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OFFER ON FRENCH PROPERTY


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Thanks for your info, but NO we haven't signed any papers to view any properties with this agency.  We just happened to be visiting a town 40K away when we saw the property cheaper in another agency, we hadn't even looked at it then.  The next day we were meant to see a property in the Tarn but were told that it may have had a problem with termite so we decided to stay away.  We arranged to visit the property in question and it ticked all the correct boxes with what we are looking for.  The little french farmer seemed really sweet as he was telling me what all the plants were in French thats when I noticed the little hand written boards outside the house.  So the next day we visited the house again without the agent and I wrote the telephone number down and when I got home I rang my french teacher who then rang the little french farmer and found out that the property was 122,000 Euros (Agency 135,000 euros).

So my question is at what price should I put an offer in?  I know that we need the agent because all the paperwork as I don't speak french well enough to deal with all the legal side. 

What do I do I would like to get the property for the lowest price as we would need to put central heating in and do some work on the roof.

Any help would be appreciated.

Tracey

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Without wanting to cast doubt about Estate Agents, but when you say you “I know that we need the agent because all the paperwork as I don't speak french well enough to deal with all the legal side.”, do consider what the agent is doing and where their interests lie. My understanding is that most French Estate Agents do not provide language translation services. Normally they get their money when the sale completes and thus I would treat any advice (legal, etc.) with a degree of caution. Similarly, there are organisations in the UK who say they handle the legal aspects, but my experience of one such company is that the are little more than a translation service (and my ex-neighbour in the UK looked at their work and considered them a poor translation service as well).

I’m not in a position to offer specific advice, but do always consider who people are representing and where their interests lie.

I am told that French agents tend to guard their commissions and, every time I’ve been taken to a property by anybody I’ve always had it recorded or signed something. If they took you to it and then find you’ve purchased it directly I guess there is a risk they will sue for their commission. I cannot comment on the likelihood of this but from when people say it is certainly not impossible.

If you need work doing on the property I would get quotes in advance. Make sure you get the quotes and don’t just take some agent (or the vendor) telling you the first low number he/she thought of. Also, remember that getting artisans to do the work in France is not always as fast or straightforward as you would like.

Ian
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be bold be bold be bold

              you can allways go up  but not down, like I said it`s a buyers market at the moment ... €100,000 sounds good to me then you can then pay somone to do the dirty work for you , go for it be bold hope it works , and would love to taste the champers on you

                     dave

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when we bought our house they were asking £128,000 so we offered  £110,000

they agent came back and said no , we told them we did not want it then

4 weeks later phone call to say we can have it at that price

 

Has the property been on the market a long time ? it's handy to find out

 

 

Andy (56)

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[quote]Thanks for your info, but NO we haven't signed any papers to view any properties with this agency. We just happened to be visiting a town 40K away when we saw the property cheaper in another agency, ...[/quote]

I don't know the full story so this may not help.... when I bought my place I engaged an "English Expert in matters French" at a firm of solicitors in Bath and sent the tricky stuff to him. He originally quoted about £700 for the job, but because I didn't send that much to him it ended up being about £150. In my book, £150 was a good price for the piece of mind it gave me (and I was pleasantly surprised at how well I could cope with written French, a good dictionary and Google Translate)

 

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Gosh, this is always tricky.  You like it so you don't want to lose it but you also want the best price.  You don't say how big it is or land, etc. but for a Tarn address only requiring CH and a bit of roof work, that doesn't sound a bad price.  If it's been on the market for months and it were mid-winter, I'd suggest going as low as 90K, knowing jolly well that most of my French friends would start at around 75K.  But the sort of figure you're talking about is a popular price-range for so many Brits.  If you have the courage, go in lower, but if you're cautious, why not offer 100K and see what he says?   Sudden thought, did the agency price include fees?  That could explain the difference.  M
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