Tag: Housing

Life in France

No one’s home

House with a castle view
House with a castle view

When we first arrived in Carcassonne we stayed in a hotel for a few days while waiting for our lease to start on the house we rented for the year. We intentionally stayed in a room with a view of both the river and the castle figuring that we weren’t likely to get that same vantage point again once we lived here. While out for a walk with Heather on our second day in the city we noticed the building for sale that you see here. It’s one block from the hotel, also at the end of a street, so it too looks out across the water up to the majestic Cité fortress. What a view, but at what cost? Continue reading “No one’s home”

Unknown's avatarBob3 Comments
Life in France

Cozy they call it

Cool house beside the Canal-du-Midi
Cool house beside the Canal-du-Midi

We live in a small house. I hadn’t really given it much thought until the other morning when Bill was loading the dishwasher…from his seat at the breakfast table. That’s also where we eat lunch and dinner and from my side of that same table I would be able to load the washing machine which is there in the kitchen too. In US real estate terms that would be called “cozy”. Continue reading “Cozy they call it”

Unknown's avatarBob1 Comment
Life in France

The Home Show, French style

Home Show ad from their website
Home Show ad from their website

We used to watch a lot of Home Garden Television (HGTV) where our favorite show was House Hunters International. When they would feature a location in Europe we would always record it so that we could later pretend that we were the ones that were looking for a home overseas. Every spring in Atlanta there is a huge 3-day home improvement exhibition that always features one or more of the hosts from this TV network and we usually went just to see what was new and maybe catch a glimpse of a “star”. This weekend at the exhibition hall that’s a 5-minute walk from where we live was the Salon de l’immobilier et de l’habitat de Carcassonne (short version: Home Show) so we just had to go. Continue reading “The Home Show, French style”

Unknown's avatarBob4 Comments
Life in France

Night and day difference

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Our courtyard’s French blue shutters

My first long term relationship was with someone who lived in New York City. The first time I went to Manhattan it was truly overwhelming; skyscrapers, people, endless avenues of shopping, bumper to bumper traffic, Broadway, Times Square, and noise. In the daytime it was exciting but at night it was too noisy to sleep. After a week there I kind of got used to the crowds but nighttime sirens, garbage trucks with clanging cans, and screaming drunks validated the nickname The City That Never Sleeps. Continue reading “Night and day difference”

Unknown's avatarBob1 Comment
Life in France

When 7+7=15

A street in our neighborhood
A street in our neighborhood

In French when you talk about a two-week period you will most commonly hear “15 days” because they include the day you are currently in. Since we’ve now been in the house for quinze jours I thought I’d update a few of those early day posts. Let’s start with the one that’s generated the most interest and concern: Stone cold. Continue reading “When 7+7=15”

Unknown's avatarBob1 Comment
Life in France

Stone cold

Part of our stone walls
Part of our stone walls

A few years ago we were in France’s Loire valley which boasts the country’s highest concentration of chateaux (castles) per square kilometer. On some days we would visit one in the morning, stop for lunch, visit a second in the afternoon and then return to our own rented castle for the evening. Even after a week of that schedule we only saw a few of the 300 or so that exist there. One especially memorable chateau was Chambord, not only because it’s the valley’s largest but because of how cold it was inside; colder than it was outside; stone cold. Continue reading “Stone cold”

Unknown's avatarBob5 Comments
Before leaving the US

Riding the roller coaster

Georgia house after a nice rain. Thanks to Pat, our realtor.
Georgia house after a nice rain. Thanks to Pat, our realtor.

Last Monday evening we met with our realtor. Three offers were on the table for the house and they were all very similar. Selling this house was a lot different from most home sales. I actually was the one to show the house to the buyers and their agents. The storms and floods managed to work to our advantage during the process. When there is that much rain and the basement stays dry then everyone is happy.

I do have to back up a bit for you to understand how it all happened so quickly. First we offered the house to the neighbors who expressed interest from the beginning. The timing was wrong for Michael and his family but another family was very interested but really did not know the value that a dry, finished basement adds to property. They could not understand why the home was appraised so much more than others in the neighborhood without basements. Continue reading “Riding the roller coaster”

Unknown's avatarBill4 Comments