Estate Agent with Dutch connection?

[Monika]

I would think if you would want to sell a house in France now an Estate agent with Dutch connections would be better than English connections? And what would be the likelihood of finding such an Estate Agent? Anybody - any good ideas?

Also if you instruct several Estate Agents, does the fee go up?

And am I right that if we find a buyer ourself  (we are thinking of placing an advert in "French Property News" and possibly a Dutch magazine) we would not have to pay the Estate Agent, would we need to agree this specifically with the Estate Agent? Thank you.

[NormanH]

There is one in the South who specialises in Dutch/Belgian/German clients as well as British, but I don't think he deals with your area.

I suppose it's not allowed to give the link in open forum anyway.

[Will]

You would only have to compensate an agent in the event of finding a buyer yourself if you had an exclusive agreement with a particular agent. Otherwise you can use as many agencies and notaires as you wish, as well as advertise privately. It is usual in France, though there are exceptions, for the agent to agree the 'net vendeur' price with you, which is what you will receive in the event of a sale at the asking price, and then to add on their own fee in the advertised price, so you may end up with several different selling prices as agents' fees will vary slightly.

The small agency group in Northern France for which Mrs Will works is ultimately Dutch-owned, and she has had several sales to Dutch clients. At least in our area the Dutch tend to like hills and valleys (different from their homeland) and to be within reasonably easy driving distance from home.

[Pads]

Heres a good site to advertise on ... I beleive its mostly dutch people

http://expaticanl.franglo.com/classifieds/are_you_cat_crazy-o36095.html

[Benjamin]

Don't forget the Southern Irish.

[Monika]

Thank you to all of you. Great dutch website/forum Pads, and I will have to contact Mrs.Wills. Of course the Southern Irish could be a prospective buyer with a regular ferry service from Cherbourg.

[Panda]

Except that if we consider the property market has gone bang in the UK it's gone Kerboom in southern ireland!

[Benjamin]

[quote user="Panda"]Except that if we consider the property market has gone bang in the UK it's gone Kerboom in southern ireland![/quote]

Maybe so but at least they've got €uros.   [:P]

[Panda]

True enough![:D]

I have friends in Southern Ireland who had their house valued at a stupidly high sum 18 months ago who have been warned of a 30%+ drop now that they have finished tarting it up for resale. 

[Sprogster]

Benjamin, I am not sure the Southern Irish are a viable market at the moment as their tiger economy has been even more badly affected than the UK by the credit crunch, with a collapse in their housing market values, escalating unemployment and a raft of additional new taxes including one on second homes.

[Eos]

[quote user="Panda"]

I have friends in Southern Ireland who had their house valued at a stupidly high sum 18 months ago who have been warned of a 30%+ drop 

[/quote]

30% is indeed a huge drop but it may not be across the board and imo, the percentage seems to depend on when the house was bought and where in the country it is situated. My house has apparently lost about 10% in value. However, I have been advised that as houses rarely come up for sale where it is, which was the case even during the height of the boom period, if I did decide to sell, chances are the percentage drop would be much less.

I think there are still quite a few people with equity in their family homes but lower buyer confidence, a recent punitive budget and, as Sprogster pointed out, a second home tax may cause Irish people to think twice about investing in property.