Renovation project - We have found a house

Renovation project - We have found a house

We have found a house and had the offer accepted

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Jenny and John in Portugal

Renovation project - It´s all gone wrong, I want to go home

Renovation project - It´s all gone wrong, I want to go home

We have a great few weeks and the solicitor is really good, apparently in Portugal, once the sale is agreed you don´t have much dealings with the agent. But we are still no nearer to actually seeing a copy of the habitation licenses. But not to panic, it will be very quick once all is in place.

After all the agent knows that we have only a maximum of 8 weeks to sign and move in.

So we have a great time visiting places. My daughter and granddaughter spend a week with us and friends come over for a long weekend. Everything is perfect until we get the call from our lawyer.

The licenses have still not come through and she has chased up the local planning, architect and the camara. She has arranged a meeting for us and the architect and the sellers as she has some serious concerns.

The meeting does not go well. Apparently the habitation licenses are not in place and never will be. We have just lost the house of our dreams.

But we are so pleased that we used a reputable solicitor as this could´ve dragged on for months, we are so pissed off at the estate agent that told us everything was in place, it was just a case of waiting for the forms.

I am also really pissed off with ourselves, how could we have been so naive, this is not the first time we have bought abroad, hell for 5 years I wrote a blog and had a face book group a~giving tips to people buying properties and yet for some reason we believed this agent without seeing the proof.

We don´t have any more dealings with this particular agent, we don´t even get a proper apology.

We are now nearing the end of our 2 month rental, luckily the owner agrees we can have another month but then she will be returning and moving in herself!

My mind is going into overdrive, we are going to be homeless in Portugal in 6 weeks, we have no houses to view, we have no idea where we are going to go or what we are going to do, we know nobody here and I feel so homesick for France, I really want to go home, back to our beautiful little village, back to my friends, back to everything that is familiar. Even the weather has started to change and we are freezing at night, still lovely during the day but we are so cold at night.

This is not what I signed up for when we decided to move to Portugal, but we know that glitches happen, that at some point it will work out that today is just a bad day and things will get better and the sun will shine again in the morning.

We go back to our original search which is more inland, but now I have a taste for the coast……..

Top tips

1. Always use a reputable solicitor

2. Always make sure that the property has a habitation license

3. Don´t take somebody´s word for important issues

4. Constantly chase things up

Don´t forget to sign up to our new blog, this one will be coming to an end very soon

Renovating an old manor house

Renovation Project - We´ve found a house

Renovation Project - We´ve found a house

Well we are here on the silver Coast of Portugal and we are renting a fantastic apartment near to the beach. I had never lived near the beach before and it was not something that really appealed, but now we are here, I love it. I am taking strolls in the afternoon and life is pretty idyllic.

Should´nt we be a little stressed as we are trying to buy a new house, you would think so. But we had three in this area in our price range, the favourite was sold just before we arrived. So a bit gutted, but not to worry, it wasn´t meant to be.

The agent that we were in touch with had given us the address of the other 2 houses so we went to visit them and have a look at the area.

Our second favourite that had looked amazing on the photographs, looked quite different in real life. It was like a little house with a large pig shed. It also had a house just above that looked directly into it and a house attached that was derelict and belonged to somebody else! House number 2 ticked off the list.

If you are looking to buy abroad be very careful with the descriptions, at no point did the description say that any of the property belonged to anybody else and it would cost an extra 40,000 Euro to buy it. So in total over 100,000 Euro for something that looked like a pig shed, was on the main road and had a big hole in the roof (that was also not very clear on the photos)

But the the third favourite that was right at the top of our budget was perfect, so much so that we called at the agents office and asked if we could view it now. We did and it really was everything we dreamed of, in a very derelict, dirty, shoddy kinda way.

We put an offer on there and then, much lower but there is no harm in asking.

The evening is then spent backwards and forwards haggling until we reached a price we all agreed on. We are so lucky as it is a total of 4 houses and the 3 little houses have just had their habitation licenses agreed. The agent told us this information.

So we can now spend the rest of our 2 month let enjoying ourselves. The agent knows we have to be in within 2 months and recommends a lawyer (this woman turns out to be our saviour!)

Here are some of the photos of the area in Sao Martinho do Porto, so that you can understand why we are moving here  

Top tips.

1. Ask a lot of questions when you contact the agent initially regarding a property. Mainly questions you wouldn´t think of, for example; does any body else own any part of the property, is it on a main road, does it have running water, does any body have right of way across your land. It really is a case of think of any random question and ask it.

2. If you are buying a beautiful house that is fully modernised you can probably ignore most of top tip one.

3. Actually even if you are buying a beautiful modernised house still ask all of top tip one just to be on the safe side.

4. If you find a house you like make an offer, what is the worst that can happen?

5. If you find your dream house be realistic about your offer price you don´t want to lose it

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Jenny and John in Portugal

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Renovation project - Goodbye Jenny and John in France

Renovation project - Goodbye Jenny and John in France

picture courtesy of https://www.pinterest.fr/pin/295548794287891043/

Wow this is it, we have arrived in Portugal and as you may be aware the blogging stopped for quite some time.

It took me a while to decide whether or not to blog again and as you can see the decision is yes.

But we have made a big decision. 

Jenny and John in France is coming to an end, the blog that has given me so much is not really relevant now that we are in Portugal.

I have made some lifelong friends via the blog, both virtual and in the flesh. This was not something that I had ever expected when I began blogging, but it is without doubt one of the biggest benefits.

I have helped to put Huelgoat on the map which is great as it is one of my all time favourite villages and i will never forget people being introduced to me and hearing, oh are you jenny from the blog, such an amazing feeling.

It has also been great helping others , with advice on building, house purchasing and the little e-book that I wrote.

I have so enjoyed writing for the magazines and being featured.

But all good things must come to an end, and as we know with every ending is a new beginning, so I would like to introduce you to Jenny and John in Portugal.

We are starting at the beginning, we have sold every thing and once again the only possessions we have are what we fitted in the car, it is time to find another derelict house and start again.

I hope you all join us on our new journey, here is the link to our new blog, for the first few posts I will link on here.

Renovating an old manor house - Jenny and John in Portugal

I would like to give a final big thank you to all of you for taking the time to read my ramblings and giving encouragement and support through your comments.

So a final thank you and good bye from Jenny and John in France and hopefully a warm welcome to Jenny and John in Portugal.

Renovation Project - Our Journey is over

Renovation Project - Our Journey is over

This is it, we are on the way to Portugal. There is only approx 25 kilometres to go. This is getting really exciting now. I know we have talked about it for some time but this is actually it.

We see the border approach and this time know exactly how to use the toll road (for anybody entering Portugal via Spain in the car, read this post as it can be quite confusing, and if you don´t get your toll ticket here, life is very difficult. click here for toll roads in Portugal)

OK we have now passed the border sign, there was nothing other than the sign, I don´t know what I was expecting, maybe a little fanfare or a little welcome sign, but absolutely nothing, it was a little bit anti climatic to be honest, but hey, we are here, in Portugal. We just need to find our new apartment.

We have rented some where for 2 months in Sao Martinho do Porto on the Silver Coast to give us plenty of time to buy our own place, we have a list and are ready to go. So hopefully the next 2 months will be relaxing by the sea.

We arrive at the apartment and all goes well, we unload the car and go for a wander around.

We are literally a couple hundred metres from the beach.

This really is every thing we have dreamed of, the sun is shining, the sea looks amazing and we have a great selection of bars and restaurants on our door step. So I´ll see you all in the morning, we are going for dinner and a glass of wine in our beautiful new home.

Renovation project - Ciudad Rodrigo, Spain

Renovation project - Ciudad Rodrigo, Spain

This is it we are on the last leg of our journey, today we arrive at our destination in Portugal but before we do we still have a full days driving.

Every time we drive this trip we make sure we get to visit some amazing places, often they are chosen by the names, for example when we spent a night in orange in France on a trip, simply because I thought a place called orange had to be visited. Or sometimes it is when I have been on a travel face book group and asked for recommendations that are not on the main tourist routes. But for each leg of our trips we drive approx 3 - 400 kilometres a day and spend the night somewhere nice. This gives us the opportunity to visit so many places rather than just arriving at our destination.

We also have the opportunity to visit places as we are driving that you would other wise miss, today was one of those days.

We stop off for a tapas lunch in Ciudade Rodrigo, which is about 25 kilometres from Salamanca (which is an amazing place but deserves more than a couple of hours visit, we have spent a couple of nights there before and blogged about it, here is the link Salamanca)

But back to Ciudad Rodrigo, it is about 15 kilometres from the Portuguese border, I can´t believe we are almost there!

I apologise for the peppa pig but we had been sending photos to my granddaughter of the journey and I have just realised I had forgotten to take some photos for the adults, but Peppa really enjoyed the trip and my granddaughter saw a lot of our trip in a child friendly way.

Enjoy the photos

Renovation Project - Tordesillas, Spain

Renovation Project - Tordesillas, Spain

This is it, it is our final goodbye to France and our breakfast was a traditional French affair. We have never done the sit around a communal table before and it was not something I had really wanted to do, but it was a very pleasant surprise, everybody was French and and the owners only had a couple of words of English.

This really put me to the test but I sat and conversed with the other guests and the owners. Sods law, I´m not panicking about my spoken French now we are leaving.

The owners give us a couple of slices of cake that the area is famous for, it is home made and delicious.

if you are in the area the B&B is called chez helene and here is the link Chez Helene

We set off and some how this bit of the journey is the hardest, we really are leaving France!

But before we leave we get one final ´Only in France Moment ´we stop to get some diesel and go for a coffee and in the burger king store they have a special offer, a mystery burger for only 2 Euro. We have no idea what they are or why, but assume it is a good way to get rid of burgers near their time limit.

I am going to miss France so much

We are booked in to Hotel Los Toreros in Tordesillas (Vallodolid) this is a great value hotel as the night with breakfast and dinner is only 75 Euro.

The drive is as stunning as ever. Driving over the Pyrenees is always one of my favourites.

We stop at a service station for a quick drink and then we really know we are in Spain. a coffee, a tea and a large slice of tortilla and the cost is less than 4 Euro!

Tordesillas is a little town with a very old town square where we enjoy some fantastic tapas. We spend a couple of hours walking round and sitting and drinking then it is back to the hotel for dinner, which is fantastic in the hotel restaurant and then its to bed ready for the final bit of the trip tomorrow

We need to pop to the shop and as I do I pass a toy shop with a full lego bull ring toy, maybe now it will change to `only in Spain`

Renovation Project - Driving from France to Spain

Renovation project - Driving from France to Spain

We had a fab night in La Rochelle and I definitely want to go again some time, maybe even for a holiday, but the journey continues.

Our next stop is a quick lunch break in Bordeaux, no matter where we travel to, we always make sure that we can visit our favourite restaurant in Bordeaux, Santosha which is Thai street food with a South-East Asian twist. I am not paid for this review, but it is amazing, here is a link to Santosha , we just hope one day we will visit without rain!

We have been to Bordeaux a number of times if you want to see lots of photos and get more info, just write Bordeaux in the search this blog box and lots of blog posts will come up.

Tonight we are staying in Bayonne, in a nice chambre d´hote. It is a great location as we can visit Biarritz and St Jean Du Luz. We arrive early evening and after a short rest we set out to explore and rediscover some of our past haunts and memories.

Unfortunately we have a new sat nav and it drives us all over everywhere before eventually taking us into an underground car park with a large ramp, the car is completely loaded and the noise as we drive over is horrendous, our trip down memory lane is ruined as we both start to shout and I go into free fall panic thinking the car has just lost the exhaust.

Luckily it is OK but it is now dark and getting late, we give up on visiting this area and drive back to the B&B. we are now starving and just before we get back, we see a Chinese restaurant that is open, so we stop, the food is lovely but it really wasn´t what we had wanted for our last dinner in France!

Still tomorrow is another day and another country

Renovation Project - La Rochelle

Renovation Project - La Rochelle

Our first stop is La Rochelle. This is somewhere I have wanted to visit for years, but some how we just never made it.

If we were driving to Spain we always went a little further and stayed in Bordeaux, but because we set off after the signing we don´t really have enough time to go that far, so La Rochelle it is.

If you have never been it really is worth a visit the town and harbour are magnificent, the architecture is amazing and so old.

We stayed very cheaply in an Airbnb property, which was a room in a young man's flat very close tot he centre.

This is the first time we have stayed in something like this and it was absolutely fine. Obviously no breakfast provided but we only wanted a place to sleep so it was perfect and as the cost was a fraction of a nice hotel, we were happy.

But anyway on to la Rochelle, I will just add the photos as these speak for themselves. The restaurant we sat at was over looking the harbour, but to be honest the choice was extensive and as we are in France, you just know the quality will be fantastic.

Enjoy the photos

Renovation Project - We´re back

Renovation Project - We´re back

Hello everybody, I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and New year.

As you know we left Huelgoat in Brittany, France last year and have been very quiet ever since.

As you can imagine a lot has happened since I last blogged and I had spent quite some time deliberating whether or not to continue. I had almost decided not too but then I had to write something and realised just how much I had missed writing for pleasure, for relaxation and when I was really lucky for money!

So here we are back and raring to go.

I will also be starting a new blog as we are no longer Jenny and John in France, we will now be Jenny and John in Portugal.

I hope you all enjoy the new blog but first some amazing photos from our Journey to Portugal.

It was quite a long time ago now so it will just be photo blogs but of some of the most beautiful places to visit. Although to be honest the weather was not good on any part of the journey and the temperature as we left Brittany was 18 degrees, we didn´t see that again until we hit Portugal!!!!

here is one photo, still in France just to show how bad the weather was.

Thanks for reading and its so good to be back x

Renovation Project - Goodbye Huelgoat. We are leaving France

Renovation Project - Goodbye Huelgoat. We are leaving France

We wake and feel a little strange, this is it, we are leaving Huelgoat and this time it’s likely to be for good. There is so much going on in my head. I love this village and the area and the friends that we have made here, but now we have to make the decision of where we will be going to live and gain citizenship and at the moment Portugal is the place.

However that has not been all plain sailing, we had a selection of houses that we wanted to view, but they were all in the forest, which was so beautiful, but it was the forest where there have been lots of fires and we had to sit down and seriously think about whether we wanted to live in a place with this risk, we know that the risk is there in any country that is hot and has forests but we will be putting everything we have in to this project so very recently we have made the decision to look by the coast. There are properties available but the price is much higher.

We had got our list down to 3 main contenders, but one sold a couple of days ago, so now we have a much smaller selection and only 2 months in the rented house that we have. So our time in Portugal could be quite exciting, 2 months to search, buy and move! But first things first, we actually have to sell.

We meet our buyers at the house and go through the property explaining how everything works and where everything is. The couple who have bought the house are so nice, we are happy to be passing it over to them. We take a final photo of us with the house and then we all go to the notaires.

This is such a different experience to the one we have just had in the UK, there is no daily contact, no unreturned calls or e-mails and now on the day of signing we all sit with the Notaire and he reads through the contract.

The buyers notice a mistake in the spelling of the name, so the contract is immediately changed and updated.

The contract is on a large screen and once he has read it and ensured that the buyers understand, we all sign electronically and then the big moment, we hand the keys over.

This is such a civilised way of buying and selling a house, and so much less stress than the UK way.

But for now it will be one of the final formal things we do in France.

We all shake hands, hug and kiss each other, these people are not just the buyers of our house these people are going to become lifelong friends.

We call at the bank to make sure everything is in place for our trip and then we head back to our friends for the car and sit and have our very last meal here.

Au revoir Huelgoat, we are on our way