I am really impressed that you were able to buy a house in London!
Do you know that many British who have sold their UK homes were able to use the money to buy much much bigger properties like old chateaux in France? Property prices in the UK is scandalously high and it continues to go even higher! I bet your husband is looking at it as a form of investment. I’m sure, when you wake up the next day, you find that the value of your newly-bought house has already gone up! It’s mad!
Yes, enjoy your UK home while it continues to go double in value. then, when the time comes that you both decide to sell it and buy a house in the south of France, you will still have a lot of spare money to keep in the bank!!!
About your toyed idea of living in the south of France while your husband works in London, a lot of British are already doing that. I bet you are watching BBC documentaries presenting that kind of situation.
There’s even a name coined for them. They are called Euro-travellers!
One example: one would be living in Barcelona (Spain), another in Grasse (south of France) and both will fly to their office headquarters in London, stay there one week in a month, then spend the rest of the month working from home. Easier nowadays to work from home because of broadband connection. And they claim they are even more efficient because no traffic to tackle, no stress on the road.
Another example, one works in London, fly to France friday night and return to London Monday morning. His family is left in France, his children go to French schools and they get to eat all the fresh vegetables and good food and live a Frenchy life (as you call it!)
Another example: An amazing story but true. An English ironmonger (welder sa atin) lives in the North of France, travels to and from London everyday through the Eurotunnel. When he used to live in the UK, he could barely make both ends meet due to the horrendous mortgage payments. He sold his house, and was able to buy, in cash, a huge property with huge land in the north of france. He says that his daily travel to London now still takes shorter time than when he used to live there because of the heavy traffic.
At some point, the hubby was also in the same situation. He used to work in Paris, stayed in hotels 5 nights, then caught the flight to Nice friday night, flew back to Paris Sunday night! He was always rushing to catch flights, his luggage always stamped “last baggage”!
One time when I travelled with him, dahil sa pagmamadali, i left my suitcase in the middle of our garden! I arrived in Paris with just my handbag, no makeup kit either! Enjoy naman because i got to do some grand shopping of clothes, undies, toiletries and makeup in Paris the next day
He did that running around for some time, it was not fun, considering flight delays and waiting at airports. But the pleasure he got was when everytime he breathes mediterranean air and sunny skies and the warm outdoors, he felt so good and revived again to do yet another agonizing travel the next day
There is no job to be had in the South, and until now he is trying very hard but to no avail! That is the reason why he is always working away because the positions he can fill are available only in the UK, Belgium , Paris or in other big cities.
One can well conclude that the south of France is only a holiday place or a place for retirement or a place to buy second homes. And yes, very expensive, but still cheaper than in the UK.
True, it’s expensive in Nice, but you can still find reasonably-priced properties if you are prepared to live in the Arrière-pays (or farther from the sea) or if you are willing to do some renovation work, meaning, buying rundown houses at bargain prices!
