Which websites for selling a french property?

[Doodle]

Hello all,

My young french neighbour arrived at lunch time with a piece of paper written in english with details of her property that she wants to sell. She asked me to go through it with her as her english is not good (bit like my french!). Having got all the details in the right order and added things the english like to know about that she'd excluded she then went on to ask which was the best website to put it on and mentioned Gumtree. Now I know nothing of Gumtree but at a glance I think it's more for UK properties. I think she's looking for a free website so my question is what websites would be best for her to post her details on.

Any info gratefully received. Mrs KG

[woolybanana]

Whereabouts is the property in France?

[suein56]

After a quick look this site seems OK, in that it does appear to be free ie no cost for uploading photos etc. And it has properties for sale in France.

Though some people's knowledge of geography seems to be worse than mine if they believe that a Pelopennese island is in France; I don't remember Plymouth being in France either, but there you go.

http://www.propertysell.co.uk/

Edit : Why doesn't your neighbour advertise her property on leboncoin ? Does she think the English have more cash to splash ?

Edit 2 : usual disclaimer in that I have no association with any site I name, I am merely interested in property.

Sue

[Doodle]

Hello Woolybanana

The house is near to Lassay Les Chateaux, Mayenne.

Mrs KG

[Doodle]

Thanks Sue, I'll check it out. It is advertised on leboncoin, has been since October last but I think she was asking far too much for it at 169,000 euros however she has recently re-advertised on there at 135,000 negotiable.

Yes, I'm sure she thinks we brits are loaded plus there are alot of brits around Lassay and the surrounding area.

Mrs KG

[woolybanana]

Though I am not sure if they operate as far as Mayenne, I suggest you try Agence Newton. They target, particularly but not exclusively, the Dutch, Belgian, German and British markets by advertising on their sites, as well as the French ones.

What I liked, besides the exemplary service and help was that they did not try and insist on 'their' price for the house but accepted mine.

However they do not take bungalow estate type properties.

They found a buyer in a month though the paperwork did take a long time, not their fault though.

Hope this helps

[suein56]

Sounds good to me.

http://www.agencenewton.com/

Sue

[Doodle]

Hi Wooly/Sue

Thanks for the info which I am going to pass on to her today. Agence Newton looks very interesting. I am also going to suggest to her ebay france & ebay uk. I have never looked at ebay so found it quite interesting! Takes a young french person to get old me motivated!!

Mrs KG

[woolybanana]

Be careful with the big free sites as there are loads of fraudsters on them.

[Doodle]

Thanks Wooly I will pass that on as well. Mrs KG

ps meant to say on the first post that she'd described her bath as a bath tub which made me laugh. She wanted to know why so I explained that I had a vision of shower cap, back brush and loads of bubbles escaping all over the bathroom floor. I then showed her this which made us both crack up! Mrs KG

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR2ndjTXS1Q

[woolybanana]

Just another thought, something I had forgotten; when using the big, free web sites, you may get 'unknown' house agents (or people claiming to be house agents) crawling out of the woodwork. Before agreeing to use them, double check that they are kosher by looking at their websites at least. Mainly best ignored, I think.

Also, at least one well known agency is known to try and extract a commission from the vendor as well as the buyer. Do not fall for this even if they claim to be the biggest in the land. Not honest, IMHO and definitely not FRench.

[YCCMB]

It's a funny old world. I remember those days when almost every conversation with French people began with "You Brits, coming over here, pushing up property prices..."

Now that it's almost impossible to give property away in rural France, it seems Brits are becoming the buyers of choice. But aren't they all looking for bargains now, safe in the knowledge that the French property market is stagnant? What a difference 12 or 13 years makes!

[Chancer]

The only time people from my area want to talk to me is when they want something, 9 times out of 10 it's "do you know any English that want to buy our house?" or "do you know of any sites in england like leboncoin where we can find a buyer for our house without paying anything?"

 

What they are really saying is we are looking for another English pigeon to pay well over the odds for our hovel, I never even tell them about sites like the Gumtree because they will want me to write the ad for them in French, then translate it into English, deal with all the enquiries, in fact be an unpaid estate agent and someone that they can blame when they realise that not all English buyers are stupid.

 

And yes Betty, its always the self same people who moan about the English driving up prices and I take great pleasure in reminding them of how they have said that in my company many times, but of course I didnt take it personally, business is business and I will happily sell their house for 5% commission, it all goes very quiet after that.

[Cendrillon]

In the first place it takes a French person to sell their property to a foreigner. Let's not forget that. Are they going to turn away good money and offer their property to a less wealthy French person? No!

[Doodle]

Wooly are you allowed to say or give a clue as to who the well known agencies are. Mrs KG

[Doodle]

Oh Chancer I agree with you entirely. In the last two weeks the door bell has been worn out and the batteries flat (was told 'your doorbell isn't working' I said 'and') and if I don't open the door which quite often I don't then the door or windows take a beating and it's all because someone wants something. I do tend to get too involved in helping but on this occasion I've stepped back and the young lady can do the rest herself. I also have new english neighbours who latched on to us and were starting to drive us up the wall several times a day wanting information for this that and t'other, using my PC (never again) I know I hear you say 'pigeon'! In 9 years we haven't asked anyone for help other than using this forum. I tell these newbies everything they need to know about living in France can be found via forums - but it's like talking to the deaf and then they reward me by saying they are going to use their EHIC card until it runs out 2 years down the line and work on the black, to which I reply that's illegal - makes me very cross.

A downside of having the front door near to the pavement! If we choose to move in the future we shall surround ourselves by a 6ft hedge/lockable gates etc.

Mrs KG - sorry rabbited on a little here.

[woolybanana]

[quote user="knee gel"]Wooly are you allowed to say or give a clue as to who the well known agencies are. Mrs KG[/quote]

kg, I have pm'd you.

[mint]

So, just for a bit of balance you understand, I must say that it's not just the French who want to sell to les anglais.  I know of at least 2 people, Brits, who want to sell to other Brits and would not hear of advertising to the French such as using leboncoin (yes, I know Brits use leboncoin too but it is predominantly French people who use it).

And the reason for wanting to sell to Brits?  Of course ze stupide anglais think house prices in France are ridiculously low and you could buy a large, detached property with grounds for less than the price of a bedsit in England!

Can't say I blame them, however.  Someone I know have just sold their old pile of stones in the middle of nowhere (as "alittlebitfrench" has talked about elsewhere[:D]) for something like 3 times the value of what a knowledgeable housebuyer would be prepared to pay.  Took them a fair few years to find their stupide anglais but lo and behold, they waited and they waited and sure enough along comes someone who "does not speak a word of French" and who looked at the house last summer and .....the rest, as they say, is history!

Why sell to French people when gullible Brits are to be had if you just spoke their language and told them in some detail about the "quality of life" (have never quite sussed out what that is) that is to be had for peanuts in rural France?[;-)] 

[woolybanana]

Well, MInt, I would not give you a halfpenny worth of perlinpinpin for a Picasso but others would pay their entire Civil Service pension for one, as well as their pension pot and hard earned black money.

Worth is in the eye of the beholder.

I am having a few days in UK at the moment and have been shocked by the stupid money which is being spent on property, as well as ugly and tasteless conversions, especially basements ones.

One might say ze stupide anglais for doing this, as well as the French, Belgians, Russians and Chinese.

But, it will end in tears, mark my words, it will end in tears. The market is teetering, teetering, mark the words of the soothsayer, beware the Nides of Smartch.

Sound like Chancer after a drop!!

[mint]

Hello, Wools!!!

Enjoy yourself in the land of ze stupide anglais!  I don't know how anyone pays those prices and still manages to eat!

Don't know about ending in tears but certainly, something's got to give?

[woolybanana]

One good thing about this area is that I saw Star Wars in comfort.

But by far the most important is there are loadsa nice doggies always ready for a chat and a scratch or pat.

Move date fixed. Phew!

[mint]

et alors, la date pour la pendaison de crémaillère?

On second thoughts, just tell Norman, else the whole forum will be gatecrashing.....

[ben1976]

Hello Mint & Woolly, sorry to gatecrash into your conversation over a month later but I couldn't resist joining in...

The provincial French actually stick the

"loaded-and-ready-to-buy-any-pile-of-stones-for-a-fortune" stereotype on

anyone who's not a local, not just the Brits : they actually hold the

same naive beliefs about the Parisians, or the Lyonnais in the Alps. In

that, they're not different from the Moroccans' beliefs about the

French, the Indians' beliefs about the Westerners in general... or even

the Swiss from Valais about the Swiss from Zurich !

Of course there's actually a lot of truth in this as far as the buying

power differential is concerned. But isn't there also some truth in the

readiness of "les étrangers" to buy seemingly worthless property?

When my wife and I moved to the Alps 15 years ago, we bought a house

that the locals would not have been very interested in, and the price we

paid was probably not really connected to the local prices. The reason

is simple: we didn't have the same needs and wants as the locals at all :

after 10 years in the UK, we wanted some French style and history while

the locals' priorities were built-in wardrobes and power shutters. We

were seeking the "heart of the village experience", they were generally

seeking a large garden to entertain the kids. We hated straight walls

and uniformity, the locals' idea of a houses' geometry often stopped at

90° (45° if they were really creative...). In short, most of the houses'

very features we saw as benefits would have been perceived as downsides

by the locals...

And the story does not stop here: now that we want to sell, we're quite

convinced that there are very few locals who would really value our

stone walls, lime render, oak beams, natural insulation, clay plastered

heated walls, etc..., and they would also likely frown upon the lack of a

double garage and the small size of the garden. In other words, the "product"

we have for sale should be appealing to a foreign clientèle that seeks

quality and authenticity, but is likely to be totally worthless to most

of the local clientèle which seeks first and foremost a low price per

sqm to accommodate the family everyday, along with a few gimmicks in the bargain.

On the contrary, French builders design their contemporary housing

estates for the tastes of the French clientèle, and it's unlikely you or

I would go for those kind of houses: just not the right concept for us.

Looking at the bigger picture and longer term, I have the feeling that

we will one day end up with most of the heritage buildings in the heart

of traditional villages inhabited by foreigners, and the locals pushed

to the outskirts, in modern housing. Not because of money, but because

of tastes. All in all, the sustainability of heritage buildings may well

lie in the hands of foreigners, in France and elsewhere! 

[mint]

Bonjour Ben, I greatly enjoy your post and you make some very valid points.

Just on a first reading, I do have many thoughts and comments relevant to what you have said.  I am a bit pushed for time now but may come back later to carry on the conversation[:)]

Oh and very good luck with your sale!

[Chancer]

[quote user="woolybanana"] beware the Nides of Smartch. Sound like Chancer after a drop!![/quote]

 

Would you please retract that libellous comment Wooly, the born again Chancer is teetotal [:@]

 

The old Chancer after a drop is acceptable [B]