Hello Dear Reader,
Just in case you're reading for the first time today, I thought I'd explain the 'Froogs has a house in France' thing. We're both 50 and it's a milestone age that really had us thinking about retirement. We both want to retire at 60, whether we do or not will be affected by life and the economy at the time when we get there. The plan is to retire then and we needed to find a way to do it. We've been holidaying in France for years, not as long as some and longer than others and in that time, I've looked at houses there purely out of interest. We often thought what if........
The catalyst for the house purchase came when we inherited some money. It was a lot to us and we wanted to do something life changing with it. Initially, we just thought of buying a mobile home in France and renting that out when we were not there. The site fees put us off and the fact that a mobile home would need replacing after ten years so that idea was shelved.
(Disclaimer - sorry but here's some extra information as well, in case you didn't already know - our UK mortgage is almost paid off, we are paying extra into that each month so it's paid off early. We aim to rent out our UK house when we retire, hopefully at 60, to add to our pensions. We can retire before 68 because our industry pensions can be taken early and at a reduced rate. That is the current ruling however we are well aware that could change. We will review our financial situation as time progresses and nothing in a financially uncertain world can be guaranteed. The retire to France is because we love the place, it's cheaper to live there than here and our house here will give us a retirement income.)
Our search, which was always only ever in Brittany, was always a financial search up to our highest amount. It was also at a time when there were more houses than people in the area we wanted to buy in. French people prefer new, warm, cheap to run houses and often the older houses sit on the market for years on end. You can and we did find a house for less than a deposit on a house here. We knew the area but that's the end we then did the research into the legalities and costs of how to buy a house in France.
 |
| Inside Jenny's house in the early stages of renovation. They are far braver than us. We didn't have the courage to buy a house that needed that much renovation. Ours has a derelict garden but the house is sound. John and Jenny's blog tells the warts and all story of the house renovation and they do all the work themselves. |
As a blogger, I read lots of other blogs and love John and Jenny's blog where they were renovating a derelict house in Brittany, funnily enough in Huelgoat which is exactly where we've bought a house. Through reading her blog, I felt as if I knew the area well. I have other friends living nearby and when I actually arrived to visit, it was as if I knew the place.
I used plenty of research and Jenny's blog and kindle book. One set of research led to further research and when and only when I felt I was in full receipt of all the information I could, then and only then did we proceed with the purchase. I wanted to use this post to thank Jenny whose blog was a great source of guidance and whose book was a really cheap way of getting Brittany specific information.
Here's the link to Jenny's blog - http://jennyandjohninbrittany.blogspot.co.uk/
And here's the link to Jenny's kindle book
Jenny has been full of personal advice for me as well, especially on issues such as where to get firewood, where the nearest second hand shops are and issues of DIY. One good turn deserves another and I hope you enjoy her blog and if you want any information on a permanent move then her £1.99 kindle book is cheaper than a magazine and well worth a read.
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxxxx