Renovating a property in France
The term “property for renovation” can be very vague – it could involve minor decoration and rewiring, it could mean a new roof or it could mean you are buying 4 walls, no roof and dirt floors!
Depending on what your budget is for renovation of a property in France, we’d recommend that you always check that you have connections for electricity, water and sewage.
Sometimes these utilities are so far away from the property that it’s not viable to connect them and sometimes they are available to connect but may blow your budget.
Having said that, many of us find the temptation of buying an old but potentially fabulous property in France to be irresistible!
Over the last few years the increase in price of older properties requiring restoration has been mainly due to foreigners moving to France and buying up said old properties.
The younger French generation of home buyers seem to prefer new build homes complete with proper insulation, double glazing, central heating and mains sewage!
There are plenty of times when I have completely sympathised with their choice; however buying a property for restoration in France can be much more attractive to foreign buyers as they are generally much larger and somewhat cheaper than newer homes.
Doing up an old property can be fun and rewarding – it can also be frustrating, far more costly than you imagined and sometimes it’s difficult to know where to start.
There are lots of books on the subject of renovation, even books tailored to renovating in France, there are plan management tools, and internet help sites but it’s never as simple as it might seem!
We hope that like us, you find this uncertainty exciting (most of the time at least) and rewarding.
We hope to help you with your own renovation project by telling you about our projects and highlighting what sort of work can be involved in renovating a property – both traditional skills such as torchis (a type of render) to not traditional – but highly necessary insulation and damp coursing tips.
