To Buy Or not To Buy

A snowHead

Thanks for all the ideas so far. I'm surfing the net to get more info on the suggestions. Agents to get ideas of property and prices. Paucity of French agent links so far. Most seem to be English sites selling French property for reasons which are beyond me. I suspect that aspect of the search may have to wait until I have feet on the ground in the areas in question.
Thanks again for all the help.much appreciated.

A snowHead

PM if you need any more info. What it boils down to is how fanatical a skier you are. The likes of Bourg d'Oisans or further north in the Savoie (such as where I now live , in Bourg St Maurice) are fine if skiing outweighs all other considerations, but if not - if climate is a major factor, for example - then there is no contest, the southern Alps win hands down in my book.

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LATECOMER, if you're still considering Briancon area, have a look on www.serrechevalier.com . They have a couple of links to agents on there to give you an idea. There are some others I can give you too. We used Berard-Abelli in Briancon, although the actual agent we spoke with was from their Montgenevre office. I think their website is www.friletmmo.com .

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Thank you Helen , just the kind of info I am looking for.

PG , you are right on the mark with what I am trying to do balancing off sporting activites with climatic advantages. Earlier when I asked for someone to draw an "arbitrary" (not imaginary ) line this is what I was attempting to get...an idea of roughly where if anywhere a noticeable climate change might kick in from North to South in the Alpes. From your comments there clearly is such a change. How would the Gap area say differ climatically from say Bourg D'Oisans if it does ?

Helen ,
You may be another help.I see you are in Durham whilst I am slightly to the south of you in Lancashire so you can guess the kind of climate we have here..lot's of rain and not too many blue sky days. My personal preference is blue sky days whether they are hot , or cold is immaterial as I like both for different activities. Where you are around Briancon how does that area measure up for blue sky days comparative to the North of England ?

I doubt I am a fanatical skier in the sense I would be out there every single day. For instance I'm happy to stay off the slope at times when queuing becomes heavy..in other words I like the experience of skiing ,but obviously not enough to queue for an hour or more to get up. On the other hand I clearly like it enough to want to be in the vicinity for the season so I can take full advantage of mid week skiing each week that it is available .

It's difficult to describe what I am looking for as it is clearly a relative thing. Coming from this area with it's climate the fact is would I be happy climatically with the change from current climate to what I would find in both the North and the South of the Alpes.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Briancon boasts 300 days of sunshine a year

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The 'Provençal' feel is very distinctive in Gap, Barcelonnette. Temperatures are warmer, spring comes earlier. it's not the same Provençal climate as you would find around Avignon for example, where I lived permanently for 10 years, as much down to altitude as anything. Gap is approx 800m, Barcelonnette and Briançon over 1000m, Bourg d'Oisans 700m+. That can bring a welcome freshness in the summer, relief from the 40°C + temperatures at lower altitude. And certainly not the same climate as the more temperate climes of eEvans's area, on the coast, where frosts are rare in winter.

Briançon doesn't have the same Provençal feel as previously mentioned places further south. Just too remote up in the NE of the 05 department (which includes Gap). Easy access to great skiing though, a short hop into Italy as well.

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After all it is free

"Briancon boasts 300 days of sunshine a year Tue Mar 28, 06 9:11 "

Hmm , well after a few drinks I boast I am an advanced skier ,but every time I have to prove it I end up on my backside..so I guess in the case of Briancon the question would be does it 's reality match up to it's boast ? Is this generally true for the Southern Alpes , or is it something to do with a micro climate for that area ?

Well all this talk of snow and skiing brought on a a case of cold turkey , or should it be cold snowhead ? so I went walkabout today and took myself off to Xscape snowdome for a couple of hours..desperation really ,because the views are not worth the drive over the M62 'carpark'.
Back to the information gathering and thanks to you all once again for your help to date.

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LATECOMER, I know that the Hautes Alpes department as a whole claims an average of 300 days of sunshine a year, whether Briançon has taken the regional figure or not, I don't know.

As a rule, the further south, the more pronounced the Mediterranean effect, and the better the weather...

Where I was near Avignon you could go weeks without seeing a cloud, sometimes.

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Latecomer, my most important advice to you is to research all that living in France involves and you may find a different country could be a better option. There can be real finacial disadvantages living here, if for example, you have even modest worldwide assets. Personnally I cannot become resident here unless I'm willing to pay the 'Wealth Tax', which I'm not, so it means living outside of France for certain amount of days of the year.
There are plenty of forums dedicated to French living so check them out and get as mich knowledge as possible.
One of the reasons to choose Serre Chevalier is the 300 days of sunshine per year.

snow reports

Thanks Chris ,yes I will be doing further research on all aspects of French living although the financial is my area of expertise so I'm pretty much clued up on that side of matters. LOL sometimes you just have to prioritise what is most important to you at a particular point in your life...a style of living , or money in the bank etc(minimising tax) ,but yes it's a big world and my search is still ongoing inclusive of France.

chris, You're obviously right in suggesting that people should thoroughly research the implications (both social and fiscal) of living i.e taking up residency in another country.

However a couple of general points:

IMHO French Wealth Tax is a 'small tax' in that either if you own a property and 'use it a lot', you will only pay on the property itself if non-resident and latecomer's budget is way below the threshold (€750000??) or if you do become resident the 'honeymoon' period kicks in, or if you have 'That Much' global wealth then you will probably own another property and can 'avoid' the residency rules. Toofy Grin

Even then the tax isn't THAT high, that much wealth and it it would just be an irritant but a small price for lifestyle. I could live in nearby Monaco and become a real tax exile but I would rather pay tax and enjoy France ...

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As regards other countries , any country can introduce a new tax at any time. Who will say that Gordon Brown won't in the future and the EC tax authorities seem hell-bent on harmonisation . Inheritance tax can be slightly more awkward - but again a bit of research/advice will cover that and all notaires seem to when you buy.

You know it makes sense.

LOL..."Who will say that Gordon Brown won't in the future" AND ....make it retrospective which is virtually what he as done to redraw so much of the tax planning people have tried to do over the last decade or more...... Retro Gordon the robot ...clueless ,but not harmless unfortunately....there is some commonality here between Jacques Chirac and Gordon Brown...Jacques won't speak English and Gordon can't...or at least not without 'masticating' every muscle within the general vicinity of his mouth Wink

"harmonisation"..it's a work in progress whether we (the electorate) want it , or not.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

In my surfing I came across some properties that superfically at least look to offer promise of satisfying my criteria. These are Embrun area , Guillestre and Argentiere la Besse. I suspect pricing in these areas reflects accessability in terms of transfers times (longer) . I can see numerous ski resorts around each locale , but it is difficult just looking at a map to know what transport and transport times are between these places and the ski resorts.
For example : Guillester lloks very close for Risoul ,but how close is close ? Vars appears nearish ?
Embrun again seems nearish to skiing at pic de Boussolenc and not too far from Risoul / Vars ,but how long is that to drive?
Argentiere looks a possible locale for accessing St Vincent ,Briancon , Risoul and Vars ,but again just what is that in travellable time.

In winter am I likely to meet substantial problems in travelling roads to get to the resorts ,or can I be fairly confident the roads will be cleared soon after any major dump ?
I think even being on the ground there in the summer won't answer all of these questions so I'd appreciate some feedback from anyone familiar with that area of the Haute Alpes.

A snowHead

By the way one of the better sites I have found for looking at property was Seloger which seems to be a general clearing site for many French agencies.

A snowHead

LATECOMER, I skiied in Font Romeu in the Pyrenees last year. There are also several other smallish resorts on that side of the range (Pyrenees Orientales) such as Les Angles and Porte Puymorens. Andorra is also fairly close. Perpignan airport is within 60 miles or so. I caught a train from Perpignan in the winter but I've also driven into the Pyrenees in the summer and the road is pretty good, the area is a very popular summer destination too. Don't know about the horse riding possibilities but the coast around Perpignan is a very popular water sports destination.

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LATECOMER, Embrun is a pleasant enough town - ideal for the Lac de Ponçon of course, and very close to the resorts of Les Orres (medium-sized), Réallon (small), Crévoux (tiny!), not far from Vars and Risoul (linked domains, sizeable), and the little resorts of the Queyras.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Again , much appreciation for all of the help.
Yes,I can see on my map quite a lot of ski stations which frankly I'd never heard of and I suspect they cater more for the 'local' market. I'm quite taken with the idea of exploring these. Indeed when you look past the transit time getting into this area I can see that when the time comes to make it a permanent base it would have many permutations for travelling between the stations travellable in a day through to those you could drive to for a mid week 2 or 3 night stopover..very appealing.
I'll keep at it ,but to date the Haute Alps looks very very worth a visit for further assessment.

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LATECOMER, Try this one http://www.e-immo.net/immobilier/agences/achats-ventes.html

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