Archive for: April 2007

The film “A Good Year” with Russell Crowe had it’s DVD release on Tuesday April 17 - I was there to show journalists the changes in property prices and what was on offer. Peter Mayle is most unlikely to mention …

Shorten long, difficult to remember URLs

Website URLs are getting longer and cumbersome. Not only are they difficult to remember, it is also a pain sending them in emails because they wrap on to more than one line and become un-clickable! …

We got back late last night from meetings and presentation of property in the Luberon.

The film “A Good Year” was made from the book by Peter Mayle (”A Year in Provence”) and the team promoting the DVD asked me …

Working from home makes Wednesday special because our kids come home from school in time for lunch - due to traditions based on the needs of farming communities, there is no school on Wednesday afternoons, so even in term-time we …

Well not actually the wizard although in a way it is the same as the story of the “Wizard of Oz” - It must be over thirty years ago that Peter Mayle chucked his job in advertising and later went to live in a cold and draughty farmhouse in the South of France.

Sunday morning in the South of France, I have just come back from the boulangerie with warm bread under my arm and had a Marmite baguette and Fresh coffee in the sunshine - my son Jack and I are now …

In my life so far I have done many things, I have had a building company in the UK and had to learn most trades the hard way. When we first came to France I even brought my bricklayers “hod” with me - you could hear the laughter miles away.

Even with this experience and building and renovation my own properties in France, I have had some bad and expensive experiences. Imagine the difficulty in employing people hundreds, or thousands, of miles away and with limited knowledge of French building techniques and prices.

I tend to avoid comparisons between the UK and France. But there is one area I have found where every time I prefer the British variety.

Buying a home in France and then renting it to pay the mortgage, or to give you some income for your retirement seems a great plan.

Property prices have been rising strong and steady for ten years now and in some places, Languedoc is certainly one of them, property prices are set to keep up a steady growth.

So investing in French property and renting it out looks like as simple as shooting fish in a barrel - but being a landlord is never simple, being a landlord when you are hundreds of miles away, possibly thousands of miles away has certain problems.

I hope this part of an email exchange today helps some people who are looking at adverts or going to exhibitions about buying French property.

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Hi Tony,
I am becoming more and more confused! I originally approached the “wonderful” people at MRI and we booked the trip with Ryanair to Carcassonne airport with them.

Now I’m just not happy with them at all, and the one certainty is that we don’t want to have our “hand held” by these people. I’m just about to cancel our arrangements with them, but I felt I needed something in place as we still had flights booked.