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Everything you always wanted to know about France - from France |
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Book Review : Buying Property AbroadBuying Property Abroad Subtitled "A Complete Guide to the foreign property market" A Which essential Guide Published by Which? Ltd, 2 Marylebone Road, London NW1 4DF books@which.co.uk £9.99 - Soft cover - 217 pages plus 2 page index Not a Pillow book, but plenty of lists (Japan does not get a mention). Not a complete guide either, but perhaps a fair start for anyone thinking about buying property abroad, as long as it is France, Spain, Italy or Florida as these are the only places covered in any depth. Other European countries are dismissed by the opening phrase on page 209 "If people want to visit or live there, it's a potential overseas property hotspot" - wow - Russia is written off in two sentences on page 210 along with most of the rest of the world. Morocco does get six sentences on page 211 however As I live in France I went to the French section first, 6 pages including a map, only to find the information about residence is many years out of date - there has not been a Carte de Sejour in France this Millennium - the information about taxation is also misleading and should either be explained better or left out. What the book does really say - and to give it credit it repeats this many times - is "get professional advice" and don't always believe what the estate agents tell you. I did find the lists useful, from the Decision to Buy, Choosing, Buying, Owning, Moving and then perhaps Selling. Each section has check lists and bullet points to help you plan and budget. Also in each section there are many useful websites and contact addresses where you can get more detailed information and, most importantly, you are constantly reminded to get independent professional advice for every stage of planning buying and owning. This book did not live up to the claims on the cover - It did not tell me the "Best Buys for Investment, holiday and retirement" - It did not expose "Scams, rip-offs and schemes to avoid". Reading it I felt as if I had driven into a multi-story car park and somehow followed the arrows all the way to the exit before I found a parking space (I did this once in Guilford - and left) The best bits are the quotes all through the book in large type -" This year's emerging market could become next year's white elephant" and "Be wary of recommendations from developers or their sales agents", but I especially liked "A proportion of agents see foreigners as relatively uninformed consumers who are easy prey." - yes, like 99.9% of these rascally agents . For the price of coffee and a sticky bun on the Champs Elysee this book could save you a lot of grief if you take the advice it gives and get independant professional advice (there, I said it again). Tony Tidswell Montblanc May 2006 There are over 2,000 features and articles on this site about French life and living in France. You can search from the search box above. Do browse through our website and please use the advertising links, they help pay for the site. I do try to reply to all mail - Contact Me - most is about property or living in France. I publish comments in this newsletter which I believe are of interest and may help find answers for people wanting to come to France. I hope readers will go to the adverts which help support our overheads. |
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