sprogster

Just to add that I have an EU passport but have never lived or worked in an EU country as an adult and therefore am not entitled under any of the EU reciprocal emergency or retiree health care agreements.

lauren_s_kahn

In the two interactions I had with French and German medical systems on trips (prior to the time I had the mess in Italy), I got a bill--which I paid. The bills were much lower than would have been expected in the US, but I got bills and I paid them. It would have been too complicated to get reimbursed by US health insurance (translation of the bills would have been required), so I never pursued that bit.

Carlux

Yes Holly, I meant income tax. Only fiscal residents are eligible for health coverage. Tourists pay TVA (VAT) and people with holiday houses pay property taxes. None of that makes them eligible for very much in France. You have to live here.

kerouac

Actually, when I brought my mother back to France after my father died, one of the things I was most worried about was health coverage -- since my mother had left France in 1945, she didn't even have a social security number. However, it turned out that she had worked as a filing clerk when she was a student in 1943 in Nancy. Within 2 months, my mother received full health coverage and a French pension of about 400€ a month. I have no idea of this was a total fluke or whether it is normal, but it was the fruit of a massive number of letters that I wrote and offices that I visited. Naturally, my mother has never paid one centime of income tax in France at any time in her life.

Carlux

Well, even if she hasn't PAID tax, she is fiscally resident. She wasnt spending 6 months a year here.

kerouac

No, but she had spent 50 years out of the country.

lauren_s_kahn

But she had a French passport--very different from StCirq's situation (limited use of a vacation place during summers). Your mother could have been grandfathered in when the whole French social security system got started. My hunch is that your mother's situation is very difficult from Americans who want to retire to France. No government wants to welcome old codgers who want to retire in a different place unless they can pay the freight themselves.

I was just in Costa Rica. Americans now own a lot of retirement residences in Central America. Tons are always for sale. Why? They go down there thinking they will live forever. Someone gets sick. Costa Rican medical care costs and they then have to sell up and move back to the US to get medical care. Unless you are really loaded, retirement abroad will be a huge hassle long term. That's why I home exchange. I go to Europe every summer. Sometimes I go off season also if I get lucky, but I have none of the hassles (aside from the occasional slob who makes a mess of my house (cleaning up when you return is part of the deal). I can also schedule the doctors for when I am at home in between trips. Some of the doctors think I am nuts when I tell them I have to do a surgery in between home exchanges, but that has happened.

Works for me. Whatever floats your boat. One advantage of home exchanging is that you can go to different places each time and not be wedded to the same place. There is a lot to see in Europe--all over and not just in France (although I was there last summer):

http://altecockertravels.weebly.com/...ance-2013.html

http://altecockertravels.weebly.com/...ance-2013.html

Further information on home exchanges can be found here:

http://altecockertravels.weebly.com/...-exchange.html

Next summer I have exchanges in Krakow and Warsaw. Why Poland? Because I have never been there.

mpprh

Some more links.

Americans in Toulouse has info on regulations for non EU citizens :
http://www.americansintoulouse.com/index.php
https://www.facebook.com/AmericansInToulouse

I know the OP wasn't looking at Toulouse!

http://cafeetconversation.com/ is an English / French language club run by US citizens who live near Montpellier. They are helpful and it may be worth contacting Joy or Leigh.

AARP have useful info for americans retiring abroad:
http://www.aarp.org/home-garden/liva...oussillon.html

Alec

There are two sides to EU citizenship. While you have full rights of EU's freedom of movement (ability to upstick and stay, live, work and retire in any EEA country), you are subject to full domestic immigration rules in the country you are a citizen of (with one exception called Surinder Singh). So if you are, say, an Irish or British citizen, you can live in France as long as you like and take your non-EEA family member (spouse, partner, children etc) with you with a minimum of formalities. But if you are French, while you have full right of residence, your non-EEA family members need a long-stay visa or residence permit, and subject to language lessons, work restriction and adequate funds etc. The only exception (called Surinder Singh) is if you have worked in another EEA country and lived there with your family, they have the right to live in France on the same basis as family members of non-French EEA citizens.

mcburja

Well, this HAS been a lively conversation! As the OP, let me summarize what I have taken away from this thread:

1. Fodorites are marvellous - some more than others, and that's okay.

2. There's lots of research to be done before buying a house, including tax, inheritance and healthcare considerations. We will be talking to the French Consulate in Toronto at some point to make sure we understand the most recent rules and guidelines for Canadians.

3. Buying a house in France is a more localized process than buying at home. In other words, it may be more of a village by village search, rather than having one agent who can show houses in a larger area.

4. Get to a short list of locations, then find a notaire and/or the maire.

5. Identify the short list by staying in a bunch of different areas, preferably off season. We're hoping to come over in April or May this spring doing the vrbo thing, and stay in the Herault or Gard, areas in which we're not as familiar. We've stayed more in the P.O. and Aude in the past.

6. Still have no idea of what areas are best at avoiding the worst of the Mistral, Tramontane, Cers, Levant, Marin, et al!

7. Leboncoin.fr - I could waste the rest of my life just sitting in my kitchen going through the houses for sale and dreaming; I like that I can specify "piscine ou piscinable" and "en pierre" and our price range and get really relevant listings. Great recommendation, as are the many suggestions for other links, including the expat links.

To sum up - I've received more information than asked for, some of it on point, some of it not so much, but it's all good. Your generosity of time and advice is stunning and very much appreciated.