Looking for property for sale in France? Here are Seven Ways to Save!

If you are searching for property for sale in France, it is a good idea to also think about how you will attack the problem of finding the right house at the right price. Looking at the enormous offer of property for sale in France, you will soon find that the prices are wildly different from one area to the other. And of course also the state of the property has a lot to do with the price. Other factors that influence the price are costs and commissions for professionals in real estate (agents immobiliers), and of course your negotiating skills. In this article I’d like to go into the different ways there are to save money on buying a house in France. Having extensive experience in buying property in France myself, I – ahum – consider myself somewhat of an expert. Even though I’m still a lousy negotiator. But you know the old adage: those who can’t, teach. So here are my tips.

  1. Look for property for sale in France’s less popular regions

Property for sale in France (Tournus)France has a lot of popular regions. Places where ‘everyone’ wants to buy a house. You’ll find large concentrations of British there, who’ve all heard from each other how great it is where they have bought their property in France. Unfortunately, the popularity of these French regions has also influenced

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Start your own campsite in France? Don’t do it!

 Do you dream of running your own campsite in France? You’re not the only one. As webmaster of IMMOGO, a site full of French real estate from private sellers, we often receive requests to this effect. People mail the owner or even call us on the phone: “We are interested in this property, because it has lots of land. Can we start a campsite there?” The same thing happens with advertisements for large houses with many rooms: “Is this object (I don’t know why such a house would suddenly become an ‘object’, but well) also suitable to start a Bed & Breakfast?”

There are also a couple of up-and-running campsites and other tourist businesses on IMMOGO. With those properties, prospective buyers always want to know what the annual turnover is. “Because”, they entrust us with a sense of urgency in their voice,

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Why do people move to France (or not)?

Apart from my job as webmaster of Immogo, I have also kept a Dutch web log with daily tips about France, with an ongoing discussion about France in a alternately humorous, vivid, knowledgeable and ignorant atmosphere. The nice thing about it is that people are evidently interested in France for many different reasons. Let’s try and make an inventory of the people who (want to) move to France. Or not.

First of all, of course, you have the real Francophiles. They know the wine atlas by heart, have their own addresses for monks cheese, goats cheese and she-ass cheese, blue veined or not, and talk about the perfect glass of Chateaubriand with their Médaillon de Veau aux truffes.  They are the people who bring home stories about obscure restaurants with a divine cuisine, where they have lived in an olfactory and tasting paradise for a few moments and only a few sous.

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Buy a hotel or restaurant in France

hotel for sale france - FSBO restaurant franceBuying a hotel or restaurant in France is easier than ever. While I am writing this, various restaurants and hotel restaurants in my touristy French town of Tournus are for sale. That is because like in many countries in Europe, and also in France, keeping the business afloat in the catering industry is not an easy job. Moreover, many French do not manage to adapt to modern marketing practices. None of the hotel restaurants that are for sale have a good website and most of them show little activity on social media. This is why they cannot compete with the more innovative players on the market, who make full use of the services of AirBNB, Bookings, and Trip Advisor. So, no other option than offering their French hotel for sale – restaurant for sale France remains.

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