in France you can also use the local or regional newspapers, with their real estate advertisements. You can even create some "warnings" receiving a list of properties currently on sale according to your criteria and geographical location; this is very useful too. In those lists you can decide to tick the professional ad (from agencies) and/or only from individual sellers.
Hello to both of you, I enjoy watching your videos. Important: the “bon de visite” has NO legal value. This does not commit you, as a buyer, to ANYTHING! If there is a fault, if you go beyond the real estate agency to conclude a sale, it is only the seller and not the buyer who can be sued.
Some other observations. The pictures of all the properties displayed in the windows of real estate agents? Most of them are sold and are used to drag you into the agency. The rest of what these folks presented is 100% accurate. Here in southern France, many houses have pools and with the name of the village the property was located in, we got very good at using Google satellite view to locate the property. We actually found the property we eventually bought using that approach. We also did have a buyers agent through our relocation consultant and the commission sharing with the seller's agent got very contentious during the offer negotiations. If you are buying an older property, I would also highly recommend paying for a structural survey and make the offer contingent on the survey not turning up something bad.
This was actually very helpful, I'm currently shopping and ran into a lot of the problems you mention. The insight is much appreciated and helpful. Seloger is a bit of a game-changer!
This was a fun one! This was a good list. I bought a property with my French fiancé in 2021 and we definitely experienced what you describe. I also was shocked at how much scavenging you have to do to track down properties! We looked at leboncoin (like craisglist) too. One thing I would add to your list is that I was surprised at how personal some of our interactions were with the agents. In the U.S. if I were touring a property with a selling agent I would play it very close to the chest and not show my enthusiasm. I also wouldn't assume I'd be allowed to know too much about the other offers and other people who'd looked at it. So I was shocked when my fiancé was openly showing his enthusiasm and asking about the other offers, and even more surprised when the agent answered his questions! For example, for the one we ultimately purchased, we knew that the other offer was from a young woman and her mother who was buying it for her, what specific things they'd commented on that they'd liked and didn't like, etc. But all of this ended up working in our favor, because our enthusiasm made the agent like us more and pass that on to the seller, who ultimately chose us.
We experienced this openess from agents when we toured properties with an agent too, and I also found it so strange coming from the US! One was telling us all the reasons we might NOT want to buy the place! 😯 Glad yours worked out, congrats!!
Thanks for the video. You should do a video about renting in France. I want to get my profession liberale visa, and the biggest hurdle is finding a place to secure before I fill out my application, because they require you to have a "place to stay" before you can even apply (which seems backward, but it is what it is).
Yes, that is definitely one of those tricky leap-of-faith things to rent a place before you know if you have a visa. If you can find an airbnb with a reasonable cancellation policy as a contingency, then you can use that to get you here and to supply an address to put on the application, along witb proof of housing to submit with your paper work (airbnb has a paper you easily print out for visas) and then once you're here look for something else. In the description section of our house tour video I listed some options for finding off season holiday rentals other than Airbnb. One thing to keep in mind is you are going to get a LOT of things by mail your first few months on the PL visa. Make sure you have a consistant place for it to go, like a virtual mailbox, etc so that you won't miss mail if you're moving around a bit at first figuring out housing. Good luck!! (And I'm adding the video request to our list!)
@@BaguetteBound bonjour, il existe " de particuliers à particuliers ", pour éviter, les agences immobilières. Les agents immobiliers, gèrent les deux parties, acheteur et vendeur, négociations possibles...
Hi guys, just discovered your channel and bravo! The topics you cover are super helpful for someone like me is who exploring the exact same things you did. This vlog in particular is great and you give us all the necessary details. Thank you and congrats on your move!
US real estate has changed. And will likely change even more in the next few years. No more sellers paying buyer agent compensation. I just looked at a home for sale in France while I was there. The process is so different from US practices. Interesting process!
Notary fee is actually a tax that you pay to the state. The "notaires" are an oddity in France as they buy their office from the state and act as a tax collector. So the 7% you pay on top of your purchase is basically a sale tax.
@@frenchustube The only difference is that back then you could become a noble man... Not so much anymore.... But they are far from being misérable... :-)
In the US, every county has a government website where anyone can look up information on real estate parcels -- tax history, ownership history, easements, etc. Do French departments have anything like that?
My daughter and partner have bought a house 2 years ago not far from you, with mist houses the buyer has to be pay the agent fees and notaire fees, they found this with eveey house. Plus the notaires fees are considerably more than the Uk if this helps anyone.
hi The "bon de visite" ( it's not "bon" for good, but bon for note ) it's not a contract but a proof that you visit that house with her and can't bypass her if you want to buy the house . But she can't force you to use only her after that on the agency . i think she abuse her power here because you are not french sorry .
When I sold brownstones in NYC in the ‘70s, there was no multi list. Unless there’s an exclusive listing, you could see properties if it is listed at multiple agencies.
Never use agent, they are far too much expensive for what they do, just lok at the local newspapers, websites... if you are in love with a particular village, just ask people at the local pub or whatever... do your own research. It's not that long. I would never sign a exclusive contract with those agent .. never, this is not worth it.
We have purchased a home in France but before we purchased we saw multiple homes with different agents and agencies and we never had to sign anything. I found your experience to be interesting. Our experience was pretty seamless. BTW, we're Canadian and in Canada real estate is the same as the US.
By survey do you mean a property inspection to check the condition? Those are uncommon inbFrance hecause each seller is required to give potential buyers a diagnostic report that includes several things like electrical condition, septic if there is one, asbestos, lead, and à few other things. We thought it was great because instead of like in the U.S where you make an offer THEN get an inspection and then sometimes renegotiate based on findings, we had a pretty good idea the property condition when we made the offer. If you have specific concerns not addressed in the diagnostic report, then usually you find that specific professional to come take a look at the property. Thanks for watching!
The survey will also include a certified square footage of the house and the property. Very useful especially in cities by Paris where prices are expensive and based on footage, you don’t want to get scammed even by a few square meters.
All the major real estate agencies chains and franchises (La Forêt, Era, etc) have consolidated listings. There are buyers agents (chasseurs immobiliers), but buyers use them mostly in high demand places (Paris, the Riviera). When one intends to live in another country, what"s the point of simply stating what does NOT exist (supposedly) compared to one's country of origin?
Hi Francois! This is interesting, do you mean there is one system that reflects all listings ACROSS ALL agencies in the entire country similar to the MLS (multiple listing service ) in the USA? If there is we would love to share it!! You are right, there are agencies and websites that show consolidated listings from different agencies. These sites are very helpful, thank you for providing examples, but in our experience, these sites still do not show all the houses available for sale, particularly in the area of France where we are. Our hope is this video helps Americans who might be interested in French real estate to have a little window into what NOT to expect here in France that would be very normal in the US. This way they are not thrown off or disappointed by learning the hard way (as we did in some cases). Thanks for watching and for your comment!
@@BaguetteBound there is indeed no MLS as you describe but if you google one of the big French franchise names and screen regionally, you will get consolidated lists of properties. Also a sizeable number of properties are sold directly par by the owners, without agency (I sold my apartment in Paris that way). The main site for these sales by owners is PAP (de particulier à particulier). Home staging is an emerging thing, there are even popularr TV shows about it, but it was until now for high end properties.
@francoisleyrat8659 Ah! Thanks for pointing out how common sales directly from owners are (and the website reference)! This is another interesting difference from home shopping in the US. While sales direct from owners do happen in the US, it's far less common to navigate without representation. I think the takeaway here for the community is to know you don't have to be intimidated by the idea of negotiating a sale directly with an owner in France because it's much more common here. Now that I think of it, it's almost odd how much effort is made in the US to keep buyers and sellers from interacting. For example it would be EXTREMELY weird for an owner to be home in the US during a viewing, but we've met most of the owners during the viewing here in France, even with an immobilier. Thanks for bringing this topic up Francois!
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in France you can also use the local or regional newspapers, with their real estate advertisements. You can even create some "warnings" receiving a list of properties currently on sale according to your criteria and geographical location; this is very useful too. In those lists you can decide to tick the professional ad (from agencies) and/or only from individual sellers.
Hello to both of you, I enjoy watching your videos. Important: the “bon de visite” has NO legal value. This does not commit you, as a buyer, to ANYTHING!
If there is a fault, if you go beyond the real estate agency to conclude a sale, it is only the seller and not the buyer who can be sued.
Some other observations. The pictures of all the properties displayed in the windows of real estate agents? Most of them are sold and are used to drag you into the agency. The rest of what these folks presented is 100% accurate. Here in southern France, many houses have pools and with the name of the village the property was located in, we got very good at using Google satellite view to locate the property. We actually found the property we eventually bought using that approach. We also did have a buyers agent through our relocation consultant and the commission sharing with the seller's agent got very contentious during the offer negotiations. If you are buying an older property, I would also highly recommend paying for a structural survey and make the offer contingent on the survey not turning up something bad.
This was actually very helpful, I'm currently shopping and ran into a lot of the problems you mention. The insight is much appreciated and helpful. Seloger is a bit of a game-changer!
This was a fun one! This was a good list. I bought a property with my French fiancé in 2021 and we definitely experienced what you describe. I also was shocked at how much scavenging you have to do to track down properties! We looked at leboncoin (like craisglist) too. One thing I would add to your list is that I was surprised at how personal some of our interactions were with the agents. In the U.S. if I were touring a property with a selling agent I would play it very close to the chest and not show my enthusiasm. I also wouldn't assume I'd be allowed to know too much about the other offers and other people who'd looked at it. So I was shocked when my fiancé was openly showing his enthusiasm and asking about the other offers, and even more surprised when the agent answered his questions! For example, for the one we ultimately purchased, we knew that the other offer was from a young woman and her mother who was buying it for her, what specific things they'd commented on that they'd liked and didn't like, etc. But all of this ended up working in our favor, because our enthusiasm made the agent like us more and pass that on to the seller, who ultimately chose us.
We experienced this openess from agents when we toured properties with an agent too, and I also found it so strange coming from the US! One was telling us all the reasons we might NOT want to buy the place! 😯
Glad yours worked out, congrats!!
Thanks for the video. You should do a video about renting in France. I want to get my profession liberale visa, and the biggest hurdle is finding a place to secure before I fill out my application, because they require you to have a "place to stay" before you can even apply (which seems backward, but it is what it is).
Yes, that is definitely one of those tricky leap-of-faith things to rent a place before you know if you have a visa. If you can find an airbnb with a reasonable cancellation policy as a contingency, then you can use that to get you here and to supply an address to put on the application, along witb proof of housing to submit with your paper work (airbnb has a paper you easily print out for visas) and then once you're here look for something else. In the description section of our house tour video I listed some options for finding off season holiday rentals other than Airbnb.
One thing to keep in mind is you are going to get a LOT of things by mail your first few months on the PL visa. Make sure you have a consistant place for it to go, like a virtual mailbox, etc so that you won't miss mail if you're moving around a bit at first figuring out housing.
Good luck!! (And I'm adding the video request to our list!)
@@BaguetteBound bonjour, il existe " de particuliers à particuliers ", pour éviter, les agences immobilières. Les agents immobiliers, gèrent les deux parties, acheteur et vendeur, négociations possibles...
Hi guys, just discovered your channel and bravo! The topics you cover are super helpful for someone like me is who exploring the exact same things you did. This vlog in particular is great and you give us all the necessary details. Thank you and congrats on your move!
US real estate has changed. And will likely change even more in the next few years. No more sellers paying buyer agent compensation. I just looked at a home for sale in France while I was there. The process is so different from US practices. Interesting process!
Notary fee is actually a tax that you pay to the state. The "notaires" are an oddity in France as they buy their office from the state and act as a tax collector. So the 7% you pay on top of your purchase is basically a sale tax.
Sounds like the time of Louis XIV when you bought your office!
@@frenchustube The only difference is that back then you could become a noble man... Not so much anymore.... But they are far from being misérable... :-)
Adrian Lees talks about the same issues you are running to. Worth watching a couple of her videos.
Adrian is great! Thanks for watching. 🙂
Hi, just so you know, "un bon" is a voucher, so it has nothing to do with "good!" 🤣
Thank you for the clarification.
Hi great video again. For clarification Bon de visite - in the case bon means voucher like bon d’achat. :-)
The agents fee is usually covered by the seller. The buyer has to pay the notary fee
thank you! such very good info. ☺️
Re: not having the address: it's for security reasons. If a house is empty, it could be vandalised, or sqatters could move in.
That's the official excuse. Truth is, they don't want you to knock at the door and bypass the real estate agent.
In the US, every county has a government website where anyone can look up information on real estate parcels -- tax history, ownership history, easements, etc. Do French departments have anything like that?
My daughter and partner have bought a house 2 years ago not far from you, with mist houses the buyer has to be pay the agent fees and notaire fees, they found this with eveey house. Plus the notaires fees are considerably more than the Uk if this helps anyone.
It is also extremely difficult to get a mortgage in France these days, particularly if you do not have French income.
hi
The "bon de visite" ( it's not "bon" for good, but bon for note ) it's not a contract but a proof that you visit that house with her and can't bypass her if you want to buy the house .
But she can't force you to use only her after that on the agency . i think she abuse her power here because you are not french sorry .
When I sold brownstones in NYC in the ‘70s, there was no multi list. Unless there’s an exclusive listing, you could see properties if it is listed at multiple agencies.
Great info! Thanks!
Isn't lack of staging more realistic?😊
Never use agent, they are far too much expensive for what they do, just lok at the local newspapers, websites... if you are in love with a particular village, just ask people at the local pub or whatever... do your own research. It's not that long. I would never sign a exclusive contract with those agent .. never, this is not worth it.
I saw multiple houses in the Charente without signing any bon viste!
Interesting!
We have purchased a home in France but before we purchased we saw multiple homes with different agents and agencies and we never had to sign anything. I found your experience to be interesting. Our experience was pretty seamless. BTW, we're Canadian and in Canada real estate is the same as the US.
Buyer agents start to appear in France, just used one for my new apartment but it seems like it's still a rarity
what about getting a mortgage ?
It's very difficult to get a mortgage in France without a French job. Not IMPOSSIBLE, but very difficult.
Do you have any experience with getting a survey done in a property in France? Is that a thing?
By survey do you mean a property inspection to check the condition? Those are uncommon inbFrance hecause each seller is required to give potential buyers a diagnostic report that includes several things like electrical condition, septic if there is one, asbestos, lead, and à few other things. We thought it was great because instead of like in the U.S where you make an offer THEN get an inspection and then sometimes renegotiate based on findings, we had a pretty good idea the property condition when we made the offer. If you have specific concerns not addressed in the diagnostic report, then usually you find that specific professional to come take a look at the property.
Thanks for watching!
Yes, exactly. Thank you!
The survey will also include a certified square footage of the house and the property.
Very useful especially in cities by Paris where prices are expensive and based on footage, you don’t want to get scammed even by a few square meters.
You were buying property or renting?
Hi! We were looking to buy.
All the major real estate agencies chains and franchises (La Forêt, Era, etc) have consolidated listings. There are buyers agents (chasseurs immobiliers), but buyers use them mostly in high demand places (Paris, the Riviera).
When one intends to live in another country, what"s the point of simply stating what does NOT exist (supposedly) compared to one's country of origin?
Hi Francois! This is interesting, do you mean there is one system that reflects all listings ACROSS ALL agencies in the entire country similar to the MLS (multiple listing service ) in the USA? If there is we would love to share it!!
You are right, there are agencies and websites that show consolidated listings from different agencies. These sites are very helpful, thank you for providing examples, but in our experience, these sites still do not show all the houses available for sale, particularly in the area of France where we are.
Our hope is this video helps Americans who might be interested in French real estate to have a little window into what NOT to expect here in France that would be very normal in the US. This way they are not thrown off or disappointed by learning the hard way (as we did in some cases).
Thanks for watching and for your comment!
@@BaguetteBound there is indeed no MLS as you describe but if you google one of the big French franchise names and screen regionally, you will get consolidated lists of properties. Also a sizeable number of properties are sold directly par by the owners, without agency (I sold my apartment in Paris that way). The main site for these sales by owners is PAP (de particulier à particulier). Home staging is an emerging thing, there are even popularr TV shows about it, but it was until now for high end properties.
@francoisleyrat8659 Ah! Thanks for pointing out how common sales directly from owners are (and the website reference)! This is another interesting difference from home shopping in the US. While sales direct from owners do happen in the US, it's far less common to navigate without representation. I think the takeaway here for the community is to know you don't have to be intimidated by the idea of negotiating a sale directly with an owner in France because it's much more common here. Now that I think of it, it's almost odd how much effort is made in the US to keep buyers and sellers from interacting. For example it would be EXTREMELY weird for an owner to be home in the US during a viewing, but we've met most of the owners during the viewing here in France, even with an immobilier. Thanks for bringing this topic up Francois!