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Hi everyone, our names are mandy & tony, we are in a bit of an odd place at the moment, having just sold our house, and not finding anywhere we have left ourselves homeless, well actually all is not bad as i am moving into my mums and tony who works and stays in london can remain there until we have found somewhere,  (we have literally lived apart for 10yrs) always wanting to be optimistic we are going to use this opportunity to our advantage, as at 39 and 37 yrs (me being the oldest) we might not get an opportunity again in the near future, we have been looking for a house in the south of england where hubby might be able to commute daily however what is available for our budget is not really inspiring us ( the thought of a big mortgage terrifies me) and being able to commute is unlikely, due to traffic etc, we have considered building also but even land is so expensive now, so we started to consider france, we had thought about this in the past but to be honest i am a financial worrier and did not want to use our savings to buy a holiday home that we would could only visit a couple of times a year, due to having to work long hours to pay the mortgage back home, so are thinking is if we moved to france we could buy a house with the proceeds of our sale, still have a substantial amount left to get us started in our new life, and at least have the chance to live together, we would love to live the dream of having a couple of gites to renovate in our spare time, but would like our main house at least partially renovated, we would want to be amongst other ex pats but also want to be able to integrate into the french community and enjoy the way of life, we dont have children but we do have three mastiffs and a cat that would be coming with us, i am obviously concerned as how they would be received, also if things get financially desperate how easy would it be to commute to england to work, say for  couple of weeks every couple of months tony is an electrician and could earn a good wage for a weeks work, plus he likes to work and if he couldnt get work in france he would go stir crazy,

At this point we have a very little undertsanding of the language, financial implications, areas, or anything else for that matter but are willing to learn, i have read about some intensive courses run by people on different matters, are these any good? have we left ourselves too little time for preparation? although we could stay here realistically until winter,

would it be better to rent somewhere for a year and is this feasible with 38stone of dog (combined weight),

any advice on getting started would be gratefully received, or even honest opinions on our reasons for the move, are we living in the clouds!, please be honest and thankyou in advance, will look forward to getting to know your community on the forum

 

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I really would suggest you take time out to go through all the sections of this forum and see what responses folks have given to the same such questions as there is too much to answer in one go. What I will say is that gîte lettings will not support you without another income or very substantial savings,if you buy a ruin to renovate be advised it will cost you twice as much as you originally estimate and do learn the language as employment is hard to find in France without it.
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We caught the first Eurostar from Paris this Monday morning, lucky to get seats as it was full of smart looking French business people. Those I spoke to said that they lived at home in Paris for the weekend and stayed the working week in London. Interesting though expensive comute for them.
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Hi Mandy & Tony,

What a great opportunity you have.  We are about to celebrate our third anniversary in our property in France in the Charente Maritime near Montguyon and it has been probably the best three years we have had.  However not without some challenges. Could have said problems, but treat them as challenges that have to be overcome either together or with assistance from new friends, neighbours both French & English.

We initially created our budget on purchase price and estimated annual expenditure from income and then put together a property checklist on where we wanted to be.  Then added the property type, condition, location and the extras.  Also looked at travel arrangements for ourselves and visitors with the airports in the UK to airports in France that would be within about an hour of the location.  Also the road link for driving back to the UK.

Our property is 8 hours drive +stops from Boulogne and then the 5+hours up to North Yorks so is a 16 hour door to door trip with stops and ferry crossing.

Suggest reading back copies of Living France for information. Look at websites on properties and what you get for your Euro and talk to those who have done the same.  I commute each month and fly either Manchester - Bordeaux or Stansted - Bergerac with BMIbaby & Ryanair. You can check their flight times etc on their websites  www.ryanair.comwww.bmibaby.com for more information.

Could spend more time to help you on this but have to go to work shortly but please email me if you want some more practical help.

Having been in Financial Services I now try and help and direct those making the move to the contacts with specialist information etc and I have put together a pre departure pack from my experiences.

Good Luck.

Regards

 

 

David J

 

" Always on the ball"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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If you want to work in France, learn the language, because until you are fairly fluent you really won't be able to. Think about what an electrician does, for example. Imagine trying to explain to a non-English speaking electrician what it was you wanted doing. My advice would be don't even consider the move until you can communicate very well in French.

M

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hi thanks everyone,

it would be our intention to learn french and sooner rather than later, however it still seems that its difficult to find work when reading posts, so in the meantime we were considering the feasibility of commuting on an ad hoc basis back to london to provide a fairy healthy income, which would cover our living expenses, we would not be looking for a derelict property as our main home, however as we both enjoy physical work and diy we would like some outbuildings that we can have as an ongoing project with the potential for running as gite, in the very distant future, but not provide our main income, tony is an industrial electrician and while he can do domestic work its not really his cup of tea, so i dont know whether he will ever be able to find work, I think the point i was trying to make is that we have found ourselves in a posistion that many retirees are in, ie financially, and we have considered our choices and feel we can either stay here and get a mortgage to buy a dream house, and slog our guts out for the next 20years to pay it then move, or take a chance and move to france now buy a lovely house without mortgage and still have money left over, i suppose we are capitilising on our equity from our home, to gain the quality of life now, rather than when we retire, giving us the time to establish ourselves within a comunity beforehand

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Mandy

Surely, you are not like retirees - they have an income from a pension and possibly some money invested for an income. You may have some money to invest for an income but you will have the cost of commutting for work and the actual work.

Would think that you would be better off buying in the UK and working there, learning French and checking out the job market in France. Once you are profficient in the language sell up (Hopefully prices will have increased) and then move.

Paul

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Mandy - if you are a financial worrier then you will find being in a foreign country with no income pretty worrying even if you don't have a mortgage.  To buy a house (even one without gites), do it up, and live for 2 or 3 years whilst you learn the language and sort out jobs will cost a pretty penny.  Unless you plan to buy in central London you can buy a house even in southern England for that kind of money.  So, if you haven't got enough money to buy a house in UK then have you realistically got enough to move to France.  Only on TV programmes people find 'bargains' for £50,000 and do them up for a fiver.  If you don't speak French then getting a job will be hard and commuting is expensive.  I too am a financial worrier and we did what you are thinking of doing.  For us it has worked and we have jobs here, but we are a great deal poorer than we were in the UK (even without the mortgage) and the most difficult thing is that, unlike the UK, you can't just go and get an extra job or a loan to tide you over any difficult patches.  When the car packed up and we had to buy a new one here it was a real drama, whereas in UK we earned enough money that in the same situation we would simply have taken out a loan for the new car and worked some extra hours to pay it off.  Credit is also not easy to come by here.

Not saying don't do it, but you are not very old and unless you have enough money to support you until retirement (unlikely as you say you would need a mortgage in the UK) the fact is you need to work.  Learn the language and try to find some employment before you leap and you have a real chance of making it work for you.

Good luck

Maggi

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While I am all for changing ones life and taking a bit of a chance I do admire people, as young as you, who make a complete change and start afresh in a new country.  If you would be nearer your retirement age I think it would be better. You will have some capital to live of to start with and you don't have any children which makes it easier but life is not much cheaper in France (apart from the council tax and the wine!). I have also realised how difficult it must be to make a living from Gites, I have promised our holiday cottage to several friends,  free of charge and none of them are taking up the offer, even with having free accomodation they find the Ferry Prices too horrendous.

However I am tempted to say, go for it.  You only live once, and new experiences will enrich your life together.

Instead of going for an expensive renovation of Gites why not buy a small flat in England and rent that out?

 

 

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Why not think about a half-way measure first,& see how it goes?  We spent 8 years working for an English camping/holiday company in various places in France (Haven Europe, now Siblu) - starting off working seasonally as reps, then 4 years working full-time in the maintenance team in a large site near La Palmyre (17).  My previous experience was in Banking; a qualified sparks shold be snapped up quickly by most of the firms operating!  Pay is low, but accommodation is supplied - when we worked as reps, we worked as a couple (you do need to define which of you is in charge at a VERY early stage!).  I learnt more about the French way of plumbing/gas/electrics & maintenance generally, and of course, the language as it's spoken on the ground (rather than in the classroom) by doing that than I could ever have picked up by moving straight into our own house - now that we have bought here, I'm more than grateful that I did it that way round
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I'd go with the renting here first idea if it's an option for you.  Give it a go - there is really nothing like trying it.  Other people's experiences are unlikely to be the same as yours in every detail. The dog would be no problem.  I recently translated for some friends who are renting here and the notaire said that dogs could not be exculded from long term letting agreements.
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Hi Mandy,

You and your hubby are just a little younger than moh & me - we made the move in January this year, and are loving life here. Our home is far better than anything we could have bought in the UK and the quality of life is great. The language even with school girl + holiday french is causing us a few challenges, so we have enrolled for lessons and our 11 year old son is havuing some additional intensive classes during the spring holidays to help him with school.

We have found some things cheaper than the UK - our food bill has gone down, but we eat simply and don't go out to eat alot. Other things are more - the cost of decent light fittings for example, if you can find them. because I have a secure job here, the transition has been painless and the unexpected bills have been met, if your planning to come and run some gites - do your homework throroughly, work out what market your going for. We were shocked at the condition of some property we saw that was let as gites - incredibly basic, but obviously much cheaper to rent. There are loads of books you can read - we spent several years researching and knew the area really well. Renting is a good idea and even with 3 very large dogs you should still be able to do this.

I know what living apart can do having spent a year like this ourselves - and life here is way better, do your homework, have a contingency fund at least double what you think you'll need and take your time when choosing somewhere to live.

All the best  Liz

 

 

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thankyou everyone for your replies, thankfully the positive posts have started to come in, i was feeling  little dispondent, and infact we had almost shelved the idea, i was beginning to think why people bothered to stay there, without going into too much detail our capital is in the region of 200k, i do have an nhs pension, and Tony does have the option to work in london, on a freelance basis, due to the massive regeneration of london for the olympics, im sure his income would far outweigh his expenditure travelling, even him being away 2 weeks a month is better than 4, mainly 7 days week, however we accept all the comments and realise the main points of concern are 1; the language, we do want to be able to communicate and mix with people, and 2; the legal implications ie tax, healthcare, hidden costs etc, I still do believe that we could buy a fairly nice home for about £100k with potential for future plans, (impossible in the uk) leaving us what i believe is a healthy balance, to start us off, etc, I understand that our reasons for choosing may not sit well with everyone, ie financial, and quality of life issues first, but i dont think we can be the only people who have made the move for these reasons then fell in love with place later, we will certainly be doing our homework, and will definately rent first, possibly coming over later in the year, and doing the winter (it cant get anyworse than that can it) then if we like it look to buying next year, if not we can always come back to england, nothing ventured nothing gained as they say!

anyway thanks again to everyone, still welcome your comments good or bad,

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Good for you.  I believe that your O/H would need French qualifications (at least he needs to understand French electrical specs, I guess) so it would be a good place for him to start while you rent.  I love it here, no regrets at all.  Others have them I know, but they can't speak for you, or me and trying it is the only way IMHO!
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You have thought things over as much as possible without actually trying it out, and as you say positive responses  are now coming. I think that it's worth taking risks and going for the adventure, certainly at your age. If it doesn't work you can always go back. We made a major move abroad when we were in our thirties, with two young children and another born abroad. We stayed a few years and then returned, but that experience was so valuable. However, the move did include a job, for husband. And eventually I found work too. Make the most of your life. Pat. 
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