Buy a French castle for less than a Paris apartment, but don't expect to live like a princess.

Karen Horn and her husband, Paul, saw Château La Perrière in a newspaper advertisement. The Horns, who live in the UK but got married in France, decided to visit the estate during their next trip. "We went to France solely to view this property because we were intrigued by it," recalls Mrs. Horn about her trip in 2004. "We had absolutely no intention of buying the château."

That day they spent more than six hours at the chateau and soon made an offer to purchase it. "We were very surprised to find out what we could get for our money," said Mrs. Horn.

In France, you can find castles that cost less than an apartment.

Last year, most of the castles sold by the French real estateagency Le Nail were sold for prices ranging from 300,000 to 1.2 million euros (from 355,170 to 1.42 million dollars). Compare this to the average price of a 75-square-meter apartment in Paris, which is nearly 1 million dollars.

In Nantes, a 17th-century castle with 15 rooms is for sale for 1.7 million euros, or 2,853 euros per square meter. The average price of an apartment in the city center is 3,691 euros per square meter, which is about 800 euros more. The 15th-century Château de Maréiy, which includes three main buildings, a barn, and 40 acres of land, is priced at 525,000 euros.

Why do these properties seem so cheap?

It's obvious to the French: castles eat money. They require constant repairs. The cheaper ones are often located in remote areas, far from the nearest train station or grocery store. They consume a huge amount of energy. And despite the repairs, the price of a castle may still not increase, experts say. Few French people want to own a castle. Their lack of interest is compensated by foreign citizens eager to buy, some of whom decide to purchase a castle without realizing the hidden dangers.

The luxury real estateagency Barnes reported to the French newspaper The Figaro that foreigners make up 25% of their clientele - particularly the English, Russians, Americans, and Chinese.

The pandemic has led to an increase in the number of people looking for castles, said Patrice Bess, head of a Paris agency specializing in historic real estate. From 2019 to 2020, sales at his agency grew by 40%. In 2021, sales doubled compared to the previous year. Foreigners account for 15% of his sales. "The market is very active," Mr. Bess said. There are about 43,000 castles in France. Each year, around 800 of them come onto the market, many of which are sold at prices below luxury. Bess stated that most of the castles sold by his agency are priced between 800,000 and 1.2 million euros.

When the Horns bought Château La Perrière, located in the Loire just an hour's drive from Tours, it was "completely ruined," she said. The facade needed repairs. The boiler room required replacement. The wallpaper and old carpets in the bedrooms were peeling. "We never saw it the way it was back then - we saw it the way it is today," she said. "When we look at the photos, we often get shocked and ask ourselves, 'Oh my God, did we buy this?'"

In October 2019, Sunita and Andrew Macdonald closed a deal to purchase a 40-room chateau in the Pyrenees, paying around 280,000 euros. They were prepared to spend just as much on renovations. "We called it 'The Ruin,'" Mrs. Macdonald said. The chateau had no electricity or plumbing. In some rooms, the floors had collapsed. No one had lived there for 30 years. In March 2020, the Macdonalds and their three children traveled from their home in England to the chateau, bringing with them two cars, a week's worth of clothes, and some building materials. "We decided to stay in the chateau when France went into a national lockdown," she said. "We lived in the chateau on inflatable mattresses for about a month. We washed our clothes in laundromats. We survived on baguettes with ham, salad, and cheese for a long time until we could install an oven." "We joked that we were living in glamping - because it was quite luxurious," Mrs. Macdonald joked. "We're camping in a chateau!" After France began to ease restrictions in May 2020, the Macdonalds started renovations, most of which they are doing themselves, with the help of some builders. This includes a new floor, which they have already installed twice after discovering wood-eating insects after the first installation. "If you buy something that really needs a lot of work, you can get it for a very good price, but you'll spend just as much to make it livable again," Mrs. Macdonald said.

British couple Belinda and Lee Prince wanted to buy a property that wasn't too large, so that maintenance would be manageable. Therefore, when they purchased in 2015, they chose a smaller property - Château Maréau, a 15th-century estate, which for 525,000 euros included three main buildings, a barn, and 40 acres of land. "Especially the English want land, but you have to work on it," said Mr. Prince, 61. "If you have 15 acres of grass, it will take you a week. When you finish, you have to start all over again." The cost of maintenance depends on the size of the castle.

This means they had to become more self-sufficient. "If something breaks and needs to be fixed, I believe Lee is much more ready and capable of taking action," said Mrs. Prince, 65. She has started planting vegetables and herbs to reduce her trips to the market for groceries. In such a small area, news spreads quickly among locals when foreigners buy a castle. Château Marieux is located in Brigueil-le-Chantre, a commune in west-central France with a population of just over 500 people. In the local bar, Mr. Prince heard people whispering to each other: "These are the châtelains." The inhabitants of the castle.

Luxury purchases of castles can evoke envy among neighbors.

This is one of the reasons why fewer young French people are interested in castles. "For the French, external signs of wealth or success are no longer a motivation," Mr. Couturier told Le Figaro. The Princes understood that, although they were newcomers to the area, their home has a history that goes much further back. "We never wanted to be British people living in a castle in France and not interacting with the French," Mr. Prince said. When the mayor of the town approached them to participate in an annual event where local residents share prepared food, the Princes offered to cook the main dish at their home. Almost 150 people came for dinner, setting a new record. Despite living near the castle all these years, many of them had never been there. "If you buy a castle, it will usually be the main property in the area, so you have to behave very carefully in this community," Mrs. Prince added. "It's their heritage, it's their building." The Princes also began opening their home for business purposes. Although the couple initially bought Château Maréy as a family home, they soon realized they would need to earn money to fund further renovations. They started offering holiday rentals and hosting events like weddings. "If we don't register some income, we really can't do anything," Mrs. Prince said. "Just putting in more money was ridiculous." Turning the castle into a profitable business has become increasingly popular among this new generation of French hoteliers, Mr. Bess said. "Ten years ago, castles often remained in the family, and they could stay in the family without the need to create economic activities," he said. "Now, as these buildings leave family hands, new owners have fewer complexes about what things you can use them for." But most of Mr. Bess's foreign clients do not fall into this category. Many want to keep their castle privately owned. Like the Princes, the Horns bought their château with the hope of keeping it as a private home where they could spend summers. But after the financial crisis of 2008, they decided to rent it out. This year, due to the pandemic, business was stagnant, so the Horns decided to sell. "We wanted to retire and move there," Mrs. Horn said. "But fate had other plans." The Horns did not have any particular financial benefit from selling the château, other than reducing their obligations. Castles, unlike other properties, rarely appreciate in value over time—so forget about profits just from price increases. "Buying a castle is never about financial interests," Mr. Bess said. Bess knows of cases where owners renovated castles but still lost money when reselling them. But for the Horns, this never mattered. "It has always been a decision of the heart, never the head," Mrs. Horn said. "We have 15 years of incredible and amazing memories. You can't put a price on that." Now she runs an Instagram account called Dream French Properties, where she shares some insights she gained from her experience of owning a castle to help foreigners who want to buy their own. And she says she still dreams of living in a castle: "A part of me wonders: 'Can I do this again?'"