After the house that came with a llama we discovered two more interesting selling points on Saturday. We saw two of the saddest properties that I have seen so far. I won’t post pictures in case I’m identified, you will see why especially for the first property!
The first property was in the middle of no-where. Literally. There was a house opposite and that was it. There was an eery dark feeling about the house even though it was early afternoon. The air around was very still and there were no trees. It was a lifeless, soulless place.
Mr Piglet and I had strange vibes whilst visiting and the fact that the owner looked rather like a witch and was following us around with frequently giving us the evil eye whilst puffing furiously on her cigarette didn’t help.
Parts of the house were really smelly and stunk of dog pooh and petrol and rotten food. With my morning sickness persisting, I had to discreetly cover my nose with my hand so to avoid gagging. After all, I didn’t want to suffer the wrath of the witch by vomiting everywhere.
The bad feelings continued as we ventured to the upstairs of the property. I followed the agent into the bathroom and immediately had to divert my eyes as I was confronted with an array of gothic erotic underwear laid out on display. Not knowing where to look and having my suspicions confirmed (surely she must be part of a witch sex sect?) I could barely contain myself and wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible.
My face must have been a picture as back on the landing the estate agent launched into the final part of his sales pitch, obviously hoping to clinch a deal.
The information he revealed would be something that I would be desperate to bury in the garden and keep a secret forever and ever, certainly not something that I would take glee in revealing!
The house was in fact the only neighbour to a prominent murderer’s house! Seeing my shocked reaction (I nearly passed out), the agent was quick to home in on the celebrity factor: the murderer was a well known international rugby player. Great! I can just see me telling everyone that, as if it makes it all better!
Needless to say we couldn’t wait to get the hell out of there!
The second property we visited wasn’t anywhere near as creepy it was just sad. A typical result of France’s inheritance system: the ownership of the property had been passed down to the children upon the first spouse passing away and had then been owned by the children and the husband. The husband remarried, had children and then when he passed away, ownership again got passed down to the children.
After a while I gave up trying to understand how many people currently owned it. The long and the short of it was that the property had been abandoned by the owners for a long while, whilst they fought about who should live in it and what to do with it.
During this time the property was neglected and started falling to bits. I felt rather sorry for the property but angry at the greedy owners who were now looking to try and make a mint and yet had failed to look after the property in question over the years.
Fascinating stuff Piglet – could be the start of a short story in its own right – why don’t you buy it anyway just to see how the story ends, maybe with your new baby turning out to be half human, half goat, for example…
Horror of horrors! I don’t I’d be able to sleep even one night in that place!
Its definitely a story house though I’m not that desperate to write a story. Also, I wouldn’t fancy having a half human half goat child…
This is great – I got a good laugh from your cigarette-puffing witch & her evil eye. That’s the kind of comedy only real life can provide.
On a serious note, I understand your plight of house-hunting in France. I’m currently in the midst of that myself. At least now I know to be aware of surly realtors giving the evil eye.
Good luck finding your home!
Thanks Rasmenia. What part of France are you searching in? How are you finding estate agents generally?
Wow! By far the best French Real Estate story I’ve every heard!! Now I’m dying to see photos … lol. You certainly had the bad energy right.
Maybe I’ll post the photos and the names of the people concerned in separate posts or elsewhere so that they don’t get connected back to me… Really, that woman was THAT scary!
Yeah, celebrity murder sells too Piglet, just not quickly enough. No matter what people thnk no one wants to live in a murderers house.
Funny, this was the topic of conversation chez les parents on the weekend. Les parents told us about a couple/family who bought a house and during the course of reno found a skeleton walled up in what used to be a closet. Go figure.
Then there was the story of the guy who had robbed a man’s house by climbing in through the chimney. The homeowner figured the robber came in that way so he closed off the bottom of the chimney while he was away. The robber returned and obviously couldn’t get into the house. The sad part was that perhaps he’d also gained weight (or something) but he couldn’t get back up the chimney. He died in the chimney. (Of course, this is where D started in on jokes about why, everytime a fire was started, there was the smell of roast meat.)
I just thought I’d share…
mmm, thanks for sharing Tanya, you have certainly giving me things to think about!
We have seen another two reno houses and I’ve had my head up the chimney and have been trying to check out wall cavaties too. Can you imagine moving in and discovering a dead body? I think I would be heartbroken and majorly creeped out. I would have to move!
Do you know whether the people stuck it out or whether they moved elsewhere?
ps. What a weird topic of conversation! How on earth did you come to talk about that?
Agreed re the stoopid French inheritance laws – it’s a travesty that so many truely wonderful properties are just left to go to ruin because the offspring can’t agree on what to do with it once mama or papa have passed away! Grrr!
They’re just so daft aren’t they? Mr Piglet and I are constantly worrying about whether we should change marriage contract, create an SCI or whatever, especially now that there’s a mini Piglet on it’s way. So many properties go to waste like this, it’s as you say a traversty.
Oh my! You are getting the full treatment of potential house buyers. Your stories take me back.
Better luck on the next batch.
And think, I’m sparing you lots and lots of mediocre stories about visits of mediocre houses…
We have inheritance laws here but they work nicely in my opinion. The wife always inherits. If she is dead, the first son inherits.
This eliminates wills, for the purpose of being sure to keep the home in the family ( lawyers fees etc) and there is never any confusion, everyone knows exactly what is going to happen and who gets what.
I have been through 3 house sales and purchases in the past 7 years .. and there are indications another one will be in my future
There definitely sounds like there is more logic in the inheritance laws in Buenos Aires! I wouldn’t fancy being the secon child though, gutted!
Do you have expensive taxes to pay when you purchase? In France if the property is not new build then we have around 7% to pay in tax which is steep – you really need to make sure you get it right! Estate agent fees are expensive too, regardless of who actually pays them you know they’re factored into the price – they vary from 4 – 7% on average depending on the price and the agent!
Interested to hear what your next move will be!
If trying to sell a house, then being the sole owner could be a good sales point. We have a tontine ownership on our French house and can only hope that come the eventual day that the Notaire’s assurances will be honoured. But I sometimes wonder if the last one standing will have to make deals with second marriage family.
There’s a lot of crossing ones fingers and hoping I’m beginning to get the impression! We’re currently looking at an SCI company to hold our next house… we will see what we do!
Even if it was George Clooney doing the murdering, and one of his victims was Brad Pitt, I would never ever want to live there! That’s crazy!
And what’s up with the gothic erotic underwear?
Congratulations on not hurling everywhere, it must have been very difficult
If it was George Clooney and Brad Pitt I would have stuck around longer and taken lots of pictures! But, like you, I would never want to live there! How awful!
As for the gothic erotic underwear, well. It was really, really, weird. I assume it was gothic as it wasn’t what you could call sexy or feminie, quite witchy like and just weird!
You’re certainly getting to see a lot of unusual properties! Makes for fascinating reading.
Makes for fascinating viewing as well! I sometimes forget that the ultimate goal is to find somewhere to live…
Dear,
Well, I was searching for a grange in Campan (Hautes-Pyerénées) and it was so depressing that I finally forgot about it. I’ve seen so many dark houses and strange maisons. I haven´t lost the idea of continuiying my search but first I have to filter it deeply.
Best Regards,
Antonio (Zaloette)
I’m not surprised! Were you using estate agents or were you trying to find them privately?
House hunting can be such a depressing business, it was fun at first but it quickly lost its shine.
Unfortunately I don’t have the option of postponing my search, I need somewhere to live!
Could you expand a little on the gothic lingerie? My imagination is running riot.
You certainly are finding some very newsworthy properties. Whatever next? Really fascinating reading. I am persuaded now that if we ever manage to sell our house, we’ll buy something new; although when we did once buy a new house it was very strange, because there was absolutely no atmosphere in it. Just a big empty box. But preferable to finding skeletons or people cooked in the chimney.
mmm, I think I would have to give this blog an x-rated warning if I went into descriptions. Lets just say lots of black and lots of holes and leave it at that.
I have been toying with the idea of buying a plot of land and building new for the last couple of weeks now although I too find that a lot of new properties have no atmosphere and I am a sucker for history and charm… just not so much for skeletons!
Tanya’s comments have made me start asking about chimneys and walls, I wouldn’t fancy finding any bones…
HI there
So glad I came across to find your blog, what fun you’re having house hunting. We’ve all been there, I’m only sorry I didn’t have a blog at the time!
Love the picture you put up of the house you’re considering, looks wonderful.
Thank you for stopping by
Sharon
I’m glad I discovered your blog too! Plenty of ideas for decorating!
Ironically we didn’t have any problem finding our first French home, we visited 1 place for 10 minutes, made an offer, 7 days later the offer was accepted and 3 months after we moved in.
This new hunt is completely different! I love house hunting but unfortunately not when it’s for me
I look forward to reading more of your blog in the future.
When I was first house hunting there was one which looked super and ticked all the boxes…but as soon as I entered it I felt as if something was suffocating me…a really horrible feeling..so I shot out faster than I had come in.
Much later I was told that it has been an ecclesiastical prison (mind boggles).
How awful! But it’s funny how we can sense something isn’t quite right isn’t it?
What a great book could be made from a collection of stories about houses with horrible histories.
I definitely think every house has a soul…
XO L