The Good Life France Magazine




The Good Life France Magazine brings you the best of France - inspirational and exclusive features, fabulous photos, mouth-watering recipes, tips, guides, ideas and much more...


Published by the award winning team at The Good Life France

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2 years ago

Issue No. 12

Sensational cities to tiny villages, food and wine, culture and heritage. Champagne, an aristocratic saffron grower, Anger, Montparnasse, Morzeine, Carol Drinkwater shares her passion for France. Gorgeous photos and fabulous features will transport you to the heart of France in this brilliant, free magazine...

Property Guide France It

Property Guide France It needn't be a puzzle says property expert and agent Tim Sage as he looks at the selling process For sellers in France there is both good and bad news resulting from the UK decision to leave the European Union. We’re not here to go into the rights, wrongs or otherwise of Brexit but let's start with the bad news. Over recent months, up to the end of June, most of France saw a market with roughly two homes for sale for every buyer available. The trend is now heading towards three for every buyer, as potential home seekers in France await the tangible results of Brexit. This is making the existing sellers market harder to compete in. How can you help yourself to be one of the lucky ones? That's where the good news comes in if you’re a Brit looking to move back to the UK. If your home has been on the market for a while, then the first step you can take is to reduce the asking price and here’s why. Towards the end of 2015 we saw the exchange rate between the euro and the pound at around 1.45 euros to the GBP while current levels (August 2016) are at around 1.18 euros to the GBP.

If you hoped your home would get you 200,000 euros, at last year’s rate you would have realised around 138,000 GBP but now that same price will generate about 170,000GBP. Reducing your asking price by 10% will still give you around 152,000 GBP at this rate. thinking negative thoughts. That's the financial side but what else can you do?It's not unheard of for homes to be sold without the buyer visiting but it is rare so the point of advertising your home for sale is not so much to sell it on the net or in a window but to get potential buyers through your door and make them go “WOW, I really want this home”. Make your house look its best When you sell, you first visior should be the agent who will be helping you with the sale. Make sure you have enough time to prepare your home for the photographic work they want to do. There is a limit to amount of editing an agent can do, changing grey skies to blue yes - but no amount of editing will remove that pile of dirty washing up or put away the laundry! De-cluttering really helps when it comes to photos, you can always put things away in boxes ready for your new home when you sell. The second set of visitors are the potential buyers themselves. Normally your agent will be able to give at least a day’s notice and often more than that but there are times when they get a request for the same day or even within a couple of hours. Make sure your home is clean and tidy ready for the visit and don't forget the garden – grass cut and all looking good. As an agent, I frequently hear during my after visit chat with the buyers, “Could be nice but what a tip, they don't care do they”, and buyers find this offputting. They think, if your house isn’t tidy, then what else is wrong with it? Don’t give potential buyers any chance of So, the house is looking great and the garden is a riot of colour, the doorbell rings - the visitors have arrived. If you have a dog, put it outside even if its friendly. Not everyone loves animals and you want to make the first impression as good as you can. Put the dog out! There is a theory that the smell of freshly baked bread or cake and brewing coffee will enhance the viewing. I've no doubt it will but the smell of burnt bread or cheap coffee won't! Without sounding like an advert, Febreeze works not by covering unwanted smells but removing them (yes, proven) and leaving a fresh smell in the house. Personally I'm all for opening doors and windows for fresh air but there are times in the year when, in the agricultural parts of France, they're best left closed! If you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact The Good Life France or direct to