Selling property in France guidance please

[amir]

Welcome all,
We are hoping to sell on of our properties but would like to get an idea of the value from a couple of immobilizes, are they likely to charge for this service?
Also, if having chosen our immobilier, we later for any reason (e.g. not happy with the service etc) decide to go elsewhere , what, if any financial penalties can we expect?
Thanks in advance

[Joshua]

Hey Amir,
Most Immo's and Notaires will value property Free. The thing to avoid is signing an exclusive contract. This obviously limits you to one agent. You MAY find that the Notaires all inclusive fee of agency and Notaire, is cheaper [for the buyer ] than the Immo's fee when you add on the required Notaires fee. If you advertise it on one of the many property for sale sites and find your own buyer, you MAY be able to get a lower Notaire's fee of around 4.5%. There are a few Immo's who are lowering their fees now. As the property prices have risen by such an extent in the last 5 years I'm amazed at how they've managed to keep it so high. If you sign with an Immo I believe they have 3 months before you can change.
Thank you

[junditclaire]

Hello Amir
If you choose to go with a good agency their services are invaluable. Most will come and give you a valuation for free. You can choose to sign either an Exclusive or a Non exclusive mandate with them. They may charge you less commission for an exclusive mandate and of course will work very hard to ensure that they sell it for you, otherwise they know that you'll give your property to other agents as soon as the mandate time is over. Most mandates are for 3 months with a tacit renewal for up to a year. You can cancel your mandate via registered letter.
Agencies charge anything between 5 and 10% depending on the price of the property and it is worth your while to find out exactly what they will do to advertise your property (which papers, do they have a website etc) before you sign a mandate with them. You are probably best to either sign an exclusive with one very good agency or judiciously choose just 2 or 3 - otherwise co-ordinating visits with a plethora of agents can be a headache.
Good luck
Claire Healy
Attika International
Property in Nice & Property in Cannes

[ptemple]

Most agencies will do a valuation for free. I would also say do not sign an exclusivity. I know Attika, and they are an excellent agency, however I would say many are not up to their standard and would not make the same effort even for an exclusivity. Most agencies charge a standard 5% TTC (inclusive of VAT). It can be more if it is a _very_ low budget property. There is no financial penalty for giving the property to a different agency if you haven't signed an exclusivity. As Joshua says, you can advertise and sell the property yourself, and then you do not have to pay any agency fees, but I do not see how you can negotiate lower Notaire fees as these are fixed by law and are mostly state tax.

Phillip.

[Krek.]

There are two types of notary fees. If you find the house you want to buy in the shop window (they often have a 'vitrine' outside) of a notary and walk in to ask about it, he will take the credit of finding you as a buyer and will charge the owner about 4% of 'honoraires de négociation'. Even if the negociation merely consists of giving you the final price of the seller and conclude the deal.

These 'finders fees' are not included in the normal costs you will have to pay on any sale, wether you find the house 'entre particuliers', through an agency or indeed at the notary's.

These costst, as Phillip rightly claims, are fixed between 7 and 10% and consist mainly of taxes. The notary will get only a very small portion of this.
Have a look in the notaire site immonot dot com

Negotioation fees:
Price of 0 to 45 735 € : 5% HT (+ VAT 19.6%)
Above 45 735 € : 2,50% HT (+ VAT 19.6%)

For a property of 300.000
Buying price: 300 000,00 €
Legal fees including taxes: 20 100,00 €
Negociation fees TTC* 10 337,00 €
Total 330 437,00

If you find this house direct from the owner, you can scratch the 10.337 euros of 'honoraires de négociation' and you wil 'only' pay 320.100 euros. If you find the house through a real estate agency you can also scratch the negociation fees.
However, you will then pay 300.000 + 20.000 = 320.000 + 5% = 336.000 to include the real estate agents fee. Unless you can get them to calculate the agency fees over the net sum. Then you pay 300.000 + 5% = 335.000.

Buying straight from the owner can save you up to 16.000 euros. This will hire you a lot of translator hours and legal advise....

[angelinalove]

you are probably best to either sign an exclusive with one very good agency or judiciously choose just 2 or 3 - otherwise co-ordinating visits with a plethora of agents can be a headache.

[Krek.]

I think 'coordination visits with a plethora of agents' is the least thing you have to worry about in today's housing market in France. You are allowed to use more agents, but it is a waste of their time because only one will earn money from the sale. So from an economic standpoint it is indeed best to choose 3 or 4 agents. Select agents in bigger cities geographicaly spread around your home.

Choose the ones with a window on a high street and a good internet site. Try Google, using keywords describing your house and its situation (house for sale South-Burgundy). See which agents pop up first. The ones that do best are the ones most liable to find you buyers.

But whatever you do, don't sign an exclusive contract. It happens quit often that people sell to (visitors or friends of) townsfolk and if you find your own buyer you'll still have to pay a percentage to the 'exclusive' broker.

[MathewBracken]

Excellent information on Investment property deals....This sounds exactly like what I've been looking for.

Penny Stocks