Expat Buyers and Type of French House

[alittlebitfrench]

Do British expats search for a particular type of french house or is budget always the deciding factor ?

Do expats prefer stoney 'longères', 'new builds', 'Masion Maitres'...... Is there a buying preference/trend ?

What type of French house do you prefer ?

[PaulT]

The French prefer new, using the funds from selling the Brits their run down shacks :)

[Chancer]

A dump that nobody in their right mind would buy and dirt cheap.

 

Something that I can see great potential within even if I dont know exactly what at the time.

 

The worst property on the best street (I got that one wrong!).

 

In an area of constant change.

 

If I buy another place in France I might add a few more to the list, the above was not my wish list, I just followed my instinct but if I were asked what I did right (in hindsight) it would be the above.

[Gardengirl]

We wanted a stone-built house with a lot of character in a village near a good-sized town, looked in the Dieulefit (God Made It!) area as we knew it pretty well, loved it, had 2 sets of very good, long-standing French friends in the Drôme. We found the perfect house, although it was in a hamlet with not many facilities, but were pipped at the post.

Our other requirements were to be not far from a GP and about 30/45 minutes from a hospital - we're getting on a bit and have various health problems. We only wanted a small garden or courtyard as we have a large garden in England, but trees nearby were high on our list.

We bought a new-build apartment set in an old parc, off plan, in a lovely, historical but small town in the Gard that we'd known and loved for years and thought we wouldn't be able to afford. But a lock up and leave apartment there was affordable. All worked out far better than we could possibly have hoped. We love it there, love the sunny, southerly position and view of gorgeous trees in the parc.

We usually spend half the year there, would move there full-time if we didn't have our son, DIL and little granddaughters living 5 minutes away from our house in England and spend lots of time with the girls.

I think that if we'd bought that stone-built house, gorgeous though it was, we wouldn't have spent nearly as much time there, especially with having to get in the car and drive to Dieulefit for most of our shopping and to Montelimar for things we couldn't get locally; a friend there used to bemoan having to drive quite a way to cultural activities.

As it has worked out, our excellent GP practice is about 5 minutes walk from our apartment, 3 hospitals are about 30 minutes drive away, we have a plethora of cafés, restaurants and a good variety of shops within a 5-10 minute walk. We have 2 excellent markets in town each week plus others in nearby villages, plus decent bus services to surrounding towns. There are frequent concerts and choir recitals and two associations we are members of arrange masses of activities locally as well as beyond the Gard.

Apartments in our résidence are much in demand, seem to have held their prices well, although we've saved a small fortune on rentals around France in the 9 years we've had it.

The very best thing for us has been the friendships we have, very good neighbours and many friends we've made at our very dynamic branch of AVF - on walks, at pétanque, at the English classes we give - it can take a long time to walk into town as it's 3 kisses down there!

[Leven]

I would go for a new build now, most working class Brits went for price and location. Since brexit fewer are looking and less are buying.

[betise]

Are you housebound due to the pollution is Paris ALBF?

[alittlebitfrench]

Breaking news Betise, pollution has passed. Not totally housebound, off to get a kabab in a minute. Something you could only dream of having tonight. Tant pis.

Leven. Less Brits buyers ? Really ? I reckon it will be full on next year. Just a hunch. France will be the country to move to.

Chancer got it bang on. Buy some rubbish that nobody else wants to buy. I really think that is right actually. That worked for us.

Just need to find another one in my new neck of the woods.

[NickP]

People buy what they want to buy, where they want to be, same as when they buy in the UK or any other country.

[EuroTrash]

"off to get a kabab in a minute. Something you could only dream of having tonight."

Do you really imagine you have to go to Paris for a kebab? We may be a small town but we have an excellent kebab shop, 2 pizza places and various other eateries.

No fish'n'chips though.

As for the other question, wot Nick says. This is what I was looking for, so I bought it. Right size (i.e. small, for one person who isn't into housework)/good internet/in a town/buses/ready to move into, no work needed/etc. It happens to look chocolate-box cute and has some interesting features which is a bit of a bonus - the silly man I bought it off hadn't put any photos of the outside on the advert, only pics of the inside, so I expected the outside to be fairly hideous but even so I was going to consider it. I bought it to live in, not as a status symbol or some kind of wish-fulfilment trip, and it does the job fine.

[Hoddy]

We spent two years looking at all manner of houses between Bergerac and Souilllac. I was beginning to lose heart when we went to look at one that didn't look very promising from the road. We went round to see the front and it smiled at us and we decided that we wanted it without seeing the inside. We were fairly sensible though and did not commit ourselves until we had seen the inside.

It wasn't a ruin, but it did need some work.

[betise]

[quote user="alittlebitfrench"]Breaking news Betise, pollution has passed. Not totally housebound, off to get a kabab in a minute. Something you could only dream of having tonight. Tant pis.

[/quote] A kabab? Never had one of those. I had scrambled eggs (from my own chooks) with home smoked salmon and truffle butter (homemade, natch) tonight. Why would I dream of salmonella on a stick, pray?

[EuroTrash]

There's something sleazily satisfying about a kebab. Buying it is half the fun, watching some dark brooding foreign chap slicing off pieces of congealed meat. I got hooked on it in my youth when I worked nights in London. The kebab shop here isn't nearly as sleazy, but it does the trick - takes me back to the kebab shop in Balham, those were the days.

[vette]

We went the 'Dick Strawbridge' route and bought an 800 year old Chateau. Lots of work but worth it. 11 years on and still things to fix up.

As for Brits buying, we've now had 7 UK couples stay in the B&B this summer who have all bought houses in this area. None of them have mentioned Brexit affecting their decision.

[Judith]

Changes with life and time, I believe ... some Brits buy modern, some want a do-it-up ... etc some want a garden ... a pool ... some do not.  No way to generalise.  As in the UK often depends on what you can afford  as well as lifestyle.  Retirees might want country, workers town ... I could go on, but won't.

As for kebabs - we lived opposite the best Turkish resto in London, their kebabs were excellent for a quick, substantial but cheapish lunch - on occasion.  Don't particularly miss them, though I miss curry even less, as I hate it, and hardly ever eat it, if I can avoid it.

It takes all sorts to make this world, living together in harmony is what is most difficult.

[alittlebitfrench]

I was more referring to the 'type' of house.

Does/did that influence your decision ?

It will next time we buy....again. It won't simply be a question of location.

P.S Kababs in France (well certainly in Paris) are completely different to what you will find in the UK. It looks completely different for start. It looks like food for a start.

[YCCMB]

The only discernible difference between any kebab I've ever eaten in Paris and any kebab I've ever eaten in the UK is that the French one's seem to be served in baguette.

What is a "type" of house?

[richard51]

Kebabs and houses seems to me to be a bit of a stupid diversion from the topic.

In terms of type of house, Mrs Windsor, can I suggest that you look on any Estate agent website.

[YCCMB]

Hi Richard. Lovely to have you trolling me again. Hope you're well.

[richard51]

I thought that you posted after I posted on another thread.

Please don't troll me.

[YCCMB]

No, I ignored your last trolling comment on another thread. And I plan to resume ignoring you again now. You flatter yourself.

[richard51]

So - 15.54 I post, and 17.46 you post.

After at least a week and before that months.

[alittlebitfrench]

@ Betty

Longére, Maison Maitre, Hôtel Particulier, Nuef, Pavillion, Art déco, Alpine Chalet, 1930's brick house, Chateaux, Haussemann Appertement, Mansert, Architect (all the buzz now) cube type thing... there are plenty of 'types' of houses to choose from.

What takes your fancy. I think it is actually a very important consideration when buying a house. Especially in terms of configuration and running costs.

Kabas are not served in baguettes in Paris....where did you get that from ?

Edit, can we please get back on subject.

[Gardengirl]

One of our local architects designs a lot more eco houses these days, and she has also won quite a few architectural prizes for them. They are much too expensive for most of us, but the heating costs when up and running are very low, insulation is mostly hay.

[EuroTrash]

But types of houses go with the territory don't they.

You're not going to find a longère or an alpine chalet in the middle of Paris, same as you're not going to find an appartement Haussmann out in the countryside.

You choice of type of house is going to be limited by your region, and surely choosing a region is more important than choosing a type of house.

[Judith]

I still say it changes with time ... and with what you can afford, as well as geographic reason.

When I was younger, lots of stairs was no problem, more so now, that that would determine something of the style, but to be honest, looking for a particular style is much less important than location ...

What I want more is a house I can make into a home ... style comes wya down on my list.