Selling property in France experience
Discussion
Hi , before I ask the question I'm not looking for advice on the subject , just any examples of other people's personal experiences over the last few years . I've bought , extended , modernising , divided land , sold and built new so I know how it works .
The reason I ask is an old friend of mine has recently decided to sell up and move back to England . He does suffer depression and as such sometimes feels the whole of the French system is against him , he's 20 years older than me and sometimes when I offer advice I question if he believes me .
His house is in the 350k -400k euro bracket , typical lovely old thing with lots of rooms , large but manageable garden , large pool , large outbuilding with permission to convert , it's situated in the Dordogne , but no option other than a car for transport . It's not isolated having neighbours in the small hamlet and only being 15 mins drive to sarlat .
If anyone has recently sold , or offered for sale their French property would it be possible to post your honest personal experience so I can let him read them . It may sway him to maybe adjust his sales strategy and enable a swifter return to England . He was only going to offer it on rightmove until I convinced him to take a French agent on board , the way I look at the house it's in line with other similar properties price wise and probably better than a lot of them but I see it sold to French buyers re locating for work reasons .
All comments welcome , but like I said at the start , I'm not looking for advice , just reasonable honest real life experience .
Thanks in advance
Paul
The reason I ask is an old friend of mine has recently decided to sell up and move back to England . He does suffer depression and as such sometimes feels the whole of the French system is against him , he's 20 years older than me and sometimes when I offer advice I question if he believes me .
His house is in the 350k -400k euro bracket , typical lovely old thing with lots of rooms , large but manageable garden , large pool , large outbuilding with permission to convert , it's situated in the Dordogne , but no option other than a car for transport . It's not isolated having neighbours in the small hamlet and only being 15 mins drive to sarlat .
If anyone has recently sold , or offered for sale their French property would it be possible to post your honest personal experience so I can let him read them . It may sway him to maybe adjust his sales strategy and enable a swifter return to England . He was only going to offer it on rightmove until I convinced him to take a French agent on board , the way I look at the house it's in line with other similar properties price wise and probably better than a lot of them but I see it sold to French buyers re locating for work reasons .
All comments welcome , but like I said at the start , I'm not looking for advice , just reasonable honest real life experience .
Thanks in advance
Paul
Thanks for the answers , I know his house is mortgage free but it's difficult to explain your sometimes better off selling cheaply and getting on with what remains of his life , rather than hanging on a few years and not being around to spend it .
I've explained it's a very slow market and he's looking for a relatively wealthy buyer to want or need to live there .
I've explained it's a very slow market and he's looking for a relatively wealthy buyer to want or need to live there .
CarreraLightweightRacing said:
Would anyone here have any idea of the current market in Aire Sur L'adour (Les Landes, just down the road from the Nogaro race circuit 'Paul Armagnac')? I bought a 3 bed Villa Plain-Pied in 2007 for €222,500. I have rented it out ever since but am considering selling as it as either the French house or my GT3RS must go to fund a new business venture. The house was always intended as the pension scheme but selling the car is also not something I ideally want to do...
Sorry to hijack OP, I can't really comment on the selling front as I have only bought. That seemed to run very smoothly and the BNP Paribas are the best bank I have ever come across. The agency I used were https://www.orpi.com/aireimmobilier/ who are part of the ORPI group. Again highly recommended from my experience. They also look after the renting side of things for my tenants.
No problem with the hi jack , oddly I was looking at buying a gt3 rs or build the house , annoyingly the car would have been a better investment , not to mention a lot less effort ! Sorry to hijack OP, I can't really comment on the selling front as I have only bought. That seemed to run very smoothly and the BNP Paribas are the best bank I have ever come across. The agency I used were https://www.orpi.com/aireimmobilier/ who are part of the ORPI group. Again highly recommended from my experience. They also look after the renting side of things for my tenants.
Edited by CarreraLightweightRacing on Sunday 28th August 17:23
As an update to the original topic , I called round to see my mate and asked how the sale was going , he's had no viewings at all and blames the agent as he reckons they aren't doing anything as he signed an exclusive deal for 3 months . I tried to explain that the agent can't magically make buyers appear and its in the agents best interests to try and sell the house as that's what they make commission on but it fell on deaf ears . I did tell him to go back to town and bang it up for sale with every agent in town at the end of his exclusive but he's now fixed his hopes on a Dutch internet agency as it's cheaper . I also told him to prepare for low ball offers but he won't entertain them . I've tried my best but I also know when to give in , I'm pleased in a way I no longer live there full time !
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.
I've done my best for him but he's narrow minded , not to mention he and his wife have been there 12 years and never socialised with anyone but me and that's only as I have done a few building jobs for him , their isolated world makes it worse . 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.
A couple of days ago I was there at my house and my neighbours son is desperate to buy the small house I built , there's a poor thread entitled "French self build " if your interested , as it's everything a modern young French guy could wish for but even though I've priced it at money back and tax paid he can't afford it , he did say he will try again next year depending on the outcome on the election . I wasn't looking to sell but it came up in conversation with his father . If by chance he does buy it I'll pay around 50k tax on a 160k house ! The government will take my profit , that'll teach me to not employ French trades , no invoice , no tax relief . I should know better as it happened with my previous house down there .
Just as well I actually like spending time .
Just clocked this thread after forgetting about it to be honest , mate in question has had 4 viewings and a couple of people express an interest, although I've a feeling they may be bargain hunters as he's told them they are moving back to England , also he's dropped the price a couple of times .
On a different note I agreed a sale of my house , completely out of the blue private sale just by word of mouth ! French guy wants it for his holiday - weekend house . I'll be making a large contribution to macrons wages late September . Thankfully he's bought all the large furniture as well . I'll have a small van load of odds and ends to come back after a couple more holidays there in the next couple of months .
On a different note I agreed a sale of my house , completely out of the blue private sale just by word of mouth ! French guy wants it for his holiday - weekend house . I'll be making a large contribution to macrons wages late September . Thankfully he's bought all the large furniture as well . I'll have a small van load of odds and ends to come back after a couple more holidays there in the next couple of months .
Oh well , I completed the sale of my house on Monday morning ! There's a thread on the homes and garden section if anyone's interested . If anyone else is selling up over there just be aware the notaries seem to be somewhat reluctant to release the funds once you've signed .
Luckily I was ready for this and I stayed on in France for a few days and ended up going back to the notaries office a few times to insist the transfer was done !
With reference to the rental comments above , a French husband of a girl I know down there rents a few houses out , it took him 3 years without any rental income to evict one tenant !
Luckily I was ready for this and I stayed on in France for a few days and ended up going back to the notaries office a few times to insist the transfer was done !
With reference to the rental comments above , a French husband of a girl I know down there rents a few houses out , it took him 3 years without any rental income to evict one tenant !
Perik Omo said:
I was wondering about that and was going to enquire how soon after signing I can get the cash. We are getting closer to an offer I think as some folks who came a couple of weeks ago are flying over for a second visit next week, it's probably going to come down to how much we'll drop!!
I'm interested in time to get the cash as we want to buy a forward contract for the currency and will need to know the end date.
This is the second time I've sold a property over there , the way it goes is the notaire is little more than a tax collector , they do the calculations and can tell you in advance what balance you will receive. I think it's up to you to argue with the tax office if you think it's wrong . In my case I paid a lot but it was less than I expected . Try to include a sum for fixtures and fittings if you can as you won't be taxed on this , obviously keep it real though . I'm interested in time to get the cash as we want to buy a forward contract for the currency and will need to know the end date.
As for receiving the proceeds , in hind sight I should have agreed a cheque on completion, as it was they said that the money would be transferred to my French account within 48 hours , when I asked the person that does the transfers was off that week so I was told I would have to wait . All I did was tell them it was to fund another property in England that was due to complete on Friday so I needed the money there and then to avoid extra charges ! It wasn't but it seemed to do the trick as they managed .
They should re emburse you straight away as they have the cleared funds in their account but apparently it's common practise to hold them as long as possible .
If you are proceeding I would make sure it's agreed with the notarie in advance that the balance is paid by cheque there and then on competition .
Good luck
I didn't get any relief from materials even with invoices , the materials must be bought and work done by registered French trades people . You may be lucky with your accounts though. In your position I'd find a notaries now and get them on the case , explain everything and let them get on with it . Your buyer uses the same notarie anyway and if they are English they'll probably appreciate the ground work , but they'll not be impressed that they have to pay the notarie !
You'll no doubt be aware that you need the spanc drain inspection and energy report .
You'll no doubt be aware that you need the spanc drain inspection and energy report .
harrycovert said:
I`ve put this on the market in your opinion is it priced to sell?
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/overseas-property/prope...
Only got it with a couple of local agents at the moment.
It looks cheap , but ! http://www.rightmove.co.uk/overseas-property/prope...
Only got it with a couple of local agents at the moment.
Is there a reason , work wise , for anyone French to move there ? It's a big house and the French tend to scratch their heads at our English mentality of buying a big house without having family to fill it full time . They tend to buy smaller , easy to run houses .
And remember, there's a lot of French people in France who buy houses because they need to for work and life purposes . A lot of English people in France limit their market to the English , Dutch market for some reason.
The guy I originally started the thread for has had his house for sale well over a year now and has had maybe 6 viewings , none of which have been English . I'd just bang it up with every agent you can , local and Internet , and sit tight . There's definitely buyers out there in France .
Kev_Mk3 said:
do you have a link I cant seem to find it?
Sadly need to get ours on the market with my mothers health getting worse but need her to get over to start it for signatures etc.
Search "French self build " on here and you'll find it . Sadly need to get ours on the market with my mothers health getting worse but need her to get over to start it for signatures etc.
We've just been sat in London on a weekend break talking about selling the house and wondering if we really should have sold up , to late now though . My wife was a little more upset than she first let on , she shed a few tears when i drove her to Limoges airport the day before the sale , but it's just really sank in the last couple of weeks what we actually achieved . One bloke building a house on an admittedly compromised piece of land by himself , from drawing the plans to locking the door for the last time over 8 years ! I'm starting to wonder if it was the right thing to do myself tonight !
magooagain said:
I did give some thought as to why you sold it Paul. After the hard work you had a perfect turnkey holiday home.
I just thought you have just had enough of France ,but you're various posts seem to be the opposite.
I have a very nice plot for sale if you fancy another new build.
Thanks for the offer but once was enough , especially as I'm into my fifties now ! It was a perfect little place and I did design it to be more or less maintenance free but once I'd finished it I was spending less and less time there . I'm sure I'll miss it next year but the hassle free sale was a bonus , a fluent English speaking French guy that could easily afford the place and the large furniture was to good to pass up , not to mention a profit on my investment, and we know there's more than a few people in France would like to be able to say that !I just thought you have just had enough of France ,but you're various posts seem to be the opposite.
I have a very nice plot for sale if you fancy another new build.
Renovating in my fifties isn't a problem , building from scratch on my Todd is ! Many times I stood back and questioned what I was doing , I definitely wouldn't have bothered if Id had to buy a piece of land , I'd owned that piece for a while and it was like it was free as I'd split it off the house next door .
And as you mention , the journey down there in a car is a pain in the arse now , I was taking up to 6 hours in England allowing for roadworks then another 8 hours through France plus the crossing . It was even worse in the old cab star !
And as you mention , the journey down there in a car is a pain in the arse now , I was taking up to 6 hours in England allowing for roadworks then another 8 hours through France plus the crossing . It was even worse in the old cab star !
Limoges is a direct flight a few times a week from Liverpool or Manchester , it's a bonus as it's a boring 6 hour drive from the tunnel to Limoges area , I live on the Wirral as you may have guessed .
Perik , I've only just got paid out from the transfer company I used , the French bank , the one that's apparently popular ! messed about as soon as they realised we were using a third party company instead of a straight forward bank to bank transfer , probably as they were losing about 4K euros on their unfriendly exchange rate . If your bringing money back to the uk keep it in mind and appoint a transfer company and sort out all the paperwork before you leave , it will be a lot easier . Ironically we've ended up with a little more money in sterling due to the exchange rate going in our favour during the hold ups !
Perik , I've only just got paid out from the transfer company I used , the French bank , the one that's apparently popular ! messed about as soon as they realised we were using a third party company instead of a straight forward bank to bank transfer , probably as they were losing about 4K euros on their unfriendly exchange rate . If your bringing money back to the uk keep it in mind and appoint a transfer company and sort out all the paperwork before you leave , it will be a lot easier . Ironically we've ended up with a little more money in sterling due to the exchange rate going in our favour during the hold ups !
Not like France to make things complicated!
If I was selling again I'd set everything up and stay in a hotel until I could get a balance out of the ATM that confirmed everything was done . I stayed an extra few days because of the stories about the notaire and it proved worthwhile as I was able to chase them every day until they transferred funds , but I wasn't expecting the run around off the bank .
They wanted to know the far end of a fart in order to deal with the transfer company , that said it's probably a good thing security wise .
Just make sure you stay in France to keep on the case until it's completed to your satisfaction.
I can't imagine how much hassle it would be if I was depending on the money to buy another house elsewhere , I was lucky in that respect as it was just a holiday house .
Good luck with the offers .
If I was selling again I'd set everything up and stay in a hotel until I could get a balance out of the ATM that confirmed everything was done . I stayed an extra few days because of the stories about the notaire and it proved worthwhile as I was able to chase them every day until they transferred funds , but I wasn't expecting the run around off the bank .
They wanted to know the far end of a fart in order to deal with the transfer company , that said it's probably a good thing security wise .
Just make sure you stay in France to keep on the case until it's completed to your satisfaction.
I can't imagine how much hassle it would be if I was depending on the money to buy another house elsewhere , I was lucky in that respect as it was just a holiday house .
Good luck with the offers .
Just a small update on the original topic , matey sent me an email with his new English address yesterday . He didn't go into any detail apart from it was a French buyer and said " it cost us a lot to get back ! "
It's taken a couple of years but at least they got sorted and left themselves enough money to buy a bungalow in England .
It's taken a couple of years but at least they got sorted and left themselves enough money to buy a bungalow in England .
Just whilst I'm thinking about this for anyone selling in France , make sure your local Marie knows your house is for sale , word of mouth sales aren't anything to be scared of in France and if your buyer is French they'll probably go to the Marie's office first and ask if they know of any properties for sale , it saves them the agents fee .
I sold by word of mouth it it went flawlessly , the agents don't really do anything apart from advertising and bringing the client round .
I sold by word of mouth it it went flawlessly , the agents don't really do anything apart from advertising and bringing the client round .
LFB531 said:
We also received the funds from the Notaire within 48 hours, better than expected!
This was the house sold, we'd just arrived for a week of detritus shifting!
And boy did we move some, about ten loads like this!
I was doing that twelve months ago , I managed to get everything I wanted to keep in a 3 series touring , the missus was wanting to keep everything until I pointed out that most of what we had in france was crap we'd never used in England for ten years and then had taken it to France and not used it there for 5 years ! She saw sense and what didn't go to the Red Cross centre went to the bins . Neighbour did well as did the guy that bought the house , he bought it as his holiday house with all the furniture but ended up with pots , pans , plates and cutlery , I even left the beds made up and gave him the gardening equipment . He literally could have started living in it straight away after a trip to leclerec.This was the house sold, we'd just arrived for a week of detritus shifting!
And boy did we move some, about ten loads like this!
Edited by LFB531 on Thursday 11th October 12:08
The first house I bought in France had light bulbs in the rooms and that was it !
Kev_Mk3 said:
Who ever buys are house will be getting the same. I have a 3 series to load up with personal belongings (clothes, bedding, sentimental things etc) but all food will be binned along with useless things then everything else will be left. Ride on mower we have gifted to our friends round the corner for helping with things but that's it! (Mountains and mountains of tools I cant be bothered to bring home will sell the house also I hope!)
Make sure to agree with your buyer a price for the house and a seperate price for fixtures and fittings , you'll avoid a little tax that way if your due to pay any . old'uns said:
Hire one from Intermarche in le Lude?
OT... @ WyrleyD....are you from there?
I'm guessing he wants to bring some stuff back to England as well as get rid of rubbish ?OT... @ WyrleyD....are you from there?
Europcar will hire you a van to take abroad but you have to speak to an area manager to ok it , the office staff aren't happy doing it as I found out ! they promised me one for my move then let me down at the last moment , I complained to head office and the area manager compensated me for the cock up and told me to phone him direct if I ever needed a van to take abroad again .
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