Sunday 31 May 2015

Renovation Project - Big decisions - France or Spain

Renovation Project - Big decisions - France or Spain

Well the time is getting close to moving out and the big decision is where are we going to go?

We have discussed this and we have decided we are definitely going to give Spain ago, can we do it all again?

We are going to have to learn another language (which is the scary part) but we will have almost constant sunshine (which is the great part)

We have spent many evenings discussing where to go, we could always buy another in France but we want to try so much before we get too old.

Spain is the winner, we already have friends there and we had always planned to move there at some point.

So the big decision is made, but I have 4 more sales going through from the estate agency and I want to see these through, so where will we go before Spain?

My only stipulation is that wherever we go there must be a toilet and shower! I am getting a bit too old for no basic facilities.

We chat with our friends one evening that have a little holiday home further down the road, these are friends that we met from the blog and who when they came over met properly as John had his head down their toilet for 2 hours after they had arrived and found out that it no longer worked. They have kindly offered us their house until we find some where, the only thing is there is no inside working toilet or shower!!!!!!!

What a dilemma, we can have a house but the only thing it doesn't have is my only stipulation that it must have!

But I am not that old yet and there is an outside toilet, plus I want to go and visit the family once we have sold maybe I can time it so that the 2 coincide and I can come back too a nice new toilet.......

Hmm there seems to be a feeling of deja vue here, dreaming of working toilets again


Oh well I may have some new stories to write soon

Saturday 30 May 2015

Renovation project - The deposit is paid

Renovation project - The deposit is paid


We have just been featured in another magazine, I still love seeing our story in print, even though this may be the last time.

This one is extra special though as the guests who are staying next week have just e-mailed to confirm their holiday and said that they were reading the magazine and saw us in there just after they had booked with us, it makes me feel like a bit of a celebrity!

The deposit has been paid by our buyers and confirmed by the notaire, there really is no going back now. We are on our last 10 days!

A lot of people who know me well, will know I am not the most organised person in the world, and for those that don't here is a prime example we move out on Tuesday morning and I have arranged too have guest stay until the Saturday.

That will give us exactly 2 days to pack the house and move!

But hey that's life and I do work better with a tight deadline.

I am also really busy working with the estate agency and I finally have my first sale go through very smoothly, at the same time I also confirm 4 more sales.

So at the moment I am working with the new couple who have just bought, dealing with 4 more sales and completing the sale on our property.

I'm sure some where at the beginning we said we had moved here to get away from stress, that is now completely out of the window and stress levels are at an all time high!

But on the bright side, my spoken french is coming along at a great rate and for all of those that are still worrying about making the move, yes you can move too France and be successful (if you are willing to put the effort in, I never said it would be easy but I will say it will be worth it!)

John has the fun of going through his shed, most of the time you can not move in this shed but it has to be emptied completely for the new owners and I really leave him to do this on his own.
It looks so different when he has finished!

The rest of the house will be quite easy as we are selling all of the furniture with the property, we are only taking our personal possessions, but that means emptying our bedroom. I have files and papers everywhere, but they can wait until we are ready to go.

The big bonus is how much weight I have lost since moving to France and as I go through my clothes, I realise that very few of them now fit me. Most women will understand this, I had clothes that I loved that had become too small, but I didn't want to get rid of them, because one day I was going too get back in to them!

Well that day has come and gone, the big bag that had traveled to France for my 'one day' are now too big and it is so nice to be able too clear them out.

Unfortunately I now have very few clothes that fit but hey, that just means a shopping trip once we have the money from the sale!


Happy days

Tuesday 26 May 2015

Renovation project - The sale is getting close

Renovation project - The sale is getting close

The veolia report came back and everything conforms, everything is in place, we are ready to sell.
We let our buyers know that everything is ready to go.

The SRU letter is sent to the buyers, this is really important and the letter must go to the home address of the buyer. This gives the buyer the final 7 day cooling off period. Then the deposit is paid. In France a 10% deposit must be paid to the notaire.

The system in France is so much better than the UK, there is no backing out at the last minute, no worries that a sale can get to exchange and somebody can change their mind or you find out that something is missing.

It really is all systems go!

Now we have too get everything in place we still have our last bookings for the B&B, but we have now taken the advert down from the main engines such as Booking dot come and AirBnB.

Our biggest problem is remembering all the sites where we advertised.

The last thing we want is for a booking to come through as we leave, and now we are definitely leaving.

It is a very strange feeling, all we have done, all we had planned, all we had achieved has now come to fruition, we are selling up!


We have still not packed yet, we still want to wait for the deposit, our buyers are very eager to move in, but after the fiasco of moving in the UK, we want to make sure all the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed. But it is getting closer!