Moving abroad

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Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Wed May 10, 06 11:02 am Post subject: Moving abroad

Those of you who've moved abroad how did you go about finding your property? Did you know the area well before moving, perhaps going on holiday there first or several visits while house hunting? Did you start off knowing where and what you wanted and what sort of help did you need. Is there anything you would advise people to do or do differently?

I know a couple of people who are starting to look to move abroad and would be very interest to hear peoples tales and advice.

Penny Outskirts

Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 23385
Location: Planet, not on the....

Posted: Wed May 10, 06 11:28 am Post subject:
It would be very interesting to know how people went about it.

Nick

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford

Posted: Wed May 10, 06 1:57 pm Post subject:
Did anyone else think all Bugs' Christmases had come at once?

madmonk

Joined: 08 May 2006
Posts: 835

Posted: Sat May 13, 06 8:23 am Post subject: moving abroad

Hi I am Ray new to this site.
We are in the process of moving across to France and the things we found helpful were ,
Research the area, use a French estate agent, don't believe any estate agent whatever nationality.
Make a point of introducing yourself to the local Mayor he could end up as your best friend.
Try and speak thr language however badly it may come out, I am a cockney and sound like "Del Boy" but any effort is appreciated.
Use local tradesmen if you can, but allow plenty of time nobody will rush to do the work.
Be prepared to change your way of life, the French won't change theirs and why should they.Lastly the French have had some bad press, get to know them they are a lot friendlier than we were led to believe, we can't wait to go back and finish the house.
A very good book to buy is "renovating and maintaining your french house" by Joe Loredo, it has loads of useful info even if you are not renovating, web sites , price guides etc.,
Hope this has been of some use.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Sat May 13, 06 8:28 am Post subject: Re: moving abroad

madmonk wrote:

Hope this has been of some use.

Yes, and a warm welcome to the site. Roughly where abouts are you going to move to and what do you plan to do?

madmonk

Joined: 08 May 2006
Posts: 835

Posted: Sat May 13, 06 9:29 am Post subject: moving abroad

Our house is situated between Chateauroux and Limoges 5 miles from junction 20 on the A20 in a village called Parnac, it is a semi detached farmhouse with about 3/4 of an acre, it is in need of some work and will take us about a year to complete.
We intend to have a few chickens and maybe a beehive, we also have cherry trees and a walnut tree so a apple tree or two will be added.
We would like to use two rooms as a Chambre but will not be totally reliant on them for a living.
Our builder has a smallholding with sheep so we are going to try and persuade him to run a couple of ours in with his, so fingers crossed on that one.
Locally the area seems like it is used to raise Limosin cattle so that also could be useful.
I also go down a few times a year with a half empty transit size van so if I can help anyone out give us a yell I may be passing your house, unfortunately it is full of wine when I come back so bad luck on that one.

moules and frites

Joined: 13 May 2006
Posts: 21

Posted: Sat May 13, 06 8:22 pm Post subject: Moving to Brittany as soon as possible ..

Hi ,
We bought in central Brittany in 2000 after eight research trips from Poole, Plymouth and Portsmouth looking at Normandy, Brittany and The Loire . Eventually settled on Brittany as loads more to do .
Bought a four bedroomed farmhouse with huge barn and a sited mobile home and garden of about 25 acres . Only one near neighbour within two miles who uses our fields for his cows and keeps an eye on the place . So far have 90%renovated the house and planted 40 or so fruit trees for an orchard in decades to come .
We intend moving out in around four years when youngest leaves school and turning the property into a smallholding . We will probably downsize and keep a flat in the UK as hubby electrician and might work in UK from time to time as does not want to fully retire as only 40!

We have found the French to be superb neighbours , very friendly and helpful although our grasp of the language is only at senior school standard.

We are willing to help anyone who wants any help with similar plans in North Western France .

Blue Sky

Joined: 30 Jan 2005
Posts: 7658
Location: France

Posted: Sat May 13, 06 9:45 pm Post subject:

Hi TD

We had a pipe dream about moving to France back in 2000. Fortunately we had friends that had bought a holiday home through VEFUK.com and they recommended that we check out the website. As it happened we ended up finding and buying our property through VEF at great expense to our pockets. We don't regret paying their very high fees as we were both working in the UK at the time and couldn't possibly have come out here to search for a property without their help and so at the end of the day we are very happy.

However, if you are looking for a property in central France I would recommend that you come and stay in our holiday cottage here in Haute Vienne and roam the countryside in search of a bargain as it would be much more pleasurable

VEF were very helpful and they do Spain properties too so well worth a look on the website.

S

hardworkinghippy

Joined: 01 Jan 2005
Posts: 1110
Location: Bourrou South West France

Posted: Sat May 13, 06 10:22 pm Post subject:

Hi, I've been in France about 15 years, but it was a long-term dream to come here and I'm really happy and glad I moved when I did. There are other places in the world I'd live in, but my French boyfriend, who'd never, ever move, is worth settling here for.

I wanted to come to the Dordogne especially because the gardening weather is good and it's not too hot and (usually) rains just enough to keep things green. The architecture is really pleasing (to my Scottish eye) and the landscape is wonderful, there are a lot of rivers and more than 50% of the area is forest.

Before I moved here, I spent a lot of time in France, both on holiday and working.

I spent three weeks looking in Provence, and two in Britanny and just kept coming back here, although, even in those days, it was much more expensive than other areas.

When we finally made up our minds, ("We", because I came out to France with a very new husband who unfortunately discovered that country life wasn't for him!

) We stayed in this area for a few weeks and eventually bought through a French Estate agent.

I've moved three times since then, but I've always stayed in the same village.

I think it's really, really important to get the location right. I know a lot of people in the north of France who are fed up with rain and people in the south who just can't get their gardens going without spending time and money on irrigation. Visit the area of your choice in all sorts of weather and spend time and effort coming over often to get the "feel" of the place.

Learn the language as well as you can before moving!

Blue Sky

Joined: 30 Jan 2005
Posts: 7658
Location: France

Posted: Sun May 14, 06 5:42 am Post subject:

hardworkinghippy wrote:

Visit the area of your choice in all sorts of weather and spend time and effort coming over often to get the "feel" of the place.

I can second that. visit in all seasons. We found our house on Christmas Eve 2002 and it was just as beautiful then as it is in mid summer.

hardworkinghippy wrote:

Learn the language as well as you can before moving!

Most certainly, but didn't you find that you picked up the language much quicker (through neccessity) once you had made the move? That is what we found anyhow.

hardworkinghippy

Joined: 01 Jan 2005
Posts: 1110
Location: Bourrou South West France

Posted: Sun May 14, 06 7:01 am Post subject:

The very best way to speak French is to be "forced" to learn it.

But, if you're the kind of person who is organised about these things, a good grounding in the basic structure of sentences and learning useful verbs at least helps a bit once you hear people talking.

It's a shame to come to another country and be attracted to to other English speaking people because they're the only people you can communicate with. You'd be amazed how many English people there are who have live in France for years, only have English friends and are still scared to pick up the telephone!

Another very important point is also to find out about the laws and social structure of your chosen country.

I suppose that's common sense, but to be honest, I didn't do it...

madmonk

Joined: 08 May 2006
Posts: 835

Posted: Sun May 14, 06 7:34 am Post subject:
Another good way to learn the language is to spend 2 weeks in a French hospital, trust me you learn quick when Michel Thomas is not there to help

Lozzie

Joined: 25 May 2005
Posts: 2595

Posted: Sun May 14, 06 7:35 am Post subject:
A warm werlcome to Downsizer, Moules and Frites. I love your screen name I am a regular visitor to a friend's rural farm cottage in Normandy and it has made me think very seriously indeed about moving over there ... however, I have yet to visit in the dead of winter, whcih might be a quite different kettle of fish ...

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45676
Location: Essex

Posted: Sun May 14, 06 7:41 am Post subject:

madmonk wrote:

Another good way to learn the language is to spend 2 weeks in a French hospital, trust me you learn quick when Michel Thomas is not there to help

Hope you're better now.

madmonk

Joined: 08 May 2006
Posts: 835

Posted: Sun May 14, 06 8:00 am Post subject:

Thank you Tahir I am much better now thanks to the superb treatment I received in hospital, I fell off a ladder and had to have 12 pins in my elbow, the good thing that came out of it all was how helpful our neighbours were, the ambulance men and all of the hospital staff, it was very reassuring to find out how good the French health service is, although I don't recommend falling off a ladder to find out.

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