You have to take care in France, because
capital gains are not applied to your main residence. Just lately, many European Gummints, desperate for tax revenues in the current crisis, are moving the goalposts. Used to be here that capital gains tapered off every year, so after 15 years they reduced to nil. I followed the herd, I'm afraid to say, and got both greedy
and clever, and claimed half my house as an annexe or 'secondary residence', even though I never rented it out or used it in business. For that, I got a 50% reduction in the real-estate taxes due on that half. With 12 years under my belt here, I should have been 'home-free' in 2015. Now, I'm liable to capital gains
for ever and a day . If I sell now, I'll get taxed at 16% on gains on the annexe and I can't claim a penny on the money I threw at a ruin to create a home. That's liable to cost us about $30,000 at today's prices compared to 1999.
Whoops! 
