Shopping for a second home is like shopping for anything else these days -- cars, computers, men -- the first stop is your laptop. When I started looking for a home abroad, I began my search a little closer to my full-time home in Texas. I researched real estate in Mexico, Costa Rica, Belize, Honduras, Panama (which has been terribly clever in its policies and marketing to American retirees) and further south. It quickly became clear that the more affluent members of the Baby Boom generation have driven the cost of real estate in the Western Hemisphere sky high. The most desirable cities in Mexico are quickly becoming like Palo Alto -- teeming with rich immigrants who drive the cost of housing higher than locals can afford. So one night, while researching pricey homes in a Managua suburbs, the question hit me: "Are homes in France as pricey as these?" They weren't. French real estate, for a variety of reasons, is a relative bargain.
Roughly 95 percent of all French residential real estate is online. Some of the real estate sites have not quite mastered slick, American-style marketing -- there are pictures of mops leaning against dining tables, of the disembodied hand or foot in a shot of the kitchen -- but many of the real estate (immobilier) Web sites are quite good. And there are a great many sites, like FrenchEntree.com that provide general guidance.
Although I read French, most of the Websites are fully or partially in English. And a few are really lovely. You can spend an evening wandering virtually through the Dordogne, exploring villages and peeking inside bedrooms and gardens. Then the next night you can tour the Gard, visiting homes in villages or in the country. There's a lot to see -- and you can do it all in your pajamas with a nice glass of Chateauneuf du Pape.
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