whiterabbit

Anyone only making 50k a year living in a 600k house is an idiot. Its hard enough to buy a 400k house on a 100k income and live ok these days in the SE. Melanie also looks like she has high expectations of herself, she may want to consider doing some "escort" work on the side to enhance the families earnings..........

This is old news and I am surprised the number isn't higher. Unskilled immigration is the number one problem in the UK and directly relates to lower wages and higher rents. This is fact. As to skilled immigration this is being used too much by companies to lower skilled workers wages in IT (for example) by exploiting loopholes and pretending shortages exist. We need a complete stop on all immigration right now while we sort out a new system. While this is in place we need to actively hunt down companies abusing the law and fine them an amount that actually matters.

They also for got to mention that 3 million immigrants (thanks to their mates the Labour party) have overwhelmingly hurt lower and middle class incomes while at the same time causing rents to rise.

Well let me add some things here. A lot depends on what people want to acheive. Any short term monthly profit will be next to impossible but........... If you are earning in the US it can be smart move to buy a rental in the UK especially if you are already visiting the UK once or twice a year. Reasons are the house can be set up as a US LLC and depreciated against your US income and also all your trips to the UK can also be written off against your personal US income tax. Using this strategy even allowing for a monthly loss on the rental and a potential 15% drop in value I think long term you will do OK. As for a mortgage thats easy as long as your US income is good, I have done it before and so have many co-workers. My co-worker is running a loss of about $20k a year on a 1 bed in Peterborough which in reality means the mortgage payments are free. Having said all this if you are not visiting the UK often and are not moving to the UK eventually I wouldn't bother and instead would buy in downtown Atlanta GA near the rail-line/airport and rent to section 8! Should be a relatively easy 8%-10% return plus cap appreciation.

I am surpised some of the large US apartment firms such as post http://www.postproperties.com/ havn't built blocks in the UK yet. As others have posted in the US its easy to get an imaculate place to rent for a good price and be treated well by the company. Plus in most states the laws mandate new carpets/paint etc every year. So much of this is the way people are brainwashed here to thing they "have" to buy to get on the ladder. With the coming drops in prices I think sentiment will change.

I only took issue with the fact that you said I was a VI which I am not. This is a good article and FWIW I totaly agree its much better to rent especially right now. Lets move on please.................

Thats lower than I was thinking, I was assuming way more for things like insurance. 3k a month mortgage sounds about right.

I know its hard to be exact but what do you figure the holding costs are for people trying to sell a house of this value? I would guess its got to be in the 1200 euro a month range if maintenance, insurance, utilities and all taxes are added even when empty. Just wondered as the higher these are the quicker people will want out and accept lower offers.

Do you seriously think someone with the money for a share of Sophia Antipolis business Park or maybe the chariman of IBM is posting on here to promote their business................... I don't have any vested interest in anything in France or some business park. Should be pretty obvious as I have been posting here for years about waiting to buy something when prices drop. Also I was recently near Lyon and just in Sarlat and posted about massive price drops. All I said was that the area around Sophia Antipolis seems to be going down less % as many expats there actually have professonal jobs. Its an area I know well and you obviously don't. If you did you would know that in IT for example most large organisations have a prescence there. As for Americans living and working in the Sophia area, right now as I look IBM for one are advertising in the US for staff so are Accenture, Agilent, Cisco, Dimension Data, Fortinet, HP, Honeywell, SAP and Thales in IT, so are L'oreal in Grasse. These jobs are also specifically witten in English to hire British or Americans so I guess they will sponsor papers PDQ. This to me shows more support for the local housing market than say a small village in the Dordougne. Redwine I do think you provide a good service to this board with your postings but please stop the attacks on anyone who says something you don't like. Its as if you feel threatened and hate to hear that everyones life isn't going to s**t and not everyone body is going back to the UK with their tails between their legs.

No question it isn't Paris or Geneva. To move to the SOF is a lifestyle choice and not a career one but the impact can be minimized by good tax planning and having a job before you arrive. What Sophia is IMHO, is a good transition area for someone who wants to eventully retire in SOF. By that what I mean is lets assume you have a great career in a major hub (NYC, LAX, LON, etc) and are looking to get out/move to SOF. Rather than jack it all in you can instead have the option to maybe get a lower paying/remote postion in a smaller regional office and bring your move to SOF forward a few years. I have seen a good few people do this lately in the area we are talking about. How many people doing it? havn't a clue but enough for all the international schools to be doing well. My own company has 5 or 6 vacancies in Sophia and are advertizing internally in the US and UK to fill them. As for American owners, annecdotally there seem to be a lot in this specific area. Its hard not to hear US and British accents wherever you go. Apparenty two more international schools are in planning stages. A lot of the Microsoft and Cisco bigwigs have houses in the region, and it used to be a right of passage to buy one there once you got your final tranche of stock. Also there are a bunch of US real estate agents in the area who only advertize in the prime US markets. Again I am talking about a small specific area and I am in total agreement prices are falling in this area. I just don't think as much as other areas. Personally I wish they would fall further.

I am actually living in the US and work for an IT company with a lot of European business. Its actually often the same here, British expats with no experience. papers or money buying houses without researching things. I go over to the Sophia Antipolis offices pretty often. A lot of French work for us and live in the US but own very nice houses in the SOF. Also quite a few Americans have also bought houses as retirement investments/vehicles etc. Of course all this is concentrated within a 50km radius of Sophia Antipolis in specific towns and villages. One thing worth remembering is that anyone working/earning in the US can write off their whole mortgage (unlimited), all house expenses and flights to France so canny expats have bought knowing that even a large drop will still leave them ahead as they are already getting a blended 31% discount due to tax savings. Most of the wealthier smarter people will also set up tax structures so they are paying very little tax where ever they live. Once you reach a certain level of earnings its pretty easy to play the non dom game etc. On another note I would also like to see some drastic drops in prices in the areas around Grasse. I have yet to see any big drops, more the 10% kind. As mentioned before most of France is totally dead in the water and value less but the areas being discussed near Nice/Cannes seemed to be holding on.

Everytime I read stories like this I have to laugh. If somone/anyone cannot make money or be successfull in the UK or US in a business then how in the world do they think they can in France where its so much tougher., and rural France where it is tougher still. I wish them well but with no language for him and a gite business I think 95% likelihood of failure. Most all successful expats I know in France, Spain or US already had a company transfer/or job before moving and an in demand skillset. Thats why its so crucial to live in an area close to commerce IMHO. My company always has jobs near Sophia Antipolis not so much near Saugon.

Noise? There can't be more then 10 flights a day out of there.

Only 32 houses for sale there? It looked way more to me. I assume the 32 doesn't include all the "by owner" ones with signs in the front gardens or windows. There were also a lot of houses that looked more like ruins with vendre painted on them. Good point about the airport as I am not sure if it is possible to comute to London easily a few times a month like some people do from Nice or Marseille.

I was in Eymet a couple of months ago as I wanted to drive thru to check out the town as its known for such a large UK population. To me it seemed empty, a bit run down and no where near as nice as the villages closer to St Emillion. Having said all that its pretty close to the airport so I would say a nice house for 150k would be ok. In other words about a 50% price drop...........