How Do You Find a House in France?

And other questions that I can only answer now after recent months.

Are we all victims of the movie, “Under the Tuscan Sun?” If you were like me, you were also cinematically charmed into believing that one possibly could casually buy a house in Italy on a sunny afternoon while eating gelato.

Like, I knew it wouldn’t be as easy as Diane Lane stumbling upon the listing in Cortona and a scene later being a property owner… but I also knew it wasn’t impossible. Mainly, I realised millions of people living in those countries were doing it every day so it was generally a process that was somewhat streamlined.

But what did streamlined mean for those places? I was unsure as to how it actually happened in comparison to the buying process in the US, and the language barrier seemed to make the process feel really unobtainable.

How do you find the property? Does an agent take a list of your dreams and go hunt for you? How do you finance the property? How can I get a mortgage? If I do buy a house, how do I actually get work done if it needs repair? And are you granted the right to live in that country once you do?

To start this whole “France-house-renovating-series,” let’s answer those questions first. I feel like it’s important to share context on the process so that you’ll be able to track easily with our story.

So today, let me explain how you even find a house to buy. (Because, it’s weirdly harder than you may think.) And, I hope you’re sitting down with a few minutes to spare. I wrote this so someone in the process could use this as a helpful resource. Ready? Let’s dive in to French house buying fun!