France Voila - Newsletter #74
Pezenas - France January 19 2003
1. London - Vive La France
2. New Property Sales Service
3. See Carole and Tony on TV
4. Ask any 3 experts
5. New Look for our websites
6. Luxury cruise on the Canal du Midi
7. Hotels Bookings on-line
8. Nizas - Recipes and the Nizas Gnome
Plus answers to some of your questions and a new regular series of
Restaurant reviews starts at...
http://francevoila.com/
The archives with over 650 features and articles are at...
http://francevoila.com/archives/
Sent from France by...
http://1stvacations.com/
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All you need to know to visit - or live - in France.
Full details to subscribe, change address and unsubscribe
are at the end of this newsletter.
Please write to me at...
mailto:tony@nizas.com
I really do try to answer all letters - if you don't hear from me in a
few days - write louder.
Tony
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I can't believe it is nearly February...
After Christmas many people think of their summer break, we are
getting a record number of bookings for homes in France and although
we have added hundreds of new properties, many are getting booked up
already so, if you are thinking of coming to Europe this year, do look
at our sites now and book as early as possible.
We are offering many new properties throughout Europe, not only in
France, but Portugal, Spain, Italy, Ireland and the UK - our new
booking engine is working on...
http://1stvacations.com
Accommodation in Europe
From one day - to a Lifetime...
http://1stvacations.com/
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Q.
Tony - can you give me websites or information about the
major antique fairs in Montpellier and Pezenas, Last year we arrived 4
days after the event and very little was available worth buying in
Pezenas. I know there are several major big events during the year,
but when I don't know.
Have you ever visited these events? and if you have do you consider
them worth the visit? You may not be an antique person to judge. Any
information is helpful. Thanks, Jan , Co. Springs, Co.
A.
Hello Jan
In my humble opinion the "fairs" here now are a waste of time - full
of overpriced rubbish and optimistic "buyers", ten years ago they were
interesting , now they are a tourist trap and a memory.
Pezenas has over 80 antique "dealers", there are a few nice pieces -
at the right price - most is junk -possibly it is now the time to look
in Croatia.
Tony
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1. London - Vive La France
Last year a record 60,000 (yes sixty thousand) homes in France were
sold to people from Britain. Last week in London there was the "Vive
la France" exhibition where many potential buyers go to get a "feel"
for France and to find out about properties here.
I couldn't get there this your , but one of our readers, Michael
Moriarty, has sent an interesting report which we have put on line...
My first impression was how grey the audience was. So many people
who were already retired or approaching retirement and were looking to
France as the best place to live out that retirement. And they were
fully catered for in an exhibition that was one of the slickest I have
attended in the past few years. It had everything ......
To see the whole feature got to....
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CAR HIRE
To get to the start of these interesting countryside walks, you will
certainly need a car. You get the best prices available and also help
support us if you use the links from our site. They don't pay us
much, but every little bit helps. Plus, all these companies come
recommended from us or our readers!
http://rentalsfrance.com/carhire/
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2. New Property Sales Service
Last year we had a link on all our pages to an information page about
buying property in France, - this year we have gone one better - not
only do we give some straightforward advice, but we can offer you a
selection of properties which have just come onto the market and offer
excellent value - even better we have found a real estate agency which
can really help you.
Click on our link and start to make your dream come true
http://francevoila.com/parindex.html
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Q.
Dear Tony, I am very pleased to have come across your informative
website and already find it of great interest and enjoyment. I don't
know if you deal with general queries but here goes: My daughter (18)
and her friend (20) are fed up with their jobs in Insurance and wish
to travel to France in Spring to do any sort of job for a couple of
months that gives them a little more experience of 'life'. We have
browsed the BBC travel website and found that grape/fruit picking in
France is very popular -do you have any thoughts on this - is it easy
to pick up a job from a local farmer if they travel to a site first or
should they organise their stay in advance? Any advice to 2 young
people straining at the leash would be very helpful. Thanks in
advance. Vanessa
A .
Hi Vanessa The grape harvest is in September - farmers will only
recruit experienced pickers - the work is badly paid and very hard - a
"greenhorn" only lasts two days on average and is too slow to keep up
with the team - over 90% of grapes are harvested by machine now and
the little work available is fiercely protected by local families who
have done this for generations.
I have heard of some "dude" vineyards but have never found one to
advertise. There are charity organisations who help young people to
find worthwhile projects in many countries, "Concordia" is one, but I
think they ask for a commitment for more than a couple of months.
http://www.pro-international.de/france-mtv.htm
Bonne Chance
Tony
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3. See Carole and Tony on TV
If you really want to know what we look like down here in the South of
France and if you can get British TV in February - then you can see us
on "A Place in the Sun" scheduled for prime time in February - I don't
know the dates yet but will definitely let you know. The Channel 4
film crew came to our house to interview us giving "advice" to a
couple from the UK looking for a home here - as usual we tried to put
them off, but I don't think we succeeded - our main problem was that
the shooting took 4 hours and we were not allowed to drink our glasses
of wine for continuity reasons.
France magazine has a feature of ours about buying property in France
in their February issue, so if you come to France, don't blame us.
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Printed catalogues.
We don't (can't) send brochures as we have all the villas from the
worlds largest catalogue companies on our sites as well as hundreds
which are only listed with us. The prices we offer are the lowest you
will find advertised.
A catalogue would be so heavy it would need a truck to carry it and
this would of course add to all the prices. Another important point
is that as soon as a brochure is printed it is out of date - on our
sites you can see more details and get more information than any
printed brochure could ever give you and you get the latest
availability and prices.
Through the use of Internet marketing we are able to save you money
and give the owners a fair deal.
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4. Ask any 3 experts
We get hundreds of questions about the laws and rules for living and
working in France and buying and renting property here. We do not
pretend to be lawyers or accountants and any comments we make are
simply from years of our experience living here.
Here is a typical letter...
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Hello Tony,
I was most interested to read your article in the France magazine
regarding rental of French property. I have additionally looked at
your web-site and was very impressed.
I have a small property sourcing business (just me and my husband) in
the Deux Sevres in the Poitou Charentes.We have acquired 3 properties
for ourselves - one as the main family home and 2 for rental purposes.
I took on your remarks regarding taxation etc, and as I have property
in G.B. well, so I suppose that bit is pretty obvious if not
unfortunate! However, the "registration" aspect is a little puzzling.
I have spoken to our local Mairie, who has said that I could obviously
register as a "Gite de France" if I wanted to, but was of the opinion
I was free to do as I pleased with short -term rentals. I am going to
contact the Mairie in town and tourism offices to see if I can find
out any more Did you have the same "je ne sais pas" attitude when you
tried to register your place?
I am keen to move over in the next 2 years, so I am trying to get
everything right and not upset anyone in the process. Our village is
really small, with only 260 inhabitants, although the old school house
is a Gite de France run by the commune.
Thank you in anticipation - Helen
==
Hello Helen
Ask any three French "experts" and you will get three different
answers - in our experience the Maries know little to nothing of the
legislation affecting rentals - a local immobilier will only tell you
the "rules" from their viewpoint and usually exaggerate the need for
their services, rental properties and second homes in France is a
tangled web of rules and legislation and this is what we are trying to
clarify and advise on.
If you register with Gite de France means you are usually obliged to
rent through them, their prices are aimed at the French market and are
much lower than the regular market levels - interestingly most of our
French owners refuse to have French tenants, for many reasons.
Our information is based on recent laws and from the statutes from the
tax offices here. As a private owner, you are free to act as an
individual but the important thing is to declare your income in
France, if you live here (for more than 6 weeks) you are obliged to
declare your world wide income, but double taxation deals will apply.
Any income from any property in France, no matter where it is paid,
MUST be declared in France and tax paid in France - to do otherwise is
tax evasion and carries the same penalties as drug running and
terrorism!!
You do have to pay a small "tax de sejoure" and possibly a tourism tax
on the nights people are staying.
Keep in touch with us through our newsletter and websites, we can also
assist in marketing.
Best wishes
Tony
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Q.
Hey Tony, looks like we'll be in your area during April. In
planning ahead, should we bring travelers checks, francs, euro, or
dollars and if more than one currency, in what proportions would you
suggest?
Also, how much lead time do you need for reservations at your place
Nizas? Can we stay a few days here and there until we settle in for a
week? Thanks for your help. Tom
A.
Hello Tom
The only currency you need is euro - anything else will have to be
changed at the banks - travellers checks are not useful and you will
still have to change these at a bank - many banks do not carry much
cash.
The most useful way of getting euro is to use the many ATM machines
with your Visa or Mastercard.
Things are getting booked up very quickly this year - our place in
Nizas has some weeks left but is full through March and April - we can
certainly get a nice place near us so you can come and join us on the
terrace for a galls or two.
I look forward to seeing you
Tony
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5. New Look for our websites
We are in the middle of a huge rebuild of our main websites - this
proves we are all raving mad as this is the start of the busiest time
of the year. We are adding features which help us to talk to you live
through our own chat-room type software and we are adding thousands of
new properties as quickly as we can. Not only this but just to make
things even harder we are moving some sites to new servers to give you
more access and speed - the main site has grown from a few pages in
1997 to many gigs of data spread across over 50 sites.
You should be seeing these changes progressively over the next month -
a main focus will be using our main site of...
http://1stvacations.com/
This is because it is the name of our trading company 1stvacations Ltd
in the UK and we are now offering villas in many other countries apart
from France, although France will our home and our most important
market...
http://rentalsfrance.com/
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Q.
Hello Tony,
Thank you for the newsletters I find them very interesting.
The latter part of 2003 we would like to sell our UK house and buy a
house in France somewhere around Montpellier or Beziers. I am a self
employed carpenter who can also carry out other trades (hate painting)
,I can not afford to retire yet so I would need some income plus I
still enjoy my work (still have another 10 years to retirement ) In
June 2003 we are going to Sete for a holiday plus to have a look
around at houses etc Please can you advice me where to look for a
job?? Are there job centers,or agents that I could go to.I will not
need to get a job as soon as we move but would like to look in June to
see what is available I have some books and data on the laws of living
and working in France but have no idea of how to obtain work. Thank
you, John
A.
Hello John
There is a building and development boom in some parts of France, but
getting a "real" job here is very difficult to impossible unless you are
French. Many British tradesmen work illegally for the huge ex-pat
community here, this is illegal and getting very risky - the
authorities are tightening up, registered builders who pay a lot for
their right to work are quick to denounce you and the risk of a claim
for an uninsured accident are high.
If you get into the French system as an artisan builder or tradesman
than you can advertise for work and give invoices, but this sort of
trade automatically puts you in a "forfait" of about 6000 a year to
keep registered, you pay in advance and do not get any rebate after
two years even if your earnings are too low. You also pay a tax on
your turnover even if you do not make a profit.
If you have all your papers and a "numero Siret", you can register
with agencies.
Tony
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6. Luxury cruise on the Canal du Midi
I have written before about our trip on the Berendina on the Canal du
Midi - as I sit here in Pezenas on a winters day, I am looking forward
to the spring and summer here in the South of France and decided to
write again about this wonderful total escape we had with the husband
and wife team of Katherine Bartley and Neil Lewis on their 75-foot
Dutch-built canal barge Berendina.
I have been trying for weeks to make the time to put some photos and
pages on our sites, but their own site gives you a good feel for the
joys of this special boat in a special place with very special people.
http://ahfrance.com/
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Q.
Tony,
We are regular subscribers to your newsletter.
As the prospect of retirement approaches, we are in search of some
reliable resources with which to begin the process of a residential
exchange in France for our 2 bed room/2 bath condo apartment situated
on the beach in South Florida.
Can you assist by recommending any specific agents or agencies? If
there are any web sites available, please advise.
If possible please respond to sjmoose@juno.com or include the
information in an upcoming newsletter.
Best wishes for a healthy and peaceful New Year.
Thank you,
Joel & Sheila
A.
Hello Joel and Sheila
There are some specialists for home exchanges, look in Google for
"home exchange", there are none now I particularly recommend.
We find that there are far more people looking for an exchange with a
French home than owners of French homes interested in another country,
over a 20 to 1 ratio, so we do not advertise or promote this service
as it would be unfair for all concerned.
Best wishes
Tony
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7. Hotels Bookings on-line
Most of the pages on our sites have 7 pictures across these bottom -
this is not a banner but links to 7 of our own sites where we offer
other services and rentals. We have just done a deal with one of the
biggest hotel, flight and cruise companies and are offering their
packages and special deals through these links. Because their prices
are so competitive we will never make a fortune on the commissions,
the aim is to give a service.
We get most of the answers to many of the questions we receive simply
by looking in Google - OK, I expect we can structure a search string
better than most as we are dong this all day every day and have a lot
of experience- but I am constantly impressed as to how powerful Google
is to find the best prices and the best deals available. When we put
on a new property, or a link like the hotels offered here, we do some
searches to make sure that the prices really are the best available,
we advise you to check the real prices and we will do all we can to
make sure you get the best value. To book a hotel or a cruise, juck
click the link at the bottom of any of our pages.
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Q.
Hi Tony -
I'd like to make a suggestion to the e-mail version of your
newsletter.
Make the Table of Contents into hyperlinks so that I can go straight
to a story that interests me instead of making me scroll down and
trying to find it.
Merci beaucoup
Sincerely,
Neal
A.
Hi Neal
To have hyperlinks in the email I have to send our an html email and
many subscribers (more than half) would be unable to either read or
open it - we are looking into software which will "look" at the
subscriber email - but none of this is foolproof - this is why we say
the newsletter is online on our site and this does have quick links to
read it.
Tony
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8. Nizas - the Nizas Gnome
Nizas is a village of less than 600 people ,so I was surprised when I
started to receive some "intelligence" about the little publicised
events in our sleepy little hollow. My sources shall for ever remain
anonymous. Here are the first lines from a person I shall now only
know as "the Nizas Gnome" (after Private Eye)
==
Heard the huge building across from rue Des Rosiers and all the land
with it is for sale, but the Mairie is considering hoping to buy
through a compulsory purchase - and I thought the Nizas was broke and
had no funds for any kind of this sort of thing. I guess I was wrong
again!! I must have a look and see who owns the adjacent land!!
Some of the "friends of the library", have finally finagled their way
and managed to get a enumerating position out of the volunteer job.
It's never what you know but who you know.
The wife of a prominent village councillor fell down the stairs
several weeks back. And why did she fall down the stairs? The good
lady is coming back home this week - but don't hold the front page.
MJ is in a rest home after a finger operation. Vive le French medical
system. I don't think that most other countries systems will allow
for a rest and rehabilitation for just any kind of operation. One
more reason for staying in France.
L*l* was at it yesterday at the annual Mairie cocktail. Singing and
dancing and kissing all the ladies. L*l* is not discriminate, age or
look do not matter. The only things that counts is a nice soft cheek.
The "culture and Traditions " club had its annual meeting. They have
made a profit and they should have made a loss. Non profit
organizations are not supposed to show profit. Nothing in France is
supposed to show a profit.
==
Nizas begins to make the George/Saddam confrontation seem normal.
We certainly have out own chemical weapons spraying the grapes in
Spring and Summer.
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We love to receive your letters and comments and we really try
to answer all mail but it does get lost, filtered or vanishes
somewhere. So, if you write and don't hear from me, please
write again.
mailto:tony@nizas.com
