Blogs

Premier French Property specialises in properties for sale in the Dordogne and Lot-et-Garonne areas of Southern France. Selling rustic farmhouses, beautiful French homes, charming cottages, secluded villas, and the odd dilapidated building for renovation, there is something for everyone at Premier French Property.

In collaboration with a local estate agency who’ve been operating for over forty years, we are experts in our sector. We offer our customers a brand new website that you should find intuitive and easy to use. Here we give you a quick tour.

Top search facility

You can type in searches such as, “four bedrooms, restored barn, swimming pool, Dordogne” or more general parameters such as a price range, to get all the relevant properties in the Dordogne area of France. Whatever type of residence you’re interested in, you can search to find your ideal French home.

Very easy to use

After your search, you will see a full description of the property, up-to-date photographs, and a map of where it’s located (using Google Maps) all on the same page. With Google Maps you get a very good satellite view of most areas in the region, so it’s easy to see the actual layout and location of the property you’re interested in. The next best thing to visiting the property in person.

New facilities

You benefit from an enhanced, more productive search experience, and better access to all the information they need when considering buying a property abroad in France, including:

• RSS feeds so you’ll always know the latest headlines
• blog posts so you can read news and views about living in France
• daily news feeds to keep you bang up-to-date
• full Web 2.0 functionality
• information about all aspects of moving to France
• tips, advice, and discussion
• Goolge maps to pinpoint the exact location of each property

If you’re thinking of buying a property in France the new Premier French Property website leaves no stone unturned or question unanswered. From removals, mortgages, and left hand drive cars, to international money exchange, hybrid maps, and satellite images – there is nothing you won’t know about moving to France.

Convenient

All properties are located within thirty minutes of Bergerac airport, so if you’re tempted by the description and photographs, you can pop over and be walking around your potential new home within hours.

Sector news

Keeping you informed about all aspects of the property scene in the Dordogne and Lot-et-Garonne areas, including any stories in the media relevant to the French property market, and of course, new properties as soon as they appear on the market. If you choose, you can receive an e-mail every time a property within your price range becomes available. Registering on the site entitles you to a free eBook.

Premier French Property aim to proactively inform interested parties of events as, and when they unfold, providing a one-stop shop for everything to do with buying a property in South West France.

Join in

Create your own blog and exchange ideas, tips, and advice with other users keen to move to France, or who have already made the plunge. Write a diary of your life in France and share your experiences with others, or comment on other posts and offer your own opinion. A clean, simple, and intuitive interface offers users a great opportunity to be part of a new, dynamic community of like-minded people who want to know as much as they can about moving to, and living in France. Find support and guidance from other British ex-pats and let them tell you the real truth about their new country of residence.

Happy house hunting.

AN INTERESTING article in the Telegraph today talks about the just released List of the World's Best Quality of Life locations. The survey covers 192 countries and I'm very proud to say that Ireland, not surprisingly, came in at number 10. Britain is in 37th place.

The survery was based on factors such as cost of living, health, climate, environment, economy, culture, safety, infrastructure and freedom.

The survey, by International Living, maintains that it is actually impossible to quantify quality of life. Kathleen Peddicord at International Living has been participating in the quality of life annual survey for the last 22 years and asks how things like the number of airports or mobile phones per capita can be used to measure quality of life.  

It doesn't matter. We all love league tables. Maybe this is just another or maybe, just maybe, France is in fact the best country in the world to live in. One thing is certain. If you don't live in France then you'll never know.

The survey gives France a score of 85 out of 100 and Britain 68.

INTERESTING that everywhere you look in the last few weeks there are reports of an inevitable downturn in the French housing market. For the most part, it seems that these reports eminate from the popular press in both Britain and France.

It's not often they get to sensationalise something as dull as the french housing market. But one no nonsense report from Global Property Guide says it like it actually is. Here's an excerpt from the conclusion of the report: "No housing bubble, prices will simply stagnate The Banque de France in 2007 antcipated a possible housing bubble. The Notaires de France, however, sees no sign of a collapse in the property market. Accordingly, in 2008 "prices will continue to rise to around the level of inflation. That remains particularly true for property hot spots and large towns. Nevertheless, in certain regions where economic activity is fragile, or where foreign buyers are absent, prices are likely to stagnate. A uniform rise in prices is over." Likewise, FNAIM do not believe there is the prospect of a market crash in 2008, and forecast that, on average, prices will simply stagnate."

As the so called yob culture in the UK continues to grow we are seeing signs that more and more of the UK population are considering moving abroad permanently, and many have already taken the step. So what is actually happening?
In a survey carried out by Foreign Currency Direct results show that of the 10 million UK residents who are looking to buy property overseas in the next 12 months, a staggering 4 million said that they are considering leaving the UK and not returning. The main reason seems to be the growing crime wave in the UK and the fact that many people believe that the criminals and yobs of the UK are given more priority than the victims.
The recent warning by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith that she would not walk around the towns and cities of the UK alone at night, while honest in its endeavours, was a startling admission of the breakdown of society in the UK. Each and every city and town in the UK seems to have a problem with louts roaming the streets, police forces under manned and unable to offer ultimate protection as well as wilful damage to property and abuse of innocent bystanders.
There are now real concerns that what was a trickle of UK residents looking to move abroad, is in real danger of becoming a massive wave. Figures from the Department of Work and Pensions also show that more and more UK nationals are receiving their pensions in foreign lands, with Australia the most popular by far.
In order to more UK residents to stay on these shores, some major progress on the law and order front is needed, but who will be brave enough to take the kid gloves off and tackle what threatens to be a major problem in the short, medium and long term.
When you consider that only Mexico has a worse emigration situation than the UK, that certainly puts the situation in perspective.