Buying a Place in France

Buying a place in France can be a very frustrating experience… there is no master listing service (MLS) where you can go and do a first search by internet of properties for sale. Real estate agents jealously guard their few properties for sale, and often demand exclusivité of the seller so only they can sell the property.

Given the lack of an MLS, and the traditional mistrust of all administration here in France, it is not surprising that around 30% of sales are private, leaving about 60% through an agency, and 10% through local attorneys (notaires as distinct from avocats). By the way it seems the collective noun is une etude de notaires, but un cabinet d’avocats.

The best approximation to an MLS we found was to go to property magazines’ web sites. Again, there is not one definitive magazine but several competitors, each jealously guarding the agencies that advertise with them.

Seeking out For Sale signs on properties is not much use either - public signs are very rare and usually only if properties are already unoccupied.

The next challenge is that actual property addresses are also jealously guarded. This means that web searches and window shopping have very limited usefulness. We would see properties advertised as “within 15 minutes of the town centre” – not specifying whether this was on foot or by car – a huge difference! Sometimes we would at least see advertisements indicating a generic area – quartier lycée Cézanne for example, this being about as precise as agents would dare to get. And of course walking that area we would find a mixture of delightful and dubious properties. In reality you have to go to each agency to get more details - but still you're not given the actual address. You agree on a visit date and time and meet the agent, either at the agency or at some commonly agreed location, and from there you are escorted to the property. At the end of the visit you must sign a form, un bon de visite, that is used to prove that they were the first to show you this property and if you buy from another agent, or buy privately, the original showing agent still gets their full commission.

Real estate agent hyperbole applies just as much in France as in other countries. Some of the expressions made us laugh out loud. The condition of a property could be described, roughly in order of the work needed, as très bon état, bon état, à refraichir, à renover. Other fun expressions include à refaire à votre gout...

Photos - where provided at all - are very limited. Often just one photo is available, typically a lounge/diner view. The photos are amazingly poor, with no effort made to tidy up beforehand. Everything is very cluttered - we see photos of rooms with clothes sprawling over chairs, dirty dishes on worktops. To be fair, since there is so little storage space, I guess they don’t have anywhere to hide stuff, but still, it would take but a moment to put clothes away and wash dishes!

So, in reality, it is necessary to do a first search by internet, to get a flavor of what is available at what price, then go walkabout to get a feel for the areas. Finally, go from one agency to another and spend time with them as they capture needs and desires (and budget – Aix is apparently the most expensive place after Paris), then have them explain how few properties they really have available. Because, despite their listings and web site showing lots of properties, many are in fact already under contract, outright sold, have a tenant with long term rights, or have some specific problem like being next to the highway. If we’re lucky, we get to visit two properties per agency that generally meet our criteria.

By the way, agents usually advertise properties with the price marked FAI – frais d’agence inclus. They then claim to the buyer that they don’t have any agency fees to pay - but of course in reality the price has already been inflated by the agency fees before putting it on the market, so the buyer is in a sense paying the fees!

Because of the lack of actual addresses, we also had to get to know key areas and adjacent villages. These are often named by a specific development outside of town such as Les Milles or La Duranne. Even getting to know how to pronounce local names can be a challenge… Luynes, Puyricard, Pertuis, Trets… is the final consonant pronounced?

Initially we walk and walk all over town, and soon learn that street maps can be very deceptive. What seems on the map to be an interesting area just a few minutes’ walk away turns out to be a major climb uphill from the town centre – not something you want to tackle after an evening of lovely food and wine in one of the open-air restaurants in the town centre.

Properties are usually advertised as F3 or T3 etc. F (fonction) and T (type) are essentially synonymous, while the number after refers to the total of livable rooms, excluding the bathroom, toilet, kitchen, utility room (should it be so luxurious as to have one at all). For example a T2 would have one lounge/diner and one bedroom, while a T4 might have a separate lounge and dining room, and 2 bedrooms.

When it comes to defining the size of the property however, the French count the “raw” floor area of every room, and every cupboard, even if built-in. Fortunately, there is now a law, le loi Carrez, which requires the ceiling to be of a minimum useful height (1.80 metres or about 70 inches), so no counting all of that loft conversion with its sloping ceiling.

Once agreed verbally, it takes just a few days for the notaire to draw up the sale document, le compromis de vente, and get the buyers and sellers together to sign (like the exchange of contracts in England). This is a real commitment on both sides with a penalty clause of 10% typically should either withdraw, and requires the buyer to put down a 5% deposit.  However, you may put in an escape clause (clause suspensive) if for example you need to get a loan and it might get refused. By the way, attorney fees (frais de notaire) and government taxes amount to a further 7% of the purchase price, so you need to be sure this is the property for you!

Closing takes place about 3 months later, mostly due to the fact that the local town hall has the right to purchase the property and is required to respond within 60 days.

Parc de la Torse (next door to where we are buying)

Unlike the UK and the USA, here in France sellers typically take all they can dismantle… including light fittings (leaving just bare wires), kitchen cabinets and built-in appliances – unless specifically agreed beforehand. Some friends here recently found their sellers had even removed all the electric panel radiators from the walls!

Despite all the above, we have found an apartment within comfortable walking distance of Aix centre, next to a lovely park, and not far from the highway to the south – the coast, and the countryside. Work will be needed, in agents’ jargon à refraichir, and the kitchen à refaire. But we are not in a hurry, and look forward to going to Ikea and being inspired!

© 2011 Text and Images Trevor and Valerie White