My friend James sent us a video of the vineyard he recommended that we should buy. “It’s a great price,” he said. “The land is worth more than the asking price alone, without the building.”

We loved the look of the land; vines as far as you could see, and it adjoined the vines of the old monastery next door. There was a small river at one end of the property. However, the building looked very plain. No attractive shutters, no balconies, and ugly looking doors. James assured us that with a bit of creativity and imagination, we could make it look good.

We decided it was worth a visit, so we made arrangements to travel to France to see the place. It was November when we arrived, the vines were bare. It was cold and raining. However, the place actually looked better than on the video, but it needed a lot of work, a heck of a lot of work. We loved walking through the acres of vines and we excited by the thought of drinking wine from our own vineyard.

A procession of friendly monks walked past as we inspected the outside of the building. This was such a nice scene, we suspected that the owner had arranged it, to make the place look charming. We returned to James’s house thinking that we may make an offer.

We consulted a wine atlas and were encouraged to find that our prospective purchase was a respected domain. James pulled out his drafting pad and sketched the possibilities for renovation. He estimated that we would spend as much on the renovation as on the purchase price of the property.

James told us that the price was originally was about 195,000 Euros (it was in francs at the time), but it was reduced as the owner would continue to work the land, and profit from the sale of the wine.

This was because the owner wanted to avoid a problem with the Socit d'Amnagement Foncier et Etablissement Rural (SAFER), the government agency that controls the sale of agricultural land. One of SAFER’s functions is to keep agricultural land in local, French hands. French law provides that SAFER is notified by the Notaire of the exchange of any contract concerning the sale of agricultural land. SAFER then has two months in which to decide whether to exercise their option to purchase and resell to local, French buyers.

To help to avoid SAFER stepping in, the seller, a local Frenchman, would continue to work the vines and give us a percentage, and so the price was reduced by about 15,000 Euros.

We decided we’d make an offer. Before we did, we went to the bank to apply for a mortgage. This was easier than I had expected. On James’s advice, we had opened a bank account a couple of months earlier, so we were already customers. All we had to do was prove that we had enough income to cover the mortgage.

With the confidence that we would get a mortgage, we went ahead and made an offer. The offer was accepted without any haggling, which made us feel that maybe we could have offered less. Nevertheless, the Compromis du Vente was signed at the notaire the following day.

The Compromis du Vente is the agreement to sell. It is this document that determines the form of the final bill of sale, the Acte. The Compromis du Vente is the most important part of the buying process. Once it has been signed by both parties, and the seven-day cooling off period has passed, and the 10% deposit sent to the notaire, then the house is yours. Except for the "Clauses Suspensive" which are additional clauses added to the Compromis du Vente, some are standard, some more complex. These clauses can actually be anything, like pre-approval of planning permission for a terrace, some work to be done, or even that you sell your house first, however the seller has the right to refuse some of the clauses.

Then of course there was the "Droit de Premption". In France when a Seller disposes of their property certain authorities have the right to purchase the property in priority to the proposed purchaser. In our case SAFER. James told us not to worry, as the land would still be worked by the French seller.

Now there was a two month wait to see if SAFER would step in.

Next time: Do we get our vineyard?