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France: Car: to rent, buy, or lease:
In time, after we complete our move to Nice, my wife and I will probably want a car. The question is which option to take.
First, do we just rent a car from the local Hertz, or whatever agency whenever we feel like heading off somewhere. And what if we want to be at that somewhere for, say, a month or two? This option doesn't see to attractive...probabliy too expensive.
The second would be to buy a new car, but there you have insurance fees and the 20% VAT. Probably again to expensive
Third, lease a car. The biuy-back program sees almost idea. Less expensive than renting and insurance is included. But we would want a long-term lease, for maybe a year or two. Can that be done? And can an expat living in France have such a lease, or is it just for tourists?
I suppose there's also a fourth option: buying a car coming off from being leased. It would be less expensive than a new car and, if I understand what I've been reading correctly, there would be no VAT. But I'm not sure about my information and how to go about buying a car that had been leased for the previous year.
Any advice, words of wisdom,etc., would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much in advance.
antifreeze
France: Immigration consultant recommendations:
Last fall, my wife and I made an exploratory trip to southern France to search out potential places to live. We worked with Dennelle and Renestance, and I must say, we were extremely pleased with the assistance they gave us. I certainly recommend checking out Renestance to see what Donnelle can do for you.
antifreeze
France: medical insurance:
Dear Expatexchange members,
Having health insurance is one of the three main requirements (financial means of support and a residence being the others) for getting a long stay visa. I am aware of Cigna (They seem to advertise everywhere.). But what about the policies offered through AARO (Association of Americans Retired Overseas). Has anybody tried them? How do the compare to Cigna? Does anyone know of any other (better) alternatives for American expats?
Thank you once again for your help. It is appreciated.
Antifreeze
France: relocation specialists:
Dear Expatexchange Members,
My wife and I notice that there are quite a few relocation specialists offering services designed to smooth the process of settling in...not only in France but in your desired city and maybe even into your desired residence. The services that they offer sound very tempting. Has anyone out there ever used one of them? If so, what did you think of the experience? Was it worthwhile, both financially and in terms of...what...sweat, running around and waiting in line?
We want to locate in Nice. Does anyone know of a relocatoin specialist who is either based in Nice, or has an office there?
Thank you for any inforation that you folks can provide. We will appreciate it very much.
Antifreeze
France: regarding price listings four apartments/houses on SeLoger.com:
I've been looking at houses and apartments for sale on SeLoge.com. And I have a question about how a given property's price is listed.
For each property there are two prices. The first is obvious; it's for the cost. But then there is a second which is expressed as a monthly figure.
It's this second price that I'm asking about. I mean, what exactly is it? A monthly payment? Rent to own? The payment for the mortgage loan? Should I be paying attention to it? If someone could clue me in on the specifics of this second, this monhly price, I would appreciate it very much.
Sincerely,
antifreeze
France: Nice: which neighborhoods / areas are better to live in:
Greetings again.
My wife and I are curious about which neighborhoods might be preferable to live in. Or, for that matter, which ones should be avoided. For the latter, we have Ariane and Moulin on our list. And for the former, they are Fabron and Cimiez.
But Nice clearly has more areas and neighborhoods. Which ones do you folks like and why? And are ther any others that you believe should be avoided and why?
Thank you very much.
Antifreeze
France: opening a bank account:
As I've mentioned previously, my wife and I plan to move to Nice within the next couple of years. We will be visiting the city this fall, to check out neighborhoods and, hopefully, to see some apartments.
In addition, we think we might want to open a bank account while we're there. My questions, then, are:
How do we go about doing it?
Can it be done, even though we still maintain our residence here in the states?
If so, what documents will we need?
Any suggestions regarding the amount of an initial deposit?
And what banks might be better candidates for our money?
I'm sure the answer are just under my nose on the net, but so far I haven't found them.
Thank you for any help you have.
antifreeze
France: moving to Nice:
Hi,
My wife and I live in Oakland California, just across the border from Berkeley. In a couple of years both of us will have retired. Our plan is to spend our retirement in Europe, preferable in Nice, or perhaps a village near it.
We travel a fair amount, twice a year on the average, and more often than not we find ourselves in Europe. Our favorite countries seem to be Britain, France and Italy. At least those are the countries that we’ve visited most frequently. Regarding Nice, we have visited it only once and then only for a few days. But we enjoyed it a lot: beautiful setting, great weather, the sea, close to mountains, close to Italy and Switzerland.
As you can imagine, we have lots of questions. To us the most important ones involve cost of living expenses and housing.
We have a middle-class lifestyle here in Oakland, and it would be nice to continue that lifestyle in Europe. My first question pertains to the accuracy of the cost-of-living calculators in Expatistan and Numbeo. Are they reliable? Any complaints?
When we retire, my wife and I expect that in addition to savings, we will have a gross annual income of approximately six figures, plus or minus a couple of thousand. Is this enough for a middle class life style in Nice?
We would like to rent a flat for our first year or two as we familiarize ourselves with that area of the world before deciding to buy a place. If we had our druthers, we would rent a three bedroom, two bathroom flat. As of now we’re not sure if we want it furnished or not. Given our income, is this possible?
And finally, we concerned about how we go about renting a flat. Everything we’ve seen on the net, even labeled “long term”, seems to be vacation rentals with very little available annually. So, I guess the question is how do we go about finding a place to rent? I assume it will have to be done there, but beyond that, I have little of no clue.
Thank you for any help you might give.
France: Moving to France - Utilities, internet, banking, etc:
My wife and I are also planning a move from California to France...Nice. And I'd like to open a bank account prior to our move. Not an easy task, if not impossible. In an earlier post, someone from the San Francisco area mentioned that he had done it through BNP. I checked with their office in the city and was told that they were only interested business accounts, that if I wanted to open a personal account, I should try Bank of the West...which BNP owns. Of course the Bank of the West option works only in the States.
Currently, I'm trying HSBC which has an office in Oakland's Chinatown. They can do it. HSBC has an international banking commiytee (IBC) that reviews one's request to open an account in a foreign country. If approved, then it will happen. While this is admittently a simplification of the process, it might be an option worth checking out.
Also, I would be curious if any folks out there in Expatexchange Land have opinions on this option.
Antifreeze
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