Opening times

[Pauline]

We are planning a area/house hunting trip end of April, could anyone tell me the opening times for immobiliers please, do they open saturdays or do viewings at weekends? I am trying to book in some viewings in advance to maximise our time.

Pauline

[alnmike]

When we were looking in Manche I rang/emailed and I was able to arrange appointments early evening and Saturday. Just ask - all they can do is say 'non'! Good luck and enjoy!

[Pauline]

Thanks Al, we will.

[cooperlola]

If you look at this site

http://www.century21.fr/trouver_agence/

you can find an agent in the area in which you are looking - they mostly have e-mail addresses so you could ask them in advance if they will be open.  I'm sure there are plenty of other sites too which you could find.

[marina]

Its always best to make appointments rather than just turn up

[P-D de Rouffignac]

Immobilier opening times

As someone who works in the property business can I just point out that it is not just a question of the immobilier being available at the weekend or early evening, if properties are occupied then arrangements have also to be made with the vendors. I know, I know, they want to sell their properties and then they won't accept visits at the weekend, or over lunchtime, or after six pm etc etc. This I am afraid is a fact of life, also that the immobilier may only have a skeleton staff on a Saturday (usually mornings only).

Finally a plea to buyers - if you are 'just looking' - that is, wanting to view some properties to get a first feel for the market - please be frank with the estate agent and tell him/her, especially if you are hoping to make visits at unusual times such as the weekends. And do spend some time in the office discussing what your needs are before setting off on visits; and look at the agent's catalogue - this save time for everyone concerned. So many people I encounter want to go tearing off round the countryside and when I show them a cottage they admit they really want an apartment..........If they don't tell me, how do I know!

Peter-Danton de ROUFFIGNAC

 

[Nicos]

I spent weeks trawling through properties on the internet to see what sort of property we would prefer.

Then I researched thoroughly each locality we were considering,

downloading maps, travel routes, googling commune information and local facilities,

and even spying from above using google earth and mappy.

It just seemed sensible to me to make the most of the time actually in

France viewing houses in areas we knew we'd like to live in.

I contacted 2 local estate agents and sent them details of the type of

houses we'd consider so they could arrange viewings (from 9am to 9pm

)and offer us similar properties which were on their books.

3 days, viewing 4-5 properties a day ( exhausting!!!).

Finally buying the 6th property we'd viewed.

We 'fell in love' with most of the properties we viewed but the one we chose simply felt  it had been waiting for us.

We checked it over thoroughly 3 more times  over the next 2 days (

the vendors were more than patient with us!!!) and gleefully agreed to

buy it.

Saw it for the first time on the Tuesday and had signed for it on the Friday!

We are not impulsive people, and all the thorough research certainly paid off.

SAFER's 8 weeks is up tomorrow ....( fingers crossed)

Good luck with your search!

[P]

Pauline, our experience was that viewings, normally accompanied by the agent, took place during the day.

However, one English agent who showed us a number of properties did work until the early evening as did a German independent - viewing times were very flexible with her.

With one agent she would turn quite nasty if we did not want to buy one of the properties that she showed us.

Also found that some agents would want to show us properties that wre nothing like what we were looking for.

In truth, we did view about 200 properties, partially because you cannot do a drive by to suss the area before arranging an appointment.

In some cases, the agent had access to a key so that aytime viewings were not a problem and in other cases the vendor was there.

We laid down tight schedules, having checked travelling times between agents, so that visits were not overly long, but did build in times for 2nd visits.

The house that we bought was viewed fairly quickly before moving on to the next agent (this was the first and only house we wished to view with the agent). However, from discussions between ourselves we wanted a 2nd look an so to the purchase.

Of all the houses, there were only about 3 we had a 2nd look, the one we bought, one we tried to buy and one that the OH was mad keen on until the 2nd visit.

The other part of planning a visit is to realise that an agents patch can cover a large area - so there might be an hours journy to view a property.

Best of luck

Paul

[Moorejw]

You will find that many independent agents will show you properties at evenings, weekends and bank holidays, especially if the properties are empty and they hold the keys. But many properties are owner/occupied and the agent has to fit in with the owner's wishes. All viewings are accompanied and few agents will tell you the exact location of a property until you sign a viewing agreement.

Good luck with your search.

[Nicos]

I understand that the form you sign with the Agent should be done AFTER the viewing and not before.

We had a bit of a mix up with 2 of the Agents with this. Talk about feathers flying!!!![Www]

[Just Katie]

I made an appointment to view my house at 9pm.  Quite extraordinary when you cannot buy of loaf of bread at 1pm[blink]

[Pauline]

Thanks for all your comments, we have done so much research and planning we now feel its time to do the viewing even though we wont be moving until October.

Thanks again

Pauline

[cooperlola]

Bon courage!  Happy house-hunting.  Thanks for keeping us posted - it's always gratifying.[:)]