Hi I have just bought a house in orne 61 and aside from the horror of the declining euro and repeated various regular scary nightmares am sure I have done the right thing. Are there any new buyers out there feeling the same???Please get in touch...kairen

Hi kairen; I am in the process (still!) of buying in Normandy so I understand the more-than-passing interest in exchange rates. But in the long run, who cares? We have absolutely no doubt that we've done the right thing. Chin up.

Hi Kairen i am similar to Novocastrian.

We are intending to buy soon (we are at odds on where at the moment), and then moving over to France.

I too have been looking at interest rates changes etc, but at the end of the day its the old swings and roundabouts thing. You may be a little out of pocket for a month or two but then it swings back and all balances out in the end.
Thing to remember is that the quality of life must be worth it for you to have done it. Enjoy what you have and try not to get too hooked on things out of your control.

You will be ok.

Hi there
and welcome
another member who is not that far away from us here in Manche (50)
As Novo and Moose have said, don't focus on the bad things, just think about the good times you are going to have here in France. Compared to the US$ the euro is doing great The price of most things are still cheaper here in France, so you will soon make up for any losses.
If you read through any of the forums on British Expats, from Australia to Canada etc. you will find many people feel the way you do when they buy a house in another country. I'm sure you will be fine

Not too far away from us either,again in Manche.... Welcome.
Like you we are watching the downward slide of the Euro against the Pound,and with only weeks left until we complete and have to hand over a rather large amount of money,are cursing the Bank of England and the interest rates. C'est la vie!! One last bitter pill to swallow until the good life begins. Good luck

err....... forgive me but the euro is STRONG STRONG STRONG against the pound and I'm guessing thats what you are concerned about NOT the weakness of the euro! If you've bought and paid cash then you've done the right thing as your asset (if converted back to sterling) is getting more valuable by the minute. If on the other hand you have a sterling mortgage then I understand your concerns.

You are right, but he means the downward slide of the €`s he is going to get in exchange for his pound.

Too right jdr!

We have chosen the house we want to buy in France when ours sells but it is getting beyond our reach with the poor exchange rate as we had already chosen one at the top of our budget. We were offered 147 Euros to the pound but this has slipped to 134!
Also, we have our pension to think about, coming from the UK.

Re the pension transfer.
i know Hsbc and halifax do transfers. Depending on money you hold with them i believe that this is free. Maybe worth looking into before you leave.
Not sure of figures but i know you can speak with them over the phone.

They will do transfers free moose but bad rate of exchange. We plan to leave our pension in our uk bank accounts and when it reaches £5000.00, get a better rate of exchange with Hifix.

Thanks for that. Didnt realise that exchange rates were bad. I guess they know they are onto a easy number.:curse:

I will see if i can find out anything from HSBC. But i guess that will be the same.

It might be a better way to do it (lump sum) at least you only make one transfer and can wait for the rate you want. Good idea.

On a different note, if you sack Raffa (liverpool i like) can we have him at Newcastle?

WOW! I'll take a few thousand euros then at THAT exchange rate!

Sorry, couldn't resist. I think you missed a dot....1.47 and 1.34?

Thanks Le Chant

My son has just shown me how to add avetar, I'm not very good on computers!

Hopefully,with all the mention of Hsbc etc etc no-one will mind me mentioning a company called HIFX. You can set the rate at which you want to exchange at and get a personal account manager and their mobile number. I have used them on numerous occassions from buying my first house in France,to when I was working in Iraq and being paid in dollars and now using them again for the second purchase. In all,over 5 years or so,they have saved well over 10,ooo pounds. One quick google of hifx will get you the website.

It's Hifx that offered us 1.47 just four weeks ago but it's now down to 1.34. If we'd used them we could've frozen that rate but we weren't in a position to go ahead with house purchase at that point. It's good to hear positive comments abvout them, we'll stick with them when we do go ahead.