Cherl Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 New to forum - looking for advice from those who have done it. I live in UK but spend a lot of time in France working as Tour Manager for holiday groups which I do enjoy as I love working with people. However, as 50 something independent female, I am looking for a new challenge. Since I will eventually retire to France, I thought I could try my hand at property which has always interested me but I've never done anything about it. Does anyone have any experience of working for an estate agent in France, as an English native? Is it easy to get in and what qualifications do they want ? I am near fluent in French. Any advice appreciated. Cherl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 It's not easy to get in - Mrs Will has worked for a French agent for several years now, and now virtually runs the office single-handed. The pay is pretty poor, and you have to pay your own mileage, car insurance (you need full passenger liability, similar to a taxi, if you are taking clients around), phone etc, though you do get tax relief for these.If you can find a salaried position, you will be very lucky. There are loads of people chasing the few vacancies available, and the market is mainly pretty flat so agencies are not expanding like they were a couple of years ago. To work on a self-empoyed basis you need to register yourself as a business and get a 'carte grise' from your prefecture (though because of recent confusion - see below - not all prefectures work in the same way), once you have found an agency to work for. You will be expected to find and take on houses for sale, as well as to sell houses.Most people working for an agent are self-employed, on a commission-only basis. There is still some confusion in the profession, as two or three years back a court ruled that 'agent commercial' status was not compatible with property sales, which caused chaos, with some prefectures forcing agencies to take on their sub-agents as salaried staff, others totally ignoring the ruling, and some taking a middle ground. Things have settled down now, but there are still plenty of inconsistencies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cherl Posted February 10, 2007 Author Share Posted February 10, 2007 Thanks very much for the info. I am so surprised - I thought the property market in France was buoyant and I didn't realise it was so difficult to find work in that domaine. It sounds fraught with complications. All a bit depressing! I will have to research other avenues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou Posted February 11, 2007 Share Posted February 11, 2007 I work for a French estate agent, but was EXTREMELY lucky to get the job in that he happened to need someone bi-lingual about 2 months after we bought our house from him, and remembered me! I work as a salaried secretary/receptionist and earn the SMIC - minimum wage of 8.27 euros an hour. Colleagues who actually do the selling, work, as Will says, on a commission only basis, apying their own petrol and mobile phone bills etc, and spend a lot of their time anxiously hoping for that next client to turn up.One year on we probably sell 60% to Brits or other ex-pats, Dutch etc. Possibly slightly worrying when the UK housing market looks ropey........Lou Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cherl Posted February 11, 2007 Author Share Posted February 11, 2007 Dear LouThanks for the feedback - so interesting to hear others' experiences. Sounds as if I'm away with the fairies thinking it would be easy ...Cherl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now