10 Tips to Find a Dream Home in France

For the last two days, I’ve been staying just outside Laressingle, a minuscule bastide settlement with a tiny Romanesque church and castle. Hidden behind 13th-century walls, it’s officially one of les plus beaux villages de France--the country’s most beautiful villages.

In the unspoiled Gers/Gascony departement of the Midi-Pyrenees region, Larresingle is an ancient stop on the St. Jacques de Compostelle trail, one of the major pilgrim paths to Spain’s holy city of Santiago de Compostella. Some latter-day pilgrims overnighted in my hotel, the Auberge de Laressingle.

I spent today viewing properties with Eric van der Linden, an engaging young Dutchman in love with nature and the great outdoors. We met at his family agency’s office in nearby Condom. Don’t snigger--Condom is a pretty market town whose name has nothing to do with what the French call préservatifs.

"Gascony is almost undiscovered among foreign buyers," says Eric. "We have no major highways or heavy traffic trucks--and the air is the cleanest in Europe. No real industry either--just duck production, Armagnac and Floc [an aperitif made from Armagnac and grape juice.] Almost every day, I see deer and wild boar. Life is easy...this is France like it still was."

I agree with everything Eric says--well, almost. Not surprisingly, he isn’t keen on force-feeding ducks to enlarge their livers for foie gras. (So I don’t tell him that given half the chance, I’d feast on foie gras every day.)

Overall, local property prices dropped by around 10%-15% in the last year. Yet characterful farmhouses and country mansions have only fallen by around 7%-8%. According to Eric, properties with the following attributes still walk off the shelf--something to note if you plan to buy in rural France but aim to later resell:

1. Stone built

2. Terracotta tiled floors

3. Beamed ceilings

4. Land (one to five acres, or at the very least a garden)

5. Some trees or woodland on the property

6. An enticing view

7. Few neighbors

8. Away from a busy road

9. A well or small pond

10. Not too far a drive from a town, in this case Condom

As I’d like somewhere within walking distance of a village boulangerie too, I would probably extend my wish list to 11. But for any rural property, a car is a necessity. Even between towns, public transport is fairly limited.

But don’t think that Gers/Gascony is remote. Toulouse airport is a 1.5-hour drive away. A 2-hour drive will take you to either the beaches of Biarritz or the ski slopes of the Pyrenees.

The cover story of the July IL Magazine (out tomorrow) will deliver the scoop on castles, presbyteries, farmhouses and other romantic buys in this beautiful corner of Southwest France--still off the radar of most Americans. If you subscribe now, you'll get access tomorrow to my full article with details on properties like a small chateau for $435,000 whose history dates back to the 13th century…a cottage and vineyard for $106,000 that produces 6,000 bottles of white wine a year…a fully restored stone built village house for $137,000 with wooden beams, a wine cellar, and a large terrace with views across wooded countryside…and more.

Steenie Harvey
Roving Euro Editor, International Living