Selling property in France experience

[magooagain]

Very nice Rodger. Seems a fair price.

[fay970l]

We've been trying to sell for a couple of years. Had buyers at one stage but that fell through due to mortgage problems.
Need it sold as its owned with my parents who are now getting too old to travel the long distance & carry out the grass & hedge cutting!!
http://www.fnaim.fr/annonce-immobiliere/39441201/1...

[Perik Omo]

Well, we've got an offer on the table but it's a lot lower than we want but hey-ho at least it's a firm offer from a cash buyer. With the exchange rates as they are at the moment the offer is OK the only downside now is that we can't move until late April / early May next year as we have booked and paid for our trip to NZ January to April, the potential buyer is in no hurry and will wait as long as necessary. The problem is the exchange rates, what are they going to do? Oh, for a crystal ball. If we sign the compromis now and the rate £/€ rate improves more than a few points before the cash is handed over next May then it's not such a good deal but if it goes down to parity then we're quids in.

I've posted a question in the Finance section about buying currency at forward rates so will see if there's any advice there. According to todays comments on rates from the Bank Of Ireland they seem to think that it going to get to or close to parity by the end of the year, but what do they know! Actually, looking at the forward rates from various banks they are quoting rates for 6 monhs out at rates very close to todays rate.

[Croutons]

Have you asked the buyer? Even if they're brits they may have a stack of euros.

Out of interest how long did it take to go?

Would love to know what you got of course, but appreciate you may not want to reveal now (if at all!)

[Perik Omo]

They are French from St Nazaire and it would be a second property for them, they will move here and rent their place on the coast and are in no hurry to move at the moment. It went on the market in July last year and they were the second people to view, the wife fell in love with it and they have not found anything to compare in the last year of looking hence coming back to us. We've tried to up the price they are willing to pay but their limit is a hard limit and are willing to lose out if it comes to it and it's 60k less than we wanted but it makes it bearable when you take the change in exchange rates in the last year. You can see the dilemma, either say yes and take a risk that the rates won't move much or hang on and lose the sale and hope someone else turns up.

[rdjohn]

Congratulations

Did you sell through GreenAcres.com, or did you use a local agent?

[YankeePorker]

YankeePorker said:

Hi Paul, it is a bad time for someone who tends to be depressive and to dwell on things to be a selling a house in France! The country is in the economic doldrums and the housing market is also holding it's breath at least until next years presidential elections are done and dusted. The drop in the value of the £ won't help your friend either with the British buyers, though will make his return to Blighty with a pocket full of €'s more pleasant. I presume that the agent has got the house on seloger.com? This seems to be the most effective of the property websites in France.

My house in the countryside near Versailles is up for sale or rent and it looks like we will do the latter again because the current sale price will give us a very painful loss in value! Having always been lucky enough to be selling into rising markets with a healthy profit, to find oneself on the losing end is a painful reminder that it's a cycle and nothing is guaranteed.

Thread resurrection!

Well, have just accepted an offer on the house mentioned above at a brutal price. Losing 750k€ on a property is not nice, but it's been empty for a year and is deteriorating at a rate of knots, living abroad makes it very hard to maintain. Painful experience, good bye France....

[Croutons]

Seven hundred and fifty thousand pounds???

What is this place?

[Perik Omo]

rdjohn said:

Congratulations

Did you sell through GreenAcres.com, or did you use a local agent?

No, it was a local agent (Bourse Immobilier) although we are still getting enquiries through Greenacres but none of them seem to go anywhere after supplying extra information and email exchanges back and forth, it seems to be par for the course although some friends have just sold their place through them, their place was about €170k though. We have also got a visit from another agent scheduled for Monday afternoon who contacted us saying that they have a client(s) who may be interested so we'll see where that goes before we make a decision.

[Kev_Mk3]

Puggit said:

Well we're finally biting the bullet.

Bought a lovely longere in Sarthe (La Chartre-sur-le-Loir, home of the famous Hotel de France) in 2007 for €195k (previously advertised at 220k!). We still have €170k left on the mortgage, and the top price we can expect is €150k. Just returned from the area, and started dealing with a local immobilier while we were out there.

I guess the saving grace is that the buyer pays all the fees (not mentioned in my costs above).

10 years of glorious visits to a great part of the world, but time to stop hemorrhaging money.

As stated above not far from our place in Savigne - sous le lude beautiful area

[Croutons]

Mike-tf3n0 said:

We had a little SNCF passage a niveau cottage which we sold in 2005 to an American couple for €180K. They sold in 2015 for €80K to an English couple. I helped with the viewings, in fact took over all of that because the agents were totally useless, lazy and disinterested and eventually the sale came from a private ad in, I think, French Property News. I wouldn't waste my time with French agents ever again, private ad, lots of pics and be pragmatic on price, todays buyers are spoilt for choice!

As you were involved in their onward sale, would you mind expanding on how the sale at 80K came about? As in, did they just keep reducing the price, or did they have a silly offer and bit?

I ask as a friend has been offered half the (considerably reduced) price of a nice gaff in Haute Vienne, and he's thinking about taking it to be done. Even without a UK (market) mindset I, personally would struggle to take an offer of 150 against an ask of 300 (down from 400), I'd wonder how serious they really were, and why I should entertain it. But seemingly these things happen!

[Perik Omo]

Well, we haven't yet accepted the low-ball offer that we have. We were about to make the call when another agent 'phoned to say that they had someone that wanted a viewing, this was last Monday and they loved it BUT they have to put their house on the market in the UK and that's going to take about 4 weeks before they know if it's a goer or not. Since then we have been contacted by yet another un-connected agent who saw our ad on Greenacres and she reckons she has people on her books that would be interested, she's coming tomorrow afternoon so we'll see what transpires. The chap (and family) who came on Monday is fed up with the rat-race in the UK and want's out, he's selling his property maintenance business (or he might have already sold it, he turned up in a month-old X5) and is taking early retirement he also asked about the abandoned house next door where our farmer neighbour died to take as a project. So, we'll see what happens tomorrow....

[Mike-tf3n0]

Croutons said:

As you were involved in their onward sale, would you mind expanding on how the sale at 80K came about? As in, did they just keep reducing the price, or did they have a silly offer and bit?

I ask as a friend has been offered half the (considerably reduced) price of a nice gaff in Haute Vienne, and he's thinking about taking it to be done. Even without a UK (market) mindset I, personally would struggle to take an offer of 150 against an ask of 300 (down from 400), I'd wonder how serious they really were, and why I should entertain it. But seemingly these things happen!

Yes, pretty much that. We had endless viewings, I was showing it on their behalf, and a number of offers varying from low to ridiculous. The owners had just inherited an enormous property in the States which they badly wanted to get on with renovating and I think they felt their French adventure had run it's course and the only way to close the book was to accept whatever they could get for it and go. They weren't happy about it but the market was in freefall at the time and all the potential buyers were aware of that fact and exploiting it like mad.

[Croutons]

Thanks Mike,

I think the "UK Market" mindset plus, on occasion, agents potentially willing to let slip that 'any offer will do' can conspire against vulnerable Brits who want to move on...

Perik Omo said:

Well, we haven't yet accepted the low-ball offer that we have.

Still not sure we've got a link to this one!?!?!

[Perik Omo]

Croutons said:

Thanks Mike,

I think the "UK Market" mindset plus, on occasion, agents potentially willing to let slip that 'any offer will do' can conspire against vulnerable Brits who want to move on...

Perik Omo said:

Well, we haven't yet accepted the low-ball offer that we have.

Still not sure we've got a link to this one!?!?!

It's in my post of 8th August above, but there's a new agent on the scene now:

https://www.beauxvillages.com/en/component/iproper...

[Mike-tf3n0]

FWIW when we sold the cottage in 2005 we got so fed up with useless, lazy, greedy French estate agents that we put an ad in French Property News - and that pulled in loads of really sensible enquiries including the independent Canadian estate agent who did sell it two weeks later!

[Croutons]

Perik Omo said:

It's in my post of 8th August above, but there's a new agent on the scene now:

https://www.beauxvillages.com/en/component/iproper...

Ah, sorry, it's a link to YankeePorker's which is absent.

[CarreraLightweightRacing]

Are there any recommended UK agents selling French property down in the South West of France. I have a property in a charming little UNESCO town in France where I don't think there is anyone English living there ( Aire Sur-l'Adour, Les Landes). Have been thinking of selling for some time to invest the money in a 911 project I have on the go. The house was always intended as a retirement fund and has been rented out ever since we bought it back in 2007.
Any help much appreciated

[Mike-tf3n0]

The only one I can think of is Hamilton Immo but they are around us near Carcassonne and I don't know if they go as far west as you. As mentioned before I think all estate agents in France are tarred with the same brush, I would try an ad in French Property News, it produced more sensible enquiries than all the Estate agents put together although that was in 2004, things have probably changed since then!

[Perik Omo]

I think that Beaux Villages estate agents operate in that area and they deal with English speakers primarily, don't know how good they are though.

You say your property is rented out, is that permanently rented out? If so you may find you have problems getting the renters out if they are French and have been in the property a long time.