Clé France

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

Hi David,

I am not sure if Julie responded, following the sale of our French house, as we have been a bit behind on e-mails having just moved ourselves from Singapore to the UK.

My comments would be that Cle France have provided an exceptional level of service and support to enable us to complete the sale of our French home. The simple fact is that we couldn’t have done it without Cle France and we would like to give you a big Thank You for providing the wherewithal to "make it happen".

Kind regards, 

Andrew.

It should come as no surprise that Cle France help as many people to sell their house in France as we help people buy a property in France. We sold Andrew and Julie's house in Brittany recently with help from our enhanced marketing so not only do we have a happy vendor, we also have a happy buyer.

Yes, that is right... FREE tickets to A Place in the Sun Live

A Place in the Sun Live is the official exhibition of the hit overseas property TV show and it takes place at the NEC Birmingham between the 25th-27th September 2015 and Cle France have free tickets worth £10 for you.

They are valid for any one day of the show from Friday 25th through to Sunday 27th September 2015 and include entry to The French Village and other country specialist areas of the show.

Whilst you’re there, don’t miss the chance to meet the presenters of the TV show Laura Hamilton, Jasmine Harman, Jonnie Irwin and of course, Amanda Lamb who will be on hand with their top tips and advice and to answer your questions about buying a property abroad. There’s even an exclusive opportunity to take a screen test to appear on the next series of the show.

Cle France - The French Property Network is of course on-line 24/7 with 8000+ properties for sale in France and lots of information about the Buying Process and more.

Contact us to help find the perfect property for you and feel free to take a look around the website at our fantastic properties.

MAKE SURE you are on our Mailing List to get regular updates on the French Property Market.

A Place in the Sun Live takes place at NEC Birmingham between the 25th-27th September 2015.

Click here to get your free tickets. These tickets are usually worth £10 each.

There are only a few weeks left until the A Place in the Sun Exhibition returns to the NEC Birmingham, so if you haven’t claimed your free ticket yet then click here – they are going fast.

A Place in the Sun Live is the perfect place to start if you want to know more about buying property overseas. The two spring exhibitions earlier this year each welcomed over 7,700 people and received really positive feedback, with 96% saying they would recommend the show to family and friends.

The three day exhibition will be at the NEC Birmingham 25th – 27th September with plenty of expertise, advice and inspiration on buying overseas property. There will be over 150 exhibitors showcasing homes for sale around the world, including the favourite destinations of Spain, France, Portugal, Italy, Florida, Greece and Turkey. Specialist overseas property lawyers and advisers who understand the intricacies of the purchase process will also be available to answer your questions, and there will be free-to-attend seminars at The Hub and specialist country Pavilions.

If you would like to go to the show then you can claim your free tickets by clicking here.

These tickets are usually worth £10 each.

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

Getting used to French working hours is pretty easy. You just need to plan ahead a little bit, and you can always find small things that are still ouvert (open) to hold you over if you’re caught in a long holiday or even a viewing trip.

So when planning a viewing trip to France to see many of the fine properties for sale with Cle France you will notice that we rarely book you in for a viewing between 12pm and 2pm!

It is also worth noting that "the French" rarely work Sundays and Saturdays are not always supported either, although most of Cle France agents work Saturday mornings [I guess protecting le weekend for family duties is not a bad thing] and it is what we "British" may have lost over the years with Sunday Trading and 24 hour opening! what do you think?

You maybe fine with all of that and working with the French schedule, until you need des médicaments (medicine) on a Sunday.

Waking up one Sunday morning not sure how you will be able to get des médicaments is not a fun way to start the day.

It happended to me one Sundsy... I was already sick, but I knew I could get over it with the right médicaments.

J’étais convaincu que (I was convinced that) I’d need to suffer through the day and just wait for lundi matin (Monday morning). After some research, I learned about les pharmacies de garde (emergency pharmacies).

Understanding the importance of l’accès aux médicaments (the access to medicine), des pharmacies take turns being open le dimanche (on Sundays). De cette manière (in this way) there is always une pharmacie ouverte nearby.

I knew “24 hour culture” didn’t exist in France, but was happy to learn la pharmacie de garde includes night services for emergencies. Even though you wont find a supermarket on every corner ouvert 24 sur 24 (open 24 hours), there’s always something open for an emergency.

I also found the useful website,at PharmaciedeGarde.com, for finding the closest pharmacie de garde.

Choose your département et ville (department and city), and it will show you which pharmacies sont ouvertes.

On that fateful dimanche, once I found la pharmacie de garde, I was able to get des médicaments and was feeling better by the afternoon!

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