Section 02
What it is worth, and what to offer
Revised August 2026 against the seller's answers. The furniture, machinery and the gîte operating company all transfer, and the chapel and outbuildings can wait — all of which pushes value up. The airfield may not transfer and the estate has now been marketed for two years — both of which push the price you pay down. Net of the two, the offer moves up and the walk-away moves down: a narrower, better-evidenced band.
Asking price (incl. 5% agency fees)
€2,205,000
Current, down from €2.52M in the 2024 brochure
Net vendor price
€2,100,000
Excluding the buyer-paid agency commission
Habitable m² (château + gîte)
953 m²
753 + 200
Price per habitable m²
€2,314
Ignoring 800 m² of outbuildings and 54 ha
Property tax (taxe foncière) 2024
€4,166
Will rise with any commercial reclassification
Notary fees on an old property
≈€157,500
≈7.5% of the net vendor price, on top of the price
Revision log
What your latest answers changed
Each new fact is scored for what it does to the number you should write. Green lifts what the estate is worth to you; red is leverage or risk that lowers what you pay for it.
Furniture, tractors, hangar tools and all equipment are included
+€100k – €160k
Removes €120k–€200k of year-one FF&E and machinery capex, and lets the business trade from day one. Real economic value transferred, so it lifts what the estate is worth to you — but it is only worth paying for if a valued inventory is annexed to the compromis.
The gîte operating company is included: websites, bookings, customer base
+€60k – €150k, conditional on accounts
A trading business with history is worth materially more than bare walls: it compresses the ramp-up from years to weeks. Value it at roughly 2–3× normalised EBITDA of the gîte line only, and only once an accountant has verified three years of accounts.
Chapel and 500 m² of outbuildings can be deferred indefinitely
+€80k of previously deducted capex
The €250k–€600k restoration bill is no longer a day-one deduction from your price — it becomes optional capex financed by cashflow. It stops being a discount argument as forcefully as it was, though it stays a reserve you can point to.
No Monument Historique classification
≈ neutral
Cheaper and faster works, no ABF, no imposed craftsmen — but no MH tax deduction, no DRAC or Fondation du Patrimoine grants. Net of the two, mildly negative for a buyer planning heavy restoration, mildly positive for one planning light-touch works.
No bail rural, no third-party hunting rights on the 53.89 ha
+€30k – €60k
Untenanted land is worth more than let land and removes a real risk to privacy at weddings and fly-ins. It also confirms the land is a cost centre you control rather than an income you inherit.
The aerodrome authorisation is owner-linked; transfer still unconfirmed
−€80k – €150k until confirmed
The single largest unknown. Until transfer is confirmed in writing, the airfield's €80k–€150k of asset value and 100% of fly-in revenue must be priced at zero, and any offer must carry a condition suspensive on it.
Buying the company brings its liabilities
−€0 – 50k, plus escrow
Tax, URSSAF, staff contracts, supplier disputes and pre-paid forward bookings all transfer in a share deal. A garantie d'actif et de passif with a 10–15% escrow held 24–36 months is the price of accepting the structure.
Two years on the market, one price cut already
−€150k – 250k of negotiating leverage
The decisive negotiating fact. Two years of carrying costs, a €315k cut already conceded and a thin Deux-Sèvres buyer pool mean a costed offer 13–18% below asking is credible rather than insulting.
Five ways to value it
Comparable m² approach
€1.85M – €2.30M
953 m² of restored habitable space at €2,000–€2,400/m² for Deux-Sèvres. The four live comparables in the same buyer pool sit at €900–€1,750 per built m², so Bournizeaux's €2,315/m² is at the very top of the local evidence — the land, moat and equipment justify a premium, not a doubling. Revised down slightly now that the comparables are documented.
Sum-of-parts approach
€1.85M – €2.20M
Château €1.30M–€1.55M, gîte €280k–€350k, 25 ha untenanted forest €70k–€110k, 28 ha meadow/park €90k–€150k, outbuildings as-is €30k–€60k, chapel nominal — plus €120k–€200k of included furniture, tractors and hangar equipment now counted as transferred value. The airfield (€80k–€150k) is excluded until transferability is confirmed.
Income (yield) approach
€1.6M – €2.05M
With the operating company, websites and customer base included, the ramp-up risk falls and a stabilised €200k–€320k of net revenue with €100k–€175k of EBITDA after real staffing becomes credible. Capitalised at 6–8% for an owner-operated rural venue that is €1.25M–€2.05M. Every euro above this band is trophy value, not investment value.
Going-concern (business) approach
+€60k – €150k on top of bricks
New since the seller confirmed the company transfers. The gîte line's normalised EBITDA at 2–3×, plus the websites, reviews and forward booking book. Payable only against three years of verified accounts — with no accounts, this line is worth zero and the share deal becomes a liability rather than an asset.
Replacement / restoration cost
far above asking
You could not rebuild this for €5M. This is why the asset is defensible long term, but replacement cost never sets a market price in a thin market.
Weighting these — 40% income, 30% sum-of-parts, 30% comparables, with the going-concern value added on top only against verified accounts — gives a revised fair value of €1.85M–€2.05M all fees included, up from €1.80M–€2.05M because the equipment and the trading company transfer with the estate. The asking price still sits above that band, and two years on the market says the seller knows it.
What else is on the market right now
Four live listings in the same buyer pool — Deux-Sèvres and the Vendée belt around the Puy du Fou — checked in August 2026. Bournizeaux asks €2,205,000 for 953 m² and 53.89 ha, i.e. roughly €2,315 per built m². Every comparable below sits between €900 and €1,750 per m². The land, the airfield and the moat justify a premium; they do not justify double.
Château XVe & XIXe, parc de 9,75 ha
€1,200,000
Between Parthenay and Poitiers, Deux-Sèvres (79)
Larger built surface than Bournizeaux, fully classical château, but a fraction of the land and no commercial infrastructure. This is the clearest evidence that big Deux-Sèvres châteaux trade near €1,000–1,200/m².
Cabinet Alderlieste / BARNES — view the listing ↗
Logis XVIe rénové et ses gîtes
€1,490,000
Between Thouars and Bressuire, Deux-Sèvres (79)
The closest operating comparable: restored, income-producing gîtes, same 15 km catchment as Bournizeaux. Commands a premium for turnkey condition — and still asks €715k less.
Cabinet Alderlieste / BARNES International — view the listing ↗
Château néo-gothique XIXe avec gîtes, 11 ha
€1,553,000
Les Epesses (85), 3 km from Puy du Fou
The Puy du Fou premium priced explicitly: on the park's doorstep, multiple gîtes, still under €1.6M. Bournizeaux is 45 km away, so it cannot claim more of that premium than this property does.
Cabinet Le Nail — view the listing ↗
Château-logis du XIVe siècle avec étang
€490,000
Secondigny, Deux-Sèvres (79)
The floor of the market: historic, habitable, 8 ha, under €500k. Any part of Bournizeaux you would not restore should be valued closer to this line than to the asking price.
BARNES Propriétés & Châteaux — view the listing ↗
Your true cost of acquisition
Move the slider to see what any offer really costs once the notaire is paid. French notary fees on an old property run at roughly 7.5% of the net vendor price, on top of the price.
Offer, fees included
€1,900,000
Net to vendor
€1,809,524
Excluding 5% agency fees
Notary fees
€135,714
≈7.5%, payable at signing
All-in cash needed
€2,035,714
Before any works
Discount to asking
13.8%
In the normal landing zone
Add the first restoration tranche on top: septic upgrade, gîte kitchen, ERP essentials and initial FF&E are realistically €150k–€300k in year one, whichever scenario you pick. Net vendor price at asking is €2,100,000.
Offer strategy
Opening offer
01€1,820,000
Up from the €1.78M in the first analysis: the included furniture, machinery and operating company are real value, and the chapel and outbuildings are no longer urgent deductions. Anchor it on the income view plus the two years on market, and hand over a costed schedule — septic, gîte kitchen, ERP, glazing tranche one, oil-to-heat-pump conversion. Explicitly exclude any airfield value.
Target
02€1,900,000 – €1,975,000
A 10–14% discount to asking, all fees included, is the landing zone on a château marketed for two years with a price cut already conceded. Pay at the top of that band only if the aerodrome transfer is confirmed in writing and the company accounts show more than €120k of gîte-line EBITDA. Insist on a valued inventory annexed to the compromis and a garantie d'actif et de passif with a 10–15% escrow.
Walk-away
03€2,080,000
Lowered from €2.10M. Above this the debt does not service itself at current rates without heavy equity, and you are paying for an airfield that may not transfer and a company you have not yet audited. The only justification for going higher is written confirmation of the aerodrome transfer plus audited accounts proving over €250k of net revenue — and even then, €2.15M is the ceiling.
Tactic that usually works here: do not haggle on the headline. Send a costed schedule of the works the property needs — septic, chapel, outbuildings, glazing, heating conversion, ERP — with real quotes attached, and present your number as the arithmetic result. On a property marketed for over a year, a justified offer 14% below asking is accepted far more often than a round-number lowball.