On the day before we left for France, we received a urgent email asking us to phone the Emigration Fair representative for Lunde, Norway with whom we'd discussed a possible live/work opportunity (see this blog posting for the whole story). Apparently, the three other couples they'd been working with had dropped out for various reasons and now they wanted to offer us the chance.
We had a long telephone conversation and several detailed emails in Dutch (the representative is a Dutch expat) discussing the somewhat unconventional business arrangement being offered by a Foundation. In greatly simplified terms, the bottom line was that we would run the hostel as owners, using our own money to make interior improvements and keeping all profits but paying rent to the Foundation, which owns the building. That sounded great...jumping in on a going-concern that was managing to provide a reasonable income with only summer guests and minimal effort. An additional plus-point was that the municipality was enthusiastic about getting new blood into the business who would expand the offerings to guided tours, winter cross-country skiing holidays, etc.
There was a catch, though. The previous owner-managers had put 100,000 euros into building improvements and wanted to be reimbursed by the new owner-managers. We couldn't understand why the Foundation wasn't responsible for repaying and how it made sense to pass this debt on to us and the representative we were working with couldn't explain it sufficiently.
Here is the website for the hostel: Lunde Hostel
It's in a lovely location and looks like it's in good condition. Additionally, as it was originally a home for elderly people, each room has a kitchenette and bath and there are no bunkrooms - so it's more like a ComfortSuites than a hostel. We could do a lot with proper marketing and websites, even if it required mastering Norwegian.
After a week of cogitation, making lists of pros and cons, stressing, contemplating travel costs from Toulouse to Oslo and, in the end, enjoying our time in La Belle France, we informed our contact that we are going to pin our hopes of finding our dream place in the Pyrenees. I don't think she was too happy with us as we haven't heard back from her but if this sounds like your dream future, let us know and we'll get you in contact!
Showing posts with label Emigration fair. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Emigration fair. Show all posts
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Monday, March 01, 2010
Emigration Fair
Back in Holland, we attended the annual emigration fair. Such an event sounds a little strange, but the Dutch love to travel and so many decide to leave their little country for good, that there´s always a big attendance.
We were already planning on going to mid-southern France next but thought we might take a peek at what other countries had on offer. The exhibition halls were full of stalls representing various countries, housing developments, moving companies, insurances and other services. We had been warned to watch out for the Finns. Michiel´s sister told us that in the past, they were so eager to have Dutch people re-populate the emptying small villages that if you passed by their stall, they´d nearly grab you and pull you in for a conversation. This year, the torch had apparently been handed over to the Swedes, who stepped into the aisle, looked Michiel in the face and said "would you like to live in Sweden?" We escaped quickly. I´m sure Sweden is beautiful but we are looking for a place with a climate less like Alaska´s.
If that´s the case, why did we stop in at the Norwegian stall? Was it because we´ve been watching a silly reality program with famous Dutch and Flemish TV stars competing against each other to reach 71 degrees latitude in Norway? Well....not really....but we DO love Alaska and really miss the nature, the long summer days, the wilderness and the space. We also have a feeling that in terms of culture and mentality, the Norwegians are probably more of what we´re looking for than small-town Frenchmen or Spaniards. But to choose to live in one of the most expensive countries in the world and learn a difficult language that is spoken by only 5 million people and has NO official spoken form (meaning everyone speaks a local dialect) is a little nuts. However, it was hard to deny the very upbeat, energetic young Dutch woman staffing the stall, whose sole job is to encourage and assist Dutch people in moving to and getting started in a region of Norway called Telemark (where that type of skiing originates). To make our resistance even weaker, she enticed us with a seemingly perfect opportunity - running an operational hostel with a view to increasing appeal to foreigners and adding guided tours and other extras. It sounded right up our alley. Sadly, the business owner was already in discussions with 2 other couples who had started to learn Norwegian. Easy come - easy go.
Elsewhere at the fair, the Massif Central area of France was very well represented and had an impressive offer for people looking to relocate there. They have a dedicated English-speaking representative who can assist matching up businesses for sale with appropriate buyers. They also offer free lodging and financial assistance to people who are coming to the region to seriously look for homes or businesses to buy. We took copies of the abundant literature available on the region and noted down web addresses, etc. so that when we head off to our first host in France, we´ll know what´s available and where we should focus our energies.
We were already planning on going to mid-southern France next but thought we might take a peek at what other countries had on offer. The exhibition halls were full of stalls representing various countries, housing developments, moving companies, insurances and other services. We had been warned to watch out for the Finns. Michiel´s sister told us that in the past, they were so eager to have Dutch people re-populate the emptying small villages that if you passed by their stall, they´d nearly grab you and pull you in for a conversation. This year, the torch had apparently been handed over to the Swedes, who stepped into the aisle, looked Michiel in the face and said "would you like to live in Sweden?" We escaped quickly. I´m sure Sweden is beautiful but we are looking for a place with a climate less like Alaska´s.
If that´s the case, why did we stop in at the Norwegian stall? Was it because we´ve been watching a silly reality program with famous Dutch and Flemish TV stars competing against each other to reach 71 degrees latitude in Norway? Well....not really....but we DO love Alaska and really miss the nature, the long summer days, the wilderness and the space. We also have a feeling that in terms of culture and mentality, the Norwegians are probably more of what we´re looking for than small-town Frenchmen or Spaniards. But to choose to live in one of the most expensive countries in the world and learn a difficult language that is spoken by only 5 million people and has NO official spoken form (meaning everyone speaks a local dialect) is a little nuts. However, it was hard to deny the very upbeat, energetic young Dutch woman staffing the stall, whose sole job is to encourage and assist Dutch people in moving to and getting started in a region of Norway called Telemark (where that type of skiing originates). To make our resistance even weaker, she enticed us with a seemingly perfect opportunity - running an operational hostel with a view to increasing appeal to foreigners and adding guided tours and other extras. It sounded right up our alley. Sadly, the business owner was already in discussions with 2 other couples who had started to learn Norwegian. Easy come - easy go.
Elsewhere at the fair, the Massif Central area of France was very well represented and had an impressive offer for people looking to relocate there. They have a dedicated English-speaking representative who can assist matching up businesses for sale with appropriate buyers. They also offer free lodging and financial assistance to people who are coming to the region to seriously look for homes or businesses to buy. We took copies of the abundant literature available on the region and noted down web addresses, etc. so that when we head off to our first host in France, we´ll know what´s available and where we should focus our energies.
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