LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP


Martin Faiers describes an innovative way of ensuring that your lifestyle in France meets your expectations.

Relocating overseas is an exciting prospect but it is easy to get carried away with planning your new home in the sun and to underestimate the many practical, emotional and personal challenges involved in exchanging familiar friends family and surroundings for a new culture and way of life.

After all, deciding to move permanently from one country to another is probably one of the biggest life changes anyone will make, and as the marriage ceremony memorably states, not to be entered into lightly.

Experience of people who have already relocated confirms the importance of spending as much time in planning these vital lifestyle elements as choosing your bricks and mortar. This will help to ensure that you achieve what you really want, and can save a great deal of time and hassle in the process.

So how does one go about planning for the more personal aspects of making a successful move and giving yourself the strongest chance that you will be celebrating your move several years down the line as you sit enjoying a glass of bubbly on your verandah a la France?

As a professional coach helping people manage successful career, business and other life changes - including relocation – I have found a systematic approach to be often helpful provided, crucially, that this is flexibly tailored to the varying needs of individuals.

Based on this experience I have developed a simple but effective relocation planning checklist which I call MORE – standing for Motivation, Opportunity, Reality, and
Exploration. Taken together these stages will allow you to establish what you are really expecting from your future life and then move you logically into the later stages of practical planning.


Motives



Firstly, spend some time being clear with yourself about your reasons for wishing to move to France identifying as many factors as are relevant. You may find it helpful at this stage to write things out on a large sheet of paper which will give you the chance to contrast and compare things visually. It is also useful to share this process with anyone else who will be relocating with you to ensure that your motives are lined up.

You will probably find that your motives are likely to fall into one of two categories. These will either be stated as reasons for leaving England or, alternatively, positive reasons for living in France. Avoidance of crime, overcrowding, traffic jams; job dissatisfaction are examples of the first category, whilst quality of life, space, and the weather of the second.

The trick here (particularly if you end up with a long list of negatives) is to convert all these into positive reasons for living in France. For example, if avoiding British traffic jams features in your list, you could re-state this as the opportunity to live in a less congested environment.

As well as increasing the feel good factor around your proposed move, stating things in the positive will also have practical implications later in your planning schedule – avoiding relocation to Paris or Marseilles for example.

When you have arrived at a good list of positive motives for living in France you are ready to build on this at the next stage.

Opportunity



At this point you are ready to build a robust picture of what life will be like in France
thus beginning the crucial process of turning your dreams into real opportunities.

Take each of your positive reasons for moving to France, as already identified, and ask yourself what this will mean in practice, and why it is important to you? Try and be as specific as you can as you will be well rewarded later for time spent at this stage.

If, for example one of your motives is achieving increased leisure time try to identify how specifically you will use this time in ways that will give you the most satisfaction.

It may be that one of your interests is golf and you intend to use your new life in France to spend more time on the course. That will be fine provided that it really is a passion, and you will really will enjoy that extra time - not always the case when we have unlimited time to spend on hobbies. If not try and find some other leisure activities to add to your list.

Also, it is wise to discuss these matters with your nearest and dearest as their toleration of weekend golfing may pall when it turns into a five day a week absence.

When you have worked through all your reasons for moving to France in this way, including any vital business or income aspects, consider the big picture and whether all these elements are likely to fit together like a well constructed rubic cube.

This is sometimes far from straightforward and you may find that you are heading for too much time on your hands or alternatively overloaded with too many activities for a comfortable life. Perhaps your passion for golf, or whatever else takes your fancy, may have to be trimmed at least in the short time to spend time developing your work or business or to renovating your property.

Reality



Now that you have mapped out what you really require from your new life, it is time to take stock of how near you are in reality to achieving it and equally important what you now have to do.

Although everyone is different, things to consider are:

* What do you already know (or not know) about your future way of life. Do you understand , French culture, health, and work opportunities (if relevant)
* More specifically how much research have you undertaken on how your lifestyle
requirements can be met in France, with particular reference to any geographical
areas you have shortlisted.
* Have you considered what you will be giving up on leaving England? How will you maintain any important links with friends and family when you are abroad?
* On a personal level, how flexible are you and able to cope with the adjustments
you will have to make in France? How have you weathered any other important
changes in your life in the past?
* What are your communication needs? Do you speak passable French? If not how
important will this be in your new life, or will you be happy to spend most of your
time in an expat community?

Explore.



This is the action packed part of the process where you will be putting in place the building blocks to achieve your future life. You will find this so much easier now that you know what you really want and need to do.

In exploring the reality of your situation you may have discovered essential gaps in your knowledge that needs reading and research. There are now countless books available on almost every aspect of relocation you can imagine plus, of course, invaluable advice, information and professional services on the pages of French Property News.

If you haven’t already done so perhaps you should consider detailed visits to your chosen area(s) in France with your lifestyle, health and business requirements a clear priority here alongside property matters.

If all this seems a bit overwhelming why not consider engaging the services of a professional relocation coach? This can provide you with a skilled and objective person to help you identify what you really want, explore and plan your options, and timetable your move in the most efficient way possible. Very importantly do make sure that you engage someone who is qualified, accredited and experienced in matters relating to French relocation.

Finally do enjoy your planning and even more importantly your time in France.

For a limited period Martin Faiers is offering the first few clients from Leapfrog Properties to use his service absolutely free of charge. This service normally costs around £400 so if you are interested don't delay in contacting him and register yourself with his unique service.


Martin Faiers is director of Martin Faiers Associates which offers a specialist personal relocation planning service.
0208 649 8281
www.martinfaiers.co.uk