On a recent evening at a restaurant in London’s East End, Wendy and Marshall Bailey were explaining why they decided to retire to Marrakesh, Morocco, after living and working for years in Britain.
“The architecture, the food, the people — it’s the combination of all those things that for me is the real draw,” Mr. Bailey said. “It’s the closest faraway place, because it’s a three-and-a-half-hour flight from London, but it’s completely foreign. Marrakesh feels like another world.”
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Mr. Bailey was born in Minnesota to Canadian parents, but the family left when he was a baby, and he was raised between France and Canada. His French language skills allow him to navigate the Francophone North African country with ease.
Ms. Bailey, a Pittsburgh native, got her start in Europe in 2002, when her work brought her to London. (She now works at a large British bank.) A few years later she met Mr. Bailey, a director in financial services. The couple, now both 58, live in East London, with a second home in the English seaport town of Cowes, on the Isle of Wight.
The Baileys had each visited Marrakesh long before they met. Years later, they came to love exploring the city’s medina quarter (or old town) together, enchanted by its tangle of narrow streets, cafes and bustling markets (known as souks). The walled district, which dates to the 11th century, is filled with traditional homes and palaces known as riads, many with sunlit mezzanine levels, garden courtyards, pools and roof terraces.
“Where else can you buy a property in a UNESCO World Heritage site that’s 1,000 years old?” Ms. Bailey said. “It’s remarkable, really.” During a visit in November 2022, they began to think about making the city home once they retired.
“We talked to a riad owner and asked, ‘How does one go about installing oneself here?’” Mr. Bailey said. “She gave us the name of an estate agent, Colin Bosworth.”
Mr. Bosworth explained to the couple that while foreigners can get a mortgage in Morocco, sellers are often reluctant to accept finance-based offers. Most of the clients served by his agency are cash buyers. He also warned that clients are often rattled by the amount of red tape. “If you’re used to doing a lot of things online, you might be surprised by the amount of physical paperwork that needs to be produced here,” he said. “Everything works. It’s just that it takes some getting used to.”
In April 2023, Ms. Bailey arranged viewings through Mr. Bosworth’s agency, Bosworth Property Marrakech, hoping to find a riad in the medina. With a budget ranging from 300,000 to 600,000 euros (about $310,000 to $620,000), the Baileys were keen to find a place that could serve as both an Airbnb and a vacation home in the years before they retired to Morocco full-time. They were drawn to open-air riads that had retained original details, and they were willing to spend additional money to refurbish the right one.
Among their options:
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