Mtirman

Greetings,

My wife and I are looking to move to rhone alpes area within a decent train ride to Geneva airport as I need to travel quite frequently for work. Looking to make the move in summer 2011. We have four kids between ages of 4 months and nine years and would like some advice on the following:
- recommendations on bilingual schools
- where abouts is a nice place to live around annecy for a family. We would like a nice mix of locals and some expats. Ideally would like to be close to restaurants and shopping but a drive is acceptable. We would like at least a four bedroom and for the first year we would like to rent spending no more than 3000 euros. Any thoughts? Any estate agents that are worth recommending.
- finally, I will be in annecy in January for a few days and would appreciate any advice about locations to visit and things to consider.

Many thanks

Matt

wetwang

I live in the Dordogne, a long way from Annecy but a 1 bedroomed place here would cost about 4000-5000 a year. Do you really mean 3000 a year?

G-J-B

Around Annecy with four bedrooms, I'm guessing that budget would be 3000 euros a month!
Hopefully someone from their area can tell you more.

Ka Ora!

Welcome to the Forum, Should you have any issues give me a shout.

Mtirman

Thanks all. The research I've done leads me to believe that 3000 euros for a 4 plus bedroom around annecy or chambrey is not unrealistic. I understand that does not get us something downtown, however, so long as we are not in the middle of nowhere we are fine with that.
I'd welcome any recommendations for villages around annecy or potential other locations.

Thanks again, all.

Roger O

I searched for about 5 minutes and found this as an example:
http://www.explorimmo.com/annonce-20304356-1.html
Map
http://maps.google.fr/maps?hl=fr&q=p...48822&t=h&z=10

Very near both Annecy and the lake and easy access to the A41
autoroute to/ex Geneva.

Guess for your max budget you wouldn't have much trouble to find
something alternative with a refined search.

(Rents have gone down in Switzerland lately (I worked there 24 years and have 2 daughters living there
so I am fairly clued up - though they live near Zürich) and I guess the rents near Annecy are more
reasonable than they were a few years ago, especially if you would be working as "frontalier" in Geneva
and earning in CHF!

Mtirman

Many thanks, Roger. I will fully admit that we are looking at a lifestyle move and that my French is limited! My wife is a UK citizen and I am American and we currently live in DC. We'd like a change of pace from DC and the States and the chance to have our four young'ins exposed to a new culture. I travel extensively to the ME so having Geneva nearby is a huge plus. Just wanted to give some more background on our situation.

I think we will likely stick with northern France for our move, but if you have any suggestions on particular towns or any other advice I'd most certainly welcome it. The house you found certainly has one fantastic view!

Thanks again and look forward to any further advice.

Roger O

It's a bit difficult to know what to say when you mention "Northern France" which is considered to be north Brittany, Normandy and Nord Pas de Calais
as I have the feeling you also want to be within striking (driving) distance of an efficient international airport - presumably without risk of wildcat strikes - which rules out France and Belgium and means easy access to Germany or better still Switzerland.

However, north of Annecy and its easy access to Geneva, the next area I would recommend would be Alsace which is more the Eastern border of Central France. Now you're talking about Stuttgart as the airport or Basel-Mulhouse further down. The disadvantage of Basel-Mulhouse is that you will hardly find any direct flights to Middle East regions, but rather connections via either Paris (French side of the airport) or Zürich (Swiss side of the airport). Alsace, as a region in France has a well developed infrastructure with largish towns like Strasbourg and Colmar, but also delightful wine-region villages like Riquewihr with rolling hills covered partly by vines and partly by forests. You would also be within reasonable day-out excursions to the Black Forest.

Seems you will have to do some research and fix on a particular area according to your own priorities.

For your wife, in case she has family in the UK, Ryanair http://www.ryanair.com/en provides a plethora of flights from/to various French/German/UK destinations but offers a strictly no-frills lowcost experience!!!

Mtirman

My apologies, i meant northwest, Rhone Alpes region. My job has a finance angle and being close to Geneva would be advantageous. Certainly appreciate the advice and counsel on your thoughts on Alsace.

Would be interested to know what you think of Lyon as a living option and the areas around it. Lyon is solid for intl connections and a relatively short travel time to geneva via train. Looks to have nice housing options around the outskirts of the city. I will be in Annecy in January for a few days and hope to check out a few towns.

Thanks again, Roger.

Roger O

OK - LYON is a beautiful city, steeped in history, culture and, of course, the epicentre of that most prised French quality of all (apart from wine production), the "culinary art", or if you prefer, "gastronomy". Wine and dine under the auspices of some of the most famous French Chefs - e.g. Bocuse!
http://www.bocuse.fr/accueil.aspx
http://www.lyon.fr/vdl/sections/en/t...nomie_restau_1

While I worked for Swissair (the "original") at Head Office in Zürich during 23 years, we often took flights to Lyon (private, staff outings, etc.) to sample its various delights!!

Unfortunately, now, there are no longer any direct flights Lyon-Geneva with "Swiss", which means transiting Zürich and wasting time en route.
There are, apparently, direct lowcost options but I haven't explored those yet. However, you can do this yourself using google..

The climate is also interesting, being a transitional between the north and south with warm spring, summer and autumn (.. er..fall) and a relatively cool to cold winter.

However, for now, due to relatives arriving this evening for the New Year and my wife's birthday on January 2nd, I'll have to take a pause on further discussion until after Jan 3rd!

Wish you a very happy New Year and success with your project!
As the French say "à bientôt!"
Roger

Mtirman

Happy new year to you as well and thanks very much for your thoughts on Lyon.

Best

Matt

Ced73

Hi Roger,
My wife who is British and I (French) live in Chambery, we would be happy to help if you like. Chambery for a start is definitely a much cheaper place than Annecy. Before we bought our chalet, we used to rent a 3 bedroom house in a village around Chambery for 700 Euros per month, so nothing like the 3000 Euros that have been mentionned earlier. If you need any help please let me know, and also if you come over to Savoie in January please let me know: miolanet at yahoo dot fr
See you
Cedric

Mtirman

Cedric,
Thanks for the kind post. My name is Matt, i believe Roger is the gentlemen who's been living in France for some time. Certainly appreciate the kind offer of assistance. I will be staying in Annecy on 14-16 January and will be looking at some homes in Les Carroz, Lully, Annecy and Legniu. I would certainly like to know more about Chambery and what it offers for a family. Do you happen to know a good estate agent that could assit for finding a rental home?

I will email you on your personal account shortly.

Best,

Matt

Ka Ora!

Welcome to the Forum, I read it as budget questions not quoting that a house would cost 3000 per month.

Ced73

No offence at all Ka Ora, sorry if I was misunderstood. Just to Answer Matt's question the budget for a 4 bedrooms house would be around 1000 Euros/month in Haute Savoie Thanks for your welcome and best wishes for 2011 !!!