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France: Buying a small home in Bretagne:
Doesn't the Notaire deal with the money, and it is all done on the day of signing?
France: Car: to rent, buy, or lease:
The first thing you would need to worry about if living in Nice is where you would park a car. It is not easy to find parking, and when you do it is expensive. If you don't have parking where you live you could buy a garage, but they cost, last time I looked, in the region of €35,000. Hiring one occasionally would be the best bet, the public transport is really good, and even if you wanted to go visiting other places you can often get there by bus or train. We took our car to Nice once and the parking near our apartment was €27.50 a day. Now we fly and find we have no need of a car. It takes a bit of getting used to but it is so freeing not to have one there. We live in Brittany and even though we are three, plus dog and cat, it is actually cheaper for us to fly than drive. Have you settled on a place to live there?
France: Retiree income taxes:
It is our understanding that as a US Citizen or green card holder you have to pay US taxes for life. We have been here in France over ten years and still pay US taxes. We submit a French tax return and pay some tax and Social Charges to the French but our main tax liability is still in the US. Are you saying we are wrong and shouldn't't have paid US taxes? We have Social Security pension paid into our French account and a State Pension paid into our American account as the State is incapable of sending the pension to France. Our accountant in the US submits our US return.
France: cockroaches:
We live in Brittany and have an apartment in Nice and I have never seen a cockroach either.
France: Spousal visa for EU national:
My understanding is that your wife will need a longterm visa, before she embarks for France. When we came here my US born husband only needed to apply for a Titre de Sejour as soon as we arrived but that changed and my friend in California who was born in France said his american wife would now need the longterm visa in order to settle in France with him.. If you just turn up your wife would have to return to the US to obtain the visa.
France: Expats in Dinan:
Sometimes it is simpler to get the answers to questions in your own language than having to try and understand what people are telling you in a language you may speak but haven't yet understood the nuances. If you do not speak much of the language of your host country it gets very tiring speaking to people, and lonely. Also by the time you are an adult most people have their circle of friends, breaking into other peoples circle of friends is not easy. However if you engage with other expats you are all relatively new and more likely to welcome new acquaintances. Expats also understand the problems that occur with moving to a new country, that most locals cannot understand. Not just the homesickness, which is often present but small things that locals take for granted. There are issues that only happen to expats and they are the ones you want to help you sort out.
France: Bi-nationality:
It is my understanding that you can apply for French Nationality once you reach 18. I have looked into it for my Grandson who like you was raised here and is fluent in French. He is nearly seventeen. Check out
https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F2213
France: Schools & 3-4 months in France:
I would put the children into the local school even for a few months. They will soon pick up French and learn about another culture. You may find they put them into a class a year below their grade but it is normal and I have found the kids do not suffer from that. Or you could home school them.
France: moving to Nice:
I cannot say if the cost comparison sites are accurate as I do not know them. We came to France from Sacramento ten years ago. We live in Brittany and have a holiday home in Nice. We find the cost of living similar to CA. If you check out one of the rental companies such as seloger.com, you will find long term rentals, It will give you a good idea of how much a rental would be. There is also The Adrian Leeds Group, I am not sure if they have any long term rentals in Nice they have a newsletter called Parler Nice.
The biggest saving living in Nice is not needing a car, Public transport is excellent and if you need one to go to an out of the way place you can hire one. If at all possible though change your drivers licence to a State that is exchangeable for a French licence we didn't, and have to take the test again in French. Unless you are fluent in French and won't find this a problem. You have a year after arriving to change it to a French licence. Good luck.
Most apartments aren't as large as you may find in Oakland but about what you will find in San Fran, but I think less expensive.
France: Moving to France - Utilities, internet, banking, etc:
I do not know about how one gets utilities put in your name before moving in. We have never rented here. I should think the letting agent would do that for you. You will have to tell them what electrical goods you will be running so that you can get the right wattage to your flat. It starts off at 3 and we run 12 as we have loads of stuff. If you don't have it high enough your electricity could cut out when say the fridge comes on or a kettle. The standing charge is based on what you get. It sounds complicated, but a person living on their own with few electrical needs pays the lowest price whilst a family of six with two freezers, six computers, washing machine and dryer in constant use will pay much more.
We have Orange to supply our wifi and telephone. You can get unlimited calls via your computer and wifi line for a standard charge. I think ours is around 40 Euros a month and we can phone the US and England as often as we want without extra charge. I also have Orange for my mobile with unlimited calls. You can get a mobile that gives a limited amount of phone time and unlimited texts reasonably. It depends on how often you use a mobile. I have unlimited phone and texts, but it isn't cheap, OH and Grandson have two hours phone and unlimited texts. There are cheaper companies but I prefer to keep it all with one.
I would ask at BNP Paribas about having a euro account and see how much they charge to transfer money. Otherwise you can go with one of the Money transfer people such as currencies direct. Our pension is paid in the US and we have to write ourselves a cheque every so often to transfer it to our French account. Inconvenient but we cannot do anything about it.
I shouldn't think your Amazon Prime would be effected if you change your address online. I do not know perhaps someone else has more information on that.
Hope that helps.
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