What it is worth, and what to offer

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.

• Seller will appoint an agent at 3%, buyer-paid — and asks you not to contact any agent first

  −€42,000 on the headline

  The commission drops from 5% to 3% on the same net vendor price: €2,163,000 all-in instead of €2,205,000, a €42,000 saving before you negotiate anything. It also tells you the vendor is thinking in net terms — so frame every offer as "net to you", and make the fee arithmetic the seller's problem, not a reason to raise your number. Respect the request not to approach agents: contacting one now hands the vendor a reason to add points back.

• Chart AD 2 ZZZZ names the AD operator as "Château de Bournizeaux", not a person

  raises the odds on €80k–€150k of currently unpriced value

  The strongest evidence yet that the aerodrome follows the estate. It does not replace written DSAC Sud-Ouest confirmation, but it materially improves the odds that the airfield transfers — keep it at zero in the price and treat it as upside you now expect to receive.

• No insurance cover at all on the runways; pilots fly at their own risk

  −€10k – €30k capitalised, plus €2k–€6k a year

  The published "use at your own risk / full indemnity" wording is thin protection in French law: an operator can still be held liable for the state of the surface or the aerodrome's organisation. You must price an exploitant d'aérodrome RC policy (realistically €2k–€6k a year) and get a written quote before exchange — a refusal to quote would be a genuine deal issue.

• SPANC diagnosis of 1 August 2024: the château's septic installation is officially NON-CONFORME, with sanitary safety defects — and the law puts the works on the buyer, within one year of the deed

  −€25k – €60k, and a hard 12-month legal deadline after completion

  This is no longer a soft 'to be upgraded' line in a brochure. The Communauté de Communes du Thouarsais inspected on 1 August 2024 and classified the filière (lifting station, fosse toutes eaux, épandage trenches) under Article 4 c) of the arrêté of 27 April 2012: incomplete, significantly undersized and/or with major malfunctions. It sits outside a sensitive zone, which spares you the 4-month emergency deadline, but under L.271-4 of the Code de la construction the acquirer must complete the rehabilitation within one year of the acte authentique. A private design study (étude de définition de filière) is compulsory before any works. Budget €12k–€25k for a domestic-capacity replacement and €40k–€70k if you size it for commercial occupancy from the start — doing it once, at the right capacity, is far cheaper than doing it twice. Because the non-conformity is documented by the authority and dated before the sale, it is a clean, non-arguable deduction: take it off the price in full, not half.

• The 53 ha 43 a 82 ca were assembled parcel by parcel from eight different sellers between December 2003 and June 2009, through four different notaires

  no price move — a title-verification workload before exchange

  The domain is not one historic title but a patchwork: the 23 ha core bought from M. and Mme Frémontier in December 2003 via Me van Seggelen in Lille, then the Rambault, Hénon, Morin, Benoist, Puchault/DeBoeuf and Sourice-Decou parcels in 2005, a further 5.6 ha from the Puchault indivision in December 2006, and a last 3.2 ha in June 2009. That is good news for the airfield — the strips on section B 11-18, 110, 122, 417 and 524 are all owner-held, which is exactly what the arrêté requires. It is a workload for the notaire: eight acquisitions means eight chains of title, eight sets of servitudes and rights of way, and any preemption or boundary defect from 2005 is still yours to inherit. Ask for the full parcel schedule and a plan cadastral, and have every parcel listed by number in the compromis rather than described as 'the domain'.

• A neighbouring farmer maintains the land on request and keeps the hay and grass

  risk item, not a price move — fix it in the compromis

  Convenient and free upkeep, but legally loose: repeated cutting in exchange for the crop can be re-characterised as a bail rural verbal, which is nearly impossible to unwind. Have the notaire either end it before completion or replace it with a written prêt à usage (commodat) or a convention pluriannuelle de pâturage in your name. Also note you inherit the mowing cost if he stops.

• 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

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 €2,100,000 net, €2,163,000 with the 3% fee, for 953 m² and 53.89 ha, i.e. roughly €2,270per 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)

1,130 m²9.75 ha≈€1,060/m²

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)

850 m², 14 bedrooms2.5 ha≈€1,750/m²

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

Château + numerous gîtes11 ha—

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)

540 m²8 ha≈€910/m²

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 strategy