This is pretty much the main reason why I will move from US to Europe in the next couple of years. I'm not keen on dumping my life savings into a down payment and then have a balloon mortgage to buy a shack in my area when I could use a similar amount of money to basically buy myself a palace back there.
Even after fixing it up and paying expensive energy bills on it, You'll have to pay the taxes on it too. There's a reason they're cheap up front.
Will you buy an old chateaux and fix it up? I do love those TV shows
You don't have to go all the way to France. It's the same anywhere outside big cities in the US.