NormanH

Nor did I It is a mildly amusing hour and a half, but nowhere near as good as all the hype makes it seem. There are a lot of tired old jokes, which are even pretty non-PC (an able-bodied man in a wheelchair pretending to be handicapped, or barring the door of the bedroom because the host might (horror be HOMOSEXUAL ...he isn't, that might upset somebody) : I actually found it quite offensive at the start, but it quickly became clear that it is so feeble that real exception can't be taken. The central performances based on the idea that frenetic action is funny (à la Louis de Funès) and there is much that is derivative and anodyne It was obviously made as a money-spinning actor's piece. It is based on the very French idea of being 'muté' somewhere uncongenial for your job. No question of getting 'on your bike' It is yet another French retreat into sentimental smugness: none of the real problems of daily life are to be seen. How heart-warming all these good folk are [;-)]   It's not "la Grande Vadrouille " but it is an escape from reality.

There has always been more of a tendency to rent in France than in the UK, and there are some interesting calculations on this in the later part of that article I have read something similar before on the Notaires web site, where I found a sort of ready reckoner where you could calculate which was better If you French is ok, you could consult this site which shows what the Notaires are thinking: http://www.fnaim.fr/infos/lettre-de-conjoncture/lettre_conjoncture_N-52.pdf

Leaving France?  with the accent of course..

This is one site which explains it (in French) http://www.empruntis.com/financement/guide/pret-relais.php

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/anatole_kaletsky/article3716586.ece

http://www.paris-sorbonne.fr/fr/spip.php?article3731

I wonder if you can win on this. Think about it like this: A foreigner arrives, buys a property which is not for living in permanently, only as a Holiday home, and then starts to put everybody's backs up by trying to change arrangements which have gone on happily for ages. I can see that it is irritating for you, but have you thought about how you appear to the locals? I don't know about France, but I know it wouldn't have gone down well in rural parts of the UK

There is an interesting 'dossier' in le Figaro at the moment about prices http://www.lefigaro.fr/immobilier/2008/04/09/05002-20080409ARTWWW00375-special-immobilier-o-va-le-marche-.php