Hi Maria,
It's interesting what you say with regard to your friends being trapped. I assume they want to return to the UK. On the whole, do you find that a lot of the people you meet (ex pats) want to return? I read that two in three eventually return. It does seem high.
Hi Martin, we rent our house here in the Vendee, 3 bed large open plan lounge/diner/kitchen, laundry room, garage and garden of about 1000 sq. metres for 650 euros a month. we are about 10 minutes from the coast and on the edge of a village. We have a house in England which we rent out and yes our rent in England is taxed in England but with personal allowance we have avoided the tax. Here in France we are only taxed on our state pensions although the rent we receive and my government pension is all taken into account to see which tax band we go into so although we are not actually taxed on the english rent it does mean we go into a higher bracket. Hope this has helped. BTW we love it here and think that as we can go home anytime that we dont want to!!! A lot of our friends who sold up and bought here feel trapped as houses here aren't selling much at the moment.
Thanks for the advice, all. Still be interested to know about the tax if anyone can help.
Martin.
You have mIssed out an allowance for telephone and petrol.
Our area Gironde is lovely in summer...and summer comes early and stays
around to make friends with British winter.
winter is often a little colder than the one before and hibernation is
not unkown. We seem to be invted to friends who have lots of other friends
and enertaining becomes a staple enjoyment for the colder months.
We are an hour from the city life of Bordeaux and close enough to catch up with London on a Bergerac /Stanstead flight. Three hours from here to Spain by car. I gather that you have not intended to set a budget for a holiday?
Yes rent...YOU HAVE SOME PROEPRTY IN uK if you need to find your way back.
ALWAYS CONCIDER where you can work.
For us we have developed our product by expanding our restaurant into a
specialised Bed and breakfast and we get clients visiting to learn about
cooking and joining in with preperation and understanding the art of cooking...and, a little is based on the science of cooking too. However we like to make food with the ultimate conclusion:It must be a great marriage of flavours and texturess.In order to achieve this a cook/chef needs to understand the ingredients and the method.
Here lies a tale which I can tell about the telephone interview which I conducted with a famous chef...who I went on to employ in our kitchen....
I AM SAYING 2 things here...firstly that you will probably end up cooking for
friends her in France. Secondly if you are coming here with the idea of working
arrive with some skill which will show that you have something special to offer.
The world is full of Gites and chambres d hotes ....If you go along that route do it with panache and put your heart and soul into the project.
Often in France we have to be like a circus act....not only good at juggling, applying but being a multi skilled person/team. Combine these efforts to the joy of owning a nice piece of land and grow your own with the more peacful way of life you will find a taste of heaven....on earth.
Hi Martin, the Loire as in the area not the département ;-) Yes the climate's mild, oceanic and green scenery. Moskitoes don't have a north/wouth cut-off line, I've slept in the south with the windows open and never been bitten as everywhere around was bone dry and the fields treated with so much pesticide that everything had been killed! but I've been bitten to death doing the same in parts of Brittany for example - it all depends if there's open water in the area, lakes, ponds etc! The south, including parts of the aveyron where I am, are dried out and yellow in the summer, I like it that way but I know it's not everybody's cup of tea, we broke the records 3 years ago with 41° registered in the Aveyron! Can't help on prices that far north but looking on leboncoin.fr will give you an idea in no time at all ;-)
My initial thoughts are the Loire. Seems to be a moderate climate without too many extremes. I do like green, and some of the more southern areas do look a bit parched at times. (had enough of that in Oz).
As a rule the more rural you go the cheaper it is but the less services and communications you have and jobs are almost impossible to find (which is why rents are really low!) think about climate too, do you want mediterannean winters or massif central ones - there's a huge difference, can you live with the wind blowing 300 days a year just to get a bit more sunshine etc. what sort of landscape do you want, there's a huge choice here and a lot of people never consider/research the climate aspect of France, they just think it's further south so warmer, yes in summer but often far colder in winter...! There's so much choice so you need to think about what you want, or perhaps it's just being out of the Uk and you're not fussed where/weather/landscape/people etc.?
Thanks again, Andrew.
I think where we end up will, in part, be driven by our budget. We are open to look in most places, but we need to cut our cloth accordingly.
in rural area you can get a detached house with garden for 600 a month, less in some areas, we had one for 450 and another in the cantal for less again. a decent modern house with garden on the edge of a town/village in the south west can be had for less than 800 euros a month too. Usually lots of choice (unless you want the middle of nowhere!) and, apart from a lot of village houses in the south, nearly always a garden. But decide where and we'll be able to advise more. As Shiela says, some areas are really expensive, I paid more for a tiny damp horrible student flat in Aix than I did for a 4 bed detached barn conversion with an acre of garden in the Aveyron...!
Have a look on: http://www.leboncoin.fr/
Thanks Sheila.
Did you find much choice for rental properties? Also, if I can impose, do you think our budget of 800 or so per month is realistic for a cottage (3 bed) with a bit of a garden and in a nice situation. Much like yourselves , we'd be looking at a large village or small town. It looks as though there are plenty of rentals out there around that price, but they could all be next door to a petrol station or similar.
Hi Martin. Good luck with your research. It might help if you narrowed your search region by region, and then by departement. For example, we had holidays all over France, and spent several weeks in Aix-en-Provence. Really lovely place, but VERY expensive. A holiday on Canal du Midi made us think about the Languedoc. We decided to come for a period of 3 months and do more detailed research on the ground. Thanks to SFN members Peter and Joanne Mathews, we found a house to rent for 3 months. We fell in love with our village in beautiful Corbieres and a year later, we are still here and loving it.
Decide whether you want to live in a city, a town, a village, a hameau or deep in the countryside. Decide what are "must haves", which are different for everyone. For example, as city folk, we thought long and hard about settling in a small village (pop. 650 which swells in tourist season). We are rugby fanatics so we are well catered for with clubs such as Toulouse, Perpignan, Narbonne, etc. in easy reach. We felt it would be easier to integrate in a smaller town or large village. We chose our village because it ticked a number of boxes. We have two grocery shops, tabac/presse, hairdresser, boulangerie, seven decent restaurants, ATM machine (but no bank), post office. Our children are grown up but there is a school here. The motorway is 20 minutes away as is the nearest train station, and also two large supermarkets, Carrefour and Intermarché. Nearest airport, Carcassonne, is 50 minutes away. We continue to rent and are happy to do so. Eating out is not expensive - about €14 to €16 for main course, €21 for 3 course meal, and €12 for a litre of local wine.
Bonne chance!
Thanks for the tips. Re the budget for clothes and entertainment - that was a bit of a stab at a budget for those things. Much of the budget I have come up with is a mash-up of a number I've seen in other posts and forums and tried to tailor to suit my circumstances.
Cheers, Martin.
There are others out there who are far more qualified than I to comment on the tax situation and I am sure they will but in terms of living in France and as to whether 2500 per month is enough it rather depends on where you choose to live. Obviously in or around the major cities that would be tight but in rural france it would be more than adequate. I have a mortgage and an income substantially less than that and we survive. On the other hand I don't have a 3000 euro budget for entertainment as we tend to create our own for free.
I used to live in London and most people consider that an expensive place to live but if you know it it isn't and the same is true of France. Get to know the area and the people, shop at the markets, listen to the comments on sites such as this and life can be very fulfilling and relatively cheap.
Clothes, particularly for your 5 year old are best bought in UK as there is no VAT on children's clothes there and you can have up to 30 kilos of anything shipped out here by Parcels Please for very little money. Most people I know in this part of France spend their lives in casual gear and would laugh at the idea of spending the thick end of 2000 euros per year on clothes.
As to whether you would buy or rent it is very subjective and depends on many factors. A lot of people rented for a period to determine whether they really wanted to settle here and in what area then bought a property. It is far easier to find what you are looking for when you are here than trying to search through the internet, particularly as most of the properties for sale in France are sold person to person and not through estate agencies. Renting has advantages in the short term and there are some lovely properties for rent at not much money but you are then very limited as to what you can do to the property. Your age is also a factor as I know many people here who have been here for many years and are now looking to sell the properties they originally bought when they were much younger as they have too much land to take care of in their twighlight years.
By far your best bet is to get an idea of what area of France you think you might like to settle in and then come and spend some time there.
Hi Andrew,
Thanks for your reply. At this stage I really do not know where we want to move to. However, for me it has to be above the "mosquito line" i.e. far enough north not to get bitten to buggery (I lived in Oz for 15 years and got eaten alive. I've also got a relative in Cannes and I get eaten alive there as well).
So far as our aspirations go, we tend to live frugally (home cooking and not into shopping), but like a drink and like to eat out a couple of times a month (pub grub).
Definitely think you should rent here rather than buy. Do you know where you want to be and why? What sort of life are you after too! The figures could be very realistic or unrealistic depending on your aspirations ;-) You should be able to survive on that sort of money no problem if you're not looking for luxury and eating out all the time. After all it's more than you'd both be earning full time here on the minimum wage (which so many people are on). As for the tax arangements etc. sorry can't help there