Transcription
Today we're going to do a video about something that is very taboo in France: we never talk about money.
Actually, Anglo-Saxons are more free to talk about money and how much things cost. To be honest, as I wasn't born in a family with a castle or a house like this, I was always super curious to know how much it cost. I wanted to imagine that someday, maybe if I do this job or that job, I could achieve my dream.
If I had found a video one day telling me how much things cost, I would have been so happy and reassured that maybe it was possible.
Today, we're going to talk about this, if you want.
About the price of a house: when you want to buy a castle in France, it's not that expensive. It represents a lot of money for most people, but it's not the main part. You can find a house on the market for less than €1 million.
For example, there was one that was in an auction. A family had owned it, but the father died 30 years ago, and the heirs were often fighting over this old family house. It had been in the same family for the last thousand years, and they were divided on whether to sell it or not. There were 11 people involved, and they went to court. The court decided that the house needed to be sold.
Then it went to auction. It was an auction with the house as one lot and 20 hectares of land, plus many other lots with hundreds of hectares of land around. When we arrived at the auction, there wasn't much advertising, but there were a lot of people there. I thought, "Okay, I'm never going to get that house."
They started with the agricultural lands, and the bidding went up to 1 million, 2 million, 3 million. People were going crazy, putting so much money into these lands. Then it was time for the house. They gave the first price, and I was the first one to say, "Okay, me!"
There was a blank, and no one bid on top of me. I was actually the only one. Five minutes later, they said, "Okay, this is for you, sir." I was like, "I'm the owner of a house like this without even fighting for it!"
I was very happy because at the time, the money I had was limited, and I didn't have much extra money on the first price they gave. That's how I became the owner of this house for €675,000.
I had to see the bank pretty quickly because when you do an auction, you need to pay within 30 days, which is almost impossible when you need a loan. I did get a loan, and my bank was super effective. They could give me the money by the 30th day, and I could get the house.
That's how it worked.
You can definitely find very nice houses like this around Paris, in Normandy, and in the eastern part of France. This area is less fashionable than the western part, which is more like Normandy, where you have beautiful houses too. That's probably why it was a bit cheaper, but people were not interested in buying this house.
Interestingly, neither the previous owner nor the part of the family who wanted to keep the house bid on it. But that's how I got this house.
So far, I have people working here every day. They are living here and doing little renovations, maintaining the little pavilion at the entrance, and taking care of the park. I have a gardener who is an agricultural worker living in the nearby village. He maintains the garden, does the woodwork in winter, and cuts the grass in summer. This year, it has rained a lot, so there will be a lot of grass everywhere. We need to mow the lawn at least twice a week.
Regarding construction and renovations, the costs are pretty high. For instance, for the chatelet, the quotation was about a million and a half. You can expect to receive about 50% help from the government for that.
There are also grants for the facade, windows, roof, and for this big room that is listed. Not all of the castle is listed; the exterior is, but only the staircase and the kitchen downstairs are listed. I can apply for some help from the government for the renovation of this part, which will be a big help.
There is a lot of administrative work to do, but if you are well-supported and have a good architect who presents a nice project, it can work out.
You also have some conditions: if you open the house for visits at least one month a year during the summer, then the government is more willing to help you. This is because it’s not only for you; it’s also for the people around, and that makes more sense.
I hope I answered most of your questions in terms of money and how much things cost. Of course, there is more specific information I can give you. I will try to integrate some of this economic information into all the other videos.
If you have more questions, you can leave some comments, and we will try to address them in the next videos.
À bientôt!