Getting It Done And Getting In
This blog continues our story of the experience purchasing a house in France as expats.
Our previous blog discussed the finalising the mortgage. Now we’re going to tell you about completing the purchase
Finalising The Mortgage
Day 11 after receiving the official morthage offer, the mortgage contract was completed. This is because there is a compulsory cooling off period after the mortgage offer is made, only on the 11th day after receiving the offer can you sign it and complete the loan arrangements. Once we received the signed loan agreement back from the bank then we sent it to the Immobilier admin team who were liaising with the notarie. At this point the notaire can advise on dates that could be agreed to complete the purchase, sign the final sales contract and take ownership of the property.
Scheduling Completion
We passed the mortgage confirmation on a Monday and were hoping that completion could be either the end of the week or early the following week.
That hope was unrealistic, they came back with the 2nd Friday. Friday would seem a good day to move wouldn’t it, giving the weekend to organize things but unfortunately for us it would have been difficult as one of us had to fly to the UK for work on the Saturday or Sunday. We asked if earlier was possible and the Wednesday was agreed as an alternative, the notaires proofing helpful in this matter. That meant that we would have 2 full days together sorting out the house before the business travel.
Final Preparation
So after agreeing the date for completion, was that it? Was there anything else required as preparation? Of course there was, lesson from French administration is that there is always more required.
The mortgage company needed a certified copy of our identities. That was requested as a notaire certified copy of our passports which would have been difficult while we were in another country. We asked for an alternative option and the mortgage broker agreed to verify our identify over a video call where we showed our passports. We did that, much easier.
Then we had to pay the cash portion of the house purchase. This required us to group our savings together into one account and then transfer the whole amount to our french bank. From there the money could be transferred to the notaire. We did this on the day that we sent the mortgage contract. However it took 24 hours for the transferred funds to appear in our french account. We were quite nervous about that, sending a 6 figure some and not seeing the money quickly.
House insurance is compulsory and we had to finalize the arrangements for that and then pass the insurance certificate to both the notaire and the mortgage advisor. This was quite easy as we already had insurance quotes lined up and they just needed to be notified of the policy start date.
Finally we had to arrange for the mortgage provider to release the funds to the notaire. This proved to be the tricky and stressful part of final arrangements. it was unclear to us exactly what was required. We were told to expect a release of funds order, we received something from the notaire which seemed to be just a letter informing us how much we had to pay separately from the mortgage. It turned out that it was also the order for release of funds that the bank needed, though that wording was no where in the letter. We were to complete on Wednesday and the Thursday prior the mortgage broker was getting concerned that time was running out. Anyway we gave them the letter from the notaire late Thursday, Friday they confirmed it was what was needed and immediately sent it to the bank. On Monday it was confirmed that everything was in place and the bank could release the funds.
Getting Packed & Getting There
Loading the car
We were very lucky in that we had been able to agree purchasing all the furniture from the sellers, so we only needed to bring, bedding, clothes, kitchen things to get started with and PC equipment to allows us both to work online for the next few weeks. A van was not needed at this stage which made arrangements a lot easier. We had a roof box on the car, but still had too much stuff prepared to go. We practiced loading the car on the Sunday which proved to be a good idea as it became clear that we had planned to take more than could fit in the car. We had to leave behind some bedding, board games and a few other things that were not truly essential for this first trip.
Then with everything confirmed, we travelled from our main home in Luxembourg to Bergerac in France the day before completion was due.
Make it stand out
We had booked a hotel about 6km from the house, so that the morning of completion could be relaxed without a long journey or early start. It turned out that the hotel had a board game theme which excited us because boardgames are our main hobby. The weather was very pleasant for late September and we could enjoy a drink outside before a very good dinner in the linked restaurant.
The Day of Completion
Checking The House Pre Completion
On completion day, the first thing to do is meet at the house with the sellers and the Immobilier agents, our buyers agent the wonderful Katerina and the sellers agent. We walked through the house checking everything was as previously presented and also the agents ticked off everything on the list of contents that were being sold to us separately from the house itself. Every room had a list of furniture or other items that had to be checked.
Also we had agreed separately from the sales agreement, to buy the tractor mower from the seller. For that we made an immediate bank transfer and shared the transaction confirmation. We had checked in advance that a bank transfer would be acceptable to the seller. I did not want to have withdraw and carry thousands of Euros in today’s environment. Cash is only king if it is accessed electronically nowadays. with pleasantries and all the checks it took about an hour and a quarter. We had time for a quick chat on the terrace and then it was off to the notaries office in a near by town about 20 minutes away.
The Notaire
Firstly, we were very lucky that the Immobilier, Beaux Villages Immobilier in Emmett, works with Notaires who are bilingual and willing to work in both French and English. The notaire was very cheerful and welcoming. We sat in his office and he presented the sales agreement on a big screen. He reviewed each section first in French and then gave an explanation to us in English and checked that we understood everything.
It was slow, but they were clearly taking care to check that everything was correct and understood by both parties, there was actually a small mistake, incorrectly listing one of our places of birth, so they arranged that update before the documents were signed.
At that point we were legal owners of the house and the sellers passed over the keys.
Taking Possession
From the notaires, we all went back to the house, including the sellers, who needed to collect their dog. We wished them well and they left the house for the last time. This was actually quite emotional as they were clearly sad at leaving such a lovely house and they had experienced some key life events while there. We felt for them and had to try to be sensitive and keep our joy under control until they had left.
Immediate Arrangements.
Now we were in the house in France, we had the keys, it had furniture, we things in the car to bring in, but before that we needed help with arranging key services.
Katerina, we’ve said before how good she was but at this point her value really shined through, she stayed for several hours to help us get services setup.
First was electricity, she handled it all in French on the phone as the fluent speaker and that was arranged quite quickly.
Then water supplier. That too was reasonably quick to setup. I just had to speak the them confirming that Katerina was representing us and I understood and accepted the services arranged.
Then we went off to the local centre commercial (shopping mall) to arrange internet and mobile phone. I already knew that a french mobile number was needed to registe with several services in France. I had researched the different providers and according to online information, orange offered better coverage. The house was just outside the area where 5G coverage could be guaranteed from other providers.
Then we returned to the house and Katerina tried to sign us up with the waste collection service. In the Dordogne this is handled by an organisation called SMD3. They had a very long waiting time and after about 30 minutes she had a conversation and then was put on hold and then the call was cut off. At that point it was mid afternoon and Katerina had been looking after us since 9 am. I indicated that I would try to handle the SMD3 registration and release her.
Aurevoir Katerina
We think that our buying agent Katerina went far above what was contractually required from a buyers agent. If she didn’t care about helping, she could have left once we had the keys. Her service was exceptional and we are so thankful for it. Local knowledge and fluent language skills really helped us get started.
Katerina Mahuzier @katerina.france
And then she was gone, though typically she kept in touch several times over the next week to check that everything was going OK. We had been in touch several times a week over the previous intense 4 months and it was strange to know that our brief work together was finished. We really can not recommend Katerina enough. If you are non resident, non fluent french speakers looking to buy a house in the South West of France then you should consider using Katerina or one of her colleagues at Beaux Villages Immobilier.
Immediate Practical Requirements
Alone in our new house for the first time, we unloaded everything from the car and then the next priority was to get to a supermarket for essentials, while there was time. This we did and that was it, we were in. We had food and drink and could sit back and enjoy the house.
Finally Facebook
Of course the final thing we did, was take some photos and share them on facebook and instagram, other social platforms are available but those our the ones that we use.
We are very very very lucky to have purchased such a beautiful house in such a lovely location.
Now it was time to start enjoying it.
Finally owners of our French house and very happy about it.
