I have been following for a while, in excitement about our move to France next year. My husband will have a French contract from 1 July 2025 and we had everything planned: we put the house on sale later this year, rent something in France next summer and go house hunting there. We are talking about 65 or 31, very likely.
A few weeks ago, while on vacation in the region, we visited a house. We loved it. We want to sell ours earlier and make an offer for that one. We still don’t know what will happen.
If anyone has anything to say about the area north from Saint-Gaudens, I’d love to hear it. Between Aurignac and Saint-Plancard.
Anyone bought while living abroad? Was it a pain getting a bank loan / mortgage loan while still living abroad?
Thanks for sharing useful and entertaining content
I would be very cautious about buying a house in a foreign land in an area I knew nothing about. You might get it right and find the ideal property, but the odds are against it.
I suggest you follow your original plan and rent while you get a feel for the area and where would suit you, taking into account what it’s like in the winter, what facilities there are for you and your children, transport …
It may be worth contacting a “courtier” to discuss whether being resident abroad is going to be a problem for obtaining a mortgage.
I agree with @Porridge however, in that buying in an unknown area sounds risky. We moved to the Médoc (renting, not buying) and initially I thought I’d be happy settling down here. Turns out I was wrong and I’m now glad we didn’t buy something here and can relocate easily. Not sure what the housing market is like in Denmark but here it can take a very, very long time to sell.
Best of luck with living in France whenever you do make it here.
I would recommend a Courtier also, they are independent so hunt around for the best mortgages/loans for your personal circumstances and all that goes with it. My family used one, were very pleased and even went back to her again last year to see how things stood about increasing a mortgage to get a bigger house etc without committing themselves to anything. I would certainly rent to start with, you don’t know who or what is nearby that could make your life a misery so you can always move without having to sell etc to fund it. As with everything here, you need piles of paperwork to back you up so be prepared to submit copies of everything and ask as many questions as you can. We bought our first french house 35 years ago with a first quick visit with a Notaire who also sold property, found what we liked and signed an initial contract all in the same day. The final paperwork was done via an approved french person signing on our behalf as in those days, it was difficult to get to France in the winter months due to lack of ferries running so we never did it in person at the end and picked the keys etc up on the next trip over. Its easier today as everything is electronically signed and done with the Notaire producing a large tome of paperwork with all the risks, diagnostics etc which we did not have back then, only a couple of pages of signatures! As with everything that is expensive, look before you buy!
I have lived in that particular area for 20 years. I always have plenty to say but whether it is relevant to your circumstances is perhaps another matter.
We sold up, bought a caravan, and headed for the Carcassonne area but on reaching Toulouse we turned right instead of continuing our planned route for the simple reason of “why not?”. We stopped at junction 20 on A64 because there was a sign saying the free bit of autoroute was coming to an end. The rest is history.
I can’t help with the mechanics of getting established in France because it was pre Brexit and I know nothing about mortgages and stuff. BUT I am happy to answer questions about local things like immobiliers, doctors and hospitals, shopping and most important - best restaurants.
Gareth, we drove around your region and saw a house in the La Réole area. The house was a dream, but we didn’t like the region - it didn’t have any appeal to us. Are you still looking to buy?
You may find it difficult until your husband starts his job, although having a contract could be enough. Many financial companies do not like anyone without a French income, and often prefer to lend more rather than less!
This gives some useful information about the process
I would also do some fact finding on that area, these are links to voting history and doctors. But also look at dentists, schools, employment etc to see how sustainable the place is. We looked at, but thankfully did not buy, in a town near us. 16 years later it a miserable places as there are no jobs so lots of empty shops, etc.
Wow - excellent content, thanks a lot. I also hate wind (one of the reasons we are fleeing from Denmark! Argh!) Good feedback on the paper factory.
My husband will be working mostly from home with a few trips to Denmark every now and then. Thus being close to Toulouse is an asset (we find one hour away close enough). Pau (and the Pyrénées-Atlantiques in general) is not on our radar anymore (though we still love it )
Something that may make a difference, when we house hunted in the Pyrenees we found speed cameras apparently everywhere. While it would not have been a complete deal breaker, it made the area feel much less welcoming. Our house is in the Morvan dept 71, and that seems a much more relaxed and easy going area. We love mountains, but also found altitude quite cold, even in October, though cold is relative and after Denmark it may feel mild.
Also, I visited in late September and found the fact that the valleys were in shadow as the sun dropped late afternoon a bit depressing. I could see winters being a bit gloomy.
Microclimate is everything! Unfortunately our house is toward the wrong end of the village, so no sun until 11 in winter. But at least on the right side of the street, as our opposite neighbours get no sun till lunchtime.
We had a beautiful riverside cottage in the perigord noire that nestled below spectacular cliffs. It served us well for 10 years as a long term holiday let.
Never slept in it but those who did complained how cold it was outside the summer months.
The cottage was north facing and the cliff significantly reduced the sunlight.
Orientation of a house is everything.
Our house sits North to South with no windows on those elevations. Sunrise and sunsets are spectacular and the house never gets above 24 degrees on the hottest of days and not below 15 degrees in the winter thanks to 800mm thick walls and excellent insulation.
My partner visited a house in La Réole during a whistlestop tour of Gironde, but it wasn’t suitable for us so we didn’t investigate the area any further. I think it has something of a bad reputation so perhaps we dodged a bullet. We ended up on the other side of Gironde, kinda by accident rather than choice.
Still very keen to buy a house but now contemplating Charente Maritime instead (an opportunity has possibly presented itself with my work which may help with this). Although buying in La Rochelle is too expensive for us, we love the area around there ( La Rochelle, Île de Ré, Rochefort, etc…).
