My children still tell the tale of how I
planned for our family holiday to Florida in 2003. No true Yorkshireman is
going to spend so much money on a holiday to a far-flung land without ensuring
that every minute is spent wisely. So I did my research and developed a plan –
a very detailed and cunning plan.
It didn’t just indicate which theme park
would be visited each day – no, that would not suffice. My plan indicated which
ride was to be tackled at which time of day, when and where we would eat and what
the precise time and location that Mickey and Minnie were to be given a hug.
The objective was to minimize wasted queuing time and maximize family fun. I
was damn sure they would enjoy themselves!!
With my reputation to protect I set about
developing a plan for the move to France – it even had a name, Project
Cinquante (my first post on this blog will help to explain that one!)
Having determined that we wanted to make
our new home in the Perigord Vert, the second fundamental decision we made was
that we would initially rent a property whilst we looked for a permanent home.
We couldn’t afford the time or the costs involved in making numerous short
trips to view properties and we didn’t want to rush such an important
purchasing decision.
We had met some Property Finders during our
visits to French Property Exhibitions and we seriously considered utilising
their services to undertake the donkey work of developing a shortlist of
potential properties in France. But I was out of work, my wife had had enough
of being abused by patients in her NHS job and we just felt that the time for
procrastination was well and truly over.
With those decisions made, it was time to
get on with a detailed plan. On an Excel spreadsheet (I’m sure Microsoft will
pay me handsomely for such a high profile product placement – do get in touch
Bill) I listed out every step required, starting from the point of selling our
house in Cheshire through to arrival in France. Key aspects of the plan were
identified and we divided up the ownership of them between us:
- · Selling the house in Cheshire
- · Renting a house in the Perigord Vert
- · Opening a French Bank Account
- · Moving all our worldly goods
- · Setting up French Utility Services
- · Getting the Dogs to France
- · Healthcare in France
- · The journey
- · The Budget for all this!
We put in many man (and woman) hours
researching every aspect of the plan and that investment ultimately proved to
be worth it as the plan was implemented. We bought books about buying property
and living in France, we scoured the internet using excellent general
information sites such as Agloinfo and Frenchentree and we
poured over magazines like Living France and French Property News.
Our financial plan for Project Cinquante
relied on us selling our house in Cheshire, paying off the mortgage and using
the remaining capital to fund our first two years in France. Whilst we
therefore needed every penny from the house sale we knew how price sensitive
the UK housing market was and we had no intention of still trying to find a
buyer 12 months down the line. With Mark Butterworth from Agents4U (an estate agent in Northwich, Cheshire), we developed an
aggressive marketing strategy and had five viewings over the first weekend of
being on the market, a remarkable result in such a depressed housing market.
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| Our house in Cheshire |
Whilst we had a couple of hiccups along the
way (cold feet caused one offer to be withdrawn and an awkward plonker in the
chain decided at the last minute to delay completion by an additional week) we were
eventually able to plan on moving out at the end of May 2012.
Great! We would be homeless but with money
in the bank and no debts for the first time in our lives. It felt both
liberating and scary at the same time, like skiing naked down a black run.
In my next post I’ll tell you more about
how Project Cinquante came to life.
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