Monday, April 01, 2013
Its been a year already ?? time for a new adventure !!
I live in a very strange land called , France. I am convinced, with my limited time living here, the french do not have common business sense. A simple example of this is the purchase of our new house . Once we found this house, and made an offer – in writing with the agent – & the seller has accepted the offer ..it gets complicated .
The contract is written up by the Notary ( which acts as impartial lawyer for both parties ) .This person reviews the contract to make sure , the deed is ok to transfer, the loans are paid off, the buyer has the money , and everyone is paying the taxes to the govt. His fee is a big 10 % of the sale . The deposit for the sale , is held by the Notary . If you change your mind, you loose the deposit – which is 5- 10% of the home price .
Then the Notary contacts the Hotel de Ville, with a notice of intent to sell . The local govt. has 60 days to review the contract – and decide if they want to take the house from you. This is how we lost our first choice – the SOB ‘s decided to take the house from us . So I will never visit St. George ville !! And now you know why..
So the contract stated that the home will be purchased on April 30 th. So I thought , I had over a month to get ready ..welcome to strange land … It seems , that the Notary can CHANGE the closing date with out your permission .. so I have been packing up the apt, like a girl who does not have the rent money ..ha
The nice thing, is the seller of the house, is allowing us, to move our things into the house in advance. He understands , that this apt is sold and the closing date for this is also April 30th.. so in effect , there are 2 closings on that same date. The Notary , informed the seller of the house, that the funds are coming from this apt sale- so there are no worries of a bank problem.
We have been renting trucks and driving the car full of boxes & furniture – like every 48 hours !! I have become a semi – pro at moving .so now, I list on the out side of the box the contents . I use to make a list , and number the boxes – but I have found, that is more work .. its much quicker to list on the box – Kit pans .. or Red shoes .. or Blue clothes .. Also this helps with placement of the boxes – you know that the shoes do not belong in the living room .. etc.so its the fastest way I have found, for tagging the boxes ..who wants to spend a half hour looking for clean underwear ?? not me ! ( the french would not bother..but i am american ..) ha
So as I close this little note – I am looking at the next round of boxes and furniture for next saturday’s move . All that is left in our apt, is the daily needs .clothes for work – a café table and 2 chairs for eating , & the futon for watching TV and passing out from exhaustion .The dogs are sleeping already – we bring them to the new house, for them to get use to the new smells & layout of the home . the home has a great yard for them & space for a nice garden for me .
As a bonus- these sellers, moved to Provence- and left a few things in the house for the new buyers .. a great wine rack for 50 bottles ( we are in France – so i guess this is normal ..) a chest of drawers, a stove & refrigerator, a clothes washer 6 dining room chairs with leather seats. The best left – behind , is a china/buffet .. that is 8 feet long & 7 feet high !! YES !! SCORE !! its a easy 3,000 dollars piece of furniture , and its in that french wood – oak ?? and it happens to match well with our dinning room table. So I am very happy about this ..
So, I will leave you now, with some small hints of our new adventure .. the ville dates back to 13th Century. The house was built before electricity was common in the homes. There is a TGV train , that is supper fast, which is not allowed in America . I think, I will be the only American in town. The house has 3 bedrooms , but has the ability to have more with the unfinished attic. (We just need one room , for the adoption process . )
I leave you tonight – hopefully – intrigued ..
bises
DIXIE in PARIS 