When property finding works too well.

I have just been the victim of my own success  - and it is not often I can say that!  Towards the end of last year I received an enquiry from a client in Australia, wanting help and advice on relocating to Perpignan.  He wanted a very specific type of property, so before making any reckless promises I did a bit of research and was able to confirm that yes, I thought I could find some suitable properties for him, within his budget.  It wasn’t an easy search but I produced a short list of 5 and he flew over for a viewing trip in November.  He actually liked all of them, but loved the final 2 and flew back home to weigh up the pros and cons.  He also needed tax and legal advice as he has triple nationality and wanted to set up his business here too so I put him in touch with two local experts so he could get the right information.  

Last week he was ready to make his offer - and last week the agent told me that the property was sold, and even worse than that, his second choice was also under offer.  Now not only am I furious with the agent, who promised that she would let me know if there was any interest in the properties we viewed, I am also furious with myself - for doing my job too well!  The client admitted that he was very surprised that we had seen so many ‘good’ properties and that he had envisaged that it would take at least a couple of trips to find what he was looking for and had planned to sort out his legal and financial questions in the interim.

So the moral of this story is (Warning - Blatant Advertisement on way!): If you enjoy being frustrated by viewing properties that look nothing like their internet details, working with agents who don’t seem interested, and spending time and money on several trips, then don’t call me.  However, if you want to spend a day or two viewing a small selection of properties that tick all the boxes on your ‘wish-list’, then please call me!

Raining Cats and Dogs

For several days now I’ve been seeing warnings that there was an ‘Episode Mediterranean’ on the way.  To me that sounded like something to do with sun-loungers and a day at the beach but apparently it is some sort of meteorological phenomenon (I had to look that up) involving heavy rain and very serious storms. 

On Tuesday it rained all day.  It was so bad that I didn’t even have to explain to the dogs that nobody was going out for a walk.  Orange sent their usual text message warning that a storm was coming and to unplug the Livebox – seriously, it’s raining and they expect me not to watch tv, work on the computer and make phone calls?

We had been warned to expect 3 months of rain in just 2 days.  In fact, I think we received our quota over a period of just 2 hours.  I was woken at 3am thinking that a helicopter was landing outside.  I have never seen a storm like it – non-stop thunder, constant sheet lightening (think strobe lighting in a 70s disco) and rain lashing down.  I briefly saw the cat waiting to be let in but even in torrential rain, when I opened the door he decided to run off and take his chances! 

This afternoon the rain has finally stopped, and apart from spending most of the day mopping up minor leaks, resetting the clock on the cooker (due to a power cut) (and yes I had finally unplugged the Livebox!), sorting out the fact we now have an ‘infinity’ pool, constantly drying wet dogs (and the cat, when he finally turned up) everything is getting back to normal.  But apparently we got off lightly as there were also mini-tornadoes – trees and walls have fallen, roads are closed, rivers have flooded and many people have had to be evacuated from their properties. 

I do feel extremely sorry (and ridiculously responsible) for some clients of mine who had flown over for a 2 day viewing trip.  We had spent Monday visiting properties and I had left Tuesday free for them to drive around the region, visit the beaches and admire our wonderful scenery. This is the sunniest region in France with over 300 days of sunshine here and it hardly ever rains – honestly!