Apologies if this is not an appropriate posting for this sub, if not, could somebody recommend a more appropriate forum? I’ve done some searching by keyword “renting” and “expat” but nothing seems to match closely my questions.

My wife and I have been wanting to retire in England or France, but I think we’re going to have to ease into it rather than make a clean break.

For one thing, our (adult) kids are in Louisiana and Pennsylvania. It would be unsettling for them (and us) to have mom and dad permanently living abroad.

The other thing is, we have accumulated so much stuff over our lifetime that it would be very expensive to just move everything, and emotionally difficult to part with a lot of things: motorcycles, tools, paintings, books, antique Oriental rugs, musical instruments, etc.

So we’re thinking renting our house for 3-month periods, furnished. Maybe put some of the more valuable or fragile belongings in storage.

I know we must first investigate residency requirements, visas etc, and I can do that without guidance, but I just don’t know the best way to manage our place while we’re away.

So I really wanted to ask if anybody here has gone this same route and could offer me the benefit of your experiences.

Or maybe suggest a forum or sub that would be a better place to look for this kind of advice.

Thanks very much in advance.