Hi everyone I am new to this, so not sure what I am doing so please be patient.

My partner and I are looking to buy a place in France,
Limousin, Poitou Charentes dept. After much Estate Agents searching on the net, head is totally frazzled, but the spirit is good. Any other Ideas/suggestions of searching for properties in these dept's would be most welcome.

You will be frazzled. If not done already, make your must have list. Important to seek country or town; do you want to be close to services. Make sure you know phrases, esp 'alentours', in the area of. You want sea? Isolation? How's your French? R U using English sites or French ones? Google map can help. How will you visit?

If you can, identify an area as best you can, it's a big country. Others here will advise on the areas you mention. Why those two? Holiday memories? Is it permanent or holiday home?

French property market is very slow (mostly, tho some key areas suffer less) so deals are there to be done. Prices are highly negotiable. Try silly prices (and I do mean silly) and include notaire fees, normally on top. Take your time.

Good advice!
I have a friend (happens to be Spanish but worked with me for years in Switzerland) who bought a smallish villa in Marseillan (not too far from Béziers, Sète, Montpellier in Department Herault) quite near the sea. The property was up for 280,000 euros (a few years ago before the "crisis") but he found there was much too much to be done to make it liveable to his standards and offered 213,000 (which would more or less include his "improvements budget" to bring it up to his idea of the value of the asking price.

Lo and behold, the seller accepted the offer without even quibbling!
Manolo was so happy, though he had been ready to bargain up to about half way.. so one can never tell... sometimes it really works!

Thanks for your reply.
French language is very basic, but trying to make time for cd which i bought recently. Limousin dept, correze in particular, are top of the list at the moment. france has always been our choice when considering living abroard. Many reasons why this is so, distance from family and friends very important to us, however finance lets face it is all appealing, when looking at french property. At the moment we live in a small terraced cottage, we now both feel the need to own a detached house with land or at least a large garden. Do not mind if property needs some work done to it, but must be habitable. Dealing with connecting supplies and empty barns not an option. I must say this forum has been the one crumb of comfort in a minefield of information. Just reading the threads has thrown up so much info (enlightning to say the least) I shall be all ears if anyone would like to throw some advise in my direction. I will be just a click away.

Have you had a look at the Gers?
This small department in the middle of the Midi Pyrénées has a lot going for it.
Very green, reminds me when I used to get of the ferry and go up through Kent.
Valleys spreading up from the Pyrennees outwards like a seashell, farms, hamlets, small villages perched on the ridges, and corn and sunflowers growing in the valleys.
Restored farms (180m²) with the "L" shaped "dépendances with 5000m² of land can be had for 200-250k€. If you are willing to restore the building you can still find bargains for 140k€.
I'm hoping to move there very soon.
Geoff

Hi everyone hope all is well,Geoff thanks for the tip in your reply we have looked at all departments in the south west of france.Gers sounds great all that greenery, good climate, sounds most appealing. Habitable old house/farm with large garden/ land with work to do is our goal. A full on renovation project is out of the question for us. Budget wise were looking at €130 000 so bargin hunters we shall be. Our estate agents sent the first potencial buyer today polite very well presented woman, she was full of praises for our little cottage but as expected said she had many more properties to see. Patience of course is going to be the name of the game. Anybody
who could help in finding the type of property we are looking for in the Creuse /Deux sevres depts We are open to any suggestions. Geoff I wish you luck and hope you get your move sooner rather than later.