UK resident buying in France ?

soweezy

we are thinking about buying a home in France, primarily for holidays (may be to let) then to sell up in UK and move there perminently in 10 to 15 years

what are the steps I should be taking to arrange a mortgage and bank account and does anyone have any recommendations as to which banks to use

also, can I arrange a mortgage here, we're currently with Barclays, with a UK bank/BS or does it have to be with a French bank/BS

any help would be appreciated

thanks

Generali

soweezy wrote: »

we are thinking about buying a home in France, primarily for holidays (may be to let) then to sell up in UK and move there perminently in 10 to 15 years

what are the steps I should be taking to arrange a mortgage and bank account and does anyone have any recommendations as to which banks to use

also, can I arrange a mortgage here, we're currently with Barclays, with a UK bank/BS or does it have to be with a French bank/BS

any help would be appreciated

thanks

Barclays used to have branches in France; they should be able to help. If not I once made enquiries through HSBC who were extremely helpful.

Buying in France is expensive. As a rule of thumb add 10% to the purchase price. Bear in mind that the buyer pays the estate agent (immoblier) not the seller as in the UK.

soweezy

Barclays have and will BUT they want a deposit of 3000 euros into the account and kept there while the account is open... not a hope in hell of them getting 3k

I was told about LCL whilst in France but their site is only in French and my French isn't that good yet.

dwsjarcmcd

I bought an apartment in the South of France, which completed in April. Going out again this Thursday!!
My bank is HSBC in France, and it was really easy to open. First Direct is my bank, so my advice would be to start with your own bank.
Have a look at this site, lots of help http://riviera.angloinfo.com/ I arranged a mortgage via a broker who specialises in the French market. There were 2 main reasons for taking the mortgage on the French property. 1 The rates were cheaper, although you do have a currency risk. 2. You can offset any interest payments against the tax you would be charged on rental income.
Finally and importantly, do not use your bank to transfer money to France, their rates are poor. I used HiFx, and found them very competitive and they saved`me a fortune.

Good Luck, David

soweezy

thanks for all the info DWS

I've just applied for the application forms with HSBC and will be using my Nationwide account to transfer Euros, definitely NOT Barclays.
How did you find a broker (or who did you use) that arranges mortgages in France ?

also, do you know if it's possible to secure a mortgage based on the equity in your current house ? we only have a 25k UK mortgage and the house is worth considerably (in % terms) more or could we remortgage and use that to buy in cash in France ?

thanks

jcorbygas

Speaking as someone who bought in France over 5 years ago when prices were cheap, and then spent money renovating the property, there is no way I would invest in a property abroad now. If your intention is to move in 10-15 years why not wait till then to buy and test the water by renting places to make sure you like the area and then being in a position to be mortgage free.
Although I love France and love going to our house, you do feel a bit tied to going there all the time, and with the money you spend on the house and the travelling to and fro you could have a lot of holidays elsewhere.
If you rent the house out (which we dont) you then have to find someone to do all the changeovers etc.
That is just my personal opinion, and we managed to finance our house by taking out personal loans, and used HIFX for currency transfer.

Best of luck in your decisions

Jackie

dwsjarcmcd

soweezy wrote: »

thanks for all the info DWS

I've just applied for the application forms with HSBC and will be using my Nationwide account to transfer Euros, definitely NOT Barclays.
How did you find a broker (or who did you use) that arranges mortgages in France ?

also, do you know if it's possible to secure a mortgage based on the equity in your current house ? we only have a 25k UK mortgage and the house is worth considerably (in % terms) more or could we remortgage and use that to buy in cash in France ?

thanks

I used this firm http://www.french-mortgage-connection.com/
It is a totally telphone/E-mail service, which is right for me and I found it was right for me (I have a lot of mortgage experience).

It is perfectly possible to raise cash against your own property and there are advantages.
- No currency risk on repayments
- It is easy to do
- It reduces your buying costs in France (there is an extra 1% notary fees, when you have a mortgage)

Personally, as the previous poster and I said, I would use a specialist currency exchange dealer to transfer money, like HiFX, way before the Nationwide. They are worth looking at, as are others http://www.hifx.co.uk/

David

soweezy

hi Jackie... thanks for the advice

the area we want to buy in is due to rocket in 5 years or so, if not sooner, as the TGV line is being extended to a nearby town. The person we stayed with this year is an ex estate agent and gave us some good advice on where to buy, although we were already looking in that area anyway. If we do put it off we'll probably not be in a position to buy or even find a property we like.
We looked for some time whilst on holiday this year and only found 1 house, in our preferred area, that we liked and could afford. I'm going back in August to have another look, if that house is still available, it's been on the market a while already, we'll probably put in an offer and see what happens... fingers crossed

nanker

What area of France are you looking at Soweezy? I agree that T.G.V. link should add value to property in the area, but might this already have been accounted for.