraces at the back of our house I know the peak summer season is coming to and end. During the first weeks of August you can see thousands of meteorites here in the pollution-free clear sky and make as many wishes as you can count stars. Another sign of summer is the wine we drink on the terrace with friends and guests from all over the world. It is a pleasure to meet so many of you who read this newsletter and drop in for a glass - especially as you take the hint and bring a bottle with you. You can see our weblogs from most of our sites - I plan to add this service to every page for owners to make quick and simple comments on their properties - or write about anything of interest. You can see my own weblog at... Tony's Weblog ===== CONSUMER PROTECTION Hi Tony, A quick question, I hope, regarding your paragraph in this month's news letter about renting properties and what to expect. We are having to rent whilst our property is finished and are now at the stage where the builder has to pay for our accommodation because he is late, which, is OK, and a very good law in France, but prior to that, because we had sold our house, we took a three month rental here, in St Maxime, and when we left we were charged an inordinate amount of money for cleaning (the new tiles had not been sealed so black stuff came off them) and for mending the blinds which we had reported to the agent and someone had come to mend them but "gave up". I hadn't thought about the household insurance, (I think the sun must be addling my brain) also I lost the front door key (at least I suppose it was me as no one else seems to know anything about it) and they want to charge us mega euro as it was a special key and very expensive. So on top of the rental monies, we have lost all of our deposit (insisted upon by the rental company) and have had to pay out a lot more for the loss of this key and for what I consider to be "spring, summer, autumn and winter cleaning". The washing up machine decided not work and someone had to come out to it and we were charged (the instructions for this were in Spanish Greek and Italian not either French or English so there was no way for me to figure out what was wrong not that I would have been able to mend it anyway). Then we were charged for cleaning of every piece of material, curtains cushions etc. whether they needed it or not, I felt at the time that we were being taken for "a ride" but with having to move and look after and keep happy my mother who is 87 I wasn't thinking straight. I am really asking whether it is law to have household insurance by the owner in a rental property or was I supposed to have taken out a policy. This is an area of rental which is very unsatisfactory for the renter and very lucrative for the owners. I have rented out my own home in the Cayman Islands and other houses there and the law is very much on the side of the renter. The whole episode has left a very nasty taste in my bouche let alone my pocket. If you can shed any light on the above I would be most grateful. Regards, Philippa = Hi Phillipa There is a lot of protection for tenants and there is a consumer protection service you can complain to. I have written about some of these and give links and addresses in some articles at http://francevoila.com/rentals/ I would certainly report the owners. All rentals must have a contract and this is a standard format. All property must be insured by the owners and for civil liability, but private damage would be stipulated in the contract of rental. Hope this helps Tony ===== We love to receive your letters and comments and we really try to answer all mail but it does get lost, filtered or vanishes somewhere to a planet of lost e-mails, (there they are turned into wire coat hangers which appear at random in our wardrobes) so if you write and don't hear from me, please write again. mailto:tony@nizas.com ===== |