Chateau Chronicles – Option B

I must thank you all for your comments on my last post, though based on the poll, not one of you selected option A to tell me this whole plan was just this side of the worst financial decision I could possibly make in my lifetime. Instead (selfishly perhaps?), almost everyone who answered the poll selected B (plan a trip to visit) or D (buy in Tuscany).

And so, I have taken your advice and gone with option B! Next week, I fly to France! Tuscany will have to wait.

I figured that getting through the month of September was a monumental mental task that warranted the reward of a trip to France, non? Bièn sûre!

But the process of setting up properties to view in France has been rather harrowing. Getting French agents to email back; properties there one day, gone the next; trying to plot viewings with a map and a calendar to make sure I’m not trying to drive 10 hours each way to view a property; finding accommodations along travel routes… And I’m not even there yet!

And I keep bumping into the age-old real estate issue. If you spend just a little more, you can get 16 bedrooms instead of 6! And so the dream grows larger and more financially precarious and the level of crazy is notching past 11.

I keep coming back to the question, what is the deep-down motivation for this? Do I really want to open a guest house (which is what the new dream is becoming)? Or is this one grande mèlange of pandemic + 20th anniversary of 9/11 + empty nest + loneliness + house addiction?

I expect with my visit to France that I either gain a dose of reality and come home with the Chateau bug out of my system or I come home owning a slice of French money pit. I haven’t consulted my financial advisors yet about any of this. I can only imagine their eye rolls.

But I’ve had another business idea: It’s like J-Date for French Chateaux. French Chateau-Date? My profile would be something like, “hey, looking at Chateaux south of Bordeaux and need a working partner. My skills: painting, plaster, tile, landscaping, floor refinishing. Yours: electrical, plumbing. Working French a bonus!

Alas, the pink Chateau from the first post is now under offer. As you can see from the photo above, I’m dreaming bigger!

I’ll try and do a few social media posts while I’m away to keep you up to date while I’m there. And I’m being encouraged to video the tours on my phone for my required DIY Chateau YouTube channel. Stay tuned!

À Bientôt!