Find a house in France. Convince a bank to give a pair of foreigners a mortgage. Renovate, renovate, renovate. Then live the good life in Burgundy.
It’s July, 2021 and we are on the hunt in the Bourgogne (Burgundy) region of France. While finding “The House” is not critical yet, it would be … really nice to know where we’ll be in a year.
It’s our last day of house hunting and we are fried. We’ve seen: a house at the top of the budget that is near a train station (a rare find) but that needs lots of work and is on top of its neighbors; a house at the low end of the budget that is in fact two houses connected with a barn and sits on a gorgeous parcel overlooking rolling countryside but which has signs of water damage; and a larger-than-life 400-square-meter farmhouse with a massive workspace for l’époux and two different guest suites but which will need many updates. (The property also currently includes the front and side yards but not the backyard, so … there’s that.)
There are two houses left: a house that sits among the vineyards in Buxy that also features an incredible workspace for l’époux but no guest space (nor room in the budget to add one); and a tiny “diamond in the rough” farmhouse outside Cluny with a 250-square-meter barn. L’époux is head over heels for the former; I become the annoying voice repeating, “But the budget… But the budget…” Even la petite loves this house. The treehouse might have had some influence there. As for the second, the feeling is a bit “…Eh.” A second visit to the region in August goes onto the calendar.
AWay in France 