Our Story - The Choice and the Purchase
In the car we have seven hours to share our experiences. Because my wife loves the gardening and all the green, I assumed that her preference would be for the Morvan region. Actually she found too many Dutch there.

We both have good memories of the house in Allier and regret that we haven't told each other before. Now we have been driving away from that house for two hours already and tonight we have to be back home.
When we arrive at home the video camera is immediately connected to the television and we watch the recordings from Allier. Will this be our future home in France?

But there is a lot of uncertainty that we cannot tell from the video images:

  • What are the sizes?

  • Does our mobile phone work there?

  • .....

And our next opportunity to visit Allier is four weeks only!

Our contact in French appears to be very helpful and within a few days we have answers to all our questions by fax and email. Everything looks positively and we get more and more enthusiastic. 

At a given moment we are called from France and asked if we can indicate how big the chance is that we will buy the house. There are other candidates. We indicate 98%, but also mention that it will depend of our second visit, scheduled for mid November. The agent is very cooperative and "reserves" the house for us. Obviously they cannot guarantee that another agent will not sell the house.

Mid November the house is still for sale and we again head south. 

We make another visit and meet the owner. We have the opportunity to raise all the questions that we put on paper in Holland. We also get the keys, allowing us to walk through and around the house together and watch every hole and corner.
The Purchase

When we return the keys we have already made up our mind. We will do it!

We make an offer and without much problems we get a nice price reduction.
The agent contacts the owner and the next day we can sign the "Compromis de Vente". The agent fills the form by hand and all parties put their signature. 

The Compromis indicates the name of the notary who will take care of the transaction in approximately 3 months. Also the (high) fee for the agent is indicated in the contract.

The owner has to take care of a couple of document, like a led and asbestos declaration. Termites are no issue in Allier so there is no need for a declaration. As soon as the agent has received all reports he will send them to Holland. After we sign for receipt we still have 8 days to decide if we want to proceed. We can cancel the agreement without specifying any reason. When we proceed, we have to make a first payment of 10% of the purchase price, within 10 days after the 7-days period in which we can withdraw without penalty.

One month after we have signed the Compromis de Vente we receive the letter from France. We find another copy of the Compromis de Vente, a drawing of the premises and an extensive report on the presence of led and asbestos.

Unsurprisingly, some led is found in the paint on one of the fences. It does not bother us because it is what was predicted. Also the date of our visit to the notary is mentioned. It is the date that we asked for, in the middle of our spring holidays.

We do not withdraw and take care of an international payment made to the notary. We do not hear anything from France, which concerns us. But when we check everything appears to be fully under control!

Also the notary does not give any sign of life.


The compromis de vente