I have also seen higher end older houses for say 500,000 on old 3 to 4 acre lots  that were in 1960's mansions.

Jay,Everything CAN rent, even multi-million dollar apartments and mansions.

When you could by a mansion anywhere else in the country for 185k ( except manhattan Boston etc.)

And the other day I received the offer of the 1000sqf 3rd floor of a mansion.

In fact, their mansion is about 5 minutes from my house.

Rich people live in mansions.

If you have a gated community of mansions, the desirably is less likely to spread to run-down apartments even if they are located nearby. 

You’ll find mansions and ranches, a series of canals with homes on the water and river-access in their backyards.

But if you really want French property as a buy & hold in order to perhaps relocate or have as a second home in the future, then you might, but it still depends.Studio's in Paris are a no go, but manors/mansions/chateaus you can actually get for pretty cheap, even if they continue to be priced high.

Most are mansions, but the smaller homes are still easily in the $450k-$650k range.