Renovate or Renovated?

When we first started looking for property in France we had all sorts of ideas about what we should buy with the budget we had.
Once we narrowed down the area we wanted to live in, we started viewing in earnest.
We viewed everything from new builds to ruins and most things in between.
There was a romantic notion that we would buy something and renovate it. We looked at houses with hectares of land, lakes that were complete ruins. Conversely we checked out recently renovated properties with much less land, but in turn, much less work needed.

Ultimately we were hit by a moment of clarity. I still pinch myself to this day and thank who or whatever's up there that we realised that:

a) We can't build
b) Our motivation is poor (we are the king & queen of procrastination)
c) We struggle to get the grass cut at home - how on earth would we manage a renovation remotely?
d) Were we to buy a run down house, we would probably end up resenting it as it turned into a money pit - in the same process shattering our French dream

So we started searching for recently renovated properties.

We were lucky to find our home and bought in the first week of it going onto the market.

The house had been renovated by a Dutchman who remains a close friend of ours. What an awesome job he did too. Yes he bought cheap and sold high, but in between he added massive value saving us a job we would probably never complete and a lot of heartache.

I know that everyone moves to France for different reasons and challenges. We're just pleased that we had the foresight to recognise our weaknesses and didn't embark on a journey that could have ended in disaster for us.