Elegant Chartreuse style country retreat with pool, private grounds and countryside views
Midi-Pyrénées, Gers (32)€550,000
International Real Estate for Sale
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The french architecture of all of the castles or chateaux ever built is nothing short of spectacular. Clearly the original fortified castles, the 'château-forts,' in France were built in commanding positions on hill tops above river valleys to defend a region. The communities residing at those chateaux-forts were relatively small and referred to by the name 'Feudal' being an early form of political system around strong leadership that owned the land and where vassals and peasants would work for the community in exchange for certain privileges. This type of society was apparent during the period 900AD to around 1500. To learn more about this community system you can best start at Wikipedia
French Castles built in this period were functional and very large to accommodate and shelter entire local communities also in case of an outside attack. Meters thick walls, small windows, single entrance via drawbridge in a position overlooking the small village at the foot of the valley.
Many of the fortified castles can be found in Dordogne and were built prior and during the 'hunded years wars, but then these huge fortified properties were built literally everywhere of strategic importance in all corners of France.
Some of the medieval chateaux are still standing and a few have been privately restored, at great expense, to provide contemporary and luxury accommodation.
After 1600 and following dozens of battles fought in many french regions during the middle ages, where fortified castles clearly served their purpose, Castles started to be built to show splendour and wealth.
Of course many Chateaus or Palaces like Versailles, Fontainebleau, and many others are well known and definitely worth visiting. Some of the most royal châteaux can be found in the Loire Valley (Valley of Kings) and mostly built between 1550 and 1700.
Many of the post Middle Ages built chateaux can also be described as manor homes, usually being the largest house in a village or community, so many of the Manor homes found in the 36,500 odd communities in France could also be qualified as a Chateau and vice versa.
Typically we see around 1,000 chateau for sale at anyone time and several thousand Manor homes. because of their size and associated cost, of maintenance or re-building these larger homes, the ownership turnover of Chateaux and Manoirs is much smaller and we have seen many of these homes having been on the market for a long time.
We have seen a lot of energy efficiency improvement, i.e heating these larger homes. Thick walls by their functionality keep the warmth out in summers and the heat inside in winters but much still can be done to make many of these homes much more energy efficient. As most of these properties boast over 1000m2 of living space such improvements will come at greater expense, yet there are many manor homes and chateaux that have benefitted from major improvements to energy and which can be found at rather attractive price offers.
There are many interesting web pages discussing the history of Castles and Manors in the different parts of France and anyone attracted to this type of property should definitely research some of these sites online. You may start by looking here to find famous historical Castle buildings and develop an understanding of the various regions for their quality of life, climate and cultures.
Moulin.nl works with a number of quality estate agents and for prospective french Chateau or Manor owners we may also suggest transparant advice and guidance in their journey to acquire a new Chateau or Manoir residence.
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The 'For Sale By Owner' (FSBO) option to advertise is typically executed via a preferred Property Portal website and is usually a pure online activity in exchange for a payment that can vary anywhere from around €100 per annum to €3,000 for a fully serviced listing and marketing campaign. But let Moulin.nl surprise you!
Using a listing agent can be relatively costly and also varies from country to country. In countries where it is more common to appoint an estate agent with an exclusive sales mandate, the commissions are usually lower and typically between 1% and 2% ex VAT.
In many countries though, like Spain and France for example, residential homes are usually sold by way of a non-exclusive mandate where commissions will be anywhere from 3%-5% for higher priced properties and even up to 10% for properties with a list price of under 100,000. Property owners often extend non-exclusive mandates to be listed with a few regional and also more internationally oriented agents or portals which can often lead to a portal showing the same property at different prices and sometimes even different locations.
The 3 options that residential property owners have for selling their home are:
Moulin.nl has been active since 2003 in a number of niche markets like Mills, Chateaux, Manor homes, Farmhouses etc. and offers the FSBO option with a very competitive price and listing solution. Properties can be listed on our expanding Portal with descriptions in the 6 primary languages English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Dutch. All property details are always and automatically shown in all these languages.
Do you need a valuation for your property from a surveyor or well trained and educated professional property agent? Most of the time this is not necessary. You know what your house is like and what it really offers in terms of quality and status. You will know whether your property has more to offer than the average home for sale in a similar neighborhood and of similar size. Scanning the web therefor gives you a pretty good idea at which price level the property can be pitched. Driving through various neighborhoods to do some research can help a lot to determine a best offer price for your home and after scanning the internet again. In slow or fast markets, a different strategy will apply and you can find a lot of good information on the internet how to approach your pricing strategy depending on your time window for the execution of a successful sale.
The "For Sale" sign outside the property can be an important part of your strategy. If the property is in a secure zone or location showing a 'For Sale' sign can speed up the time to realize a sale. Owners of larger properties should be aware that any public information available on the internet, such as an aerial view image, an address or any visible sign will lower the security status of the property to a certain extend. A lovely well-maintained property in a good location will always find a buyer even if no exact address is provided at first. Once the request comes in the seller can start the vetting process and eliminate early potential tourism
Several popular websites let borrowers search for homes. It is often recommended to put your FSBO home on as many websites as possible, including some which are for free. This strategy can be very counterproductive as we have found over many years of Internet advertising. Especially niche properties, such as typically shown on the Moulin.nl websites, will be researched in all the places where they are found on the web, and if something isn't quite right that property becomes a 'no go'.
Serious buyers will spend a lot of time researching and therefore you will do better starting with a listing that can satisfy your goal and also to test out. The Moulin.nl offer should not disappoint in this respect and you can start right now by clicking one of the links on this page.
If you choose to do this yourself, it is easier than you might think. A buyer has the right to choose the notary or he/she can choose someone you know. It is up to them and it will take as long as is typical in a certain region or country. If you are really happy with a realistic asking price the negotiation should be simple. You may wish to markup the price just a little to give a buyer some room for success, but that also depends on the conditions of the property market at that time.
Prepare you house to be in a clean and generally repaired condition and be ready for quick visit requests. Little paint jobs can make a big difference as well as less and easy positioned furniture and other articles in the various rooms. Remove any non-relevant items before taking a picture such as vacuum cleaner in the room or a cleaning cloth on a table.
Take time to photograph every aspect of your property, both interior and exterior, and upload the best photos to the website listing. Make more than one digital image of every aspect and choose the one with the best quality and lighting. Quick photo jobs are often counter-productive.
Buyers like to feel free when visiting a house to buy. Make them feel at home with a few flowers or plants here and there and a fresh smell throughout. Then give them space to wonder around and talk freely without your presence.
Are you looking for a new home as permanent residence , holiday home or business venture?
If you are interested in this service for high end buyers please visit the property search instruction form on our secure subdomain.
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Immoulins offers a multi-lingual service for estate agents with and without own websites to advertise any number of listed properties. Pricing is very competitive up from minimum 20 to 500 or more live properties listed. Special pricing for larger portfolio's. Automatic presentation on moulin.nl/immoulin.com and other immoulin owned domain names subject to type and location of the listed property. Strong international search engine penetration reaching the expatriate community.
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Immoulin is well known for quality (character) property in the medium to higher price ranges.
If you are interested please contact for a competitive quote and we will get back to you very shortly.