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Everything you always wanted to know about France - from France |
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I was asked this week to report back on a village property in Languedoc for a reader - I charge a fee for doing this and make a report, with photographs, in which I do my best to be totally objective and to report factually about the property, I profile the property. I make conclusions relating to the pricing in comparison to other properties and I offer a personal opinion, but only do this after the client has told me whether, from the profile I have delivered, they have decided whether to continue or not with this specific property. In this case, for less than 200 euro, I was able to save a client the expense of a flight from the USA, accommodation and car hire for a visit this month. In this example, the client had seen a property advertised on one of the hundreds of sites which have sprung up offering property for sale and show listings compiled from the actual real-estate agent who is handling the sale. If you make an enquiry and eventually an appointment to view you will find you are handed on to other agents, sometimes through a chain of intermediaries, each keen to get a piece of the commission. From the description and photos the property, with a total price of over 350,000 euro, looked a substantial, classic, charming, stone built property in a rural Mediterranean setting. With just this information, the client had to decide whether to make a trip to France from the USA immediately as, if the property was all it seemed, it would sell quickly. Fortunately we were corresponding on other matters and I was asked if I could visit the property, just over an hours drive from my home. I did this and my client could determine from the data that this was not a suitable property, nor was the local village interesting for their requirements. After completing this exercise, we have continued other correspondence and this is my mail exchange - I will not publish any details about the specific report or property If I can help you with any appraisal of a property in France, please contact me tony@nizas.com === Hello J Real-estate agents in France do make searching for a home much harder than the USA or the UK - they will not reveal the address or even the approximate location of a property until the prospective buyer has contracted to do only deal with them if a purchase develops. This means a buyer has to waste a lot of time viewing totally unsuitable properties in unsuitable locations. In turn this severely restricts the number of viewings which can be made. Also, as most homes will not have a "for sale" board or any sign that the property may be available, a buyer cannot make a quick assessment of several properties by visits to villages by driving or exploring an area. Further, as agents very rarely coordinate or cooperate with each other, this means many conversations and meetings and often repeated visits to the same village which may have already been determined as too remote or unsuitable. For example, there are over 30 immobilier in Pezenas now - when we came 12 years ago there were only 5 - all are charging from 5% to 10% commission, many offer the same properties at different prices, some have exclusive agreements for sale and this means the others will have to deal through them, obviously they will not offer a property which does not make the big money - so the purchaser has to spend a huge amount of time visiting all the agents and only being able to actually view a small number each day. Just going to all the agencies and getting brief descriptions with no idea of the actual village or location unless you sign an agreement first, will take a week before you can even see one property. With the steady increases there have been in property prices over the last six years, sellers now are often asking very optimistic prices - and with the parallel steady increase in demand from overseas buyers for both second hand permanent homes over the same period - agents are very often not giving a good or fair service to owners or buyers, they do not need to. Add to this the consolidators who make listings of properties from a number of estate-agents, introducing clients to them in return for a share of the big commissions, from 2% to 5% of the sale price. There are many Internet sites doing this, Rural Retreats are one - some are even worse, VEF for example are just consolidators and also add another 7280 euro as a fixed finders fee to the property price. The majority of these companies and their websites do not actually have properties on offer nor can he sell them as they do not have the necessary licences in France. As if this was not bad enough - the descriptions and photos of properties are frequently wildly "optimistic", economical with the truth and sometimes downright misleading. As a buyer is not told the village or location on the particulars or adverts, many time wasting visits are made. My advice is, if possible, for a buyer to spend as much time as possible visiting towns and villages in areas they are interested in. Every single village in France has a unique "feel" - it takes time, but using tools - departmental websites giving the local demographics, (population, age, movement trends etc) - looking at Google Earth, http://earth.google.com/ , and "seeing" the ground, roadways, position related to mountains ocean etc, a good idea can be got of the areas to visit. Then research property for sale using the Internet - just about all agents listings are online somewhere. With experience any duplicated entries can be found and usually the main agent can be determined. Using search engines really effectively is not really a black art, but there are many short cuts, structured queries and tricks which can be learnt - Perhaps I should write a book . With this information, visits the towns villages or countryside researched, adjust your aim and only then start asking the key agents, the ones with direct access to the owners of the properties, for properties in the places you have identified as feeling right for you. If you can find an independent person with good local knowledge of their region and with contacts directly with the key agents - this can save a lot of time and money. As you know better than me, the key - as with most things to do with property, is the location - first determine the places acceptable to you by services, scenery and society (SSS). Best wishes Tony === Tony Your comments were professional and objective...I appreciate this and understand the dynamics. So the picture is alluring...classic appearance...etc - Just goes to show you what good photography can do. Your comments put this in a different perspective as it feels quite small. I know village settings will be village settings...which reminds me thanks for the village feel which has nothing to offer. Thank you for confirming my gut feeling... What a waste of time for me to come over, I am grateful. Yes, I am getting the feeling there is some real good rational to use your "buyer broker" service. I can't see doing this any other way than being on the ground and spending a lot of time. Just look at the time and money you saved me! We can talk about this more as I don't really understand the market and if there are all that many real buyers. If you have any ideas after all my criteria (remember buyers are liars...) please let me know. We are planning on two weeks later this year. Thanks again, Jim There are over 2,000 features and articles on this site about French life and living in France. You can search from the search box above. Do browse through our website and please use the advertising links, they help pay for the site. I do try to reply to all mail - Contact Me - most is about property or living in France. I publish comments in this newsletter which I believe are of interest and may help find answers for people wanting to come to France. I hope readers will go to the adverts which help support our overheads. |
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