Quite French villages

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Have only been to Paris so can’t help.

Thank you Claudia! I did a general search as you recommended and didn't really see much related to my questions. I'll keep searching using different key words, maybe that will make the difference.

I would search in Normandy and in particular, in Brittany. Stay in a base town of Brittany such as Quimper and on the other side, in Rennes or Dinan. Then branch out on rides and day trips.

Thank you Suki! That's definitely what I had planned, to base somewhere in each region and branch out from there. The suggestions you made were just what I needed, I will research each place you mentioned and begin making some plans!

Normandy and Brittany are the most expensive of your four areas because they are prized by Parisians as second home getaways. The center of France, west and southwest are less expensive.

There’s an English language FaceBook closed group you can join called South, West & Rast of France that covers the area from the Pyrenees to Bordeaux and east to Montpellier. Members often mention their villages, some ads, goings on. A lot of them seem pretty quiet to me. RS is a travel site. FB has groups for English speakers living in France.

Real estate listings, agencies, it’s all extremely different from anything you’ve experienced in the US. Example: neighbours in my tiny building just sold their apartment and moved. We didn’t even know it was for sale. Sales closing can take months. Places can be on the market for years with no sign, no ads. Search for the English-language agencies out of England who list and sell in France to get some ideas about procedures, too. Join Strictly legal France on FB and read their real estate guide.

The Pays D'auge in Normandy is an excellent choice! While there is tourism, it certainly isn't large-scale yet and it has plenty of properties to renovate. You could see the villages and castles of the areas, which truly are gorgeous.

Some links that may help you:
https://www.normandie-cabourg-paysdauge-tourisme.fr/en/
https://www.normandie-cabourg-paysdauge-tourisme.fr/en/destinations/beuvron-en-auge/
https://www.calvados-tourisme.com/que-voir-dans-le-pays-dauge/
Happy Travels!

welcome to the Forums, dhayes870700

The other answers are helping you on the buying ladder, I can't do that but I can ask and answer an unanswered question.

Are you intending to restore and live there or live there while you are restoring? For resale or a permanent move?

Have you got artisans to do the work for you or will you do it all yourself?

And most of all - have you got permission to live in France for an extended period beyond the 90 days at a time that Schengen provides?

And most of all - have you got permission to live in France for an extended period beyond the 90 days at a time that Schengen provides?

Nigel, I don't think they need a residency visa to buy a place in France. My friend and her wife bought a place in Pau and continue to go down for just under 3 months every year. They have started the process of applying for a residency visa but until they receive it, they are continuing their shorter visits every year. :-)

no, that's true. But to live there...??

That's why I asked. They may be EU citizens for all I know, or they may think that as Americans they can buy and move there with no visa. Dunno

Thank you everyone for the replies! I am indeed an American and I plan to buy a house somewhere in France in the next year or so and slowly fix it up it myself over the next several years. It will be at least a decade before I'm able to, but I plan to live there part/most of the year at some point. For several years I would be only staying a month or two at a time. It's just basically a retirement goal that I'm hoping to be working towards soon.
I have done a good bit of research on different laws and requirements but am not anywhere close to beginning the process yet for any visas or legalities. I know there will be very different requirements to meet than living in the US and have been to France enough to know the differences in many different aspects of life, law, etc. Honestly, the differences are essentially the point of moving there.

Meanwhile, I spend a lot of time dreaming over this website. You can sort by départment.

https://www.frenchestateagents.com/all/price:l/page:77/sort:Allproperty.price/direction:asc

After living for several years further south, we bought a house in Normandie a few years ago. Our search focused on Bretagne and Normandie. What we found is that there are plenty of reasonably priced houses available in central Bretagne, but they tend to be located pretty far from cities and the coast. Properties closer to larger towns such as Vannes, Quimper, Saint-Malo, and so on, were much more expensive. Similarly, properties close to the coast were expensive as well.

So we shifted to Normandie. There's a similar dynamic, but it's pretty easy to find reasonably priced properties within a short drive of the coast if you value that. It was one of our priorities, so we wound up near the western edge of the Cotentin peninsula.

In addition to speaking to real estate agents (realtor, by the way, is a trademarked term in the U.S. but is not really used elsewhere as far as I know), I would suggest speaking with a few notaires as well. A notaire is more than a notary public, such as they exist in the U.S. Notaires are French legal professionals that focus on civil law, including property transactions. Most of them, especially in smaller towns, function also as a kind of real estate agent, showing properties to potential buyers.

In our general area, some towns you might check out would be Hambye, Lessay, Avranches, Carentan, Perriers, Barfleur, Saint-Vaast-la-Hogue, Valognes, Barneville-Carteret, Agon-Coutainville, Port-Bail-sur-Mer, Créances, Coutances, La Haye, and Saint James, to name a few. Further inland, Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët, Villedieu-les-Poêles, Bricquebec, Sourdeval, Mortain Bocage, and Vire Normandie might be of interest.

There are plenty (hundreds) of smaller towns, but I'm assuming you want to have some proximity to commerce and services. I've avoided listing the larger cities such as Granville, Caen, and Cherbourg.

If you want more specific information, or if there are questions I can help you with, having gone through the process you're contemplating not so long ago, send me a message on this website and I'll do my best to respond.

" I've avoided listing the larger cities such as Granville, Caen, and Cherbourg."
I've lived in Granville for nearly my whole life- while it may be big compared to some places you've mentioned, by no means is it a big town. Granville has a lovely small-town pulse and sense of community, and covers only a small area geographically. It's also very charming and has plenty to do and I'd rank it above the likes of Vire.

It has larger properties on the outskirts, too!

Also worth noting that Vire is larger than Granville.

Hope this helped!

Thanks, FrenchRiviera, but I think if you compare the same aspects of the two communities, you'd find Granville is bigger, though not by much.

Granville city population ~12,600
Vire city population ~10,900
Commune Vire Normandie ~17,100
Commune Granville Terre et Mer ~44,300

It's really the suburbs around Granville that make the difference. And you're right -- the central city is quite compact and walkable.

But I could be wrong on my population figures. INSEE's population reporting is not as straightforward as the U.S. Census Bureau's City population and Metropolitan Statistical Area population. But Granville, to me, has a much bigger "feel" than the more rural Vire.

Take a look at this photographer, David’s Instagram account
@provencallife

He is from Boston, looked for a place for five years that he wanted to buy in France. He bought in Oppedette, a small village in Alpes-de-Haut-Provence, residents 53.

He mentions many small villages in the area and provides beautiful photography of some.

He restored his home and beautiful garden. I told him that’s where I will live in my next life. Everything beautiful that France has to offer.

We will spent two weeks in Goult this October which is in the Vaucluse. Slightly larger with about 1,000 residents but still small with all the essentials and several restaurants. There are several You Tube videos about Goult.

I am very envious!

@Bob
Those don't compare. GTM is a communaute de communes.

GTM is a communaute de communes.

and that translated into English is ......?? please

It means the city and its associated suburbs, villages, as one locality. It’s sometimes called the greater area or region. One of the two in the discussion is a retired geographer who will have the precise definition for you.

I don’t have experience with any of this, but I certainly would want to rent for a period of time before I plunked down a bunch of money in a small village in a foreign country. I have spoken to ex-pats who gave done this and they say no matter how well they speak the language, they are always an outsider. Just food for thought.