Facts about Buying Property in France

 

Estate Agents or Immobiliers

It has been known for the same property to be priced differently with different agents and you might notice a few like this as you browse the internet. Obviously in this case book your viewing through the agent, with the lowest price! You will be asked to sign a form saying that agent has introduced you to the property so you won't be able to go with the cheaper agent later. It is also worth checking what the price includes in the way of fees taxes etc to make sure you really are going for the cheapest one. You may have to convince the agent your enquiries are serious as they can get many hundreds each week that are not followed through.

I would advice people to have at least 3 or 4 properties pencilled in for viewings and take as long as you can afford in the region before buying.

Property Location

There are many accounts of people buying unsuitable properties because they had no knowledge of the area in which they bought a house.

One example springs to mind, a  village were a couple bought a house was only populated by pensioners who began to die off at an alarming rate leaving them alone almost in an isolated village.

So hire a car and stay in the area as long as you can.

Once you get to France there are usually a couple of estate agents ( immobiliers) in each town. Many estate agents now have an English speaking member of staff and they usually advertise this on the door. They have many more properties generally than are in the window so don't be shy go in. It's unusual to get extensive property details from them so you will need to visit the properties you are interested in to get a good idea of what they are like. Because the agents don't usually have exclusivity on a property like they do in the UK you will usually be asked to sign a form confirming that the agent introduced you to the property

Property Prices

The prices you are quoted usually include estate agent fees (which the buyer pays)  but it's worth double checking. They should also be able to tell you how much the notaire's fees will be for doing the conveyancing on the property.

You can read about our house buying experiences here

Money Transfers

We no longer use our UK bank to transfer money to France. When you ask what rate you are getting for your pound the staff generally give a blank stare, as if its a daft question. Well its not , the handling charge is usury. If you are transferring a large amount of money check out the rates given by the various foreign exchange companies it could make a huge difference to how much you get.

We use Moneybookers now. The rates are usually good, the charges not too high and it is quick and simple to use their online facilities when we need to transfer money to our bank in France.

Land

Land is cheap in the Limousin compared to the prices in the UK. Because we wanted a couple of acres we discounted some properties in our search. On reflection if you see a property you like ask the agent if there is a plot of land for sale nearby. The French inheritance laws are such that property is divided between all the siblings in a family so there are lots of small and large plots available. It is common for people here to have a house in a village with a modest sized garden and many small plots of land dotted about the surrounding area where they grow produce or graze animals.

It is tempting to get carried away both in the size of property and the amount of land you buy, remember two things you have to maintain it and you have to pay taxes on it.

If you don't want to spend time restoring property it is comparatively cheap to have a new house built in France.

Forums

We can only tell you about our own experiences and what we did and if it worked for us. Internet forums are a good way to get a wide range of opinions. The ones we have stuck with are below. Total France has members from all regions and backgrounds using the forum. Some are French some have lived in France for many years, others have holiday homes and there are many people asking questions and providing information on just about anything to do with living in or visiting France.