To ask for your help regarding a holiday home: UK or France?

[sherlocksteacup]

So, I have been living overseas and now find myself priced out of the housing market near my family in the south east. I am fed up with not having a place to stay when i come home, and am thinking about a holiday home of some sort. It could be in the UK, but then i would like to remain within 2/3 hours of London, so I can visit family easily. OR i was thinking about France. Not sure where though. I like the idea of beaches and sunny weather at least in the summer months, but also like the idea of being able to drive there and keep costs down. I could possibly go up to £200-250,000 for a three bedroom house. Any ideas or advise from the Mumsnet collective greatly appreciated.

France will be cheaper in terms of purchase price, but ...

Well, there are lots of buts (too many to even start listing tbh). Many naive Brits have ended up with completely inappropriate properties, pissed off neighbours, legal and financial problems, etc, all due to not doing their homework.

The very first hurdle is to think about whether you're going to finance the purchase in sterling or euros. If you take out a french bank loan then you will find that lending criteria are much stricter than in the UK. Loans are capped - usually, monthly repayments cannot exceed 30% of disposable income after deducting housing costs and any other loan repayments (credit card, car loan etc).

Wouldn't touch an EU country until after the referendum. Buy here for the next 2-3 years and then reevaluate .

What about this gorgeous house in Poole in Dorset. It's in a suburban area, so not right on the beach. More of a real home than a holiday home, but very easy drive from London and accessible from all parts of the South East within a couple of hours. Needs nothing doing to it.

That house Silveracorn linked to in Poole is gorgeous!! Buy it

It is, isn't it Bullshit? I want it. Log cabin and wood burning stove. Wonder if you could negotiate to keep the garden swing seat, hot tub and koi carp too! :)

Thanks everyone - it's good advise I hadn't thought about how the referendum might change things. France does look complicated in terms of process but just so appealing in terms of what you get for your money. Am going to check out the Poole link and I'll be back!

Come to the Isle of Wight, cheaper house prices and a lovely place to live .

Come to Thanet! We have more Blue Flag beaches than anywhere else, you can be in Central London in an hour and a half or Paris in about 3 hours, easy road links, and now that we've seen off Nigel Farage people believe us when we say that most of us are nice;)

I just put your house requirements into Right Move, and it came up with over 50 properties that fit the bill in Ramsgate alone. There are probably even more in Margate as it's traditionally a bit cheaper.

I have been checking out seaside towns now thanks to you lovely lot .