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Buying a holiday home in France - Southwest or South?
Considering taking the plunge in 2010 - i.e. buying a property either near La Rochelle or Biarittz or perhaps Perpignan/Montpelier. - Any initial thoughts?
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my parents live near here
http://www.collioure.com/gb/index-gb.htm
superb location but rather over-run with tourists in the summer.
http://www.collioure.com/gb/index-gb.htm
superb location but rather over-run with tourists in the summer.
my parents live just down the road from here. http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&tab=wl
they have been out there 16 years and are selling up now as they are both getting on and need to be near shops ect in case it gets to a point where they cant drive.
its a very quiet area in the middle of the countryside, a few man made lakes near bye with beaches for swimming and the summer weather is very hot.
Dave.
they have been out there 16 years and are selling up now as they are both getting on and need to be near shops ect in case it gets to a point where they cant drive.
its a very quiet area in the middle of the countryside, a few man made lakes near bye with beaches for swimming and the summer weather is very hot.
Dave.
Please read up on the French Inheritance laws,they are considerably different to ours.
When one of a couple dies,be it the husband or wife,the estate passes to the remaining spouse AND the children.
It has therefore to be sold(unless the children buy out the spouse) and the profits divided equally.
I believe one way round this is to set up the property as a limited company,which excludes it from the Inheritance Laws.
Do check this before even thinking of buying in France.
When one of a couple dies,be it the husband or wife,the estate passes to the remaining spouse AND the children.
It has therefore to be sold(unless the children buy out the spouse) and the profits divided equally.
I believe one way round this is to set up the property as a limited company,which excludes it from the Inheritance Laws.
Do check this before even thinking of buying in France.
Mr Veritas; the house doesn't have to be sold unless the children want the equivalent in money. They could just leave their mother or father to live in the house but they'd be owners as well as the parent. A special contract at the 'notaire' can be signed which allows the spouse to have 'usu-fruit' of the property until their death or sale.
As mushroom says around Perpignan there are so many tourists from May to September and it can get incredibly hot but you're not far from Spain where petrol's cheaper, as are many other things (booze, meat, cigs.) La Rochelle is quieter and there's the added bonus of having an ocean on the doorstep so if you like sailing it's ideal. Biarritz is very expensive and rather full of snobs in my opinion!
Hope you find something you love. The added bonus is that houses are cheaper at the moment.
As mushroom says around Perpignan there are so many tourists from May to September and it can get incredibly hot but you're not far from Spain where petrol's cheaper, as are many other things (booze, meat, cigs.) La Rochelle is quieter and there's the added bonus of having an ocean on the doorstep so if you like sailing it's ideal. Biarritz is very expensive and rather full of snobs in my opinion!
Hope you find something you love. The added bonus is that houses are cheaper at the moment.
Suggest you need to be clear WHY you are buying it.
If as a retirement bolt-hole - that could be fine. But the days to getting a cheap deal in France compared to what you can buy in southern England are gone. One needs to be up for integrating into rural French life.
Access routes back to Britain (if you paln to divide your time) need to be clearly researched. It's all very well having a Ryanair flight that currently runs to some obscure random airport nearby, but you can't rely on that continuing for ever. So research the road or rail routes carefully.
Buying it mainly to rent probably won't work - too many Brits got there before you.
If as a retirement bolt-hole - that could be fine. But the days to getting a cheap deal in France compared to what you can buy in southern England are gone. One needs to be up for integrating into rural French life.
Access routes back to Britain (if you paln to divide your time) need to be clearly researched. It's all very well having a Ryanair flight that currently runs to some obscure random airport nearby, but you can't rely on that continuing for ever. So research the road or rail routes carefully.
Buying it mainly to rent probably won't work - too many Brits got there before you.
I’ve found this site quite useful to search out various types of property (& price) in France.
http://www.french-property.com/
Click on the ‘advance search’ to enter more criteria (to narrow properties to those meeting your requirements).
You can still buy a 3 bed property with loads of land for less than £100k in many parts of France.
http://www.french-property.com/
Click on the ‘advance search’ to enter more criteria (to narrow properties to those meeting your requirements).
You can still buy a 3 bed property with loads of land for less than £100k in many parts of France.
You can still buy a 3 bed property with loads of land for less than £100k in many parts of France. "
This is true, but not in any of the more favoured picturesque areas, nor where rental opportunities generally exist. Agreed properties are still good value for money compared to what one gets for the same money in the UK though.
This is true, but not in any of the more favoured picturesque areas, nor where rental opportunities generally exist. Agreed properties are still good value for money compared to what one gets for the same money in the UK though.
If you want a nice holiday home for now and a good investment you should be thinking about Turkey !!! a great country to invest in property. By the time you retire it will have made you a lot and you can buy in France then. We bought in Turkey in a busy resort and have trebbled our money in 5 years. Beautiful 3 bed. 3 bathrooms for about 90000 Euro, cheap maintenance there too which must be taken into account.
As a younger man although I'm not yet 40, went to Kusadasi - fine if you're 21. Good holiday but have to say, didn't like the locals or the place. Couldn't swim in the sea due to pollution and everyone trying to fleece you. As for the trebling your money, sound like your original cost was either 30k. Fair enough but in the current climate I would give 90k for a 3-bed there if it was spare change never mind my entire savings.
Sorry Jimmy147 didn't like Kusadasi, we know many people both young and old who have property there and love it. As for the 30K, no we spent 73k and we did make what I said in 5 years. There are many beautiful beaches outside the town, one 22 Kilometers long, golden sand, he was probably staying in the town centre without a car, Tesco have even opened one of their biggest stores there so surely that tells you something?
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