Foreign Perspectives

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Whilst it’s easy enough to come up with a price for a house in a town where there are a lot of similar houses around and a regular turnover, it’s an entirely different matter in rural France.

For a start, once you get into the countryside, houses aren’t all the same. Even two similar looking cottages won’t come with the same price attached because they’ll be in different locations with different views and so on. And, of course, they’ll not be the same inside either nor will they have been equally well maintained. Finally, there just isn’t the regularity of turnover of housing in the French countryside as you get in a typical town in the UK.

So how do the French price their houses? Well, first off they look around at the various estate agent brochures that seem to be in every place you could possibily find them. The French don’t have a single estate agent selling a property usually so there are even more brochures than you might expect.

They look for vaguely similar houses to what they have to sell and take a view on whether their’s is worth more or less than the price being asked. What they don’t do usually is to ask the estate agent what the price should be and therefore the prices listed aren’t necessarily realistic. In fact, most are actually conversions from some relatively arbitrary figure in French francs with the estate agent commission being added on (hence the slightly peculiar sums that you sometimes see being asked).

So, don’t take the price in the estate agents brochure as gospel. It’s usually not based on any firm idea of what the house should be worth so you may well be able to negotiate either the price or what’s included in the price.

Popularity: 29% [?]

If you’re interested in France or French culture or are thinking of buying a property in France, there really is only one place that you should be on January 18th 2008 and that’s at The France Show in London.

This is the show to be at as it includes everything from a truly massive property exhibition space (including representations from untold numbers of estate agents plus all those providing the essential support services that you need to buy in France such as banks, insurance, pool guys and so on) AND a little bit of France as well by way of the cultural exhibition which includes fromageries, charcuteries, shows, tourist information, and all the little things that make France, French.

As always, they’ve a special event or two in amongst everything else and as a taster for the possibilities, here’s their press release:

Jean-Christophe Novelli, Britain’s favourite French Chef, will be one of thestar attractions at The France Show 2008, which runs at London’s Olympiafrom 18-20 January.

He will be conducting three live cookery demonstrations each day at the showwith his “mobile” Novelli Academy Cookery School, revealing the secrets thathave made him one of the most celebrated Chefs in Britain.

The Novelli master classes will be among the main highlights of an alreadymouth-watering line-up for the Olympia show, which is expected to attract30,000 visitors. It is being organised by Archant Life, publisher of theUK’s three leading French lifestyle magazines - France, Living France andFrench Property News.

Miller Hogg, Regional Managing Director of Archant Life France, said: “Wehave had a wonderful response to the France Show so far from the public andare extremely excited about working with one of the world’s greatest Chefs.For anyone with a love of French food, watching Jean-Christophe Novelli inaction is a must.”

Jean-Christophe, who started work at the age of 14 as a baker in his hometown of Arras came to Britain in 1984. He is a Michelin and 5AA Rosetteaward winning Chef, whose attributes include AA Chef’s Chef of the Year,European Chef of the Year finalist representing Great Britain and theprestigious Egon Ronay Desert of the Year. He won Restaurant of the Year onnumerous occasions and many other awards for culinary excellence.

In 2005 Jean-Christophe established the Novelli Academy, which was votedamong the ‘Top 25 Cookery Schools in the World’ within three months andoffers a diverse range of courses to suit aspiring cooks of all levels. Ayear ago he branched out again to open his first gastro pub, ‘A Touch ofNovelli’ at The White Horse in Harpenden.

During 2007 Jean-Christophe launched Novelli Wines - “I have always been aspassionate about wine as I am about food. As a chef, I know that if youserve the right wine with the right food you can turn a good meal into atruly great one. There is a wealth of small producers in France creatingwonderful, and affordable, wines. The France Show is all about sharing andappreciating everything that France can offer.”

Jean-Christophe’s new recipe book “Everyday Novelli” will be available from1 February 2008, from Headline Publishing, and advance copies can be orderedat the show.

The Novelli Food Theatre will be one of the main attractions at the FranceShow offering demonstrations of cookery to suit all palates. There will besix cookery demonstrations each day, three by Novelli, two by his protégé,Steven Kitchen and one by Franck Raymond, the head Chef of London’s oldestFrench restaurant, Mon Plaisir.

Other highlights of the France Show 2008 include a huge property zone,London’s largest French market and an extensive holiday travel fair, as wellas insights into French culture, language and lifestyle.

Visitors who pre-register can obtain free tickets or else pay £8 at the dooron the day. For your free tickets and further information about the FranceShow,visit the official website at www.thefranceshow.com

Popularity: 35% [?]

To be perfectly honest, I always thought that people who built their own houses were a bit loopy. That was until I met some of them.

Now, I’ll grant you that when most self-builders think about a house they aim for something relatively pedestrian to begin with. Sure, it’ll be larger than they could afford in terms of a pre-built house but it’ll look like a normal house which I imagine comes from the thinking that it’s best to know what the jigsaw should look like before you start out.

Some of the houses plans on offer at House Plans and More are in a whole different league as you can see.

For example, there’s Log Home Plans from which you can constuct the likes of the house in the photo. Personally, I think they need a somewhat more grander term for such a house than “log home” as, for me, I was thinking log cabin rather than the small mansion you’re looking at. Moving up from this there is a whole range of Ranch House Plans for you to choose from.

I said that beginners usually kick off with an ordinary house but if you’re keen you could go for a luxury home Plans, some of which look like miniature palaces.

The search facilities of the site seem a little bit limited but then I’m just skimming and if I were choosing a plan for real I’m not sure that I’d want to skip through those available without actually seeing them ie searching isn’t as important as it appears at first site.

Popularity: 28% [?]