Property in France Buyer's Guides

We Brits have a particular love for France and all things French – despite the bickering that goes on between both nations on certain levels, particularly sporting ones, we admire a great deal about France in general, and this leads many Brits to dream about owning a home across the Channel for short breaks, for retirement, or for a brand new life away from the hustle and bustle of Britain.

In this article we’re going to go on the hunt for affordable property in France to help fuel your dreams of French living.  After all, it’s one thing longing to hop across the Channel, it’s quite something else to be able to afford to with a weakened pound and a lack of mortgage financing.

The good news is that there are some real bargain finds even in this day and age, and as long as you’re not dead set on living in central Paris or on the French Riviera, you may well be inspired by this report to go and make your property dreams come true in France.

Continue reading...

We’re going to dispel a few French property myths and right a few French property wrongs in this report because we’ve had a string of emails asking us questions directly related to buying a home across the Channel and have deduced that there is a lot of confusion out there!

Despite the strong euro, a weak property market in France is now appealing to Britons because it is still possible to secure a bargain second home if you shop savvy – and so this must be why there is currently a lot of interest in buying homes across all French regions and why there are a lot of questions flowing in to our inbox from those buying in France.  (Either that or we’re suddenly ranking higher on Google for relevant ‘property in France’ type searches!)

So today we’re going to cover four areas that we have been asked about – namely getting a bank account in France if you want to buy a home there, sorting out your home insurance, working out if an equity release mortgage is possible in France and getting a home improvement loan…

Continue reading...

Unlike in Spain, the property market crash in France has been far more tempered and gentle!  Whilst there have been sales by vendors forced to sell at almost any cost, the majority of the market has seen an easing rather than an almighty crash, and the bottom has certainly not dropped out of the real estate market in France.

There are pockets where prices have dropped further than the national average trend, suggesting that these were areas oversold and perhaps inflated by the likes of British buyers in the past.  But generally speaking, the average drop off in prices stands at ‘only’ 2.5% over the past year.

This is positive news for those who already own homes in France, and there has been more positive news thanks to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that advises that the overall economic slowdown in France is beginning to ease.

Continue reading...