Chez Moi: The Foreigner's Guide to Buying a Home in France

Chez Moi is a thoroughly researched guide that describes in great detail the administrative/practical steps you should take on your way to carefree home ownership in France. Laurence Raybois uncovers and deals with the many surprises and pitfalls of home ownership in France with precision and the kind of cultural insight that only a French person could have. Yet Chez Moi remains surprisingly readable and entertaining.

Laurence Raybois skillfully weaves among the technical detail stories of uniquely French deeds and misdeeds in the pursuit of property. The strengh of Chez Moi lies in its emphasis of processes that are uniquely French. The book thoroughly describes the roles that the various professionals, such as the huissier or the notaire, who do not have an exact equivalent in other countries, play in these processes. Even the real estate agent, whose function is well understood throughout the world, has rights, obligations and prerogatives that are markedly different in France from what they are in other countries.

Buying homeowners' insurance, obtaining a building permit, or transmitting your property to your heirs after your death, just to mention a few of the subjects covered, are explained from the perspective of the uniquely French rules that regulate them.

One thing is sure: If you had at any time assumed that buying and owning a home was pretty much the same everywhere, you are in for a big surprise each time you turn a page of Chez Moi: The Foreigner's Guide to Buying a Home in France.