Immo service assistance: Check!

Only seven more weeks and we will finally see France again. I can’t wait to drive Route du Soleil again, hear the crickets, feel the warmth of the sun on my skin. I’m so ready to go!

We are starting to finish up all things that need to be done in order to buy a house in 7 weeks. We have contacted an Immo Service who will help us get a mortgage at a French bank. All finances have been looked into, everything is ready to start. In a few weeks we can start making appointments with the real estate agents and fill up our schedule. We are already following some interesting houses in the area where we would like to buy, so we are very confident that we will manage to find our dream house in 7 weeks.

The only concern we still have, but what will not stop us, is our future income. Le Gers looks like a really quiet area with only a few houses or towns. So we are still trying to figure out what our options are to build up a future income. We have some back up, but ofcourse not for the rest of our lives. But either way, we are confident that this will get worked out on the way and we try not to stress about it. There are always many options, you just have to be creative, optimistic and have patience.

So we try not to worry about it that much. Once we actually bought a place and we have a location of where we will live, we can figure the income-problem out. Then we will have a better insight in the possibilities.

We hope to have all the paperwork done by the end of the summer so we can go back around september to visit our house for the “first” time, as owners then. I can’t wait to open that first bottle of wine on our porch and take it all in, everything around you… And then figure out when would be the best time to move. Probably somewhere half 2018 next year. It will take time to finish up here in Belgium. We have our jobs which will take up a few weeks or months before we can leave. We also have an entire house to pack up and move. Or maybe first go for a few months to France and renovate the place before we move all our good furniture. It has to be liveable and secured ofcourse.

I’m really looking forward to this big adventure. It is finally coming closer and it is all we can think of lately. Making all this plans for a house we don’t even have. So I can’t wait to actually start real plans of our own property.

It will most definitely be a very exciting and unique experience, but terrifying as well. Giving up everything you know, your job, your income, your house, your familiy and life, to start all over from scratch. And hope we will not be one of those many people who have done the same and failed… So we are very anxcious to start and give it a try!

 

à bientôt!

bisous,

Moi

xoxo

Aprils Fool

Today it’s Aprils Fool day. What a joke it is today: rain all day. Not very cold, but not warm either… So today is the perfect day to clean the house, do laundry and cook new recipies in the kitchen.

In two months, we will finally be in France, Le Gers. We are so excited. I’m so curious how it will be there, hopefully exactly how we expected but I don’t really doubt that. We are also keeping a list of interesting houses for sale in that area so by the time we will be there, we can start visiting houses. I’m really excited, maybe I’ll buy a French house this year!

I seriously hope we will find our dream house though. With only 4 weeks of vacation a year, it is almost impossible to find a house and buy it. Every time you need to go back to france to sign documents and stuff. I really hope it all is realistic and we’ll be able to pull it through. But as always, we stay very optimistic about it all, and all will go well! If not, there is always Plan B, Plan C and ofcourse the rest of the alphabeth.

In February, we went to an imigration fare in the Netherlands. Last year we also went there but didn’t really know what questions we needed answers to, so this year we came prepared! We learned a lot. We learned about the legal stuff when you buy a house, who inherits the house if something happens and you are not married. This is deffinitely different than in Belgium. Here you don’t have to be married to inherit from each other if you buy the house together. In France, you can’t unless you make a PAC, a piece of paper that says you are each others heir. Otherwise, even the parents can even inherit some part unless you disinherit them. Very complicated, but important to know. You never know right… So we learned al lot about that which was good.

Our main plan has always been to stay here in Belgium for another 2 years, after we bought a house. That way, we could do some big costs on the house while still having an income, just in case we don’t find a job quickly in France. But at the moment, we are seriously doubting if we will be able to stick to that plan. It’s really starting to itch. We want to go so badly, and once we actually own a place there I don’t think we will be able to stay here another 2 years. If we make it up to 1 year, we’ll be very proud of ourselves… And it’s not that it is all that bad here, it’s just that in our minds and plans, we are more in France already than here in Belgium. So why wait and delay our lives…

As of today, Easter holiday has started for the next two weeks. This means no music and piano classes for me and way more spare time in my next 2 weeks. I really don’t mind. I love the leassons, but I’m so glad when my week schedules are empty and my tempo in life is a bit lower once in a while. I guess many of you can relate and enjoy the ‘nothing to do weeks’.

I hope you have had more sun today as I had, and have a great day!

Bisous!

xoxo

Moi

The first snow

Finally! The first snow has arrived and everything is covered in a white blanket. It’s not much snow, but enough to get me excited like a little girl  and get my winter-mood back on.

This morning I was welcomed by a white garden. The roof of our gardening shed and our pergola was all white. Everything looked so pretty. Ofcourse it was not much snow, and soon it started raining again so it’s mostly just ice. But at least it looks pretty. All of it will probably be gone by tomorrow so I might as well enjoy it all I can today!

On the radio everyone is warning about how dangerous and slippery the roads are. If you don’t HAVE to be somewhere: stay inside today! But ofcourse this was the only day I had plans and I will go outside. Time for some girl-time with my friends so no way we are cancelling this. I also must admit we’re going through with the plan because someone is picking me up. I’m too afraid to drive on these roads and after being home from work for 4 months due to my surgeries, I really don’t want to end up in the hospital again. I don’t think my boss will apreciate me calling to say I’m at the hospital again. So let’s hope we don’t crash today.

Researche for France

My hubby and I have been doing a lot of researche lately for our Project France. We have been checking the available houses and properties on severeal website, what’s new and what’s gone. We have been checking out a lot of Youtube movies about people who have done something similar and got some good ideas from them. We’re checking out different kinds of stuff to live as selfsustainable as possible like solar panels (how much will we need and what will this cost), will there be a waterwell on the property or what if we have to drill one,  but also different kind of methods about gardening and how to preserve your food. There’s a lot of things we will have to learn or buy to live a kind of selfsustainable lifestyle (as much as possible) and just be able to live freely and dept-free.

But as always, we are so ready for this. I’m so glad that this year it will finally start. I’m ready to live a more relaxed life and be in control of our life. Not to live a life where I get up way too early, go to work and spend all day doing something I actually don’t want to do, earn money to live a way too expensive lifestyle (because everything is so expensive here) and just earn money to put gas in my car to be able to go to work. And to pay off a house that is really way too expensive in comparison to what you earn here. And at the end of each month you have no money left, you didn’t buy something extra but you just payed all the bills and loans. And every month you try to do with less but still end up having nothing. And you didn’t have time to do all the things you wanted to do because you spend all your time at work or in traffic trying to get to work or home. Maybe it does sound a bit pessimistic. But this is how I started seeing things over time. I go to work to earn money just to be able to go to work. And I spend all day doing stupid things to make the boss rich and pay off his pool and his second or third vacation house somewhere in Italy or Spain who knows. And in reward for my freedom and time, this boss gives me a little bit of money so that I can buy the stuff I need like food. Food that I have to buy because I don’t have time to grow it myself. So it’s just an endless circle which all comes down to the same. If you can have your freedom and time, you can do more and need less money to live. If you can repair or build your home yourself because you have time instead of hiring someone to do it for you and pay for it, I think your freedom is worth it.

And at the end this lifestyle was getting really way too depressing for me. I want to be free and enjoy life. It can all be over sooooo fast and I know this might sound dreamy and maybe unreallistic. But I can’t help myself and wonder: but what if it works out?

 

Have a nice day everyone! Talk to you soon with more updates!

xoxo, moi

(my snowy garden plant)

Project France – a solid plan

Now that the Holidays are getting by and all stressy obliged get togethers are almost over, we are so done with winter. We are seriously no winter people. Maybe if there would be some snow yes, and then maybe for 3 days, but now that it is just freezing and raining all the time… No, we are outdoor people who like nothing more than to stroll trough the garden, water our flowers and plants, take care of the vegetables in the garden,… Even the cats are officially in hibernation now. They only move when food is served. On the other hand, that’s just what cats do I guess…

We have been looking at properties for sale online a lot lately. There is just SO much potential back there in South France! When we just look at all these houses or farms for sale, our hands start to itch to just start renovating and bould our sunny home. We have been gathering different kind of materials and working tools that will come in handy when we are renovating in France. The more we already have when buying a property, the more money we have to buy building materials or renovate the place.

I’m also already looking into all these selfsustaining gardening tips and tricks. You can save so much money by just growing your own foods! The less we actually need to buy at a store, the better! Lucky for me I’m a vegetarian so I don’t have to bother to raise livestock for meat. No need for that just veggies! And ofcourse some chickens to feed our vegetables-leftovers and get daily eggs.

We’re also still working on a solid money-plan. We will have to create different kinds of money income even if you can live very selfsustaining. So we’re still looking at all the possibilities for this but we’re getting there. We are definitely a lot further than last year! We have made a huge amount of progress with our solid plan to move to France!

But ofcourse, everything starts with the French house itself that we still have to find and buy… But that is for Juni 2017! So exciting…

xoxo,

Moi

Vacation in Le Gers booked!

Finally! It’s almost 2017 and I’m not mad about it. 2016 was definitely not my year… But as I heard, for a lot of people it wasn’t a good year. I really hope 2017 will be better. I don’t think it can get any worse than 2016 unless I actually die. But I’ve had illness, hospitalizations (not mine alone), funerals, severe stress at work, car crashes (not me!),… the list goes on but let’s not drag about the past.

To have something to look forward to, our summer vacation is booked! We have booked a wonderfull house in Le Gers (France) for 2 weeks and I’m looking forward to it! It’s a new region we haven’t explored yet, but we have read all about it and we already love it! I really hope all goes well because this is a region where we (maybe even in 2017!) hope to buy our dream house one day.

So besides that it is ofcourse a vacation and we will relax and enjoy our time there, we are also on a mision. A very important one! Our mision is to explore the area and see if it really is as nice as we thought it is and if we would actually want to live there. Also, we will drive around to check out properties for sale and check out some local immo house salers. And mostly, to get as much info as we can!

We also booked our tickets again( second time!) to visit the emigration fare in the Netherlands in February. There are a lot of representatives of countries with information, people who already moved to another country and want to share their experience, lectures about important information you should know before moving to another country, little shops with typical goodies from all these different countries. The list is endless. It’s very usefull I think to go there if you have these plans. And for us, it’s not that far from Belgium.

Last year we also went the the emigration fare but we didn’t figure out our plan yet, we didn’t know yet what exactly we wanted to do or where we wanted to move. But since last year, we kind of figured it all out so we have some specific questions to ask there which will be more helpfull. Last year we were a little bit overwelmed and actually came home with tons of information but nothing usefull or specific. I hope there are some people there who have actually moved to France and can give us more information on the “how to move” and stuff. I’m really looking forward to it!

Maybe next year, we can celebrate Christmas in our own house in France! But as for this year, we will still celebrate it here while dreaming of France… Merry Christmas everyone!

(Google)

XoXo, Moi