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Will I ever be able to afford my move to France??


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The price of property in France is not the main issue reducing British interest in the French housing market currently, it is the fact that it is very difficult to sell your house in the UK at the moment, or obtain a mortgage to buy a second home.

It does not matter how cheap that house is in France if you cannot raise the finance to buy it.

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[quote user="Sprogster"]

The price of property in France is not the main issue reducing British interest in the French housing market currently, it is the fact that it is very difficult to sell your house in the UK at the moment, or obtain a mortgage to buy a second home.

It does not matter how cheap that house is in France if you cannot raise the finance to buy it.

[/quote]

Is very good point, jefe.

I found myself deep in discussion about just this point over tinctures last night. It was meant to a dinner dance, but there was much doom, gloom and despondecy. And that was just the food. I was told by someone who has an interest in these matters on a professional basis that, officially (whatever that means) the price of houses in France has declined by around 5% over the past 12 months. But this rather masks the fact that pretty much nothing is moving even if prices are being offered down by the order of 25% since no-one has the wherewithal to buy anything, French, British or anyone else for that matter.

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Have been trawling many internet sites as well as looking in agents' windows and I must say that although there have been some reductions, most people still seem to be asking silly prices.

And no, I'm not just being nosey, I am in the market for buying though I'm not sure that still applies after last week.

On the plus side, I've never experienced such attention from the agents I have contacted.  You'd like more photos? Of course, I'll email them straightaway.  You have questions about the fosse?  Naturally, I'll find out some information from the vendor for you.  You could only view on Wednesday afternoon?  Well, we don't normally do viewings on Wednesday afternoons but, if that's what you want to do, then bien sûr, we'll meet outside my office!

I'm getting to feel very wealthy and important indeed; that is, until I realise that all the houses that I liked are now priced out of my reach!  

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There is always a lag affect in a correcting property market and we are currently in the sellers denial and wait and see stage. Give it another twleve months and then you will see the cracks beginning to show, as many sellers who have been holding out start to loose their nerve. It is a sad fact of human nature that most people who want to sell end up doing it at, or near the bottom of the market.
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I'd like to thank sincerely all those who took the trouble to reply to my post. I did try to send a few pm's to those who pm'd me but unfortunately they kept bouncing back. A special thanks to those kind folk. Anyway, I largely found your replies helpful and encouraging and have decided to keep to my original plan of flying out in mid January. I have about 15 houses to view that are advertised on the net in SE Vendee / SW Deux Sevres. I can only hope that either there is a bit of a recovery in the exchange rate or sellers are prepared to consider a lower offer than they might have hoped for. Even if my dram house is not there this time, I always enjoy my visits. Don't know what it will be like in January tho' - can't be any more depressing than the weather in Scotland.

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I was talkng to a guy in Paris just the other day who is moving out of his flat as he has just bought a house to the West of Paris but still within the Ill de France region and got 30%, he claims. knocked off the price. I barely know the chap so I don't know how true it is. He said that the people selling were rather desperate. I know from two agents in Quillan that although properties are still moving its very, very, slow and their sales are well down. Both said that the sales seem to be in the high end, 500k Euros plus and that it was mainly French or affluent Brits who didn't want to renovate or decorate. The good news is that they prefer English owned houses as they are better decorated with not so much brown paint and floral wallpaper (I would have thought that would have changed over the last 7 years).
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[quote user="Hillsider"]I'd like to thank sincerely all those who took the trouble to reply to my post. I did try to send a few pm's to those who pm'd me but unfortunately they kept bouncing back. [/quote]

Hillsider, to reply to PMs you need to reply from the forum itself, here... http://www.completefrance.com/cs/user/PrivateMessages/

If you try to reply to the email notification of the PM from Outlook (or whichever mail system you use) it will not work.

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 Thanks Jon......Nice price but unfortunately we do not want to live in the Dordogne. SE Vendee / SW Deux Sevres. My partner's parents live in the Dordogne and I did notice when visiting in August that prices were attractive. We went as far as viewing a very pretty, renovated 2 public, three bed cottage with garage and pool that was being sold fully furnished with beautiful antiques by its American owners for 165000 euros.Tempting but a bit too near. (her thoughts not mine)!

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Just be patient and sit it out. Prices will keep falling. I was lucky to have sold my house last year so I am waiting and watching prices fall. As the recession deepens in the Uk more and more second homers will sell up in France at lower prices thus adding to a growing glut of unsold property.

If you bear in mind that many people went to France having seen programmes like "a home in the sun," expecting to find work but not able to speak French, or thought they could join the benefits system, then you can imagine many of them, as the recession bites, trying to sell up and return to the UK. So you will see a growing list of unsaleable property and people desparate to sell ( especially in Brit. Ghettos like the Dordogne etc.) Don't despair, just be patient and watch prices and the general economy closely.

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  • 1 month later...
Pip....we still hope to buy sometime in SE Vendee /SW Deux Sevres. Our budget was 200000 euros. Our intended buying trip this month has been postponed indefinitely. While accepting that it is probable that we could have achieved a substantial discount on a house in a depressed property market, living costs are now the main factor that are deterring us from taking the plunge at this time while the pound is weak. The exchange rate has improved over the last couple of days and my research leads me to believe that the pound will continue to strengthen but it is likely to take the best part of a year to achieve the minimum rate of 1.20 which we would consider affordable. So unfortunately it is still 'Will I ever be able to afford my move to France'
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[quote user="Hillsider"] The exchange rate has improved over the last couple of days and my research leads me to believe that the pound will continue to strengthen but it is likely to take the best part of a year to achieve the minimum rate of 1.20 which we would consider affordable. [/quote]

But what will you do if it rises to 1.20 or above? You will still have the exposure that it may plunge again.

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Recent events have at least given people still in the planning stages some idea as to how bad it can get.  I remember a time when a pound bought seven francs, but I reckon few people thought Euro parity was even a remote possibility, in spite of evidence to the contrary.  Now we know this is a more realistic "worst case" rate to work to than the 1.20 I budgeted for before making the move four years ago.  I agree with you Derek; if it's happened once, it can happen again.
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We are just in the middle of buying and have struck an excellent deal.with a british vendor.  A property advertised at €205k in the summer is being purchased for well well under €150k now.  We are doing a sterling deal and my actual final investment has gone down by about £20k from what it would of cost me if I had paid full price in the summer (to reflect growing desparation of sellers), I am only at currency risk for about €25k of fees. (has lost me about £1k from agreeing a price to purchasing currency)

Nord Charente Homes are now advertising sterling deals on their website.  The local notaire is happy with me lodging funds with a uk solicitor.

I guess my only downside is that I have a very low euro base cost for gains when I come to sell.

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hi cooperlola ,  i found an old newspaper from 1968 saying 12 francs to the pound, i personaly remember 9\10 francs to the pound in 1980 , i worked it out to be about 7.5 francs to the pound last summer . i guess its more like 6 or less now.  when did you remember it being 7 , & how did you work it out?    [quote user="cooperlola"]Recent events have at least given people still in the planning stages some idea as to how bad it can get.  I remember a time when a pound bought seven francs, but I reckon few people thought Euro parity was even a remote possibility, in spite of evidence to the contrary.  Now we know this is a more realistic "worst case" rate to work to than the 1.20 I budgeted for before making the move four years ago.  I agree with you Derek; if it's happened once, it can happen again.[/quote]
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Stan's opportunity reflects the reality of the market place, in that the rural residential property market in Northern and Western France which was mainly favoured by Brits, is probably going to suffer the most from any price correction. Especially, if you take into account that most houses owned in France by Brits are second homes and these are the first things to be sold in difficult economic times.

However, the purchase of a French property is only one part of the equation, in that probably a more important consideration for those Brits contemplating retiring to France permanently who are subsequently going to be reliant on a £ pension, is the exchange rate risk impact on your income going forward . By anyones standards, at euro to £ parity the eurozone is expensive for Brits, unless you are going to do your own version of the 'Good Life' and stay home all day and produce your own food! At the moment, I have lost confidence in the UK government's ability to maintain the value of the £ at any level and fear that the long term trend is that the £ will continue to weaken, as it has done over the last thirty years.

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It actually got down to 6.95ff/£1 back in 1996. I found some old bank statements earlier of when I was transferring money over back then and that was the rate I got for a regular monthly transfer. I also bought my house in 1989 at well over 12ff/£1.
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[quote user="Stan Sreason"]A property advertised at €205k in the summer is being purchased for well well under €150k now[/quote]Sounds like a realistic seller. If they bought for €205 or less when the rate was say around 1.45 that would have equated to some £140k odd so selling now for €150 means they are probably breaking even, or better, and going back to a terminally depressed UK market so likely to snatch a bargain there.

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[quote user="mike151"]hi cooperlola ,  i found an old newspaper from 1968 saying 12 francs to the pound, i personaly remember 9\10 francs to the pound in 1980 , i worked it out to be about 7.5 francs to the pound last summer . i guess its more like 6 or less now.  when did you remember it being 7 , & how did you work it out?    [quote user="cooperlola"]Recent events have at least given people still in the planning stages some idea as to how bad it can get.  I remember a time when a pound bought seven francs, but I reckon few people thought Euro parity was even a remote possibility, in spite of evidence to the contrary.  Now we know this is a more realistic "worst case" rate to work to than the 1.20 I budgeted for before making the move four years ago.  I agree with you Derek; if it's happened once, it can happen again.[/quote][/quote]

to get franc rate (fairly sure) -

Fixed parity rate francs to euro 1/1/99  about 6.56.

Current euro to £ rate 1.109

1.109 x 6.56 = 7.275  francs to the £

On 1/1/99 rate was theoretically  9.3.

 

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