Selling French Property

[Suem]

Lots of useful posts on this site about buying but due to my husband's health we now have to sell and will be coming over in July to put pressoir on the market.  Does anyone have any experience of best way to go about this?  And how is the market holding up over there?  Taken our UK property off the market after six months and only 3viewings! Merci en avance!

[Will]

You can sell it privately, which means you set the price, do the advertising, arrange viewings etc. You can instruct a notaire to sell it for you, or you can instruct an agence immobilier. As in most of France the buyer pays the fees it makes little difference to you, so if you aren't permanently on site it makes sense to go for one of the latter options. As a general rule agents are more effecctive at marketing than notaires, but there are of course exceptions. Best to go on personal recommendation if you can. Whichever way you go, you will have to instruct a notaire to handle the legal aspects (that's the law in France) and, as seller, you will be expected to get asbestos, termite, lead and drainage surveys as required in your area.

As far as the market is concerned it may not be quite as hectic as it has been, but a sensibly priced place will sell reasonably quickly. Don't be tempted to just copy prices for similar properties, there are too many greedy sellers around asking far too much. Instruct several notaires or agencies if you can, it won't cost you more and it gives more exposure. It's generally better to go for a sensible valuation, priced to sell, rather than just accept the highest figure.

[Suem]

Merci Will, sounds like good advice!

[Will]

Don't forget that you will probably be liable for capital gains tax in France on any profit from the sale.

Hope it works out for you.

[Suem]

  Thanks - we bought in 1992 so hopefully CGT will not be too much as I believe it is on a sliding scale (and if we could hang on another couple of years we wouldn't have to pay any!

[Baz]

You should  remember that you are also be liable for CGT in the UK, although the Inland Revenue will deduct any CGT tax paid in France against their calculations after applying  UK Indexation and current CGT allowances. If you are selling it furnished make sure the Notaire shows this as a seperate value as it will not count for capital gains in either France or the UK.

The UK CGT rules are very different from the French as the payment rates will be based on your current tax rate  in the fiscal year of the property sale. You also mentioned  your Husband's health  which could  be to your advantage and it may be worth seeking financial advice.

 

Baz

[James_B]

I would tend to agree that notaires aren't always effective as selling agents. When we first saw our house, the sale was being handled not only by a local notaire but also by an estate agent in the next town. We went round to the notaire's office and asked if we could be shown the property which was empty and no more than 100 yards round the corner. That was a Thursday morning. The earliest appointment they could give us to view was the following Tuesday afternoon!They wouldn't even let us have the keys. 

Needless to say we contacted the estate agent instead.The property was perfect and we signed the compromis on the Saturday. One year later our house was still up for sale in the noitaire's window..