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Canadians invade France and start buying real estate

Following in the footsteps of their British cousins, Canadians are buying up vacation property in France in droves.

They are mostly aging and affluent and don't mind flying thousands of miles to bask under the French sun.

Taking advantage of e-mail and Internet armchair shopping, they are buying up old farmhouses in Provence, town houses in Languedoc-Roussillon, and even small castles in Midi-Pyrenees, as easily as they might buy property in the picturesque British Columbian interior or Gulf Islands.

Predictably, they say they are drawn to the charm of the French countryside by the local foods and wines, beautiful centuries-old buildings and enlightened French attitudes or the joie de vivre.

But mostly, they are attracted by real estate that is cheap compared with close-to-home property.

"There is so much history and culture in France compared to Canada because it's so much older," said Sheila Rambeau, who over the Christmas holidays was engaged to be married in France bid on property near Bergerac the following day.

"I love exploring all the little villages. I love cooking too. I could go to a market every day," she said. "It's certainly cheaper than if we bought a place on the west coast of Canada."

She said the rent on her apartment in Vancouver's downtown Coal Harbor district is higher than the mortgage payment on her French retreat.

She concedes that comparably priced vacation properties can be found in Canada, but notes rural towns here are widely dispersed. In contrast to the closely clustered villages in France, rural residents in Canada are often isolated, often requiring long drives to visit the nearest neighbor.

The proximity of towns in France offers vacationers more shopping and dining opportunities without going to a large city, said Rambeau.

Also, it is hard to compare these properties to Canadian real estate because there are no 400-year-old farmhouses in western Canada, said Anne Marie Lawrence, a Vancouverite who organized a social club for Canadians who vacation regularly in France to swap stories.

British Columbia "is beautiful, but France has a long history ... When I stand where all those people have been, a tingle goes up my spine," she said.

Her club has grown to 100 members in eight years, and next month French Consul-General Jean-Yves Defay will be a guest speaker.

"It is a very diverse group, persons from different sectors of life," Defay said. "When you're Canadian, you go from Vancouver to Montreal. It doesn't take much longer to go to Paris. And it's sometimes less expensive to fly to Europe than across Canada."

"It's an alternative to Palm Springs [California]," said Alex Kerr, a 56-year-old publicist who bought a 300-year-old renovated barn near Carcassonne two years ago.

Paul Deggan, a 71-year-old artist from Bowen Island, British Columbia with a keen interest in French painters, bought a farm in Auvergne on the edge of a medieval village and turned it into an art center offering summer workshops.

He sees Canadians moving in where young French people are leaving, causing some to grumble that villages are being taken over by vacationers, but he's not concerned.

"The young French in Auvergne are leaving because it offers no challenges for the future in view of the sort of education they're getting these days," said Deggan. "They don't all want to be farmers."

Some say the trend is fleeting, however. Already, some regions have become too pricey. France's high-speed trains are creating more domestic commuters, and the strengthening euro is threatening to curb transatlantic travel.

"I've seen prices go up significantly in recent years," said Linda Alexander, who hopes to buy soon in France. "I don't think there are a lot of bargains anymore, but prices are still reasonable."
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