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selling property in france


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We own a smallholding - an unrenovated farmhouse with several barns and outhouses on about 2 acres of very peaceful countryside between Tours and Poitiers which we had intended to renovate and move there full-time. Unfortunately, because of a massive change of circumstances, we are forced to sell and are unable for the next few years to plan to move to France full-time, although we hope to eventually. Would anyone be able to advise the best way to go about selling the property - local Notaire, local estate agents or perhaps agents based in England specialising in French properties.  We would be very grateful to hear of the experiences of others or any advice.  Thanks. Peter.
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Yes ask a local notaire but unless you know one, preferably try to find

an "office notarial". This is just several notaires working together so

that they each specialise (immobilier, familly, business, etc). You

can't negociate the fees are this is fixed by law.

You can, in addition sign a "mandat de vente" with a local "agence

immobilière" but make sure not to sign an "exclusivité" and put them in

concurrence by signing with several, say 2 or 3 from different

groupements (FNAIM and the like). Negociate the fees to no more than 7

%.

Hope this helps.

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Our bank manager is the fount of all knowledge when it comes to knowing what is available in the area.

Unfortunately we are a long way from you, but we have heard this from another expat in the Carcassonne area so it's probably not an isolated incidence. If you are on good terms with your bank manager, suggest you have a discrete discussion and spread the word.

Good luck.

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Hi Peter,

To maximise your chances to sale your property in a short time you can multiplicate the sources, asking both a notaire and several local agencies. The agencies will try to obtain the "exclusivity" for your house but my point of view is that it is much more better to be listed in different ones. Just bear im mind it is important to have the same selling price in all the agencies and notaires who are working with. Bear also in mind that the "agency fees" are payed by the buyer, not by the seller.
You can also try to sale it by yourself. The french magazine "Le Particulier" is very famous, cheap to advertise and quite efficient . Have a look at www.pap.fr (or .com?)

Hope that will help!

Kind regards

Sabine
www.en-toutes-saisons.com
"One day, France may no longer exist but the Dordogne will survive, just like the dreams that nourish the human soul" - Henri Miller.

 

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[quote user="Ron Avery"]

"Negociate the fees to no more than 7 %."

Why would you be worried about fees if you ae selling, the buyer pays them.

[/quote]

Ok. Let say that the fees are, say, 25%. Do you think it will help you to sell your property ?

If you sign a "mandat de vente" with an agent, you will pay the fees as these will be included in the official price (as indicated in the "declaration d'aliéner"). This means that the buyer will pay taxes on this : much better for him to sign a "mandat d'achat" so that the official price is exclusive of the agents fees.

Avoid signing a "mandat d'exclusivité".

As for Miller : I wonder what will be left if Britain desappear someday.

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I still do not understand why a seller would want to be interested in % fees.  Most of the fees except the agent's cut are to a fixed scale or are taxes anyway.  If the house is up with one agent the buyer pays the fee %  of that agent plus notaire's fees, what benefit could there possibly be to paying the buyers fees?  The seller might as well reduce the price of the house by the same amount.   Are you really suggesting that for a quick sale the seller pays the fees,[:^)]   Surely if the price is right and someone likes the house, it it will sell anyway, perhaps you do it differently in Montpelier to the rest of France.
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We recently bought a house in 24 where the seller paid the agency fees (not notaire) as would be done in England. As we were looking to buy with a maximum mortgage, the fact that we did not have to come up with agency fees separately made the deal possible for us. No doubt the seller had raised the price to cover the fees, but we were, in effect, putting 80% of the agency fees on our mortgage. If anyone is selling the sort of house that might be being bought by someone on a tight budget, I think this could be a make or break option. It is only convention that says that the buyer pays the agency fees in France, there is no reason not to change it if there is some benefit to be gained.
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[quote user="Ron Avery"]I still do not understand why a seller would want to be interested in % fees.  Most of the fees except the agent's cut are to a fixed scale or are taxes anyway.  If the house is up with one agent the buyer pays the fee %  of that agent plus notaire's fees, what benefit could there possibly be to paying the buyers fees?  The seller might as well reduce the price of the house by the same amount.   Are you really suggesting that for a quick sale the seller pays the fees,[:^)]   Surely if the price is right and someone likes the house, it it will sell anyway, perhaps you do it differently in Montpelier to the rest of France.[/quote]

We did exactly what you are saying we shouldn't. I found a buyer but they didn't want to pay any agency fees.

I had placed my house with a couple of agencies but they didn't find a buyer. I found a buyer myself but ironically I had to pay my agent to deal with the sale because the buyer wanted to purchase with a mortgage and needed someone in France to handle the paperwork but didn't want to pay an agent! I was very annoyed by this but negotiated a "special" fee with my agent for handling the sale and associated paperwork.

Sometimes you have to compromise when selling a house. The bottom line is to make a sale and even though you may not get what you believe you should. You have to think about what happens if you can't sell.  Your selling price in France should allow for these kind of eventualities anyway.

Prices dont always reflect true values. Only perceived values.

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  • 1 month later...

Hiya

A very close family friend of ours had the same trouble.  Wanted to sell his properties in the Lot but didn't want to include the massive immobliers fees in the price etc

To solve his problem I built a website to enable to the sale of his properties - this working swimmingly and they are now sold!  However the site is now gathering dust.

If any readers would be interested in using the site - let me know!

Peter Ward

www.houseforsale-france.co.uk


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[quote user="Ron Avery"]

"Negotiate the fees to no more than 7 %."


Why would you be worried about fees if you are selling?  The buyer pays them
.

[/quote]

1. I do not understand the above irrspective of who writes the cheque the fees still form part of the gap between the amout of cash the prospective purchaser has to pay and the amount of cash the vendor receives.

2. The buyer does not pay the fees in all parts of metropolitian France

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