carol24

Hi everyone
my husband and I have been living in the USA for 30 yrs with resident alien green cards , we are from the north of England . We are now thinking about buying in brittany something small and a fixer -upper (our budget is small) we were there last year on a house swap and fell in love with brittany , I have seen some houses on websites in the huelgoat area and wondered if anyone knows first hand about this area
cheers carol

cyrian

Hi and welcome
Why don't you rent somewhere for a year and get to know the area in more detail. You will be able to get an idea of the property market and find out what life is like as a resident rather than a visitor.
Not sure about the particular area you are looking at but elsewhere in Brittany there are several Brit-owned properties for sale and have been for some time. I have seen on another forum when someone asked a similar question to yours, they immediately received several direct contacts from desperate owners wishing to sell.
Don't jump in too fast - get to know your area first.
Good luck

dmu

Hi again! It's a pity that Andy (forgotten her full user-name) doesn't post any more, she moved to the Huelgoat area and could have given advice.
If you are thinking of living in France forever more, the advice to rent at the beginning is good - you can look at properties without haste and you'll find out whether you actually like living in France. Spending a holiday here is nothing like living here all year round....
Look carefully into healthcare for you both and tax questions, too.

carol24

I have been looking at houses on the web for about 4 yrs now ..I am not worried about not liking it in france ,we came to live in the USA without ever having been,and have lived here more than 30 yrs now , and we really do love it,but its time for a bit of a change ... I am thinking long term, buy now (for cheap)and take my time fixing it up.We own a house here that we would keep and would like to spend 6 mths in each place .A dream maybe but then if you dont dream about it,it wont happen

dmu

Even more reason to consider healthcare coverage if you haven't paid into the UK system, and be sure not to spend more than 6 months at a time in France, as you'd be considered as Tax Residents...
Those more in the know will come along to advise, I'm just going by what is said on the Forum...
Good luck in your search!

snoopycat

Was it 'Andrea50', haven't seen her post for ages.

(Grey Bombshell)

her posts are still here..............

http://britishexpats.com/forum/searc...archid=5540119

EuroTrash

Hi Carol24, Brittany is a very special and magical place, beautiful, rugged, very atmospheric, not to everyone's taste but it certainly is to mine.

If you buy a holiday home there because you love Brittany and feel happy there and enjoy what it has to offer, and you spend less than 6 months a year there, it can be your little piece of heaven and as long as you have the cash to spare, what's to go wrong.

However if you buy a cheap property expecting to do it up and make money on it when you sell you will likely be disappointed, and if you are hoping to be able to live there cheaply all year round without working and without being clobbered for taxes and health contributions you will likely be disappointed as well. There is not a lot of money washing around in Brittany.

dmu

Hi, the link didn't work, but that's the one!
Boiler suits and chainsaws!!!

White Trash

You will be spoilt for choice around Huelgoat. In fact almost anywhere in "the ghetto", sorry, Central Brittany you will find hundreds of properties up for sale by Brits desperate to return to Blighty. Not as many sad little ruins that are just habitable than there used to be as they were devoured during the boom years of 1.40-1.60 euros to the pound. Still you are bound to find something to suit your taste and budget. Living here part time seems a good option to me. You can escape the dreary winter months and be here to appreciate the glorious spring and summers (when they happen).

bigglesworth

WT do you mean "when"?

Or do you mean "if"?

(Said in the depths of freezing February).

carol24

euro ... why are you calling it the Ghetto? is there something I should know ?

Wendybee

Hi carol24, I don't know a lot about Brittany but what I have seen of it has been lovely as is the case with most of France.

Good advice from EuroTrash I think. Don't buy to make money and don't sink your life savings into it. If you are buying because you have the money and you love the house and the area then you can't go wrong. Good luck.

carol24

Hi wendybee
we are going to use the house as a holiday home. We don't have to make money on it (but it would be nice) we want to leave it to the kids when we pop our clogs. We do need a fixer upper, as we don't want to be in debt .... that wouldn't be much of a holiday for us if we had to be worried about paying for it. Our plan (hahaha) is to buy now and fix up over a few yrs ready for us to enjoy when we retire .We are both diyers to the enth degree
we have great enthusiasm and really not to much scares us in way of diy so wish us luck, we are coming to france soon to check out some places

White Trash

I don't use the term "ghetto" in its worst association. Just to say that in the historically cheaper areas of Brittany the Brits have bought so heavily that you tend to hear more English voices in supermarkets than French, see the union flag displayed out front of houses with several 4x4s with out of date tax discs and UK plates after many years of full time residence, English run shops and market stalls, etc. etc. Not so much Bretagne but Little Britain. Further south you have Dordogneshire. Same scenario but with much better weather and much higher house prices.
It sounds like you will be fine with the outline plan you describe. The knack for DIY will serve you well. The prices proper French Artisans charge will make your eyes water. I have done the self-renovate twice now and not looking forward to do another, but well satisfied I had a go. It would never have been allowed in UK with permissions and planning applications fees, and such. You can do quite a lot here without interference from the authorities in spite of what some armchair experts will have you believe. Just do as the French do and you won't go far wrong. Keep your head down, don't make waves and don't expect anything to happen quickly. This is France.

Wendybee

You sound pretty sensible carol24. It just seems to me that so many people move to France, Spain, Portugal etc and sink their life savings into it then when they need or want to sell they either can't or have to accept a big loss. I think it needs to be money you can live without if necessary. Dreams are good but you have to practical as well.

If you have lots of DIY ahead of you make sure you don't buy somewhere too far off the beaten track. Our house is in the middle of beautiful countryside but still only 6 mins from the motorway and about 25 mins to a massive Leroy Merlin with a couple of other big DIY shops even closer. Many, many times we have said how glad we are not to be too far away from these places.