BOOKS ABOUT BUYING PROPERTY IN FRANCE

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Buying a Property: France
By Mark Igoe and John Howell

The most comprehensive guide of its kind - written by local experts, illustrated by personal histories, and packed with essential information on every step of the buying process: dealing with estate agents, insurance, security, letting for income, building from scratch and renovation. The guide examines the best places to buy, from Normandy to the Cote d'Azur, with profiles of the regions and chapters on settling in; and there's all the specialist legal advice you need: money transfer and taxes, wills, surveys, permits and fees. For a new start, a second home, a business project or a dream retirement, this book will prove indispensable. You will find inside: expert legal advice and guidance; scores of case studies and buyers' anecdotes' complete profiles of the regions; 16 pages of color photographs; complete practical information on transport and services; 15 pages of maps; directory of contacts and dictionary of technical terms.

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French Spirits
by Jeffrey Greene

A House, A Village and a Love Affair in Burgundy...An American renovates a house in France! But what's new here is that the house is in the Burgundy town of Rogny. The region of La Puisaye, with its swamps and murky woods, lacks the immediate attraction of Provence or Normandy. The American builder is celebrated poet Greene and his companion, Mary, a renowned scientist currently at the University of Paris. After finding nothing fit for their taste or budget in better-known Burgundian towns, the author's real estate agent leads them to remote Rogny. Reconstruction efforts center on the town's presbytery, abandoned by the church and its previous owner and ripe for restoration. Friends of the last priest to occupy the grounds and town tradesmen make up the cast of characters, whom Greene makes into neither caricatures nor odd rustics. As always, reconstruction absorbs more time and money than the author had anticipated. The property takes on sentimental significance when Greene and his companion decide to get married there and their families descend on the little town. So attractive the place becomes that Greene's mother emigrates from America. Mark Knoblauch
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Chez Moi:The Foreigner's Guide to Buying a Home in France
By Laurence Raybois

Chez Moi is a thoroughly researched guide that describes in great detail the administrative/practical steps you should take on your way to carefree home ownership in France. Laurence Raybois uncovers and deals with the many surprises and pitfalls of home ownership in France with precision and the kind of cultural insight that only a French person could have. Yet Chez Moi remains surprisingly readable and entertaining. Laurence Raybois skillfully weaves among the technical detail stories of uniquely French deeds and misdeeds in the pursuit of property.

The strengh of Chez Moi lies in its emphasis of processes that are uniquely French. The book thoroughly describes the roles that the various professionals, such as the huissier or the notaire, who do not have an exact equivalent in other countries, play in these processes. Even the real estate agent, whose function is well understood throughout the world, has rights, obligations and prerogatives that are markedly different in France from what they are in other countries.

Buying homeowners' insurance, obtaining a building permit, or transmitting your property to your heirs after your death, just to mention a few of the subjects covered, are explained from the perspective of the uniquely French rules that regulate them.

One thing is sure: If you had at any time assumed that buying and owning a home was pretty much the same everywhere, you are in for a big surprise each time you turn a page of Chez Moi: The Foreigner's Guide to Buying a Home in France.