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Swapping a house in France for one in the UK


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I don't think rural bus services in the UK will be around for much longer either. they are heavily subsidised by local governments who are having to make big cuts in spending over the next few years. IMO, the UK will finish up gettingl the bad bits of France but without any of the good bits as it has to cut it's cloth.
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[quote user="RogerWarner"]Oh my gawd wot a load of purveyors of doom!!

I guess oldgit you haven't visited some of the bad spots of any French big towns or cities?

Go take a look!!

France isn't all twee street cafes, even rural Brittany and Limousin has its miscreance. Oh believe me.

If we wish to return Blighty then by god we will. Its the land of my birth and I'm proud to be English!! (Now Brown and Blair have Foxtrot Oscar'd)[/quote]

Roger, if you're going back because Brown is no longer PM then you might have a point but why not wait a few years until house prices in the UK fall to realistic levels. You could be making a big mistake swapping now when UK house prices are still 30-40% overvalued.
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 Did you read the reply where the OP said they were returning for Health and Family ?

Surely it doesn't take too much thought to realise that they may not be able to wait.

 Frankly oldgit, I think you have been too much negative media - the UK isn't so much different from France, there's good and bad everywhere, but perhaps its easier to cope with the bad, in a language and culture you grew up with.

Also you may have missed the bit where property prices started recovering quickly, yes August is a poor month  but only time will tell if it's a downward trend.......We are probably in for a tough time, but how much individuals are effected depends on peoples personal situations

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If it were me going back, i'd be tempted to rent somewhere rather than buy or swap. I disagree with your comments about house prices in the UK. They have to go down because there simply isn't the money to buy them at current prices and the sloppy lending practices that pushed prices up to high levels seen in recent years is now a thing of the past. I'm never sure about 'health reasons' when people give this as a reason for going back. Frankly, I don't think the NHS is the service it once was, it's all about money and targets these days. I suppose there must be circumstances when returning to the UK is neccessary but i'm not sure that getting better health treatment is a valid one. Sorry to sound negative but I say it as I see and find it.
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Not sure about this.

If the UK and France were much of a muchness apart from language, a few different food items in the shops and a bit warmer weather, what are we all doing living here?

I'll add my pennyworth to OG's point.

In the UK we've lived in town centres and rural locations. Few purely personal observations as someone that was born and raised in the very centre of London.

  • I wouldn't walk about in the banlieus of Paris at night or many of the London estate areas but the difference is that I feel safe on the streets of central Paris at night where I most certainly don't on the equivalent streets of my home town;
  • In our area, I don't know of anyone that has or needs an alarm. Crime is rare, burglary very much so and valdalism is completely unheard of. Our French friends and neighbours simply can't grasp how things could be different even though they see it on the TV;
  • In beautiful rural Scotland with no 'bad area' anywhere close, EVERY house had an alarm and the few that didn't were burgled without fail. Our garden was vandalised 3 times in 12 months, children's toys stolen from the garden etc
  • In a nice part of Leamington Spa, one Sunday afternoon in broad daylight every single pot plant from outside every single house in the street was stolen (nobody saw a thing). We were broken into twice.
  • Anyone compared the French health system and the NHS?
  • Many of the social problems of the big French conurbations haven't migrated out into the suburbs and rural France (yet at least) whereas even some small town or village centres in areas of the UK are now as bad as the big city centres.

I could go on!

France isn't perfect or heaven on Earth (taxes, some prices, appalling service culture etc) but the quality of here is, for many, I think much higher than the UK.

Don't get me wrong, I'm an Englishman and proud of it but I'm not 100% sure that the England (or Britain) I think of really exists anymore - if it ever did.

So, I'll cheer on England in sports but overall - vive la France!  

 

 

 

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Old git - goodness - take off the blinkers - maybe its not the OPs or partners health but a relatives ? But even if it is theirs, being ill is no joke and being ill and not being able to comunicate your needs effectively, even worse

As for If the UK and France were much of a muchness apart from language, a few

different food items in the shops and a bit warmer weather, what are we

all doing living here?

 
For many people the answer is living in a size of property in a rural situation with land that  they simply couldn't afford in the UK

.

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Old git - goodness - take off the blinkers - maybe its not the OPs or

partners health but a relatives ? But even if it is theirs, being ill is

no joke and being ill and not being able to comunicate your needs

effectively, even worse

Very true RH even if your French is fairly fluent, trying to describe and understand a complex medical problem in another language is not an easy task.

As for If the UK and France were much of a muchness apart from language, a few

different food items in the shops and a bit warmer weather, what are we

all doing living here?

 
For many people the answer is living

in a size of property in a rural situation with land that  they simply

couldn't afford in the UK

only to find that as they get older they can't manage the land or the rambling house.

Pros and cons, good and bad is there in any country.[Www]

.

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I think the bigger property thing is a bit cynical and dismissive of many Brits' reasons for coming to France.

I'm sure you're right for some no doubt but I think many are here to change their quality of life in many ways and not just to get an extra 100m2 of living space. Many seems to genuinely wish to experience France and French life

Speaking personally, I haven't yet met a Brit that wants to go abck to the UK for any reason other than:

  • they can't make a living here due to the language and employment position;
  • some have missed family/friends
  • some are worried about what they'll do as they get older and frailer.

Don't know any that are rushing back because they miss it so much!

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Hi

That's really surpised me.  Maybe it's just that in this area we don't have much worth stealing!

Actually, that's a bit tongue-in-cheek. There have been a few break-ins over the past 7-8 years in the area but as far as I know, they've all been resticted to small shops and in one case, the local college.

I have been told that sheds and sometimes entered and tools taken but as I said, the house with an alarm in our area is a real rarity.  The locals don't regard it as a significant problem. For example, you'll still see cars left unlocked with keys and sometimes contents in etc.

Cheers.

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During the recent polemic over Sarko's recent crime/security drive the PS got a few digs in against him. Specifcally, that France now has the highest violent crime, murder and property crime rates in the OECD. Britain was given as an example of how law and order should be done (that may sound bizarre to some!). But, France has 3 times as many law officers, but twice the crime rate, compared to Britain. (don't shoot the messenger!, it's according to the PS, the article has been archived unfortunately)

 

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 Francelover - I think this forum has existed 10 or 11 years now, over that period there have several posts by people who have moved to France never having set a foot on French soil before....not everyone comes for the  Frenchway of life......[:)]

A change in their way of life, yes...but thats different

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[quote user="Francelover"]

I think the bigger property thing is a bit cynical and dismissive of many Brits' reasons for coming to France.

I'm sure you're right for some no doubt but I think many are here to change their quality of life in many ways and not just to get an extra 100m2 of living space. Many seems to genuinely wish to experience France and French life

Speaking personally, I haven't yet met a Brit that wants to go abck to the UK for any reason other than:

  • they can't make a living here due to the language and employment position;

  • some have missed family/friends

  • some are worried about what they'll do as they get older and frailer.

Don't know any that are rushing back because they miss it so much!

[/quote]

As it's only your 12th post on here I have no idea how long you've been in France or how you manged to avoid anyone returning to the UK because of  the raft of other reasons incluidng the isolation, the (poor) education and for many just not liking living in France and preferring the UK.

My own reasons are known by most, I dont hate France by any stretch but would never recommend anyone try to educate and raise a child in rural France, having a few extra trees to climb does not a great childhood make IMHO!

Conversely I now live in the UK, although in a small market town, I dont have an alarm and dont know anyone who's been burgled.  In France both my near neighbours were burgled, one being a holiday home which got occupied by the burglars for a time, the local police were uninterested and unhelpful with a shrug and it happens a lot to holiday homes!  I recently 'hen' sat here for my neighbour only to be told when asking how to lock the back door, oh I never do, just leave it open enough for the cat to get in!! 

As for house prices, well they are dropping all over, France included, I know I will likely sell at a loss in France, if I ever even see a buyer. In the UK at least I am fairly confident having bought where's there's work that I will be able to sell when I need to, I have no such assurance in France when many properties taking 2 years plus to sell..

Lets not turn this into mine's bigger than yours type argument, this guys is after some advice after all.  If you want to paint just the rosy side of France you've proably come to tthe wrong forum, it's warts and all on this one!  I still have property in france and return for holidays, I like France but can't stand the attitude adopted by new immigrants to France in overstating the state of their home country when they dont have a clue waht France is really like, in fact it's the same as the UK, good places, bad places.

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[quote user="oldgit72"]Strange isn't it how so many people who move to France prefer the UK. Makes you wonder why they bothered in the first place.[/quote]

Only about as strange as Brits feeling a strong need to run down their home country just because they've moved to another!  [:)] 

 

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[quote user="Panda"]

[quote user="oldgit72"]Strange isn't it how so many people who move to France prefer the UK. Makes you wonder why they bothered in the first place.[/quote]

Only about as strange as Brits feeling a strong need to run down their home country just because they've moved to another!  [:)] 

 

[/quote]

Your'e absolutely right of course. I should never have responded to the op's post about reasons not to go back to the UK. My opinions are completely biased and a pack of lies. As I continue my exile from paradise Britain I will continue to look on in envy at the life i've left behind. In the meantime I think I need to look for another forum, one that is dedicated to masochists like me who want to live here rather than leave here. Goodbye.
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Y'know, a number of these forums (which should be very useful and a rational exchange of perhaps diverse views) become eventually simply a clique where new members are suspected and patronised and any views that doesn't "match" the prevailing culture are ridiculed and subject to sarcasm and dismissal.

It's the "you"ve only been a member for 6 weeks so you can't know what you're talking about" syndrome.

I joined to try and offer some hopefully helpful observations and personal opinions. I have never said that my views cover all of France, are necessarily right for everyone or are a guide for life in France.

To the contrary, if you read my relatively few early posts, I have tried sincerely to be balanced and objective.

I therefore believe some of the above responses are unnecessarily dismissive, patronising and disproportionate.

For info, I have lived here for 7-8 years with my family. Run a business (as does my wife) and our children are going through the educational system here having been through primary and now well into college (certainly not a perfect system but many many schools in the UK are a disaster area). We also have extensive experience of the French health and social security systems and are fully integrated into the French taxation system. 

That sort of experience is either welcomed when making a contribution or can be seen as utterly irrelevent simply because my opinions don't fit with expectations or because I haven't served the pre-requisite "time in the job" qualification period on the site.

Pity if it's the latter.

OP - VERY sorry, you're quite right. I and others lost the plot a bit on the original thread. Apologies!      

 

     

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[quote user="Russethouse"]
 Francelover - I think this forum has existed 10 or 11 years now, over that period there have several posts by people who have moved to France never having set a foot on French soil before....not everyone comes for the  Frenchway of life......[:)]
A change in their way of life, yes...but thats different
[/quote]

Hi RH

Yes, I'm sure you're right.

I think the point I was trying to make is that equally not all expats came here simply to get a bigger house and garden. Just as an aside, our last 2-3 houses in the UK were all significantly larger than our house here.

I know quite a few expats in this area (I don't claim that to be representative of all Brits in France!!!) and I don't know any that moved here for bricks-n-mortar reasons.

I know many (us included) sincerely wanted to experience the French way of life and culture.  Actually, many have failed to do so but I think the reasons for that are complicated and I may start another thread on that one.

You're also 100% right that changing your lifestyle isn't the same thing as trying to engage in a French one.

Cheers.   

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Oh, Francelover, yes, please DO start another thread and we can leave this one for the poor OP who must be completely nonplussed by now.

I'm sure I speak for many here when I say I positively welcome new members, particularly one as articulate as you.

If there's no new blood, it's just us regulars trading news and, sometimes, mock insults. 

I think it's always good to talk to people with different views from your own.  It's called broadening your experience, n'est-ce pas?[:D]

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There is no clique at all but there is an honesty that some find difficult to take.

The only reason this tit for tat has broken out is due to totally daft comparisons being posted when the OP just wanted advice about a swap, not being told in daily mailesque tones that the UK has gone to the dogs and France is some kind of utopia.

We all know both countries and most of us on here are fairly fluent in french, watch the french news, read the papers and so appreciate the issues of both countries, many Brits in france would not have a clue what the days headlines are in France but would still here about issues in the UK as they watch the UK news, this leads to a disortion of how things are.  Im not suggesting this is you but when people seem to present these kind of comparisons they are rarely balanced in view.

Do continue to post and do start the thread about going back if you are interested in the subject but please accept we all have our views and dont mind telling people about them!

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There were a few helpful posts for OP about where to try looking for info, but it did get off-track. This can be a good thing, as all sorts of interesting views and info can spring up. Few of us can ignore the red rags which were thrown up early on though!

I've not noticed that newcomers aren't made welcome; why would they not be welcome? The only ones I'm not too keen on are those who think they know it all, and that nobody else knows anything at all. But then I don't like bossy folks in any sphere of life. I'd put a smiley if the icons would return!

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