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 [...]]]> 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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The French departments

France is often called The Hexagon (l’hexagon), because that’s roughly its shape. It’s about 1000 kilometres north to south and the same west to east. [...]]]> Facts about France? I suppose you could go on forever finding different things but here are a few that you may or may not find interesting or useful.

The French departments

France is often called The Hexagon (l’hexagon), because that’s roughly its shape. It’s about 1000 kilometres north to south and the same west to east. Paris is the capital (I think everyone knows that) and the currency since 1999 is the Euro. Before that it was the Franc and it’s quite common to still see things priced in Francs as well as Euros (particularly property).

I think I’m going to establish a bit of a standard with this post. To help those who are interested in learning French I’ll put certain French words in italics, OK?

Anyway, back to those French facts.

As you can see from the map on the right France is broken up into various regions (départements). Ile De France is the area which includes Paris. It’s called an Ile (island) because of the rivers which virtually surround it.

Incidentally, The Seine which runs through the middle of Paris is often thought of as France’s biggest river but in fact it’s The Loire.

Départments are further divided into Cantons and these are further divided into Communes – which can be quite small villages. Each commune is governed by a Mayor (or Mayoress, who is nevertheless called Madame Le Mayor). These people are surprisingly powerful locally and worth getting on well with – particularly if you need planning permission!

There are four overseas départements (régions d’outre-mer), Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique and Réunion, which are treated much like they were a part of the mainland.

Bored yet? No? OK, a bit more.

The population of France is around 70 million – which explains why there’s so much space – that’s the same as the UK which is only a quarter of the size! It is claimed that this population actually doubles during the year with tourists, making France the most popular holiday destination in the world.

I’m not going to get into politics and religion because that really is boring – except to say that France has an elected President (every 5 years) and is mainly Roman Catholic. It is not legally necessary to marry in church but you must be married by a Mayor at the official building (Mairie). I told you they were powerful!

I think that will do. I’m no professor but if you want to ask anything else, by all means post a comment. You could always Google it of course, they know a lot more than I do!