posted by Travel Cat on Mar 22
I was recently visiting a friend who is hoping to buy a holiday property in the south of France, somewhere in the Midi-Pyrenees or Languedoc region - mainly due to her love of Cathar myth and legend she told me!
By a wonderful twist of fate it turned out that at around the same time France Property Shop requested a paid review of their site here on this blog.
She had looked at a couple of sites that were a bit cluttered and showed bit’s and pieces all over them, but then I showed her a winner in terms of ease of viewing and website usability:
Straight away we loved the great layout with it clear sections and easy-to-use map of France divided into the main regions. It was a major help for me as I don’t know a lot about locations in France, but just move over the large map and they are all clearly highlighted along with the number of properties currently available in that region. So we were off to a great start!
We easily completed the main search fields although the price fields are shown in euros so we had to view our first property then use the built in currency converter (which neatly opens in small new window) to find out our financial limits!
Like Google, it shows the featured properties first, the moves onto the main search results - cheapest first. As expected, each property clicked opens onto the main property details page with standard range of photos and information, but it also has 2 further tabs with an interactive location map on one and local area information on the other - both very useful to the beginner!
It also has a feature where you can find properties close to your preferred port or airport and it shows all the properties (regardless of region or price) within 50 miles of each. A very useful tool for those looking to reduce their commute between locations without wading through properties in different regions.
We also came across a great section on ‘moving tips’ and ‘buyers guides to moving’, etc, all available to read for free - and all of which are very detailed and very informative! Definitely useful enough for my friend to ‘favourite’ some on her pc.
Needless to say, I would recommend this as the best website to start with if you are considering buying a property abroad, or actually moving there permanently. It covers all the basics in a really simple yet attractive format.
My friend certainly recommends it, and in-fact didn’t go to another site after this one. I think she found something she liked…..
March 22nd, 2008 at 2:31 am
I finally decided to write a comment on your blog. I just wanted to say good job. I really enjoy reading your posts.
Tina Russell