Monday 29 August 2011

Negotiating to buy.

I got an email from Jean Pierre in France a few weeks ago informing us our neighbor Denis was considering selling his property, a little history. Our house used to be 3 connecting rooms on ground floor and over the years thru inheritance and other events it had been split into 3 separate properties, that at least is the short story, longer one is how they started as one property and were extended and altered but that would be a long story and involves me waffling on about reclaimed oak beams from barns and bricked up bread ovens.
So anyway back to the here and now, we own two thirds of the property, the remaining third was occupied by a couple up until maybe 10 years ago, until old age forced them to a more comfortable surrounding, more comfortable in that the end part of the building consists of one room with a hay loft above, no bathroom or facilities other than a sink in the corner, slightly primitive, I’ll post some pictures at a later date.
Anyway when we arrived at the cottage on this trip having again driven thru the night I got straight on with cutting the grass and getting the BBQ out of the barn, while the coals heated we walked down the lane and said hello to our neighbors Regis and Collette. Regis immediately informed us that Denis was indeed selling his property and asked if we would be interested, we of course said we would, he then phoned and arranged a meeting for us in a few days to discuss it with the seller. On our return to the now suitably heated BBQ and while I cooked the steaks we had brought with us Julie and I discussed what we might be willing to pay for this attached property, we concluded that it was too small to be of use to anybody else and should anybody else buy it, it would possibly become an inconvenience to us, after a couple of beers we settled on a figure and went in to dust a few cobwebs away before making up a bed for the night.
When Julie went upstairs she discovered the loft floor covered in dead (thankfully) wasps, as they were dead I said I’d investigate in the morning.
Next day it didn’t take long to discover we had a very active wasps nest in the roof space at the top of the stairs fortunately the wasps were only managing to get into the house in small numbers but the nest needed dealing with, another walk around to Regis. Regis quickly came round to inspect and asked if I had a BOMB, I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about but it all became clear when he returned with a fairly large aerosol with a funnel shaped nozzle, apparently these thing are good at up to 6 meters maybe 29 feet, just what you need when dealing with wasps. Fortunately they had built the entrance to the nest just next to the velux window, so balancing on the top of a step ladder I could just pock my head out and direct the gas towards the entrance to the nest and retreat back in and shut the window. These sprays are pretty instance and for the rest of the day and that evening while cooking yet more steak on the BBQ we could see wasps rolling down the roof, unfortunately the nest was far more active that one spray could deal with and before I finally left to return to the UK I’d given the nest 2 more blasts, but it was still a little active even then.
Saturday and our neighbors arrived to discuss selling their house to us, fortunately they had a young lady with them who spoke exceptionally good English so eliminating what we thought would be the biggest hurdle. Unfortunately it seems there was a problem with a hedge growing on our land that was over hanging onto another neighbors land and he was doing most of the negotiating, he insisted that if we didn’t cut the hedge he would not sell the end cottage to us, on hearing this I said ok then don’t and turned to walk away, by this time we had a fair size audience with the other residents of the hamlet watching on and finding it all very amusing, this hedge has been in dispute since we purchased the property, I had been informed thru a third party that this guy insisted he owned the hedge and thought it quite humorous that the “silly Englishman” cuts it for him every time I’m there, so I decided if it was his hedge he could cut it, he never did coz it wasn’t his and he knew he legally couldn’t interfere with it, all a little petty but it is a good indication of how things can escalate in neighbor disputes. Anyway he has now finally admitted that the hedge is ours, from our point of view it marks our boundary and removes that from any future dispute. So with that resolved in my mind, I asked them what they wanted for the cottage, they um’d and ar’d and came up with a figure just over half of what Julie and I had discussed we might pay, I could see in Julie’s eyes that had she been negotiating she would have snatched their hands off and took the keys, me I just shrugged and pointed out the crack in the wall and the fact it had no drainage for the grey water, 10 minutes later and I’d offered a figure two thirds of what they wanted, they said they would return next week and let us know the answer, later meJulie said she thought I was cheeky, I said they knew better than us what it was worth and being French would have automatically loaded the asking price knowing we would negotiate a lower price. They returned Thursday, this time just the grandson and translator thinking it wise to leave the old man out of it, we agreed a price halfway between the two and all is well, we have now shook hands on the deal and the next time Julie and I go back (October) we will visit the notaire and sign for the place, nice little project for me for next summer, keep me out of trouble for a few months, we’ll keep it separate from the main house and have it as a nice little gite, maybe rent it out, get some cash back.
Other than that it was a lazy holiday, Julie was there for just over a week I stayed on for a second week just for the hell of it but have to admit once I’d got the garden in order I was bored rigid and couldn’t wait to get home, apart from missing the obvious I was also missing the Dragon, having only just got it back on the road I was itching to get some riding in.
First thing I do when I get home is check the computer for messages and read the one or two forums I enjoy not least the VRCC both UK and US, some one on the UK board asked if there was any possibility of a northern meet as most of the club activity was down south or in Wales and how about doing something for us northerners, I said I was up for attending something up north, long story short I’ve been lumbered with trying to arrange a meet in October, pushed it to the end to give folk a chance to rearrange their diary and riding schedule so they can fit in what should be a pleasant weekend in Yorkshire. We will be planning a couple of ride outs, I’m trying at short notice and without knowing numbers to get a Best Western to agree discounted room rates and oh well, all good fun, funny how so many people want a gathering but want someone else to sort it, me I’m not the most sorted person, I mean even when it is only me I need to sort I struggle so organizing something that involved 10’s of bikers (really haven’t got a clue about the numbers) and with only 6 weeks or there abouts notice, well I’m clueless, meJulie in her optimistic way assures me it’ll be great, sure it will.
In the meantime the USA fall color trip is off due too spending all my vacation money on buying property, I have however found a big black marker pen and filled a new trip in for May 2012 that cannot be erased, penciling it in doesn’t work, too easy to rub out, no this date is set in stone, will get tickets sorted Feb. (apparently 12 weeks before travel is the optimal time to buy price wise) then for sure there’ll be no turning back, gotta check the lot over there, it’s been too long.
For now I’m away back to France for a ride, yes that’s right a RIDE this coming Monday, not doing the 1000 mls in 24 hrs iron butt due to the fact I’ve been having some trouble with my knees not lasting longer than a couple of hours sitting and am not over confident given that I’ve not ridden the bike much this year  could last 24 hrs, I’m aiming for the cottage in one hop 750 miles give or take all secondary roads in France, if I can’t I’ll stop at a motel and rest, the minds willing I’m just not confident the body is up for it. There will be a full ride report when I get back, only going to cut the grass and ride a few empty roads be back Friday so I can attend the last day at the VRCC UK Meeting of Friends 3 at Llangollen, sounds like a nice days riding around the hills of north Wales.
Yep going to do my utmost and make up for all the down time the dragon has had this summer.
Well that’s about it for now, made up another lot of diet food this past week, might post a new menu before I go Monday, Mediterranean veg, with a Mick twist, nice.
I’ll be back, till then take care and ride safe.