Just for some levity, Chateau De Montmagner almost burst into tears because they are running out of money, won't be able to rent out rooms because of Covid, and they have no income. They do have a gofundme, a buymeacoffee, a youtube channel, a patreon account and a puppy. Despicable beggars, amirite?
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False equivalence
Hardly.False equivalence
Why do these people buy these properties if they cannot afford them? Please don’t blame Covid 19 because anything could have hampered their renovation. They should have had a Plan B before they began.
At least SJ & Co made it 14 years without a channel and a begging bowl.
I'd like a seat on the tour bus too. But please tell your butler to seat me several rows away from Heathcliffe.
from my PAID butler ....
I'm still pretty attractive for my age but I'm the faithful type.
This is the dirty underbelly of shows like ETTC: how easy it looks to buy an undervalued property in France and do it up. Dick and Angel Strawbridge had a TV show behind them. SJ had Mummy, Daddy and Nic Larkin backing her. The Trotters have Gwendoline's inheritance. If you check websites that market properties for sale in France, some have sections entirely devoted to ETTC DIY owners who are selling up because they ran out of money.
The reality behind the French property fantasy is that if you don't have the renovation skills and plenty of money--or are not interesting enough to develop a YT following--you are more than likely to lose a massive amount of money. Tragic really. Especially when it's older people who are losing everything they saved for retirement when they could have bought a condo on the beach in Spain and enjoyed themselves in the sun.
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I still don’t believe the fantastic story of how Isabel and Derek amassed so much wealth over night. I know I’m a broken record but Agents please get sleuthing!
I think Angel & Dick are a different level. They were both business and media people to start with (they met through their mutual agent) and they had a life AND business/commercial plans before begining, which they have continued to develop. They are both very skilled and have taken hold of the opportunities available quickly and with experts. They have a fulltime media/marketing person and fulltime builder (his mate) and local french guy.I'd like a seat on the tour bus too. But please tell your butler to seat me several rows away from Heathcliffe.
I'm still pretty attractive for my age but I'm the faithful type.
This is the dirty underbelly of shows like ETTC: how easy it looks to buy an undervalued property in France and do it up. Dick and Angel Strawbridge had a TV show behind them. SJ had Mummy, Daddy and Nic Larkin backing her. The Trotters have Gwendoline's inheritance. If you check websites that market properties for sale in France, some have sections entirely devoted to ETTC DIY owners who are selling up because they ran out of money.
The reality behind the French property fantasy is that if you don't have the renovation skills and plenty of money--or are not interesting enough to develop a YT following--you are more than likely to lose a massive amount of money. Tragic really. Especially when it's older people who are losing everything they saved for retirement when they could have bought a condo on the beach in Spain and enjoyed themselves in the sun.
I think that if they keep developing an audience and it ends up working out with donations and patrons, then they're golden. Still they will have done it the begging beggar way with the camera and the editing and other people's life savings being donated to fund their dream.
Dick & Angel got offered a great deal. Did the other owners on the show donate their time? I don't really understand the finances of that.
He wasn't, but she spoke of him often, complaining he was so jealous that she never got out of the house. Also, when my friends lived there and took care of stuff for her, including collecting the mail, a lot of letters addressed to him at the chateau arrived. Might also have been she hadn't changed her name back yet. Paperwork was never her thing.
They chateau owners are not paid on ETTCDIY and have to pay for all of the materials and necessary rental equipment and the restoration timelines are speed up for production. Yes, they get unlimited advertising and who knows maybe become YT stars! The downside would be the Pethricks. They were filmed for the latest season and had to lay out cash etc and then at the last minute the producers decided not to air any of the Pethrick footage. There are rumors of bad blood between Angel and Michael Pethrick since he appears to be the creative element behind at least one of her designs. He was on the first couple of seasons of ETTC creating some of their murals.
Also, if she is indeed kicked of from the workaway site, it might prove her hard to find trustworthy volunteers. You don't think she's gonna put in the hard work of running the B&B herself, do you?
But Dick and Angel got paid for the show, or no? I've read about the bad blood and the beehive design.
Not sure if anyone has noticed but in a previous Christmas photo Miles the cameraman from ETTCDYI was a guest of Stephanie's. Also a female producer/researcher appeared in a vlog talking at kitchen table. The Pethericks had to go as there was nothing dramatic to do and the bad blood with wallpaper-gate. It all gets a bit incestuous. SJ wants to be careful her image doesn't get tarnished.
I don't know the guy, just from her remarks to my friends. I recognized his name, not his picture.
Anyway I wonder who stays at all those B&Bs? Did all those chateau owners really got their houses full? They are never in a touristy location. How many weddings could there possibly be? Where did the French people marry before a Brit came along an bought a ruin?
It really isn't, it's the way they have chosen to exploit it for their own benefit, no matter the cost for others. If that doesn't make SJ the monster you describer her not to be, I don't know what does.
If she didn't have the money for those renovations, she shouldn't have bought in the first place.
Totally agree. But there is no way D &A could have foreseen the pandemic and its affect on their events business; the economic situation might very well have forced them in bankruptcy without the TV show behind them. I think those who fantasize about following in D & A's or SJ's footsteps without the proper business/media background or connections--plus significant financial backing--are more likely to fail than not. Even before the pandemic, there were good reasons why the French were not buying these heritage properties themselves and doing them up.
If you have money to burn and want to burn it in France, go for it. But the reality is that it is far harder to earn a living in France via property rentals and events than it might appear and French taxes are much higher than most people realize. Even before ETTC first aired, I looked into buying a French home but I could not figure out a way to make it viable. If you are on the far side of 50, God save you, there is no good way of making your money back if you incur significant losses and cannot generate enough income.
In the final analysis, I think owning and running a French income-producing property or chateau is a romantic fantasy best enjoyed on YT vlogs.
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Same place they're marrying now. Not at a Chateau owned by Brits? I wonder if they feel like they're being colonized.
So you also agree that Youtube/Patreon income is not a real job?
She doesn't, her mother does. She doesn't live there anymore too.
What disgusts me the most is the gift channel. Not only does she pretend people don't have to send her gifts, but please do, she has tied it to charity by saying she would donate the YT ad money, which nobody really checks she actually does. This way, she doesn't only gets stuff for free (which, believe me, lots will end up on a pile even unwrapped, in need of sorting out by yet another volunteer, because she can't be bothered with it, being the Queen of clutter). But her seat in heaven is bought, little miss Saint. The fact that she does that with other peoples money and gifts is rather telling. The fact that she does it so openly even more shocking, even after being warned off by the elusive N, who now appears on the channel himself with wife and stepson, how's that for moral firmness and exploitation.
She didn't. She begged those 14 years but with family and friends, who are now happy she found others to deplete
Content making is. But begging for donations and asking people to watch the ads (even multiple times) surely isn't. Patreon can be an income for artists who create art. I don't think her vlogs qualify as such.Same place they're marrying now. Not at a Chateau owned by Brits? I wonder if they feel like they're being colonized.
So you also agree that Youtube/Patreon income is not a real job?
My point exactly.
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