Renovating Houses in France, Episode 314

<p>This episode of the podcast is a conversation with Suzanne Saxe-Roux about buying and renovating houses in France, and not just anywhere in France but in the beautiful south-east! Renovating a house in Provence has been a dream for many people since the books by Peter Mayle. You should listen to this episode so you understand how the French real estate system works because it's not what you're used to!</p> <p>Suzanne and her husband wrote a book about their adventure and it’s called <a href="https://amzn.to/2VGFkjV">Courage and Croissants</a> and while I haven’t read the book and we don’t talk about it much in the interview, having published my first book myself, I have renewed admiration for those who complete the task!</p> <h2>Renovating Houses in Provence</h2> <p>Real estate prices being what they are in Provence, finding a lovely fixer-upper is a goal for a lot of people. They fell in love with the town of Uzès and they ended up finding a place to buy in a village 4 kilometers away from Uzès. It is  called Saint-Quentin-la-Poterie.</p> <h3>Village House in Saint-Quentin-la-Poterie</h3> <p>They were young, didn't have a lot of money and split their time between France and the US. The first house they were interested in was a horrible mess, so it's just as well it didn't work out.</p> <p>But they persisted and Suzanne's husband came back to France in the winter when there are better deals because real estate slows down a lot. He found another place in the same village that was also in terrible shape but they were able to buy it at a good price because the sellers needed cash fast.</p> <p>They could only spend some time there in the summer. Each time they would chip away at one project or another. One year they hired a plumber to redo a bathroom. They trusted this person to do the work while they were away and he did an amazing job. And every year they did that with a different room and a different project.</p> <p>This was an old "maison de village" where long ago the animals lived on ground level and people