Buying a Property in France: Where to Live?

By David Seymour

As the largest country in Western Europe, there is a huge choice of locations if you want to look at French property for sale. Where you would like to live depends upon many different issues, such as whether you like a place with many neighbours or you prefer a more isolated area, or whether you prefer to have an apartment or a detached home on its own land, and the suitability of an area for your family’s needs.

The price of the property depends on location as well. While Paris is among the most expensive capitals in the world for buying property, you will find that in the rest of France prices are quite reasonable, and in many cases more affordable than similar properties in the UK. Another thing to bear in mind is whether you have your own means of transport, or you depend on public transport to get around. You might want to choose an easily accessible location if you travel a lot.

France has an excellent network of roads and railways throughout the country, so in general you would never experience any difficulty getting to and from your property. But if you travel a lot throughout the year, on business for example, you might want to consider living in the vicinity of an airport or train station.

Air France offers a domestic network covering the entire country from its hubs in Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux and Marseilles, and it’s easy to connect to other flights when arriving from the UK or any other country. Various airlines are also offering more and more direct flights between smaller airports, making reaching your final destination even easier. Then of course there is also the TGV, the French high-speed train, which in many cases is as fast as or even faster than the airplane to travel within France. On a more local level, you’ll have to decide whether you need to be close to a town or village. You may have friends in certain location Generally speaking the closer to a town a property is, the more it will cost.

On the other hand, if you prefer to have more land around the house, it is more likely you will find it farther away from the towns. So basically deciding where you would like to live is a combination of many different factors, and a matter of weighing pros and cons. Of course when searching for French property for sale, the single most important factor is your budget.

When searching for a suitable French property, particularly in the south west of France, you are likely to conclude that for the money you’d spend on a property in the UK, in France you will be able to buy much more for the same price.

Seymour-James promotes property for sale south west france. In particular, property for sale in Bordeaux, Arcachon, the Gironde and further afield into the Charente, Lot-et-Garonne and the Gers.