Perpignan, departmental capital

Roussillon or Pyrénées-Orientales - see my article below about the confusion of names - tends to be dominated by the departmental capital Perpignan. With a population of around 120,000 and expanding suburbs, it is an important administrative centre, with not only an impressive mairie, but also the péfecture, a major chamber of commerce, a court house, a Palais des Congrés, the Palais des Expos, several museums, a cathedral and its own university with some 10,000 students.

Perpignan has a vibrant social and cultural life and can be reached in 30 to 45 minutes from almost every corner of Pyrénees-Orientales, thanks an efficient local road system. Perpignan's old town comprises a maze of pedestrianised streets, lined with interesting boutiques and cafés, leading to the cathedral and former convent buildings used as centres for international exhibitions such as the Visa de l'Image (photo-journalism) held in the autumn. Just off the town centre to the south is the impressive Palace of the Kings of Majorca, a reminder of the time when the whole area was under Spanish rule.

Opposite another fort, the Castillet, there is a branch of Galeries Lafayette, situated on a broad boulevard which follows the river Basse (see photo above) leading westwards towards the Palais de Justice and beyond to the refurbished Place Catalogne and impressive FNAC (major French bookstore) building. The boulevard to the east runs alongside a small park with shady plane trees which provide a nice place to rest or take a picnic after your visit to the tourist office inside the Palais des Congrés building close by.

The university is located to the south of the city centre, close to a comparatively new suburb called Moulin à Vent which also features a huge muti-sports complex with outdoor and indoor facilities. Just beyond is the major shopping complex at Porte d'Espagne centred around the Auchan hypermarket. To the north of the city is an even larger shopping centre, which includes a Carrefour hypermarket and all the major French retailers.

Perpignan is well provided with hospitals and clinics, including the Clinique St Pierre west of the town centre and the general hospital complex to the north, near the USAP rugby stadium. The main cinema has become a multiplex located on the main road south (towards Argelès-sur-mer) with easy parking.

Perpignan continues to expand, a process which began in the 1920s when the rather ugly city walls were demolished and replaced with an inner ring road, which defines the shape of the inner city today. The smartest suburbs are to the south and west towards the coast, with easy access to the resort towns of Canet, St Cyprien and Argelès. The international airport is located 10 minutes drive north of the city centre and the railway station is just off the town centre, to the west. All the main hotel groups can be found along the principal boulevards.

What's in a name?

One of the problems of this lovely region where I live - just south of Perpignan - is that we suffer from having too many names! Hence, a few words of explanation.

First of all, we are part of Roussillon, the southern half of Languedoc-Roussillon, which is one of France's 22 administrative regions, and comprising 5 départements, each of which has its own identifying name and number (which you will still see for a while on the old-style French number plates).

The départements are: Lozère (48) to the north which includes the town of Mende and its spectacular new road bridge; Gard (30) to the north-east, with the towns of Alès and Nimes, and which borders the département of Provence-Cote d'Azur; Hérault (34) with its capital Montpellier, site of the regional préfecture and with an extensive Mediterranean coastline; Aude (11) which includes Narbonne and the walled city of Carcassonne; and finally Pyrénées-Orientales (66), literally 'eastern Pyrenees', with its capital Perpignan, a Mediterranean coastline which goes all the way south to Spain and the Costa Brava, and the Pyrenees forming a land border with Spain and Andorra, and home to a number of popular winter ski resorts.

Where Languedoc ends and Roussillon begins is a bit of a mystery, but it includes at least part of the département of Pyrénées-Orientales, which starts just north of Perpignan and stretches south to the Spanish/Andorran border.

If you arrive in Roussillon from the north by road or rail, you will pass through four of the five départements and will notice the wide differences in landscape from the wilder, more rugged hillsides of the north, which contrast with the flat Roussillon Plain, south of Perpignan, which ends at the Albères, which form the foothills of the Pyrenees. Inland to the west, Roussillon is dominated by the snow-capped Mont Canigou.

Local people are proud of their Spanish Catalan heritage, perhaps due to the fact that the area only officially joined France in 1659 when the border with Spain was move southwards from Perpignan to the Pyrenees. As a result, the area is sometimes also called French Catalonia - with Spanish Catalonia reaching south to Barcelona. There are many traces of the Spanish occupation, including the palaces of the Kings of Majorca in Perpignan and Collioure, and the impressive forts such as Salses le Chateau north of Perpignan. These were replaced by Vauban, castle builder to Louis XIV, further south in places like Le Perthus (Bellegarde) and Prats de Mollo, closer to the new border with Spain.

A line of signal towers can still be seen along the ridge of the Pyrenean foothills which warned of further Spanish incursions, using smoke by day and bonfires by night. News of invaders could reach the whole region within 20 minutes!

French Property News - July 2009

In this month's issue I have written a piece in conjunction with a close French friend Cedric Alessandri, which is all about getting on with your French neighbours. As Cedric points out, it is helpful if you try and speak at least a little French, and understanding local customs such as how to greet someone the first time you meet, when to shake hands and the curious art of who to kiss and how many times. (Just for the record, as Cedric and I are old friends we kiss each other four times - on the cheek - when we meet and when we part).

Commenting on French people's seemingly anarchic approach to rules and regulations, Cedric sums it up by explaining "As we say here, everyone's midday is when they think it is! Which means that everyone leads their life according to their own rules".

While local customs may sometimes appear puzzling to newcomers, I have found that most misunderstandings, even disputes, between neighbours or in dealings with officialdom, are often the result of a lack of communication - and can invariably be resolved if you take the trouble to speak French and adjust to the way of life. Bon courage!

What's my property worth?

One of the main concerns of property buyers is whether they are paying the right price for the house or apartment they have finally selected in France; while for their part, owners and sellers worry about the value of their property - is it going up or down? how much can we expect to get if we sell? is this a good time or should we wait?

Arriving at the value of a property is something of a black art and depends on a number of external factors, including the current state of the market, or whether there is a shortage or excess of certain types of property in a particular area - all these in addition to the condition, location and desirability of the property itself. Estimations of what a property might fetch on the market, in current conditions, can be arrived at by comparing the sale prices of other similar properties, but no two properties are the same, and some will sell while others will not. An estate agent can give you an estimation, based on his knowledge of the local market, while a formal valuation (for probate, an inheritance, a tax declaration, a bank loan) has to be carried out by a licensed expert immobilier who will charge a fee of up to 1,000 euros for a lengthy and detailed report about the property's condition and any other factors likely to affect its value.

Location, location, location

As a rule properties in a central location with cost more than their equivalent in the countryside, as most owners and buyers need to be near work, schools, shopping centres and other services. However some (city) locations are considered more desirable than others, and factors that enhance a property's value include access to public transport, open spaces, attractive view and absence of nuisance (noisy roads, factories, an airport, restaurants etc). Areas that are unattractive and where there is a high crime rate will detract from the value of a property. High density may deter some buyers looking for peace and quiet, while they may be attracted to a suburban or rural location.

Physical condition

The physical condition of a property includes the outside space, approach and aspect (north facing is less favoured than south facing and so on) as well as the land itself - flat or sloping, landscaped, liable to subsidence or flooding. The building's physical condition will depend on its age, the quality of materials used, how well or not it has been maintained, and considerations such as exterior paintwork, quality of windows and doors, state of the roof, floors and floor coverings, condition of terraces or balconies, as well as interior fitments and installations (electrical wiring, plumbing, kitchen equipment, heating system, air conditioning being among the most important).

Particularly disliked by potential buyers are unfinished or even completed DIY alterations, while those carried out by registered artisans and carrying formal guarantees are favoured. In co-ownership buildings higher floors tend to attract more light and therefore command a premium, but only if there is a lift in good condition. An attractive apartment will lose value if it is sited in a building whose common parts (lift, corridors, entrance, garden, pool) are in a state of disrepair or neglect.

Valuing for rental

Although the same rules apply, valuing a property for rental purposes adds a further dimension if you wish to have an idea of the rental potential of a property designed for letting. Recent reports show that that many buy-to-let schemes involving new-build properties have failed, as properties were located where land was cheap and therefore remote from public transport and other facilities, thus obliging renters to be in possession of a car. As a result, some fifty French towns (including Perpignan close to where I live) have reported a surplus of un-let properties built for investment. Poor quality design, construction and finishing have been further deterrents.

Valuing for investment demands an expert knowledge of local market conditions, in order to arrive at a realistic estimate of rental potential. Independent advice and a visit to the area and the proposed development are strongly recommended.

Finally, if you are a seller and your property has languished on the market for weeks or months, the following article will give you some tips on how you can improve your chances by preparing your property for sale, often at minimal cost.

Preparing your property for sale

The concept of 'house doctoring' or 'home staging' as it is known here has been slow to take off in France, in spite of a regular TV series on Channel 6, presented by Paris-based estate agent Stephen Plaza.

What the programme shows is that virtually any property that has been slow to sell in competition with its rivals can be radicallyimproved and succeed in finding a buyer, usually within days of preparing it for sale.

Among the most common dislikes voiced by potential buyers were unfinished DIY attempts, poor decoration, bare trailing wires, missing or damaged light fittings, exposed pipes, rotting woodwork, dog smells, too much furniture, tired decor and furnishings, dirty kitchens and bathrooms, untidy gardens and garage, and general clutter and untidiness. Too much evidence of the owners' personal taste (such as a collection of sports trophies or evidence of pets) were also strong turn-offs.

What appealed most to potential buyers includes fresh paintwork in light, neutral colours; good natural lighting; absence of clutter; ultra clean bathroom and kitchen; and new, modern furniture (often hired specially for the home staging!).

Buyers, as Plaza points out, lack imagination and you cannot expect them to see through the clutter and imagine a property's 'potential'. Even a young girl's bedroom painted in pink will deter a couple with a son. Better to re-paint it in a neutral colour such as grey or beige. And grandma's antique commode will not appeal to a young couple who shop at Ikea. Buyers prefer a property where they feel they can put simply down their bags and continue living.

Most of the improvements made to homes shown in the programme cost less than 2 to 3 per cent of the sales value. All of them invariably received one or more offers on the first day they were put back on the market, often by people who had visited the same property before the transformation.

Keeping up to date

I write regularly for the British magazine 'French Property News' (Archant Publishing Group) on issues to do with living, working and buying property in France. Available on subsription from the publishers.

The www.totalfrance.com forum is another useful source of information and discussion, where I also respond to questions posed by readers. I also contribute to www.livingfrance.com and www.frenchentree.com .

For those interested in working in France, especially under the new-self employed regime known as auto-entrepreneur, you can consult the lively discussion forum www.auto-entrepreneur.fr . The site has useful links to other sources of information (in French).

Property searching

Searching for your ideal French property is not easy, particularly in these days of the internet where you can come across websites offering up to 10,000 properties or more. Where on earth do you begin? Here are some guidelines:

First, you should choose your region. You may have have visited or lived in France already and have sone idea where you might like to settle or buy your second home. If you are looking at France for the first time, there is a huge range of choice - between town and country, city and village, mountains or the coast, north versus the south. Your preference may be dictated by concerns such as finding work - some jobs are scarce outside large centres of population; or alternatively you may be looking for an escape from city life and your ideal is an isolated country retreat. You may be drawn to the warm south or still hanker for the more traditional pattern of the seasons you will find in northern France.

Second, you have to consider the family. Children need to be near schools and may not take to a rural location which offers little by way of entertainment or sport (though most do if you are prepared to seek them out); elderly people may need the reassurance of nearby medical facilities, including hospitals and specialists; and everyone needs to be reasonably close to shops, a bank, a post office.

Third, are you settling or just visiting occasionally. Principal or second homes are generally cheaper in rural locations or in town centres, but vary in price from one region to another. Living in central Paris can be prohibitively expensive (but offers good rental potential if you are looking for investment) as can areas such as the Cote d'Azur, around Nice and Cannes on the Mediterranean coast, and further inland.

My own region of Languedoc-Roussillon has sometimes been called 'the poor man's Riviera' and I have no problem with that, as it still offers a wide variety of affordable properties and range of landscapes from the Mediterranean coast to the nearby Pyrenees. We are also well provided for in terms of schools and colleges, a university, excellent hospitals and specialists, and good road, rail and air connections.

Fourth, prepare for your visit. There are good times and bad times to be looking for French property. The times to avoid are generally the months of July and August, when many people are on holiday (including owners and some estate agencies), the weather can be extremely hot and roads can be congested. In holiday areas, properties may be occupied or let, and not available for viewing. Ideal times to visit are the autumn (September, October, early November) and the spring (February to May).

Fifth, don't try and visit too many properties in a single day. French estate agents tend to cover a wide area and there may be a half hour drive between properties you wish to view. Visits may take longer than planned, you may wish to go back and have another look, you need a break for lunch - when some owners, even those anxious to sell, do not welcome visits.

Sixth, on your own or do you need help? Not all agents speak English, and there is no reason why you should expect owners to speak any lanaguage other than their own. If your French is not up to scratch, you may have problems discussing the finer details of the property you are viewing, and certainly should not attempt to enter into negotiations regarding the purchase!

If you feel you need help, you can use the services of a locally based property adviser (which is what I do for a living) who can do some initial searching and suggest a short-list of properties for viewing, having already discussed with you the sort of ideal property and location you are looking for. Local knowledge is paramount which is why I confine my researches to a relatively small area of Roussillon - the southern half of Languedoc-Roussillon - more or less south of Perpignan to the Spanish border.

Because of my local contacts, built up over nearly a decade of living and working in the region, I know which agents have the best properties, who are the best negotiators, which notaires are the most helpful and efficient (and speak English), and later on, perhaps guide you on which local builder, decorator or plumber to use, based on the experiences of former clients and friends, whom I hope you will meet.

(A longer version of this article originally appeared in French Property News)