Move to France – Cash in and check out… British are crossing the Channel

move to France buy a longere Move to France and live like a Burgundian… now this might be possible even with a limited budget. Especially in view of the still relatively modest property prices in France. In the more rural areas, a sum less than a 100,000 euros will get you a very charming independent home sitting on a nice piece of land. This while many people in the UK own a house that has become much more valuable in the past ten years. A surplus value of a few hundred thousand pounds is no exception! This is why more and more people decide: “Cash in and check out! We are moving to France!” They sell their old house and pay off the mortgage. This leaves them with a handsome cash profit that can be used to purchase a lovely house in France. moving to france house buy country sideWithout a new loan, and thus without debts, interest payments and repayments. Especially for those who receive a pension every month, this means a considerable increase in spendable income.

What can you buy if you move to France?

Of course it depends on the region and you have to stay out of the big cities, but if you take your time and do some research, you can really score very well in La Douce France. Click here for example for an overview of the houses in the price range between €100,000 and €200,000, as offered by the private sellers on Immogo. By the way, all the photos on this page have been taken from that list. Lots of detached houses, sometimes with guest apartment (you could rent those out as chambres d’hôtes) and often with a garden of a few thousand square yards. So with enough space for a swimming pool or a private organic vegetable garden.

moving to france old railway stationMoving to France, but where exactly?

We don’t know all about everything, but we can offer some advice to those who want to move to France. First of all, think of the distance from your departure point. Chances are, you will want to visit once in a while, and if you don’t want to travel more than a day, 600 miles is about the maximum. This gets you from the Chunnel to Central France, the Morvan, Burgundy, the Vendée or the northern edge of the Dordogne. And of course the West coast, with Normandy and Bretagne.

It’s also a matter of calculation. London-Lyon is about 8.5 hours drive including the Eurotunnel crossing. La Rochelle is about 10 hours (or a 1.5 hours flight!). Keep in mind the location of the people who stay behind. Or make sure you find something at a reasonable distance from an airport with budget airlines. There are several airlines that offer cheap flights from the South of France to London, but also to Liverpool and Edinburgh.

The local situationmoving to France to buy modern home

Once you have a clear idea of the region you want to move to, the following consideration could be: is your dream home situated in the middle of nowhere, near a village, in a village or even in a city ? If you opt for the tranquillity of a remote hamlet, remember that 20 minutes drive to the nearest supermarket or weekly market is quite long. For daily comfort, it is better to live in or close to a village with at least a baker, butcher, supermarket and some medical professionals. Especially in winter, when a ride on snowy roads or through foggy forests is a daunting project. However, this is of course a personal choice. Do what you wish. Just think about it first, so you can make a conscious choice.

moving to france detached house pricesOther considerations when moving to France

Depending on your personal situation and wishes, you can add other criteria. For example, the possibility to rent rooms or apartments, the space for a garden, swimming pool or horses and the like. On our site you can fill in all these variables in the search engine. But don’t add too many criteria, because you will get very restricted results. And in any case you can always build that swimming pool later or renovate a barn into guest rooms. And there’s also something like serendipity: using a broad search, you might find exactly the dream house you were not looking for.

Anyway… if you want to move to France, we wish you good luck!

PS: all the pictures on this page are of houses in France sold by the owner without a real estate agent at Immogo, in the price range between 100,000 and 200,000 euros.