Hello bon jour, I like the information on this platform. Thanks to everyone.
My name is John, semi retiried 61 from LA and now Mexico City. I’m recently widowed. Plan is to be in France on a long term visa for permanent retirement with the move around Oct next year. I have 3 pets, no car and am not bringing my furniture. I’m planning to rent in mid to large city with a goal of rent around $1000 but flexible if need be. Im doing alot of research on here and I thought I’d introduce myself and hopefully make some new friends
I’m curious about anyones experience, ideas or suggestions, best areas to get into the french social security et al burocrático, the whole moving experience, especially with pets, and renting an apartment or house (with a garden or terrace),
I speak very little french but I learned basic Spanish so I’ll do my best with french as well. I have visited all over France but it so different to actually live in one place and to become part of the community.
I have time to narrow the long list of places I’d like live but since I actually prefer not supper hot, and a like cooler weather, I’m leaning north or mountains. Paris is out of my budget but I do enjoy city life and love music especially jazz. And I am not planing to work but I do have a love of music and continue to producer and help independent artist so ill naturally gravitate towards music alaways, and I love being in nature, and green spaces, hikes and exploring outdoors.
Thank you Doc, I really not locked in anywhere yet. I just don’t know the south as to the heat in summer I’m sure it depends on where but obviously I’m aware of general warming everywhere and air conditioning being mentioned more often from folks living in the south. What’s you general experience in your area if may ask. Including just quality of life…thanks cheers
I moved to the furthest point south in the country from the very north west and was in for a big shock as it gets very hot here in the months from June to Sept (40°C is usual plus). Am just 20mins from border with Spain on the med coast which gets packed with thousands of holidaymakers too and a local immobilier friend told me before I decided to move, never buy in one of the coastal holiday spots as the influx in summer is dreadful plus the sewage systems get overloaded too. We have friends living in a nearby resort town who bought a piece of land some miles inland and put a caravan on it along with an Intex pool and they spend all summer there as people even park across their private drive they are so desperate.
Welcome to SF. You’ve made a good start by discovering this forum before you come (I discovered it later, unfortunately!).
Your first big problem will be finding a place to rent. Nearly all the agents don’t want to know you if you can’t show them a French tax demand from the previous year. It took us over 4 months to find something.
October is a good month to come as you can rent a gite quite cheaply till April. In the summer they’re much more expensive. Book a month before you come, on Airbnb or some other site, recommendations will come from other members. Then when you are here you can either stay on without the commission or look around for something else.
If you stay in one place for at least 3 months and have not found a permanent rental you can get a postal address from the CCAS which you can use to get into the system.
[quote=“John_Lujan, post:1, topic:50615”]
My name is John, semi retiried 61 from LA and now Mexico City. […] I’m planning to rent in mid to large city […] I just don’t know the south as to the heat in summer I’m sure it depends on where but obviously I’m aware of general warming everywhere and air conditioning being mentioned more often from folks living in the south.
Hi John, I selectively copied some of your questions, as like many on Survive France, I’ve largely given up on city life and gone rural, living in a mediaeval riverside house in a tiny village that’s a couple of hours drive from the nearest big city.
Nevertheless, re: southern France and heat and cities and your interests:-
The two I’d recommend exploring are Toulouse and Montpellier, both of which have vibrant art scenes. Smaller, but also great is Avignon. Lastly, Marseille’s very lively, but not to everyone’s taste.
Also, if you’ve lived in LA and Mexico City, you’ll find even southern French cities cooler by comparison.
PS. Membership of InterNations which organises cultural and leisure activities for foreigners is a useful way of quickly meeting people in a new city.
Welcome, John! I’m fairly new here on the forum as well and found it during prep for an upcoming move. People have been very helpful here and you should find answers to most questions and a lot of information shared.
You said you speak very little French but speak sooner Spanish. I suggest brushing up on the French before you arrive. French and Spanish aren’t dissimilar so picking up basic French will be easier than if this was your first foreign language.
You can get by living here without speaking any French, but life is much easier if you have the basics. Plus the French, in my opinion, are much more welcoming if they see you’re making an effort, regardless of how well you can speak the language.
In terms of location, I’m near Bordeaux so can advise on living in the Gironde department. Many, many years ago I lived near Cannes and Grasse, so have experience of life on the Cote d’Azur, and my first time in France was in Paris. I’ve got family that live in Limoges and Vichy (and my ex’s family is from Montpellier), so am familiar with those areas too. Lastly I’ve got friends and colleagues in Lyon. Happy to answer questions you may have about life in those areas.
Hey Rachman, thank you so much much, great advice. In thinking of using a paid service to help with the guarantor part. It was similar here in Mexico City. I lucked out, sort of, by having a roommate (sort of not so great a roommate, another story but it all worked out). And I’ve contacted a couple companies that specialized in this and other services a la carte like open a bank account, well you can pay for everything basically if want I suppose. But as I’m learning here I can probably get a lot accomplished w y’all’s helpful advice. So thanks again. More questions to come.
Have a great weekend.
Gareth, wow really good info, I definitely will have some follow up questions. Is it appropriate to keep asking on this thread I don’t want to monopolize anything as I’m new, or is there a private chats or something. I suppose I figured it out. Thanks again
Hey DrmarkH,
Thank you for the reply. I love both Montpellier and Toulouse and are probably the most interesting in the south for me to possibly live. The first year Id like to stay in one place, city, to get into social security system ect.
Where you live sounds quite nice, but for me, for now, not ready to give up the city life… I should at least visit and see what life is like in rural areas of France.
Hi John, If I had to choose between Montpellier and Toulouse, I’d probably opt for the former on account of its location. We’re about equidistant from both, but Toulouse to me always seems comparatively more remote from other lively exciting places and countries. OTOH there’s probably someone on SF who’ll argue the opposite.
Indeed, it’s lovely, but definitely not right for you right now!
I agree with @DrMarkH about Montpellier vs Toulouse. There’s also Beziers which is a smaller quite lively city between Narbonne and Montpellier. I wouldn’t consider Narbonne. I live in the Black Mountains north of Carcassonne so am quite close to all of these. There are many nice cities east of Montpellier as well going towards Marseille.
Several people have suggested Toulouse as a town that meets your specification and I would add my suggestion to that. There is one parameter you haven’t mentioned and that is health care. At 61 years old you have just entered snipers alley so perhaps healthcare should figure in your specification for location. I seem to be on a personal crusade to bankrupt my mutuelle company and can personally vouch for many of the healthcare locations.
Beziers is an attractive town/city, since it’s been mentioned, and not far from the sea. Beware canine faeces though - some towns are bad, & Bezier was one, although not as bad as Agde.
