House Hunting republished by Blog Ghosties Oct 3/2011

This was republished October 3, 2011 - I was only making corrections to text which had become distorted.  Hmmm...blog ghosties ??  Please see the most recent post on October 2nd entitled Before moved to Poitou Charantes. Thanks for following our blog!
                                  Sorry for the inconvenience

House hunting has become a full time job. There is no Multiple Listing Service as there is in Canada and USA. We are on our own. We have to search the Internet for a property, contact by email the Web Site and they then put us in touch with the owner or the "agent". Or sometimes we find properties on an agency's website. They all act independent of each other, so we can't use the same person to view each property. This means explaining our wants each time. Also, there is never a "For Sale" sign on the property. Why it is this way is not a mystery. Traditionally French properties have been passed on to the next generation with the wife not having equal rights - Napoleonic Law (and you think it hard to change your government???). However, that has changed somewhat with documents which can be signed prior to purchasing. The Brits and other Europeans have been buying up the older (ancienne) properties and restoring them. If it wasn't for the Brits many old properties would have been left to rot. So thanks for the Brit invasion! The French prefer the newer styled villas (cookie cutter bungalows) with all the modern amenities. So, to fill the demand for houses changing hands more frequently and a way to make money, "immobliliers" offices
and web sites have sprung up  - but they don't trust each other. As a consequence of this mistrust, very rarely is the front of the house photographed and the address is never on the Internet. There are 1000's of houses for sale and I just know ours is out there - if we could only find it.
We have seen the perfect house in the wrong location and the perfect location with an "iffy" house. But on our travels we have come across delightful sights.
Here are a few:

Little Hut on perfect lot

View from back of house - so beautiful!

Droplets of rain on grass

Wild escargot!!

We are becoming adept at the "code" words in the ads. We have found that all the properties, except one, are NOT more beautiful than their photographs.

 CODE WORDS:  

Villa - a holiday home, bungalow

Modern villa - newly constructed usually a two storey Holiday home - not somewhere you would live all year 

Village house - tenement - attached to other houses

Town house - see Village house

Maison de Maitre - (gentlemen's home) beautiful old home, usually two or more storeys in a village with a small amount of land 

Character house - house with original appointments (beams, tile floors), may also be a village or country house

Country house - may actually be in a village!!

Farm House -  usually renovated with land and outbuildings such as garage or barn

 Chateau - far above our budget!      

   These terms are loose and may only pertain to this area, but as you can see we have our work cut out for us. Wish us luck.........  

Had this one Sunday afternoon  yummmmy