Thinking of complete lifestyle change

Thinking of complete lifestyle change

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mercGLowner

Original Poster:

1,668 posts

183 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2014
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I have reached that time in life where both my wife and I are seriously considering a complete change of lifestyle. We are both employed in decent jobs and are both fed up with the drudgery and craving change. The kids are grown up, although we have our disabled 23 year old who is dependant and lives with us.

We have talked about leaving our respective jobs and considering a range of alternate options to bring back some quality of life and to be masters of our own destiny. So, one option is to sell up and buy an established business in the UK in East Anglia or the South West, maybe a holiday complex business or sub post office and general stores. The extreme option is to emigrate to France and buy a Gite complex business in Aquitaine or Limousin areas.

There are obvious risks to this strategy; financial being the obvious one but I have done some cursory searches and there is some stuff out there that ticks the boxes and is possibly affordable.

So, my question is, has any out there done anything similar? What are your experiences, advice etc?

JQ

5,692 posts

178 months

Tuesday 22nd April 2014
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I can't offer much help, but there was a TV series that investigated exactly what you're proposing, whereby families stated what they wanted and experts were then drafted in to provide advice. Might be worth some Google work to see if the episodes are on Youtube. As I recall it was more interesting than the normal "Place in the Sun" type programmes as the advice they were getting was quite good. I have no idea what it was called, but it was all about people changing their lifestyle by purchasing or developing a business to give them a better quality of life.

Unfortunately my only personal experience was of a colleague who in his late 40's moved from a corporate big city job to the country to set up a holiday let business - he has spent the last 5 years refurbishing the properties and building up the business with his wife and now they're getting divorced.

mercGLowner

Original Poster:

1,668 posts

183 months

Wednesday 23rd April 2014
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Thanks for that, I will try and find the programme on You Tube.

santona1937

736 posts

129 months

Wednesday 23rd April 2014
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IMHO the Limousin should not be in your thinking. IT is still a bit too un-touristed
We live and work in Languedoc- Rousillon which has a much more vibrant economy, but costs about the same to buy property as the Limousin. Toulouse is not too far away, and there are numerous tourist attractions to keep your gite busy.
THere are a lot of UK and Dutch ex pats here, and unlike other parts of France a lot of them come to work not retire yet.
HTH

MarkJS

1,517 posts

146 months

Wednesday 23rd April 2014
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I can't advise you on going abroad and although I haven't actually bought a UK business (so far), I have been to look at a lot that are for sale over the past 6 months. There is a lot for sale out there, but in my experience pretty much every business that I have come across is either shrinking/losing money or hiding something sinister when you get hold of the books after a viewing.

I am also coming to the conclusion that most decent businesses are sold without ever going onto the general market because they are simply worth buying in the first place and word of mouth does the trick.

Also, beware of the words 'lifestyle change' when looking at buying a business - you mention potentially a holiday complex & general stores. Both of those examples will be extremely hard work &/or time consuming - ie working weekends/late nights/early mornings & holidays etc.

I'm sure you have thought long and hard about a lot of things and I don't wish to be negative - just be careful not to buy a millstone or simply buy yourself a job.

Good luck.

mercGLowner

Original Poster:

1,668 posts

183 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
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Thanks for your thoughts.

I will admit to not being familiar with France at all, and I have never stayed in a Gite. Clearly if this were an option I would do a lot more research to ensure that I found the right area. I found a really good ŵesbite with French properties for sale and in our budget (dependant on getting sufficient mortgage) there seems to be a fair selection of properties -the budget would be around €400-500k. Being fairly close to an airport and TGV plus a guarantee of decent weather (Dordogne?) would be high on the agenda. It seems that rural France and the Gite lifestyle has an instant attraction.

As far as a Uk based business goes, I have already tuned into the fact that there would need to be a valid reason for the sale and scrutiny of the books would be absolutely vital. I think there is always a little risk to the general store/post office, just in case One of the big retailers decides to spoil the party or the Post Office pull the plug. A holiday let business in the South West, complete with decent owners house, seem to be out of our budget.

Just to finish, I am not shy of hard work and would be willing to dig out if the rewards are proportional to the effort. I am only 48 so young enough to still get stuck in.

Edited by mercGLowner on Thursday 24th April 19:39

santona1937

736 posts

129 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
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check out se loger uk for properties.

mercGLowner

Original Poster:

1,668 posts

183 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
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santona1937 said:
check out se loger uk for properties.
Will check it out thanks. This is the other site I found that has some fabulous properties.

http://www.jacwoodestates.co.uk

AJS-

15,366 posts

235 months

Saturday 26th April 2014
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Well I'm going to be the inevitable miserable bugger on this thread and say that this has all the hallmarks of an idea you reached on a Sunday night or at the end of a nice holiday.

My parents have lived in Limousin for about 10 years and owned a house there for a few years before that. In that time they've seen literally dozens of people come with similar ideas and many (probably most) go home disillusioned and often considerably poorer, and yet more who are "sticking it out" rather than enjoying their new life.

Firstly things are cheap for a reason. The gites/holiday lets problem for Limousin is that it's not really a holiday destination at all. It's pleasant enough countryside and a decent stop over on the way south, but that's all. That's why it's cheap compared to neighbouring Dordogne, however that means not just lower rates but that Limousin is full of gites lying empty all through the year. I know Limousin best, but I'm sure the same applies to other areas too.

It also takes years to build up a regular customer base and even if you buy a going concern you'll find that a fair few will be loyal to the owners rather than the gite itself.

Then there are the winters to consider - half the year is cold and miserable, everything shuts down and heating a nice, rustic stone house can be expensive. Plus no-one wants to rent a gite in "petit Siberie" as the locals call Limousin. And of course if you're running a successful gite the summer is busy time and winter is your holiday.

Thirdly, in summer holiday terms places seem not too far apart. My parents had ideas of nipping off for short breaks in Spain or the Alps, a weekend in Paris or a quick blast down to the Mediterranean coast. In reality, like most people their lives are lived fairly locally, and local to Limousin is generally pretty dull.

France is also expensive, more so than England for many things. Aforementioned jaunt to Spain with tolls, fuel, hotels and meals is a good way to blow 1,000 Euros in a couple of days.

And trips back to England to see friends and family add to the expense too. Ryanair's 99p flights are like most things that seem too good to be true, and long the drive plus ferry and peage is expensive and time consuming. This will probably hit your wife harder than you in the normal run of things.

Throw in tortuous bureaucracy, crippling taxes on any business and an economy that looks far better on paper than it does in the lesser visited provinces, and it adds up to a difficult place to live.

The language barrier is another frustration. Even though my mother was a French teacher and was pretty fluent in "text book" French and my father could hold his own it took them a few years to get accustomed to the colloquialisms of the area and to the more specialist but necessary terms that go with buying and running a house and business. Imagine learning BBC English and then moving to Northumberland and trying to get a ton of the right gravel delivered at the right time.

My parents have been going to France since the early 60s and are life long Francophiles with decent enough pensions, but are also considering moving back for the above reasons. They are retired, not working and a good few years older so you might find it a bit easier to adapt and a bit less boring, but by the sounds of it you are also taking a bigger gamble.


Like most things a lot of these problems can be solved with money. Somewhere that's guaranteed to be let out April - October with enough margin to pay a cleaner and get anything that breaks fixed or replaced straight away, and still give me enough money to clear off to Thailand for the long cold winter. But then you're looking at a huge investment.

Of course plenty of people do make the move successfully, and enjoy themselves there, and there's always a risk that having an escape plan undermines your commitment to the move but I would definitely think very carefully before making any decision that will be hard to reverse.

Best of luck and do keep PH posted.

Rotaree

1,146 posts

260 months

Saturday 26th April 2014
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I'm in the Southwest and selling something you might be interested in although your comment about budget might rule it out, feel free to PM me.

Russ T Bolt

1,686 posts

282 months

Saturday 26th April 2014
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mercGLowner said:
Thanks for that, I will try and find the programme on You Tube.
Try 'no going back' it was a Channel 4 series.

mercGLowner

Original Poster:

1,668 posts

183 months

Saturday 26th April 2014
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I have to say, that is a really useful post AJS, thank you for taking the time.

Firstly, the 'lifestyle' change idea has been in the pipeline for a while, certainly not a spur of the moment or a post 'holidays blues' type of idea. For other reasons, which I do not really wish to expand upon, this is a pivotal stage in my family's life. Nothing will decided and actioned without considerable research, that is in my nature, and I am a naturally cautious type of bloke. It may even be the case that that we continue with the 'status quo' option, not ideal but that may be the optimum choice for now.

Thanks for the tips in Limousin, to be fair, even after a limited amount of research on the internet, Limousin doesn't come out as a favoured choice. Aquitaine probably scores higher in most of the areas and in particular the Dordogne. There would be all sorts of issues to unravel particularly having a disabled dependent - not least, should we keep a footprint (property) in the UK? How much money would we need to be really comfortable? would we need a mortgage for the standard of property we desire? What would be the healthcare/social care issues with a disabled adult etc etc



Rotaree said:
I'm in the Southwest and selling something you might be interested in although your comment about budget might rule it out, feel free to PM me.
Thanks, I'll PM you to see what you have.