After my last post about cheap French property I had a comment from an English real estate agent working in France. Always nice to get comments, I thought. Not this time!
I won’t go into detail but this person was having a real rant. Not content with attacking my knowledge of the French property market they also attacked the blog in general and me personally. All a bit childish really…
Particularly as they really missed a trick. Had they put forward a reasoned argument I would have included it in the blog. Their comment could have attracted people to their own website. Might have done them some good.
I don’t pretend to know everything, this blog is just my personal view, if an expert comes along with better info I’ll share it with you folks. No skin of my nose (nez)!
But let’s get to the point shall we. I like to think the info I give is fairly accurate – particulalry about something as important as buying a house in France. This person said that my claims of 8% to 12% fees were nonsense and that you couldn’t get property cheaper at notaires, certainly not five or six per cent cheaper.
So I decided to check. After all, it’s a while since I bought a house here and markets change. There are also fluctuations in French property from region to region – not surprisingly.
It turns out I was not as accurate as I might have been – or at least didn’t put it as clearly as I could have.
Hey, I don’t mind admitting if I’m wrong so let’s clarify.
If you buy property in France you will pay between 5% and 10% to the agent. Often this isn’t publicized. Mostly all you see is that the price includes agents fees – they won’t tell you the actual percentage unless you ask. Dishonest? I couldn’t possibly comment. After all, property agents are normally known for their honesty aren’t they?
Out of interest I went to the site of the person who attacked me to see if I could find how much they charged. After all, they were saying my figures were inaccurate. Guess what. Nothing. Perhaps it’s there somewhere and I just didn’t look hard enough. They’re happy to tell you how wonderful they are but where are their fees?
Anyway, I digress.
Whether its included or not you can find out easily enough if you ask. It won’t make any difference to what they charge, but you can find out if you want to. You might want to negotiate the price a bit depending on the result.
On top of the agents fees, when you buy a house in France you must also pay the notaires fees for doing the paperwork. There are various taxes and things which add up to about 3% of the purchase price – although this varies depending on whether you buy an old house, new or are buying land. Although you pay all this money to the notaire it is strictly controlled by the government. The actual notaires fees for doing the paperwork are around 1%. Our friend the English estate agent in France claimed this was wrong. They should check their facts.
Anyway, let’s not get into an argument about it. Perhaps I could have phrased it better.
The overall point here is whether you are looking for cheap French property or a chateau for millions you should allow around 10% of the purchase price for agent and notaire fees. Pretty much anyone will tell you the same.
This last bit is one of those “in my experience”…
You can often find property for sale at notaires – fact. In my experience notaires charge a lot less for their agency services than regular real estate agents in France. This may not be the case everywhere but it is true in an awful lot of France. A notaire may not give you the comprehensive service a real estate agent will – but if you have a reasonable command of French, what do you lose by trying?
When we bought our French home we did buy through an agent. A French one. They were very professional and efficient. I have no hesitation in recommending it as a course of action. We also dealt with many English agents in France but it is not something we found a pleasure. I’m sure they are not all preying on the fact that a lot of buyers can’t speak French but I’m convinced some are. Furthermore we have heard of fees being charged for getting water or electricity connected when a French agent will usually help you with this for nothing.
I’ll probably get another rant now from the English person but it’s my blog so I’ll say things how I see them. Always check everything. If you don’t understand something, find out. When you are buying a French home never forget that the agent is working for the seller, not you. If you have doubts, walk away. There are an awful lot of French properties out there and there’s always another one that’s “just right” for you.
The last thing I want to do is give you the idea that it’s a hassle. It shouldn’t be, it should be exciting and great fun. When we bought our French farmhouse it went like clockwork and we love living here!
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