Jennifer McGuire and Kat McAfee They wanted to retire but quickly realized they couldn’t afford it.
“I realized I wasn’t going to have a decent quality of life living off my Social Security benefits,” McAfee said. “I still had a mortgage and no savings or investments.”
As of 2020, Maguire, 72, was working as a cataloger at an auction house, and McAfee, 69, was on disability, so their funds were limited.
Mortgage for a 4 bedroom house Beacon, New Yorkwas $1,500 per month.
McGuire was paying an extra $475 a month to commute to her job on Long Island, and she also paid an extra $600 each winter to heat her poorly insulated home.
So they decided to move somewhere cheaper, but, like many Americans, they found their options limited.
“We found that no part of the country could afford a decent home where we could enjoy living,” McAfee said.
Although parts of the South seemed affordable, the sisters felt it was not a good fit for them culturally or politically.
That’s when they started thinking about living abroad, eventually arriving across the ocean in France’s Dordogne region, where they live comfortably on a combined income of $44,000 a year, far less than needed in most of the United States.
Now they’re sharing how they did it and the lessons they learned along the way — information they’re eager to share with others who want to follow in their footsteps.
Lesson 1: Explore a wide range of possibilities
Before landing in France, the sisters looked into popular American retirement destinations — Mexico, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain and Portugal — but none of them captured their hearts. They also considered buying a $1 home in need of repairs that was for sale in Italy.
“We realized it was going to be a nightmare to renovate,” McAfee said.
Then Maguire was reminded of a trip he had made to the Dordogne many years ago.
She has fond memories of its numerous castles, stunning scenery, rustic stone houses and polite locals. Nestled between the Loire Valley and the Pyrenees, the region is famous for its Roman ruins, medieval towns and the prehistoric cave paintings of the Vézère Valley.
Additionally, as these homebuyers perused online real estate listings, they discovered they could purchase larger homes there for less than in many other places.
They learned that it can be tough to convince banks to provide mortgages to foreign buyers, but luckily they had no trouble selling their New York home, which sold for $315,000 just two weeks after it was listed — $171,000 more than they paid in 2013.
This gave them a profit of $97,000 (€90,000) to fund the purchase of a home in France without the need for outside financing.
Lesson 2: Find a reliable real estate agent
After looking at hundreds of homes online, Maguire found a beautiful Périgord stone home with a terracotta tile roof that featured two large bedrooms, a two-story living room, an eat-in kitchen, a utility room, two half baths, a shower and powder room, a garage, and a large yard.
The house was likely at least 150 years old, appeared to be in perfect condition, and, even better, was fully furnished (to save on shipping costs, the sisters wanted to sell all of their larger possessions before moving).
The property’s real estate agent, Irish-born Emer Kelly, of British-owned estate agency Leggett Immobilier, quickly responded to the sisters’ email.
The house was asked for €89,000, near the top of Messrs. McAfee and McGuire’s budget, and in France the sale price included the fee of a government-appointed lawyer called a “notary,” who charges a 10 percent commission.
The sisters also decided to hire a local British surveyor to inspect the condition of the house.
The cost was about $972, but “it was worth it for the peace of mind,” McAfee said. Because of the pandemic, they can’t visit the home in person.
After inspectors found nothing egregious, they offered 82,000 euros (about $88,000) plus another 2,500 euros for the furniture.
Offer accepted.
Lesson 3: Research Country Residency Requirements
According to migration data compiled by Migration Experts, 12,220 Americans moved to France in 2022, the year the sisters moved overseas. Hire a helper, It is the third most popular country for American expatriates after the UK and Mexico.
But moving overseas comes with a host of practical issues that the sisters had to deal with before leaving the U.S., including obtaining visas and figuring out how to transport their seven cats.
The first step was to apply for a one-year “Carte de Sejour Temporaire” visa: the sisters needed to prove they had enough funds to live in the country without working, which they could do with social security payments.
The visa had to be renewed annually for five years, after which they could apply for a residence card, and they also had to prove they had residency and private health insurance.
They hired a visa service to facilitate the process, which took about three months.
“There was a lot of paperwork to sort through, but it was just a matter of going through the checklist and being patient,” McGuire said.
They maintained a U.S. bank account to pay their Social Security contributions, but opened a de facto French bank account while living in New York: Their real estate agent introduced them to an English-speaking banker at Credit Agricole, a major French bank.
Yet their patience in opening overseas bank accounts was sorely tested.
Their bankers were often on holiday or out to lunch, two things that are “sacrosanct” in France, McGuire said, noting that bankers would often “get up at 4 or 5 a.m. to call people before going to lunch.”
They also worked to get the home’s water and electricity into their name and to set up internet and landline phone service.
Although the sisters could not speak any more French than they had learned in high school classes, they began taking weekly French lessons.
Lesson 4: It’s possible to transport pets internationally, but you need help
Then there was the not-so-small problem of seven cats. After exploring many options, they hired The Ark, a pet relocation service at JFK, which handled all the paperwork, vet visits, flights and liaison with a pet relocation company in France. It cost $10,000, but it was well worth it.
“We couldn’t have done it all on our own,” McGuire said.
Due to a flight delay, the sisters panicked when they realized their pets would arrive home before them. Luckily, an employee from the French liaison company found the house key hidden in the garage and was able to bring the cats to their new home.
With so many moving parts to the adventure, Maguire admits he was nervous: “It was scary!”
Lesson 5: Be prepared for surprises and challenges
Fifteen months after the sisters made an offer on their new home, they saw it in person for the first time.
To my surprise, the house looked just as it did in the lengthy video the real estate agent sent me.
“If anything, it felt a lot bigger than I expected,” McGuire said. “There was a lot more stuff than I expected, like tools, hardware, closets full of cleaning supplies.”
The local residents were welcoming.
“It was so nice and quiet,” McGuire said.
Their representatives were making sure the water was running and inviting cable and telephone installers.
“Our experience would have been very different without a real estate agent like Emer,” Maguire says.
But the big problem was getting a driver’s license. It took McAfee five months to pass the written test (in French). If you’re thinking of moving to France, the pair recommend getting your driver’s license there. States with reciprocal agreements Work with the state. Many states are doing so, but New York is not one of them.
But overall, the sisters were pleased to find that many things are cheaper in France than in the United States.
For example, medical and veterinary costs in France are “incredibly cheap,” Maguire says.
They have private health insurance, which costs them $600 a month for the two of them, and even without insurance, a doctor’s visit would cost just 25 euros.
I’ve found that most things are cheaper in France, from housing to haircuts. But groceries are about the same and gas is expensive. What’s one thing that’s not only cheaper but also better? Wine, of course!
“As long as you don’t drink too much and drive you’ll be fine,” Maguire jokes.
Making a big move so late in life isn’t for everyone, but it was a perfect fit for the sisters, who each had a free-spirited sense of adventure, a high tolerance for risk, and the ability to rely on each other.
“We have a lot of trust in each other’s ideas and we support each other fully,” McGuire says, “and that gives us courage that we wouldn’t have if we were trying to do this alone.”
McAfee has two grown children but no grandchildren, while Maguire doesn’t have any, which she said made the decision easier.
“I know people who would never want to move that far away from their grandchildren,” Maguire said.
But she warns that international moves aren’t for everyone, especially those who crave routine and a sense of control.
“It’s hard for people our age to learn a new language well enough to not get annoyed at speaking like a child,” Maguire says. “You have to embrace a different culture and be prepared for everything to be different than you’re used to.”
Two years later, France feels more like home to the sisters, and while they don’t plan on moving to the U.S. permanently, there’s no denying they may move elsewhere.
“We live in the most beautiful place in the world,” McGuire says. “It’s clean, green, medieval and sparsely populated. The area is known as the Land of a Thousand Castles. We love castles. What better place for us to live?”
