Younger Buyers/Limited Budget Research

[natalie6984]

Hello

I just wanted to find out from any of you who has moved to France on a limited budget or were a younger buyer. Be great to hear from those of you have had first-hand experience in this area as I'm writing an article on this.

How did you go about finding a property on a budget?

If a young buyer, did you find that this posed a problem?

What difficulties did you encounter, if any?

What advice do you wish you had before buying a property?

Thank you

Natalie

[NormanH]

I think everyone will feel that they have a limited budget ..

1) I found a town at the bottom of the price range and looked around (average price per square metre can be found

2) The difficulty is that you have a vastly reduced choice, and are forced into less salubrious areas

3) Rent for a year before you decide to buy in a particular place.... then decide if you really need to buy at all.

[andyh4]

Perhaps just reiterating what Norman has already posted: but most people will be on a budget, it is just the scale that differs.  My tight budget might seem like a fortune to others and a pittance to a few.

 

Buying on a budget will restrict your choice of location.  A tight budget will probably eliminate central Paris, Chamonix or St. Tropez. 

Therefore you have to cut your cloth to fit the budget - either a smaller property, or in a "less desirable" location.  The problem with less desirable (but cheap) locations is that they are less desirable for a good reason - and often this will be because of a scarcity of work.  So any young person looking to buy on a budget will either need to be able to work from home* or will need to consider a perhaps considerable commute to work - and this may be without the support of public transport.  Another reason why property is affordable (cheap) is because of the lack of public transport - or at least the limitations of said transport - perhaps 2 or 3 buses per day.  Alternatively the areas maybe less salubrious as Norman suggests.   You pay your money and take your chances. 

*and working from home may be limited by broadband speeds that make snail mail look positively quick outside of the larger towns and cities.