Newcomer here moving to S/W France from Texas USA

Introduce yourselves...
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Bonjour, tout le monde! I am Sue, 65, two canine furkids, retired June 2024. Was planning on moving to France Sep 2025, but with the recent disastrous election, will be bumping that up to Spring. I have a two-week scouting trip booked for Jan 28 - Feb 12. Yes, winter! I know how lovely France is in the summer; I need to see what winter is like in my potential relocation destinations, though! Huge Pyrenees “addict”, but open to areas further North and East somewhat.

That said, what months (apart from August or December) are BAD ones to hop the pond? Which ones are best? I’m guessing the April-in-Paris tourism boost may also not be a good time. I’ll be renting; not going to be purchasing property.

I’ve already (last summer) started some of the legwork and dug back into learning French; I tried in 2012 and I was dismal (I am not a green truck). This time seems easier - maybe because I taught myself Portuguese in the pandemic?

Look forward to learning a lot from y’all!

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Welcome @DrSukie!

Hope your move goes well - a browse around the archives may answer a lot of your questions, there is a wealth of information here.

France is so varied it’s hard to recommend specific areas - everyone has their own favourites. I am fond of the “centre left” (a bit like my politics) :smiley: - Poitou-Charentes - but we have Normandy/Brittany fans, folks from the Grand Est and a fair number of Southerners.

It’s a good idea to come in “off season” as one of the factors will be what your chosen area is like in the winter - some places that rely on tourism go a bit dead in winter. Access to services is also worth considering - e.g. availability of doctors/dentists and access to trains and planes if you want to travel and/or visit “home”.

Just a few random thoughts… I’m not based in France yet myself as I have family commitments in the Uk still, but I have learned a lot from being a member here.

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Thank you! Great info -

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Welcome Dr Sukie, good luck with your plans. Your idea to come over winter is excellent. Though you might find you’re dealing with late snow - depending on what you mean when talking about the Pyrenees. As a backdrop? Or to live in?
I found our house 17 years ago in March and as @ChrisMann says some of the places I saw were absolutely dead. When I arrived in our local town it was so reassuring - workers sitting in small restos getting their lunchtime “menu”. I knew I’d found a place that worked 365 days of the year.
You ask about when to hop. May can be a nightmare - it has 4 bank holidays! People attach them to long weekends so not much work gets done.
On the whole, don’t expect people to answer emails. You need to phone to get any feedback.
Although its impact is reducing, the French lunch hour can be an issue - builders not on site, small shops / offices shut - so manage your expectations about how much you will get done in a day.
If you are scouting in Jan/Feb you are unlikely to be moving in Spring - moving house takes time. Could you move over and rent for a while? Might give you more flexibility especially if you think you might want somewhere other than the Pyrenees. It’ll give you are chance to move around more.
You’ve come to the right place for info, not least because several posters have moved or are moving from the US, so they will be able to share their specific circumstances.

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Hi, thanks for such good info, esp. about May!

Not worried about timing; I live currently in my Class A RV (I was a digital nomad when I retired) and so selling/getting rid of stuff is almost nonexistent. I did all that downsizing several years ago. I will probably bring 4-5 boxes with me, max. Mostly clothes!

And I will not be buying; I will be renting. I am on a decent retirement budget, but do not want to use my modest savings to purchase property. That will put me too close for comfort financially.

I appreciate you!

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Hi Sue, and welcome to the forum. As said, there’s lots of good advice buried and not so buried on this forum, and indeed in this thread - many useful words of life-experience from @SuePJ there…

The temperatures in some of the higher parts of France during the winter may be a bit of a shock after Texas. We did a grand tour in October 2021 from the north coast down past La Rochelle, south of Toulouse in the Pyrenees, the med at Agde, up into the Correze and Puy de Dome, further north to the Morvan before returning to the UK. By mid October the parts at higher altitude were already getting pretty cold with icy, frosty mornings, even though we had been happily paddling in the med that same week.

We eventually bought a house in the Morvan, not least because it was a good compromise in terms of natural beauty and gentle climate, plus the houses weren’t expensive. We don’t live there, but visit just a few weeks per year, for now, while we’re restoring the place and still working full-time in the UK.

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Mmm.

It reminds me of the old joke about a full English breakfast, the chicken is involved but the pig is committed :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

Oink oink.

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That’s the key Sukie. It doesn’t have to be great, but without a modest command of the language you’ll miss out.

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Hi there. My daughter and her husband left Texas last summer because it was changing so much and they were alarmed at how things were going in the wrong direction so after a few months in Cheyenne to see how they liked that decided it was too cold and remote and now live, unfortunately recently for them in Asheville NC. The recent devastation has made them decide to move over the border into Tennessee and both got the green light from their respective employers to do so as they work from home with respective flying visits to Dallas/Chicago when needed in the office. I live on the eastern side of the Pyrenées on the med coast but have the Canigou in view from the window but before that, had 33 years of western Brittany so have plenty of experience of that region. Where in Texas are you?

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I have family who are citizens of the USA and Canada. There are visa restrictions which limit their ability to stop in the EU for more than 90 days. The first question to ask , if planning a permanent move, is “Will I get a residents permit?”, if you cannot then game over.

Gus

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OP needs to check if her current home State has a reciprocal driving licence agreement with France.

I have an acquaintance here in 47 who’s home State didn’t have such an agreement and getting his expired driving licence replaced from France was a huge PITA.

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My daughter changed her french permis without any further tests or problems for a Texas one in one visit to the bureau there but her husband with a UK licence had to resit a driving test before they would issue him with a texas licence!

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Hello Dr Sukie, like you we love the Pyrénées and we have ended up about 50 minutes south of Toulouse. The weather is mild in winter and we’ve never experienced snow that hasn’t been gone by the end of the day. We’re not in the mountains but we have great views of them, and they’re accessible. Within half an hour’s drive you can be on footpaths with mountain views all around, add another half hour for high mountains and ski resorts. We think this is the best of both worlds since the mountain villages have long winters and not much to do if you live there. We’re in Ariège, which is not a big tourist destination and pretty quiet all year round. Hope this is helpful, good luck !

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Bear in mind that due to French rental law it is not always easy for newcomers to France to obtain rentals. It will help if you have a French bank account set up and ready to go. And don’t leave it until the last minute to start looking. Probably better to avoid rental agencies and look at private rentals.

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About 10 years ago, at around the same age as you are now, we decide to downsize and find a home accessible to the Pyrenees.

We had been living for 10 years with an amazing view of the Pyrenees “from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic coasts” as the immobilier described it, so we had lots of experience of the area.

We wrote down our criteria and asked an imobilier friend of ours to keep an eye out for something suitable. Our criteria, which you may or may not find useful, were as follows:-

View of mountains naturally.

The stretch of Pyrenees was important to us. From Toulouse to the Mediterranean was too windy for us (vent d’autan?). I hate wind and it makes any weather seem worse. The stretch west of Toulouse is protected from winds from the South and West by the mountains and any easterly wind is greatly reduced. In fact, the Wright brothers chose Pau as the site of their first flying school in Europe for that specific reason.

We did not want to be in the mountains because it is cold in the winter, the combination of tourists and small windy roads in summer seemed hazardous, being overtaken by super fit cyclists on declines is positively terrifying and stuck behind them on inclines somewhat irritating. (TDF has a lot to answer for). East- west routes are difficult.

The western end of the Pyrenees is exposed to the Atlantic weather, zillions of tourists in summer and high prices.

The area north of the A64 (running roughly parallel to the Pyrenees) has a more temperate climate and provides excellent communication so within 10KM (ish) of that route would be ideal

We wanted a rural but not isolated location

We wanted to be outside of the Toulouse commuter region because of too many people, too much traffic and high prices yet we wanted to be accessible to the city so no more than say 2 hours away. Access to Toulouse was important for the international airport and the best hospitals (in my opinion) in Europe. At my age this proved to be an important decision!

The very last criteria we gave our immobilier friend was somewhere near a secret lake containing large carp (although this was somewhat meant to be tongue in cheek)

Within two weeks he phoned to say he had found something that ticked all the boxes (apart from the last one!). The very first property he showed as we bought!

My advice FWIW is to write down what is important for you and try one of the house hunters that operate in the area you are interested in.

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I agree with this, although in our experience the problem wasn’t the rental law but the insurance policies many landlords have in case of non-payment by tenants. The insurance companies require French payslips and an ‘avis d’imposition’ which we didn’t have when first arriving in France. Even offering to pay the first year’s rent upfront fell on deaf ears.

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Yes that is exactly the problem I was thinking of. The reason the problem exists is because French rental law makes it so difficult for a landlord to evict a non paying tenant, hence the need for insurance. And part of the reason the insurers want proof of employment is because there is a legal mechanism whereby in extreme cases the employer can be ordered by a judge to withold the oustanding rental from salary each month.

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Ah, yes, I see what you mean now.

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We had a lot of difficulties. Mostly they wanted to see a French tax demand from the previous year or they weren’t interested. Otherwise you may even be asked for a year’s rent as a deposit up front.

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If you’re looking for somewhere to rent as a start, the winter after Christmas would probably be better, at least up until the Easter holidays, although you might get lucky with the period from October to December. One of the reasons why is that the tourist season has mostly died off and so landlords who are hesitating between BnB and long term rental might be more inclined to take a long term rental. A second reason is that in the 2-3 months preceding September, aside from the usual short-term holiday rentals, there is usually at least some form of migratory movement of civil servants (including teachers) taking up their new posts and looking for somewhere to live, as well as students looking for accommodation in their future area of study. This makes flat hunting in largish cities for anything in that period even more stressful as inevitably there are often queues down the street just to visit a flat.