I-Spy Property Finders is born

I was pleasantly surprised about how supportive other expats were about my business ideas. One of those was Peter Elias who runs a property business called Allez-Francais. I originally met Peter to talk about my photographic business and he demonstrated his enthusiasm for my proposals by providing me with my first assignment in France.

However, Peter picked up on something else I said during our meeting; I mentioned my idea about also establishing a property finding business to help people through the process of finding and purchasing a property in France. Having negotiated the tricky process of buying a property in France and having learned much along the way, I felt there was an opportunity to share that experience by helping others to turn their dreams into reality.

Nice idea, but once again the French system was providing a significant obstacle. Although I had managed to get registered as an auto-entrepreneur for my photographic business (see the previous post), the system in France is such that anyone operating a property based business must either be a fully qualified Immobilier (which involves three years of study and requires an in depth understanding of French property law, thus making it virtually impossible for a non native French speaker to get qualified) or they have to be working for a qualified Immobilier in the capacity of a registered ‘Agent Commercial’.

Clearly I am neither of these things. Becoming a qualified immobilier was a non-starter and, because I wanted to be able to operate completely independently from any immobilier, working for one was not an option either. But Peter had an idea; a cunning plan. Using his extensive network he was able to introduce me to an immobilier based in Paris who was prepared to allow me to operate as an ‘agent commercial’ under his umbrella registration. However, he agreed that I could operate completely independently, without any requirement to include any of his properties in my search portfolio. I would simply pay him a small commission for any business I generated. Perfect!!

I-Spy Property Finders was born as an independent property finder able to operate purely on behalf of my clients.

Not so fast! Before I could launch I-Spy Property Finders I would need to complete my registration as an ‘agent commercial’. This would require a visit to the ‘Greffe du Tribunal de Commerce’ in the local prefecture capital of Perigueux, a lovely town to visit but a 90 minute drive from Busserolles. Armed with my contractual agreement to operate as an agent commercial and with every piece of ID I could muster I presented myself at the Greffe and asked to be registered. With a knowing look the lady at the counter proceeded to present me with a pile of paperwork to complete. My heart sank but with a determined intake of breath I resolved to fill out the forms there and then. “Where could I go to complete the forms?” I asked, expecting there would be some tables and chairs for such a thing. “There is only this counter” she replied so, not to be deterred, I leant on the counter and started writing.

After half an hour (which involved frequent accessing of the French/English dictionary I had on my iPhone) I had completed all I was able to do but felt that I had done pretty well. I returned to the queue and presented my form for checking.

Then came the hammer blow – “you need to put your French social security number here”, she said, pointing at an obscure box that I had missed. “I have not yet been issued one” I replied. “You cannot register without one”, she said, with that stereotypical French shrug of the shoulders.

There was only one thing for it – take a deep breath and go and have lunch at one of Perigueux’s many lovely restaurants!

It was another three weeks (during which time I was asked to provide documents which I had already provided – as ever, keep calm and just send them again!) before I was finally issued with a French Social Security Number and was able to return to Perigueux. This time the forms were deemed to have been completed to the satisfactory standard and so……..we went for lunch, this time feeling pretty pleased with ourselves.

I had not been idle whilst waiting for this exercise to be completed and had spent the time building a website for my new business. This was my first experience of creating a website but, if I say so myself, the final result looks pretty good. So, having now become registered as an ‘agent commercial’, I was able to launch the website: www.i-spypropertyfinders.com

Now it’s time to find my first clients!

Into the Dragon's Den

Richard Branson has done pretty well in life and this is a quote from him that appeals to me:

“A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts”.

My idea to establish a property photography business in France seems to fit pretty well with Sir Richard’s thinking so here we go….!

Just hold on a minute though, this is France and naturally French bureaucracy has something to say about this! Whilst in the UK it is possible to wake up in the morning and decide to set yourself up as a sole trader, in France any commercial activity requires a legal structure, with the business either registered as an individual operator or as a company.

The good news for me though was that in 2009 a new business status had been introduced by the French Government, known as the Auto-entrepreneur, which offers a simpler process of registering and running the smallest sole-trader businesses. To qualify for this status there is a very low turnover limit and, as with a sole trader in the UK, there is unlimited personal liability. However, it was established with the objective of encouraging small business start-ups and it carries with it a simplified tax regime (which is not the same a 'low' by the way!)

For me, the Auto-entrepreneur status is the perfect way to get into the French system will allow me to focus on business development rather than complex legal and financial matters. They can come later and will be a nice problem to have because it will mean my business is doing well.

I found the Angloinfo website had some excellent information about this subject and it is well worth reading if you are thinking of following a similar route. I also used another source of really good information available for people living in the Perigord Vert, The Dronne Valley Network, and asked if anyone could offer me advice on the registration process. A very helpful lady called Vivienne (she runs a website business as an auto-entrepreneur) offered to help and so, with the registration website open in front of me, I gave her a call and she talked me through the various stages.

Whilst it was relatively straightforward, my poor French made it difficult to always grasp what information was being requested and Vivienne’s help was invaluable. We got through to the end of the process and I printed off the completed forms and sent them off along with various forms of ID.

Which prompts me to offer a key piece of advice for anyone moving to France. It seems that everyone wants to see multiple forms of ID and it is therefore worth getting plenty of copies done of the following documents:

• Passport
• Birth Certificate
• Marriage Certificate

I was even required at one stage to produce a copy of the Decree Absolute from my Divorce in 1994!

Back to the business registration, and clearly everything had been completed properly for in due course I was issued with a registration certificate and the all important ‘SIRET’ number. This is the reference number attached to the business and has to be shown on every piece of business documentation including any advertising material. You cannot do anything business related without a SIRET number otherwise the gendarmes will be knocking on the door.

With my SIRET number in hand it was time to hit the streets! I followed up on some of the immobilier contacts that I had originally made at the French Property Exhibitions and set appointments to go along and make my pitch.

This is something that I don’t enjoy doing (does anybody?) and, as I arrived for my rendez-vous, I felt the way those poor souls who pitch to the Dragons in the BBC’s Dragon’s Den programme must feel. The reality of course was nothing like I had feared. I simply talked about something I loved doing and listened to what they had to say about their business and the ways we might be able to work together.

It is still early days but as I write this I have completed my first photographic assignment. Nothing too simple of course, just a 14^th Century Chateau with spiral medieval stone staircases! Click here to see the results of my visit there. I also have a booking to photograph and produce a virtual tour for a lovely gite property near Brantome.

I’ll let you know how the business develops in future posts. 

‘"Carpe per diem - seize the cheque" (Robin Williams)

As I’ve said in previous posts, if our French Dream is to last beyond our first year then we have to find a way of earning a few euros. We are not alone amongst those moving to France these days - so many of us choose not simply to retire here but to actively seek out a new way of life in this wonderful area of the world long before drawing a pension.

My French language abilities are just not good enough at this stage to consider looking for salaried employment so self employment is the best bet. What to do though?

Could I earn money as a writer? Whilst it has always appealed I’ve never done it before and this blog is my first attempt. (Perhaps you, dear reader, can tell me if it is an option worth pursuing? Be gentle with me please J) And in reality I have no understanding of how the media works and how to make money out of writing, let alone what I should write about!

Perhaps an internet based business would work since the internet allows anyone to be an entrepreneur and to reach a global customer base (they say!). What products could I sell? Here are just some of my ideas:

• French Antiques - but I know nothing about them
• Batteries and memory cards for cameras - too much competition
• French cheese - too smelly
• French artisan soaps - too smelly 

Lovely French Cheese - but very smelly!

Another idea we considered was as a result of talking to a lady called Sally Stone at one of the French Property Shows we visited. She was offering people the opportunity to buy a franchise in her business called ‘Les Bons Voisins’ (Good Neighbours it means in English and every time I hear it I start singing “Everybody needs good neigh…...bours” in an Australian accent – bet you did too!). It’s a great concept, offering caretaking services to second-home owners and property management for absent gite owners. We were very tempted but ultimately, to be passionate about a business, you have to do something you love doing and we just felt that cleaning houses and changing bedsheets seemed like doing more of the things that we disliked doing in our own home!

Purchasing an existing business is another option but again, what to do that would make best use of our meager talents? We are not vivacious party people so running a bar is out. I love cooking but there is a massive difference between making a tasty casserole for the family to running a restaurant. 

Day boat business for sale in Brittany

One ‘business for sale’ advert that did catch my eye was a small day-boat hire business – perfect until I realised that it was in Brittany rather than the Perigord Vert!

The simple reality is that it is better to start a new business by utilising your existing skills and experience. That left two options; something that utilised my 25 years of experience in human resource management – but I’d had enough of that kind of work, that’s why we came to France, and my French language skills would be a very limiting factor; or something based on my love of photography and the work I had been doing on a hobby basis for an estate agent friend of mine in the UK.

The latter came about in 2008 when I had purchased a licence to use some technology that enabled me to produce virtual tours. Working at weekends and on summer evenings I would visit properties for sale and capture the images required to develop the virtual tour. Over time I started to do more and produced still photographs, floorplans, property details (you know the kind of thing, “A deceptively spacious broom cupboard in a highly desirable area of Runcorn”) and on-line brochures. Eventually I was able to work four days a week in HR and do my photography work on Wednesdays as well. I absolutely loved it! Below are a couple of examples of photos I took in England:

Is there a market for this kind of service in France? Our own research and experience suggests there is. Just take a look at a typical immobilier’s web site (and we’ve looked at a lot during the course of our house hunting) and you will be lucky to see three or four grainy photos. Given the way that most house hunters use the internet for their initial research, that is simply not good enough in this day and age.

Our view was supported by a number of estate agents we had spoken to at the Property Exhibitions and they were keen to know more, but of course they were never going to commit to working with someone who was still based in Cheshire. Well we’re in France now, so here goes…..