Can anyone help with an agent?

[wottie]

Hi, my family and I are thinking about buying a property in france, which we are all very excited about ! I have found a lovely little house through these agents : http://www.latitudes.co.uk and they seem very professional and was wondering whether anyone had any experience with dealing with them? Many thanks in advance !!

[Gardian]

I believe that they're one of the UK-based operations that 'feed off' of agents that operate in this country.  They split any commission that may arise with the local guy.

As such, I've no particular reason to believe that they're anything other than professional. However, my one experience of them when house-hunting several years ago was that the property was no longer available when we (and they) enquired. Inevitable I guess, because the local guys won't bother to tell Latitudes if they get a sale.

Someone like Will will know more.

[wottie]

thanks for your input Gardian, much appreciated

[cooperlola]

My own personal experience with them wasn't that great either.  I booked half a day with a local agent through them, having explained what I wanted in advance,and expressed an interest in looking at a couple of properties on their books.  When I arrived however, having driven a long way to keep my appointment, the local guy basically told me I was wasting my time, and the two particular properties I'd mentioned were sold. He had nothing else to offer me.  But, as said above, one suspects that has more to do with the particular agents than the company itself who, as far as I know, were acting in good faith when they sent me on my wild goose chase.

[Will]

Yes, Latitudes is a referral agent. It won't cost you any more to buy through them because they split the commission with the agency in France. But you may get better service if you go direct to the French agent, if you know or can work out who it is.

 

[Barry]

Hello wottie

We tried out a number of "the big boys" in this type of thing, we found we were really only a number to them, as a few other folk say they don't seem to keep in touch with the agents. To be fair French agents are not always easy to deal with, three times we booked an appointment directly and three times we were let down, my wife is fluent French so no confusion, the agents just don't seem to believe that English folk are going to turn up, after we got to know a few agents it was a case of "once bitten, twice shy" although the once was many, agents also get fed up with people not showing or being late.

On a positive note, we eventually found an excellent company, they found us exactly what we asked for (not what they wanted to sell us!). Not my job to give them free advertising though but if you send me an email I will return the website address, no problem.

 

One thing to bare in mind, stay positive and persevere, living in France is worth it!

[ams]

It was our experience that the house we selected to see was usually sold. Your best bet is to rent a house in the area that meets your needs, and then take your time and have a good look around. French estate agents can be very frustrating, essentially they do things differently. The market is bad at present so you should be in a strong position to obtain 15% + reduction on the asking price.

 

ams

[Rob Roy]

Perhaps if you could let us know which area of France you are looking in we might be able to suggest local agents for you to contact?