I am with you on this one! I really don’t get it… I love in France (French riviera) and my salary despite being very good for the region is very far from the hundreds of thousands of FAANG companies in the US… and yet I more than once turned down offers from FAANGs because no amount of money can bet all the other benefits I get… 35h work week (no extra Hours), very relaxed corporate environment, 35 days of vacation a year (and you are forced to take them all), basically unlimited sick leaves, telework 4 days a week (and living 10 minutes from the office), living in a nice home next to the sea! No amount of money can compensate for the possibility to have plenty of time for yourself and your family!
Sorry if I assume too much, but I think you'd be thinking quite differently if you had to consider buying your first home on the French riviera now, on something like a 60.000-100.000 euro pre-tax salary.
I just did (although not my first, that one I bought 10 years ago)… sold may old apartment (still in the French Riviera) and with my wife we bought a very nice house 100m from the sea! Mortgage interest rates are great at the moment… 0.9% ain’t bad!
I literally sold my old apartment last year for almost the same price I got it for… so no profit. And my current home was bought this year… therefore considering the current housing market.
Roughly how much did you spend on the home, if you don't mind me asking? I'm curious how expensive that area is.
Most homes that are near the sea are pretty damn expensive in the US. Or if not, have significant flooding, hurricane, and/or will probably be underwater thanks to climate change in 10-15 years.
Here homes are all built using either brick ore reinforced (like my home) and the climate is mild. Over the years there are hardly any damage… mine might only need to fix a bit of paint on a couple of corners… but 10 years old and no maintenance required so far (for the previous owner was a second home he barely used)
Homes in that area are about 10x that salary - so no. Reasonable ends at 3-4x your salary. I would be surprised if you could get a loan if you're taking a mortgage out that is 8x+ your salary... but maybe you can in France? Not in the US!
That is not true… only sea view apartments and houses do have incredibly high prices… otherwise you can find an apartment of 100m2 for prices ranging from 200k euros to 500k. Many homes with garden in the area range from 450k to a million (depending on the location). If as a couple the household income is 100k or more a year it is not difficult at all to get a mortgage. In France is very hard to get fired… there is a much higher job security… and since we have universal healthcare we don’t even risk to not be able to pay due to a medical emergency! For a bank is less risky to lend you money! Life here is good!
Just as a counter-point, I live and work in London. I can't imagine ever being able to buy a home here unless something drastically changes, house prices are close to 10x my annual salary.
And historically houses have always been hovering around the same 20x multiplier for desirable places, except for a few small blips like the postwar boom.
And of course stuff like the American westward expansion, because land was dirt cheap as were materials (everything was forested so you just had to start chopping, more or less).
I think you get all of those things at the FAANG companies. You can set your watch by people arriving at 9 and leaving at 5, and disappearing for an hour to have lunch seemed pretty normal (that's 35h).
I'm contemplating a move to the Riviera (family reasons). Any general advice on the tech scene down there? My French is bad at present but I have quite a bit of room for manouevre...
Between Nice and Cannes there is the Sophia Antipolis technopole where various tech companies have offices. Most (like mine) use English as the official language used on premises. I have been living here for a decade and my French is not particularly good, mostly because I don’t use it much.
Very nice! Plenty of people from all around the world (many international IT companies have offices in the area)… my group of friends have more than 7 different nationalities in it! It’s quieter during the winter and very lively during summer. Weather is amazing all year round… there are 16 degrees outside right now. If you feel the need for a something that only a bigger city can offer Canne is 10 minutes away by car and Nice 20.
Wow! I'm an IT student currently living in Antibes, working in Cannes and with quite a few friends from all over the world working in Sophia. It's a pleasure to see people from France on HN!
