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Sarah DiLorenzo / AP
The village of Saint Nicolas Courbefy, in Limousin, France, on Feb. 28, 2012. The entire hamlet was put up for sale with an asking price of just $400,000, the cost of a studio apartment in Paris.
Sarah DiLorenzo / AP
The village swimming pool could perhaps do with a spring clean.
The Associated Press reports from Courbefy, France — The village of Courbefy has rustic buildings with fireplaces and exposed beams, a horse stable, a tennis court and a swimming pool.
Sound nice? It's for sale.
The saga of the abandoned hamlet is a story of flight from rural France, bad economic times and real estate schemes gone awry. It's turned the mayor of the village next door into a minor celebrity whose office fields inquiries from places as far flung as Qatar and China.
The village in Limousin, about 280 miles southwest of Paris, was put on the block last week because its latest owners, who had run it as a luxury hotel and restaurant, had long stopped paying their mortgage.
The entire hamlet — with more than a dozen buildings — carried an asking price of just €300,000 ($400,000) — about the cost of a studio apartment in Paris.
Take an aerial tour of the village or continue reading the tale of its rise and fall.
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I am buying !!!
If you can afford it, it sounds like a great place to retire. You could even provide properties for friends and family.
a great way to launder money is through a hotel, i am sure someone will put it to good use.
What more could anyone want? A part of France without the French. And as a bonus it doesn't appear to come pre-equipped with the standard white flag.
haha
You might want to notice that France was about the only country that wasn't bombed to smithereens in WWII.
And it was the French Resistance and their intelligence network that allowed the D-Day Invasion to occur.
.
I'm proud to have known a member of the Maqui.
US1776, and you don't see the irony in:
Why do you think that was? I think you just proved my point.
Anyways, my comment was meant as a sarcastic tongue in cheek joke from someone who lived in France at one point as a youngster.
As for the Resistance comment, there were plenty of brave people in other occupied European nations working to combat the Nazi's.
US1776, look at the BIG picture for france. Their uniforms should be made entirely out of white.
Does it come with a few copies of Julia Child's cook books
But of course ma cherie!
I love France and the people living there.
so do the french
White flag? Same color as used by those at Corrigdor?
You know the French fought like dogs in WWI losing half their men to that war. And we'd still be a British colony without the help of the French.
It never fails; there is always someone making a stupid comment hoping they sound like they know what the're talking about. Obviously, this clown doesn't!
Bob, before you laud the French too much:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/oscars/9115947/911-joke-in-Jean-Dujardin-film-cut-so-he-could-win-Oscar-for-The-Artist.html
Seems 9/11 is a pretty amusing topic to quite a few of them.
The French of WWI were very different from the French of WWII and REALLY more different then the French of today. "I surrender" is in the French national anthem.
And as far as buying this little village, I wouldn't spend a nickel in France. These are people who have yet to adopt the concept of daily bathing.
Who owns it CITI BANK. Short sale.
BRIGADOON!!
Did you see the movie .. MONEY PIT with Chevy Chase?
This hamlet (and that is exactly what it is) is in a horrible part of France. Not able to grow garpes for wineries; not able to support cattle or sheep; no industry to support workers; no traffic to support tourism; just nothing.
If you're looking for solitutde in a French speaking nation .. and you have money for a money pit, this is the place for you.
Money Pit was with Tom Hanks.
It's cute and at a good price, and with some restoration and clean up, it could be used as villas for tourists that come to visit that part of France.
The best relief I can offer myself after wading through the morass of ignorance and stereotyping in the above is the sad truth that there are just as many stupid Frenchmen with equally mind-numbing and cliché'd notions regarding Americans. We'll never wipe out ignorance, will we, when SO many people cling to theirs so desperately.
Mike, you hit the nail on the head!
seems nice. Wish I had the money. That part of France is quite nice as well: sweet kind old folks, farmers, cattle ranchers, and very nice roast meat dishes.
There are some angry folks here on this article. I think if they visited they would see that they are wrong. France really is a very nice place to be.
When will the U.S. forget the past and move forward? It seems never. We are sorry that you hate us. We don't hate you. We'd be happy to have you visit us and see that we honestly love America and Americans!
And, as for surrendering, we have a very long a rich military tradition and have many troops in Afghanistan. Not as many as you but remember we are a very very small country.
There are 50 cities in the U.S. 100 times larger than Paris. The GDP of the U.S. is 1000 times bigger than France. Even Texas has a larger GDP than France!
So, keep that in mind when you make comparisons! The reason we "surrender' as you call it so often is that we are very small country with 5 enemies surrounding us historically. So, we have had to learn how to compromise (surrender as you call it). However, in the hundreds of wars in the past 1000 years we've not lost any territory nor have we lost our culture or language. That is more than most countries our size can say!
Proud to be French. Vive la France!
Well done Laura! The French often have a reputation for being rude and condescending, but your post was anything but. More than I can say for some of my rude, angry, know-it-all countrymen...
I've been to France twice with my wife. Both times we had a great time. Once drove a van from Brussels (Belgium) to Paris. Fun! Good food, wine and people, beautiful country. Everything is small- bathrooms, rooms, beds, cars (and I'm not one of those big fat Americans)... Except the Eiffel Tower, it's friggin HUGE!
Remember, the French helped the USA gain it's independence from England!
The only time they really "lost" territory was Normandy, but that was over 1000 years ago- they had to "compromise" with the Vikings who settled there and became "Normen". Then they conquered England in 1066 (after a Viking invasion made England weak), good show!
Chris-65 read history the frogs have lost more than that. In fact the most embarrassing loss for the frogs is with Henry 5th of England and the Battle of Agincourt. Also our involvement in Vietnam was because the frogs could not hold that country. As for helping us out in revolutionary war was after we started beating the British and was winning the war. France has even lost Mexico.
Not for sale anymore, I just bought it for $390,000.
My family visited France last year and had a great time. The culture, history, food & people were all wonderful. They said it was one of the best times of their lives and are planning to go again.
If you're-hell a top twenty percenter this is no money.To me,a mountain
Ah yes...the French...the same folks who let the Germans march in and take over their countrty not once but twice virtually without firing a shot.
and finally, no HOA :)
I like the French but I wouldn't put more than 100K in that pile of rock and a hole in the ground. tourism is the only revenue for that kind of place and we all know how that is doing lately.
And Paul, no HOA but compliance with historical monuments in renovation and permits, little to no insulation, no AC, etc,... Pioneer life 1870s.
Way better than HOA.
Atleast when you're in compliance with historical buildings, they have rules and regulations that make sense.
Can you buy it and declare independence. You would not have to worry about the French army.
What a DUMP