Retirement Planning?

France - Holiday Base or Retirement?

Are you looking around at ways of spending more time in France or seeking a better life after retiring - what we call the good life? If so, we think you should consider the many benefits of having a permanent mobile home at La Rose Blanche. But it is not for everyone.

First of all let's get one thing straight from the outset - you won't find Ferris wheels or wave machines at La Rose Blanche. Though your grandkids can and do still have a great time both on site and at local amenities. Nor can you rent out your home at La Rose Blanche but your children and relatives are welcome to stay at your place and usually leave keen to return. 

So you may be years from retirement but we think its hard to find anywhere better in France to retire too. La Rose Blanche provides an affordable holiday base (Check out Mobile Homes for Sale Here) for exploring this beautiful country with all it has to offer and when, or should I say, IF you ever get tired of France there's the rest of Europe to explore starting with the Basque country and Spain no more than 3 hours drive south. Travel is normally efficient and pleasurable in France.

If you are semi-retired then it is, depending on what you do, oftentimes quite feasible to commute to UK or Ireland to work (See Moving to France) or to other parts of France/Europe if language is no barrier, and you can comply with the appropriate formalities. To work in France itself you will need to set up a business and get a business identity number called a Siret and a like many other countries an  APE (Activite Principle de l'Enterprise) which simply categorises your specific business activity, e.g. IT consultant.

Contrary to popular perceptions - France is not so overly bureaucratic as most people think nor is  tax on small business overly burdensome. However, as with many things it helps to have someone assist you and La Rose Blanche has a number of helpful services that can be booked online including a very reasonable bi-lingual personal assistant.

If you are ready for retirement now - know that La Rose Blanche is a fully residential park open all year and has residential status in France. We have had residents live here for more than 10 years, yet there is always a healthy market for homes as peoples' plans change. Some move to homes elsewhere in France and many move to La Rose Blanche having sold their home in France. The situation for some changes and they feel drawn back to whence they came from as others sell-up and come here or maintain a presence here and at home. All-in-all this creates a vibrant market for mobile homes on La Rose Blanche and this coupled with simple purchasing transactions and a healthy demand but limited supply means your investment is secure.  

For those on UK State Pensions their pension increases are currently preserved and paid to you in France making it easy to budget your expenditure. costs and with going out for lunch or dinner very reasonable

Pet Friendly:

You'll find many shops and hotels in France are pet-friendly and La Rose Blanche is pet-friendly too. 

We know - pets are a great comfort to their owners and bring a great deal of joy to most of us - reducing stress, providing exercise and keeping the over 50's fit and active to enjoy the good life as they get older.

La Rose Blanche is blessed by great places to walk the dog. 

Of course we also recognise that pets are always a great draw for the grandkids too!

We do however, for obvious reasons, make some simple rules for all residents. For example, we limit the number of animals on site to one pet per household. 

For some that's a tortoise or a cat to others a dog. What ever the pet, we do ask expect pet owners to be considerate of others as they move around the site and mingle with other residents.  

Affordable Living:

Mobile homes at La Rose Blanche being in the region of £30,000 means it is well within means of most retirees.  The mobile homes vary but in general you can expect a well appointed, often fully winterised mobile home with all mod-cons and great views for this relatively small investment.  Your home is likely to be:

1. Fully furnished
2. Include a Shed (and sometimes tools)
3. TVs
4. Air Conditioned
5. Electric or Gas Heating
6. Satellite Connection
7. Deck (and Possibly a Covered Awning)
8. Large Garden Area with Space for a Car 

Site Fees are typically in the region of Euros 2,450 per year paid six monthly. Site fees include water. After which there are only small incidental costs for optional membership of the resident's association (highly recommended as it entitles you to membership of the Clubhouse), additional storage and wifi if needed. Costs for electricity and/or gas are amortised to your home based on your homes meter reading. 

The Non-Profit Clubhouse enables you to enjoy great food, drink and social events all at a fraction of the costs you would normally expect to pay - and all without leaving the site. Check out the Clubhouse here and  Clubhouse Events here

Local Entertainment: Almost all French towns and villages offer all manner of entertainment - highly subsidised, often free quality events, e.g. markets, brocantes, music festivals, medieval events, hog and ox roasts and much more. 

Cost of living: Some items in France can be more expensive such as some building materials, e.g. paint, but in general one would say grocery prices are comparable to the UK  or cheaper and typically higher quality, particularly canned or preserved food.  

Local Supermarkets: Mirambeau has a large supermarket called Super U and another medium sized one called Leader Price. However there is another Super U and Leader Price (that carry different lines) in nearby Saint Ciers sur Gironde (9 Kms) and the nearby town of Jonzac (18 Kms) you'll find Intermarche, Lidl, and E.Leclerc  as well as large DIY stores, etc. 

Prices vary with the seasons and the availability of local produce like asparagus, certain type of mushrooms, etc., Fuel prices vary enormously from garage to garage - Super U is generally the cheapest. Unlike the UK prices come down as often as they go up reflecting oil prices worldwide. Diesel (Gazoil) is currently (November 2018) at 1.46c/Litre and petrol typically 4-5c more.

Some Typical Prices (Super U)

 . . . from data collected Aug-Nov 2018      

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Copyright La Rose Blanche 2018

La Rose Blanche, Chez Mars, (lieu dit Les Moines) Route de St Bonnet, 17150 Mirambeau

+33 777 94 00 47 (from outside France) 07 77 94 00 47 (local)

VIEWING BY APPOINTMENT ONLY

Contact the Sales Team at sales.laroseblanche@gmail.com