Retirement in France!

[Lautrec]

We are currently living and enjoying our life in The Charente, but there will inevitably come a time when maintaining a largish house and garden will be a burden as one gets older. We have been looking in an easier and more relaxed life style and retirement villages seemed to be one solution. There is a concept called Les Senioriales; with sites on the Atlantic Coast, and the Mediterranean to name but a few.

Prices to buy start at around Euros100k and to rent would be from Euros600 per month.

They seem to have all facilities, pools, games rooms, warden controlled etc. The question I would like to ask. Is there anyone reading this who is living in a similar set up or knows someone who does.  If so, could you please impart any information that would be helpful, before we make the trip down to view a site.

(The aging)  Lautrec.

[Lautrec]

By mistake I have printed this topic twice and try as I may, I cant find a way to cancel obne of them. So could the administrator please wipe one out for me. Thank you!

Lautrec.

[Val_2]

Can I just congratulate you on your common sense about retirement and  downsizing your property. I am seeing so many  british people coming here at the moment and buying huge properties for just themselves partly as a financial statement that they have a bit of money and what they can get for it and its complete madness as before they know it, they will find themselves with the same problem of not being able to manage either the property or the maintenance if their savings have gone and their pensions are not that large.Huge gardens seem to be the attraction but these can kill you if you spend all your life working them. Size and quantity is not everything here,quality of life is far more important than having a huge showcase home. Its no good either relying on a large property to keep it's value here,the market is not the same as the UK and local people will not buy what they consider overpriced houses for the area. I hope you manage to find a suitable place to retire to and enjoy not having to worry anymore.

[zeb]

Hello Lautrec

Make sure you know what the service charges are and what they cover, and also that you are happy to go along with, for ever, the rules and regulations of the development.

My parents-in-law live on such a development on the South Coast (UK), their monthly service charge has gone up to £100 and they are not allowed any pets (not even a budgie) or have children stay overnight! They moved in 15 years ago and signed up before the place was built. Mostly they have been very happy there but all available space, the green area and the car/caravan park has now been built on, and they are thinking (in their 70s), that they want to get out and live "normally" due to all the rules which the owner keeps implementing.

Sorry, don't know anything about French retirement complexes but hope I've helped a bit!!

Good luck..........keep us posted as that may be the life for me one day, especially if it's by the sea!

[letrangere]

"I am seeing so many  british people coming here at the moment and buying huge properties for just themselves partly as a financial statement that they have a bit of money"

Val, so true.  I have a friend who's in real estate in the Dordogne and she says she always finds it so refreshing when a retirement age couple want to view small modern houses on the edge of towns.  Also many of these properties are beautifully built in traditional Perigord style.  She also says that increasingly she sees people in the mid to late 60s who've lived in France a while selling their larger old houses with land for a smaller, modern place. It looks like it's a natural and perfectly understandable progression.  M

[Coco]

I'd agree with you too Val.  It's amazing how many house-hunters stay with us and get all excited about the properties they are going to view because they are only X,000€ "but there's 10 acres with it!!"  Whenever I then ask if perhaps they have horses the answer is always "no, but we'd have all that land"  Then when I ask what they would DO with the land again it's "Oh we haven't really thought about that, but we'd have all that land!"  It's obviously ingrained into the British pysche, with the lack of space in the UK now, that owning lots of land is good, no matter what you're going (or not going) to do with it.  I try and tell them that because we are busy running our business, our half an acre garden is as much as anyone would want to cope with, but still they insist on wanting "at least a couple of acres"   WHY?

[Weedon]

our half an acre garden is as much as anyone would want to cope with, but still they insist on wanting "at least a couple of acres"   WHY?

Maybe you lived in a detached house with a big garden before you came to France, or maybe not.  But if you have lived in a semi with a garden space that will not allow you to sit outside without neighbours watching every move from 10ft away then you might understand why somebody might like to have a couple of acres so that for a while they can be king of their own little kingdom.  That's me, so don't view me with incredulity,  let me and others like me enjoy our bit of space, its been a long time coming.  And thank god its only 2 acres.

weedon

[WJT]

Well, this is exactly what we wanted, a smallish, manageable garden. However, we definitely wanted an old stone property.  We searched for over a year and every property we saw with not much land ALWAYS came with a problem. I am sure there are many that don't, we just couldn't find one.  Many are in hamlets with neighbours too close, very near or right on the road, not too mention the worries about future building.  At the last minute before signing the compromis on a property, we learned that the neighbour had planning permission to convert a barn that would have overlooked the entire garden.  All after the owner and agent insisted that nothing could ever be done with the building, a very good warning to us about French planning and building issues. By the way the neighbour was very unfriendly about the whole matter. As mentioned by previous poster's regarding Brits wanting a property in France with a large garden may seem a bit silly to some but for us it was the only way we felt secure and happy. We want to move to France for the beauty, history and peace not passing traffic on our door step, loss of privacy and worries about future planning permission.  Mind you, I guess there is a certain trade off because there is a worry of maintenance that we did not want. We are quite lucky in that in our fields surrounding the house the local farmer cuts for hay.  From what I gather, people that do purchase properties in rural France, this is pretty much the norm so really offers the seclusion with all the land but the benefits of just having to maintain the garden surrounding the house.

[Lautrec]

I originally asked the question if any  person knew anything about retirement villages. It has turned into a different subject altogether, which often happens on this forum. I admit that I have a large one acre of grass to cut which is a bit of a chore; mind you my tractor makes short work of it, but what lovely privacy.

So thank you participants in this topic, but I would still like to hear from anyone who has any info. on the above subject! Thanks!

[Athene]

[quote]I originally asked the question if any person knew anything about retirement villages. It has turned into a different subject altogether, which often happens on this forum. I admit that I have a larg...[/quote]

I agree about all the posts about owning a big garden. We have four daughters all with partners/husbands and the first one is expecting twins. I have great plans for when the children are toddlers and we can have a play area with all kinds of slides and swings and sandpits on a  grandscale etc and I am hoping too that we will be able to afford a swimming pool with a lovely shallow area to see the 'littlies' learn to swim in. Also with a big house we can convert an area for the daughters to come and stay without us being under their feet, our small people will be able to scream and shout at leisure and we will slumber on in the other part of the house. Now we could not afford a luxury like this in Essex!

[Janey]

Lautrec, there is a Senioriales development in the next village from us, it was only opened late last Summer. Don,t know anyone who lives ther but I remember the advertising was in English as well as french so obviously hoping to attract English speaking buyers also. I know they,ve got a pool, club house, bar etc. It,s in between Nimes and Uzes and approx 45 mins from the sea (Gard..dept 30)

We,re not near retirement age..yet..but I,m already thinking of looking for a smaller house as I seem to spend all my time doing housework.

Janey

Janey