DOING the research before buying can make all the difference to how successful your time in France will be.
And with the increasing number of books covering a property purchase in France you can start investigating before you have looked at your first house.
THE ease at which you are able to reach your property in France will have a real impact on its success as a holiday home as well as its future sale value.
IF you send booking agreements and information in Microsoft Word can you be completely sure that people are able to read it at the other end?
Not everyone likes Microsoft products for a start and they may just not have the software on their computer, but files in a .pdf format, which open in Adobe Acrobat Reader, may be the answer.
FRENCH laws relating to property ownership, inheritance and taxes are full of traps for the unwary, writes Guillaume Barlet.
As in England, the French authorities are becoming increasingly conscious about health and safety issues for example. But also seeking to ensure that taxes due on the sale or purchase of a property, or on the death of an owner, are not avoided.
JUST getting your head around the ins and outs of Capital Gains Tax can be a big enough challenge, but recent changes have only added to the mix.
IT is difficult to know just how many people head back to their home country with their dream of a life in France in tatters.
ESCAPING Britain for a life in the sunshine is a dream of many, but for those who have made the leap why did they do it and what are the consequences?
FINDING a reliable builder to help with major work on your property can be a long drawn out process.
If you are new to an area then it is often difficult to get a personal recommendation but there is a website that may be of help.
The Qualibat site is a database of builders that covers the whole of France and is run by an independent organisation to ensure the quality of the artisans’ work.
WHEN thinking about leaving their home country and heading to France people will have many hopes, questions and dreams running around their heads.
It’s with this in mind that Au Revoir Angleterre, by Paul Jenner and Christine Smith, should be read by anybody thinking of leaving their own country to live permanently elsewhere.
MY email inbox has had a few messages from Vistaprint in the last couple of days so I checked out their site.
They are well known for producing cheap business cards but they also provide a range of other stationary including letter headed paper and postcards.
Seeing the postcards got me thinking that you could leave a dozen or so behind at each changeover, and promote your property for peanuts.