Re: Hello or should I say bonjour !
 

Patois charentais!

Re: Hello or should I say bonjour !
 

Fair enough - as it's an URSSAF link, I thought it was specifically French for employers/ees of any origin. And you're right, a posted worker couldn't be "résident" anyway... :o

Re: Hello or should I say bonjour !
 

Hi all thanks again for the input lots to think about

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Hello again France hope your all well. have a few more questions; can someone recommend movers from UK to France ?
Anyone use someone to transport their dog ?
Why do estate agents charge so much ?
Anyone buy private ?

Re: Hello or should I say bonjour !
 

Hello again France hope your all well. have a few more questions; can someone recommend movers from UK to France ? Where in the UK to where in France?
Anyone use someone to transport their dog ?
Why do estate agents charge so much ?Because they do? Because they can? Because they want to make a living?
Anyone buy private ? Yes, I did.

Re: Hello or should I say bonjour !
 

The charges payable to the Notaire and the estate agent keep the market from bursting into flames.
In the UK, it's common practice (for some) to buy low, do a quick and dirty renovation and sell on quickly for a profit. Given the charges in France, this isn't possible - otherwise house prices outside the major cities would be up with UK levels.

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I didn't use an estate agent because I couldn't see the point.
It's not hard to find properties for sale without using estate agents websites - leboncoin, SeLoger etc, plus various forums and random ads in local newspapers etc etc etc.
I found plenty of possiblilities without resorting to immo sites, and when I decided I dealt direct with the seller and the notaire and everything went without a hitch. So I'm not sure what the immo might actually contribute to the equation. To my mind it's just one more person involved in the process and it's going to cause delays. For someone who doesn't speak French I guess an English speaking immo would translate, but I would have thought it would be far cheaper to employ a translator/interpreter by the hour when you needed one.

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Moving from Essex to Normandy just wondering if those who had a good experience might suggest the movers they used . Glad someone who chose private sell worked out well .

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Oh and those who have a dog did you take your dog in the car or did you pay a company to take them

Re: Hello or should I say bonjour !
 

Well, I hired a van and self-moved, and I don't have a dog.
But if you're driving over in the car, why would you send your dog separately?

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In our case the notaire through whom we bought our house provided a translator with knowledge of the process for the compromis de vente and the acte de vente for 250 euro. I don't know if this is considered reasonable or not, but as all of you home owners know, these meetings can take some hours. We were happy to pay what was still a small percentage of the notaire's fees and indeed the cost of the house.

Re: Hello or should I say bonjour !
 

250€ sounds very reasonable for a translator with legal competencies, considering how long these documents can be and how much there is that can need discussing. Plus if the translator/interpreter is known to the notaire you can have confidence that they are competent. I don't know if all notaires provide this service, but if the first one you approach doesn't, you can keep looking until you find one that does.

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I think most notaires will arrange a translator for you. In our case the translator suddenly cancelled so one of the legal secretaries in the company who spoke excellent English did the translation for us. Maybe that was why the price was reasonable. I hope she got a bonus for those extra skills.

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We found the local agents a good starting point for comparing prices and getting to see on paper all that was on offer. We soon found out that the local French agents had a very different selection from the agents that specialise in overseas purchasers and also that stats on price per m2 etc were useful when gauging value. It is easy to think that everything is a bargain when you are comparing to UK prices! Total fees including agents, notaire and taxes does soon add up but you have to include this in your total budget. Our experience was that prices through French agencies was much closer to the bottom figure that a vendor would accept whereas overseas agent prices seemed heavily inflated and experience shows that offers around 25% less were not uncommon! After a year of renting (which I would again strongly recommend) we felt experienced enough with enough local contacts and friends to know the market in our chosen location well enough to explore the private sales options. Whichever you chose do LOTS of research and fully understand the process which is VERY different to the UK.
In terms of travelling with our dogs we always use Eurotunnel as it only takes 35 minutes and they can stay with you in the car as we do not like to leave them in the car in the belly of a ferry but they are a bit spoilt!
Finally, we did use an international mover (Britannia) when we eventually moved all our possessions over, expensive yes but no hassle.
Good luck with your search.

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There is a online site where you can find sold house prices.
It is not as comprehensive or easy to navigate as equivalent UK sites.
Sold house prices
You also need to check if the agents fees are included in the sale price. i.e. the buyer pays the fees and the seller gets the net price.