Clé France

It's been hectic (two moves in London, and one move-in in France!).

Having the right estate agent in France is extremely important so that you can find the perfect property and then navigate your way through the, not as complex as one first though, French property purchasing system - and Cle France have an excellent agent indeed.  

Not only that, the advice offered by Cle France before and during the negotiations was invaluable.

We did not appreciate how involved our French agent would be throughout the process, so having that right agent at the outset put us on the right path.  

We're now settled into our property and am very happy to be starting this new adventure.

Mr R Elliott.

Everyone seems to have a busy life these days and at Cle France French Property Network we understand this and make sure our clients are guided throught the buying process in France with efficiency and competence to make sure your property purchase goes as smooth as possible. Mr Elliott bought a superb property with us in the Burgudy region of France.

We had a lovely time driving in France and viewing properties.

The agent we met was very helpful and friendly, we viewed many properties.

A big thank you for all your help in setting up viewings. We are now packing up ready to come home.

Regards, Andy and Ann.

Whenever we send a client viewing to France we follow up with them to make sure their experience was everything we expect, if our agents fall short we address the issues and move on. We make sure that every part of the process is open and stress free for our clients.

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Posted by Cle France on Monday, 24 August 2015

Sharon, It's amazing how viewing changes your initial opinion. 

One we went to today was a potential favourite of mine but ended up been the first we put a line through. 

"Firstly your agent was a gentleman, lovely guy, please thank him again"

The second property, my wife loved it.

The 3rd property, Semi detached with the green lake, we absolutely loved it! Really excited by it.

So three more viewings tomorrow. No doubt we shall speak more on our return to England. 

Thanks for arranging things, you never know, this could yet have a fruitful ending yet.

Best regards, Dave.

Cle France keeps in touch with you every step of the way so you know what is going on and what to do next.

After figuring out how les numéros de téléphones français (French phone numbers) work and when things are open (Pharmacies even on Sundays!), there is a big thing some people don’t release when they’re going abroad.

Qui est-ce qu’on appelle en cas d’urgence ?

Who do you call in an emergency?

The UK 999 number used to be easy to remember but now there are alternatives in the UK, if that is not confusing enough, we all seem to remember the American number, 911, but  that does not work everywhere in the world!

Knowing the appropriate number is an important part of being à l’étranger (abroad).

Photo by Napafloma-Photographe on Flickr

In France, there are several numbers you should know en cas d’urgence:

15 – Le SAMU (Le Service d’aide médical urgente) – Medical emergencies

17 – La police

18 – Les pompiers (firemen) – fire emergencies

112 – SOS – all services

If you have trouble remembering all of them, the most important one is cent douze – 112. Having more emergency numbers means “Call 911!” has a few translations in French:

Appellez le quinze ou appellez les urgences !

Appellez le dix-sept ou appellez la police !

Appellez le dix-huit ou appellez les pompiers !

Appellez le cent douze !

La raison pour tous ces numéros (the reason for all these numbers) is that le 112 is a relatively new pan-european emergency number. Traditionally you would call a specific number for a specific emergency, et beaucoup de gens (and many people) continue to do so today.

Entre parenthèses (a quick side note, litterally between parenthesis), au Canada francophone (in French speaking Canada) it’s slightly different. The emergency number is the same as in the US, 911, but it’s not read as one number. Instead, each digit is read out – neuf un un (nine one one).

No matter the number, there are a few important questions you need to be able to answer after l’opérateur (the operator) picks up the phone.

Qui je suis ?

Où je suis ?

Pourquoi j’appelle ?

Who am I?

Where am I?

Why am I calling?

You have to let them know whether you’re victime ou témoin (a victim or a witness) and give them un numéro de téléphone so they can call you back. You also need to give them l’adresse précise (the exact address) for where they need to go. Lastly, you have to tell them why you’re calling.

You might be able to speak to l’opérateur in English, but chances are you’ll have to flex your French speaking muscles and try to explain the situation in French! Heureusement (fortunately), answering the above questions is easy:

Je suis victime/témoin.

Je suis à….

J’habite….

C’est un cas d’urgence !

I am a victim/witness.

I am at/on….

I live at/on….

It’s an emergency!

Blog submitted by: Alex at The French Property Network - Cle France.

For everything you need to know about French property visit www.clefrance.co.uk