Don’t Move to France ... until you’ve done your homework.

Resentment to Foreigners:

In my experience, most French people are welcoming and charming. However, it should be recognised that many don’t want foreigners taking over their countryside. There is simmering resentment among some French about the effects of people from outside pushing up property prices and coming into their community without even bothering to learn the language.

Put yourself in their shoes. How would you feel under the same circumstances. 

In some parts of France, particularly the southwest, house prices have risen considerably in the last 2-3 years. The main factor for these price hikes is attributed to outsiders moving in; either buying second homes, or moving in permanently.

This makes it difficult for locals to afford property and makes foreigners fair game, and particularly the old adversaries the English (by which I mean the British and to a lesser extent the Irish, who get tarred with the same brush).

Le Prix Anglaise. French owners know that Brits and other foreigners have more money and this commonly leads to considerable differences in price between the amount paid by French people and outsiders. One case cited a price discrepancy of £100,000 on the asking price of £350,000. Where possible, try to get a sympathetic French person to negotiate your house purchase.

One upside is that Johnny foreigner is still better regarded in rural France than that other type of foreigner, the Parisian. In rural France the person from Paris is regarded as one from the lower end of the scale of humanity. Brits living in Paris are advised to lower their expectations of fair treatment.

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