“We saw that living on our combined Social Security benefits would not allow us to have a decent quality of life,” says McAfee. “We still had a mortgage and no savings or investments.”
At that time in 2020, McGuire, 72, was working as a cataloger at an auction house, while McAfee, 69, was on disability. As such, their funds were limited.
The mortgage on their four-bedroom house in Beacon, NY , was $1,500 per month.
McGuire spent an extra $475 monthly to commute to her job on Long Island, and they also coughed up $600 a month to heat their poorly insulated house each winter.
So they decided to move somewhere cheaper—yet, like many Americans, realized that their options were limited.
“We saw that we could not afford a decent home in any areas of the U.S. that we would enjoy living in,” says McAfee.
Sisters Jennifer McGuire and Kat McAfee couldn’t afford to retire comfortably in New York, so they decided to relocate to Dordogne, France. Shutterstock
While parts of the South seemed affordable, the sisters didn’t feel this would be a good cultural or political fit for them.
That’s when they began looking into living abroad—and ended up across the ocean in Dordogne, France. There, the pair live comfortably on a combined $44,000 annual income—far less than they would need in most areas of the US.
Now, they’re sharing how they pulled it off, along with the lessons they learned along the way. It’s information they want to share with others who hope to follow in their footsteps.
Lesson No. 1: Cast a wide net on potential areas
Before ending up in France, the sisters researched the more popular countries where Americans retire—Mexico, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain, and Portugal. But none captured their hearts. They even looked into buying a $1 fixer-upper they’d seen for sale in Italy.
“We realized trying to do renovations would be a nightmare,” says McAfee.
Eventually, McGuire remembered Dordogne, an area she had visited years before.
She had pleasant memories of its many castles, spectacular scenery, rustic stone houses, and polite locals. Situated between the Loire Valley and Pyrenees mountains, the area is famous for its Roman ruins, medieval towns, and prehistoric cave paintings in the Vézère Valley.
Additionally, these home shoppers noticed while perusing real estate listings online that they could buy a large home more cheaply there than in a lot of other places.
They learned that persuading a bank to give foreign buyers a mortgage could be challenging. Luckily, though, they had no trouble offloading their New York house, which sold a mere two weeks after it was listed for $315,000—$171,000 more than they paid for it in 2013.
This netted them a profit of $97,000 (or 90,000 euros) to fund a home purchase in France without needing outside financing.
Lesson No. 2: Find a real estate agent you trust
After looking at hundreds of houses online, McGuire ran across a beautiful, Perigord-stone house with a terra cotta-tiled roof. It had two big bedrooms, a split-level living room, an eat-in kitchen, a utility room, two half-baths, a shower and powder room, a garage, and a large garden.
The house was thought to be at least 150 years old. It looked to be in perfect condition and, even better, it came fully furnished. (To save on shipping costs, the sisters hoped to sell all of their large possessions before moving.)
The property’s Irish-born listing agent, Emer Kelly, of Leggett Immobilier—a British-owned real estate company— immediately returned the sisters’ email.
The sisters are able to live comfortably on a combined $44,000 annual income in France. Shutterstock
The house was listed for 89,000 euros, which was near the top of McAffee and McGuire’s budget. Plus, in France, the sale price includes a “notaire”—a government-appointed lawyer who takes 10%.
The sisters also decided to hire a local British surveyor who would check out the condition of the house.
The cost was approximately $972, but “worth it for our peace of mind,” says McAfee. They would not be able to visit the house in person due to the pandemic.
After the surveyor didn’t uncover anything terrible, they made an offer of 82,000 euros (approximately $88,000) and an extra 2,500 euros for the furnishings.
Offer accepted.
Lesson No. 3: Study a country’s residency requirements
In 2022—the year the sisters moved abroad—12,220 other Americans moved to France, according to immigration numbers crunched by relocation expert Hire-A-Helper, making it the third most popular country for American expats, behind the United Kingdom and Mexico.
Yet moving abroad involves a myriad of practical matters which the sisters had to deal with before leaving the US: getting visas and figuring out how to move their seven cats.
The first stop was applying for one-year “Carte de Sejour Temporaire” visas. The sisters had to prove they had enough money to reside in the country without working, which they were able to do with their social security benefits.
The visas need to be renewed every year for five years. After that, they can apply for a residency card. They also had to show they had a place to live and private health insurance.
To facilitate the process, which took about three months, they hired a visa service.
“There was a lot of paperwork to organize, but you just have to go through the checklist and be patient,” says McGuire.
They kept their US bank accounts for their Social Security payments but opened a French bank account virtually while they still lived in New York. Their real estate agent hooked them up with an English-speaking banker at Credit Agricole, a major French bank.
Even so, their patience with opening a foreign bank account was sorely tested.
Their banker was often on vacation or out to lunch, two things that are “sacred” in France, says McGuire, noting that they often “got up at 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. to telephone people before they went to lunch.”
They also worked to get the home’s water and electricity in their names and set up Internet and landline service.
And while the sisters didn’t speak French beyond what they learned from a high school class, they started taking weekly French lessons.
Lesson No. 4: Moving pets abroad is possible—with help
Then, there was the not-so-small matter of their seven felines. After considering many options, they hired the pet-relocation service The Ark at JFK, which handled all the paperwork, required vet visits, flights, and liaisons with a pet-moving company in France. The cost was $10,000 but worth every penny.
“It would have been impossible for us to do all this ourselves,” says McGuire.
When their flight was delayed, the sisters panicked after they realized their fur babies would arrive at the house before they did. Fortunately, an employee of the liaison company in France located the house key hidden in the garage and was able to bring the cats into their new home.
Given the amount of moving parts in this adventure, McGuire admits they were nervous: “It was terrifying!”
Lesson No. 5: Prepare for some surprises—and challenges
Fifteen months after the sisters put in an offer on their new house, they saw the place in person for the first time.
To their delight, the house looked just as it did in the extensive videos their real estate agent had sent them.
“If anything, it felt much bigger than I expected,” says McGuire. “There was a lot more stuff than I realized, like closets full of tools, hardware, and cleaning supplies.”
As for the neighborhood, the residents were welcoming.
Their agent had even made sure the water was turned on and had let in the cable and phone installers.
“Without a real estate agent like Emer, we would have had a very different experience,” McGuire says.
But a major snag was getting a driver’s license. It took McAfee five months to pass the written portion of the test (in French). If you’re thinking about moving to France, the pair recommend getting a driver’s license in a state that has a reciprocal agreement with the country. Many states do, but New York was not one of them.
Yet overall, the sisters were pleased to discover that many things in France are cheaper than in the US.
Health and veterinary care in France, for instance, are “ridiculously cheap,” says McGuire.
The pair use private health insurance, which costs $600 a month for both of them. Even without it, doctor visits are only 25 euros.
They found that most things in France are cheaper, from houses to haircuts. But groceries are about the same, and gas is more expensive. One thing that is not only cheaper but better? Wine, of course!
“So long as you drink a lot and don’t drive, you will be fine,” McGuire jokes.
A huge move later in life isn’t for everyone; but for the sisters, it was a great fit. They each have a freewheeling sense of adventure, a high tolerance for risk, and each other to lean on.
“We have a lot of faith in each other’s ideas, and we support each other completely,” says McGuire. “That does give you courage that you would not have if you were trying to do something like this by yourself.”
While McAfee has two adult children and no grandchildren, McGuire has neither. She says that made the decision easier for them.
“I know people who would never move so far from their grandchildren,” McGuire says.
But she warns that an international move isn’t for everyone, especially those who require routine or feeling in control.
“Learning a new language well enough to not get frustrated at sounding like a child is a big task for people our age,” McGuire says. “You have to accept a different culture and expect that everything will be different from what you’re used to.”
Two years in, France feels more like home for the sisters. They have no plans to ever return to the US permanently, though they might move somewhere else.
“Where we live is the most beautiful place in the world,” McGuire muses. “It is clean, green, medieval, and sparsely populated. The area is called the Land of a Thousand Castles. We love castles. So what better place for us to live?”
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