8 ms·
Consider buying a scenic French village and make into a startup/hacker haven?
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- Breefield 15y agoIf there's internet I'll move there.
- jscore 15y agodo I get French residency?
- semisight 15y agoIf I had the money...
- joshes 15y agoIt would be interesting to see a Kickstarter project devoted to this. It would need to get big fast (Friday deadline to submit an offer), and would need both the $440,000 minimum to purchase the village and ample money on top of that for renovation. It might be a hard sell for people who have no desire or ability to relocate to the village, but I am sure smarter folk than I could think of some sort of angle to generate attention to the project. Perhaps?
- ekianjo 15y agoAnd what would you offer to Kickstarter supporters? A week for free in a dead village? A brick from the 13th century church ? If people left the place there's a clear reason for that. Money is not going to bring back interest in a long-dead location. Unless you make it like a new Las Vegas.
- joshes 15y agoAdmittedly I know nothing of the regulations surrounding such a proposal, but what of some sort of revenue sharing? Donating to the project guarantees you a share in the village's revenue, where your cut is relative to your investment size? I fully understand how crazy of an idea this must sound.
- anmol 15y agoPay $1000/month for a combination of: -- reasonable short-term accommodation, e.g., high-end youth hostel type -- Shared office space e.g., Dogpatch Labs or General Assembly style -- good internet and coffee -- permission to work (visas, etc)
- nicksergeant 15y agoFor $1,000/month you can have all of that and more in basically any part of the country other than SF, NYC, L.A., etc.
- nicksergeant 15y agoAny part of the U.S., that is.
- goblin89 15y agoall of that and more —Including permission to work and visa?
- ekianjo 15y agoFor 1000 dollars a month you would probably get a much better deal in many places around the world, like in South East Asia. You'd get better weather there, too, and decent internet access. Not sure about the visa situation, though, but for sure getting a work visa in France is not easy and takes time.
- ekianjo 15y agoThis reminds me of what I saw recently about Detroit in the US. A number of houses there are up for sale at ridiculously low prices such as 500 dollars or less. When people leave, the land and property basically loses all value.
- notatoad 15y agoThe $500 houses in Detroit are a bit of a scam. You get the deed to the place and then you get hit with the property taxes. Those places are empty for a reason.
- ekianjo 15y agoHow large would be the property taxes for such houses? Is it significantly higher than in other cities/states?
- noonespecial 15y agoThe difference is that the back taxes don't fall on the previous owners, they stay with the property and keep piling up along with penalties, interest and fees. The new buyer has to pay it all. Once a property "sinks" (becomes worth less than its back taxes), its over.
- Luyt 15y agoWhat a pity! But there is still infrastructure: roads, water, electricity, telephone lines...
- aymeric 15y agoWhy would you set up this hacker haven there if you can do the same thing in a cheap but paradisiac country like Thailand or the Philippines for the same cost?
- anmol 15y agoFrench food, art and culture. (Not to take anything away from Thailand or Chile)
- saryant 15y agoAnd visa process. Good luck with that. Sure, most Westerners can enter the Schengen zone for 90 days visa-free but after that you've either got to leave for another 90 (or is it 180?) or get sponsorship of some sort. (Obviously this is a rather Amero-centric reply and doesn't apply to other EU citizens)
- aymeric 15y agoTrue. (I am French, it is hard to see these things as being motivating enough to relocate in a country-side village...). Visa is probably a favourable thing in comparison to Thailand / Philippines ...
- thibaut_barrere 15y ago(former navy officer here :-) As a dad, I am personally very happy to pay taxes in exchange for the overall infrastructure (schools, hospitals, roads, doctors, health insurance etc) and (edit) food :) (although I really dig thai food). I will probably move half-time to such a place though, once my kids have left school :)
- untog 15y ago"What's that? I'd need a visa to actually do any work there? Oh, OK, I'll just apply to the government, I'm sure the process is efficient. Oh."
- vidarh 15y agoExcept of course for the half a billion people or so that are citizens of EEA countries.
- munin 15y ago> the area is described as home to “thieves, ravers and squatters,” one local told the Le Figaro newspaper. somehow I think making it a hacker haven won't do anything to endear you with the locals ...
- ekianjo 15y agoThe first thing one'll have to hack is the security of the premises !
- derrida 15y agoSo now they will describe it as home to 'hackers, thieves, ravers and squatters' :-) If you go to Berlin, you'll discover many hackers are both also ravers and squatters. If you go to a security conference, you'll find many that are thieves. I'm sure the people hanging out there are fine. :-)
- schwa 15y agoI've been to that part of France often (my mother lived about an hour outside of Limoges). It's very beautiful. Long straight tree lined roads, sleepy little villages, fields full of sunflowers. Limoges is a good sized town with a small airport (LIG) with flights to the UK and other locations several times a day. As for a startup haven? Stranger things have happened.
- jvrossb 15y agoAwesome idea for E.U. citizens (I'm a French national, I'd be down) but there's the obvious visa issue for everyone else.
- NonEUCitizen 15y agoFor non-EU citizens: http://www.consulfrance-washington.org/spip.php?article519 http://www.consulfrance-washington.org/spip.php?article519
- rmason 15y agoOr you could buy a nice building in downtown Detroit and create a startup village for roughly the same price. Enough space people could live in the building and just take the elevator to their office. Maybe something similar to this one: http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/17455927/40-Hague-Detroit-MI/ http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/17455927/40-Hague-Detroit-MI/ Detroit already has the Madison building which is filling with VC's and their portfolio companies. http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/local/detroit-madison-theater-building-gets-an-upgrade-20120130-ms http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/local/detroit-madison-t...
- wisty 15y agoAs I understand it, these French villages are huge money sinks. You buy them, then find that French law requires you maintain them in their original condition. You can't bulldoze them and build modern buildings, and making 15th century French hamlets livable (let alone suitable as a hacker-space) isn't easy. If you love restoring old buildings, knock yourself out; but otherwise I'd be very careful. Check what the impact of heritage laws is.
- ekianjo 15y agoAnd if you dive in the French Law a little bit, you will find out it's far from being entrepreneur-friendly. You will get massively taxed on any profit, and employees' rights are so large that you could be sued if you need to cut down your resources (even if you do on pure economic grounds). Definitely not a place to build a startup. That's one of the reasons there are no high profile startups in France: there's way too many obstacles, most french people who are serious about creating one usually leave the country. Edit: oh, and I forgot that, in France, making money on your own, is very badly regarded. You would be assumed to be rich and evil, by default. (I am not inventing anything. Just check french forums/newspapers whenever there are economic news).
- thibaut_barrere 15y agoI don't know really: most people I know from various social circles see making money as rather cool (extra bonus points if you have fun while doing it). This looks like 80's way of thinking maybe :)
- ekianjo 15y agoWell that depends on your social circle then. You can check the press for yourself if you are unaware of the reputation of "patrons"or "capitalistes" in France. They hardly come under a positive light.
- koopajah 15y agoThat's a very gross approximation of what France is. And I don't see the problem with being sued when cutting down resources if you don't have to and do it only for profit. If it's the only way to save your company you can do it and the law is clear on that.
- Gmo 15y agoAs someone coming from a very small village from the French countryside (probably not too different from the one that is to sell here), it does appeal to me ... As a matter of fact, I was thinking of just that the other day, coming back in my village in a couple of years and try to start a hackers/startup/"IT" hub ... (maybe just starting with a hackathon or something similar). You could wonder who would be interested ? And how the locals would react ? Well, first, you have to imagine being in the countryside, being able to take a bike, roam in the woods, go on the river ... Then there is complete silence (like, really really silent). And of course, the food. There's also a plan (although I think it's partially on hold right now) to have fiber everywhere. And no doubt that the local administration would help with that if you have a serious projects. As for the locals, they are very friendly, the only thing they ask is that you take part in the community (for instance, buy at the local bakery or butcher). In the area I come from, there has been a steady stream of Dutch people buying secondary houses for the last 20 years. They all enjoy it, and are very welcome. Yes, there is a language barrier, but this can definitely be overcome with good will from both sides (I've seen it in action). Anyway, just a thought ...
- thibaut_barrere 15y agoSee my other comment in the thread: I totally relate to what you wrote - we moved to a very rural place almost 2 years ago and are very happy with this!
- thibaut_barrere 15y agoFunny, we have started this already! But not with a castle: not a good idea if you plan to bootstrap (money sink as wisty said). We are 2 couples of hackers/entrepreneurs located here: http://bit.ly/zZLmrH http://bit.ly/zZLmrH (google maps link) What we like about here: - cheap yet nice houses compared to the rest of France (with gardens, woods, swimming-pools) - well balanced climate (sunny on summer but not too hot, comfortable in winter usually) - plenty of good food and quality restaurants - Paris is not too far if needed (although I work almost 100% remotely) - sea is not too far We're not alone: I came across more and more entrepreneurs who are moving to rural areas to enjoy good quality life.
- Gmo 15y agoInteresting ... now I would need 2 things to do something similar : - come up with an idea for a good startup - convince my girlfriend May I ask you if you did grow up in the area ? Or in a similar area ? My point is, for someone that grew up in a (big) city, it might not be easy to adapt
- thibaut_barrere 15y agoI did not grow up in the area nor my wife, but we have a bit of family around and came here during a couple of years for holidays. On the startup + girlfriend: I wouldn't try to "convince" but rather see if it would be a good fit. My girlfriend and I are now associates: we're doing remote consulting and bootstrapping https://www.wisecashhq.com https://www.wisecashhq.com. We first gave this a try for one year, to see if things were good for us. After one year we bought a house here, as we were really happy. On the city: I know some people from big city who do not adapt well, while other (still from big cities) did adapt very well. It's just something to think about then test, planning a rollback if it's not for you. One important point for us is that apart from the consulting , our business project is really something we work on as a couple.
- sebkomianos 15y agoHow did this place end up being owned by a bank anyway?