Case Study · Still in the Running
Coubjours: The £28k Contender on the Corrèze Border
The biggest price cut on the whole search — a stone house with a wood stove, a garage and open views, on high, well-drained border country. Unlike the last one, this passed the ground check. Here's the full workup, warts and all.
Coubjours, Dordogne (24) · on the Corrèze border · ≈ 800 km / 8 hrs from Calais · ≈ 690 km / 7.6 hrs from Bern
After walking away from Thollet on the ground, this is the one that came through the same checks and stayed on the list — so it's worth the same full workup.
📸 See the photos: view the full Coubjours listing on Properstar → (opens in a new tab)
The same free routine that passed Coubjours and killed Thollet — run it on any place first.
Run the checklist →🔑 Haggling a Long-Empty WreckThe price has already dropped £11k once — how to read the signals and make a low offer stick.
Read the guide →☀️ Dordogne area guideWhere Coubjours sits within the wider Périgord — pricing, ground and getting there.
Read the guide →The listing, in full
The agent (Sélection Habitat) offers a 75 m² stone house from 1940 on the edge of a hamlet in Coubjours. Inside: an entrance/kitchen, a loggia at the back of the kitchen opening to the garden, a living room with a wood stove, a shower room and a separate WC; upstairs, a part-convertible attic. Outside there's a garage and a 1,600 m² garden with a clear open view over the countryside. "Work to be planned." It's near Hautefort (15 km) and Objat (20 km). Price £28,336 — cut from £39,499, an £11,163 drop.
- Price£28,336 (≈ €33k) — cut £11,163 from £39,499 (the biggest cut on the search)
- Rates (taxe foncière)Not stated — confirm with the agent
- LocationCoubjours (24390), north-east Dordogne, on the Corrèze border
- Drive from Calais≈ 800 km / ~8 hrs (deep south-west — a real haul)
- Drive from Bern≈ 690 km / 7.6 hrs
- House75 m² stone, built 1940 — ground floor + a part-convertible attic
- RoomsEntrance/kitchen, loggia, living room, shower room, separate WC; attic over
- Land1,600 m² garden, open countryside view
- OutbuildingsA garage
- Build / materialsProper stone — 1940 stone house + garage ✓
- HeatingWood stove already in the living room — a real head start
- WaterNot stated — confirm with the agent
- ElectricityNot stated — confirm with the agent
- Drainage / sanitationNot stated — confirm (mains or a SPANC septic?)
- Energy rating (DPE)Not provided
- Condition"Work to be planned" — habitable-shaped, not a bare shell
- Detached?Reads detached (own garden + garage) — confirm
- AgentSélection Habitat / Van den Berg (Bérangère Couly)
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The good worth having
Comforts most wrecks don't have
A wood stove already in — a head start on the one warm room — a garage for tools and a workshop, and a part-convertible attic to grow into. It's habitable-shaped, not a roofless shell.
High, dry, and a real view
It sits on well-drained upland — the exact opposite of Thollet's wet valley bottom — with an open countryside view over 1,600 m² of its own. Elevation and drainage are half the reason the ground checks come back kinder here.
The biggest price cut on the search
£11,163 already knocked off — a seller who wants it gone is the ideal starting hand for a firm low offer.
The bad weigh it up
The furthest haul we cover
At ~800 km / 8 hours from Calais, it's the deep south-west — a long, expensive slog for repeated weekends of graft. Brive's airport and TGV soften it for quick trips, but the materials still have to be driven down.
A full renovation, services unconfirmed
It's "work to be planned," there's no DPE, and the listing doesn't state whether water, electricity and drainage are connected. All confirmable — but confirm them, and price them in, before an offer.
Where it sits
Coubjours is in the far north-east of the Dordogne, right on the Corrèze border — rolling, wooded, well-drained upland country on the Périgord–Limousin edge. From the air it's ridges, copses and open fields, with hamlets scattered along the lanes. That elevation and drainage is the key difference from Thollet's flat valley bottom: far less of a damp risk, and it's where the open views come from.
It's close to Hautefort (its landmark château, ~15 km), Objat (~20 km, in Corrèze), and Brive (~30 km, with a TGV station and an airport). The trade-off is distance: ~800 km / 8 hours from Calais — the deep south-west, the furthest patch we cover.
The ground check
The routine that killed Thollet — Géorisques, run on the commune.
⚠️ These ground figures (flood, subsidence, radon) are official records for the commune — real, but commune-wide, not proof for this exact plot. Check it yourself: official Géorisques risk report (ERRIAL) → — enter the property address.
Clay: manageable here
The commune-centre point comes back “Exposition moyenne” (moderate) — the workable band, not the Important trap that sank Thollet. And it's on high, well-drained ground rather than a wet valley bottom. Just one drought-subsidence declaration on record (1989–92), versus Thollet's three — a genuinely calmer history.
⚠️ The one to plan for: radon “Important”
This is granite country, and it shows: Géorisques rates radon “Important” (high). Radon is a natural radioactive gas that seeps up from granite bedrock and can build up indoors. It's common across the whole Limousin/Périgord border and it's manageable by design — a well-ventilated under-floor void, sealing the ground floor, and a bit of airflow. You just have to plan and budget for it, not discover it later.
Also on the commune: some forest-fire exposure (it's wooded) and low seismic risk. Nothing that rules it out — the ground here is a plan-around, not a walk-away.
DIY-er vs needs-a-builder the honest split
Habitable-shaped and part-serviced-looking, so friendlier than most — with the radon and the certified jobs to buy in.
If you're hands-on — what you can do yourself
With a sound-ish shell, a wood stove and a garage already there, the bulk is fit-out: insulation, plasterboard and floors, the shower room and kitchen, decorating, converting the attic, and building the radon ventilation (an aired under-floor void and a sealed ground floor are well within a competent DIYer). Most of it stays at materials cost.
Where you'll need a pro (or a builder)
• The electrics — if you rewire, a registered electrician and a Consuel certificate.
• Drainage — if it's on a septic that needs replacing, a SPANC-approved installer (confirm first whether it's mains or septic).
• Roof — 1940 stock; confirm the covering is sound as part of the survey.
What you'll need to clear it the van
A van — but mind the 800 km
It's habitable-shaped, so the clear-out is old fittings and clutter rather than a barn of rubble — a medium T5-style van handles it. The catch here isn't the volume, it's the distance: every tip run and materials trip is part of an 800 km round, so plan fewer, fuller loads.
Getting rid of the rubble — the local tip read this first
Nearest déchèterie: Hautefort (~15 km)
The Déchèterie de Hautefort (Gros du Chât, 24390) is the nearest, run by the Dordogne's SMD3. It's a short drive out — the price of a rural spot.
Dordogne is the strictest — a card is mandatory
Since 1 February 2022, SMD3 déchèteries need a "Carte Usagers" access card, issued to registered residents — you physically can't get in without it, and beyond a free quota, extra visits are charged. So a UK- or Swiss-plated van and no card is a non-starter. Sort the SMD3 card the moment you complete and have a local address; until then, a private skip (benne) for the first clear-out.
The score
A strong, habitable-shaped stone house held back mainly by the 800 km distance and the radon. It sits mid-table on the rankings — one of the pricier, more-finished options, with the wood stove its one installed service.
The verdict
Still in the running. Manageable ground, a dry rolling setting with real views, a garage and wood stove already in, a decent 1,600 m² plot, and the biggest price cut on the search — a motivated seller with room to haggle. Weigh two things: the radon (fixable with ventilation) and the distance (800 km — a haul for weekend graft, though Brive airport softens it). Next step is to get the exact address and pin the plot's clay precisely, then price the radon fix into an offer — and check what renovation aid the energy work qualifies for.
How we judge every place
Coubjours passed the free ground check; Thollet didn't. Same routine, every time, before a single mile.
See the search log →