Apartment 49 Travessa de Cedofeita, Porto, Portugal – the story of a rental failure

     We rented an apartment on 49 Travessa de Cedofeita in Porto, Portugal, and lost a lot of money because the owner, MARCELO EDUARDO DE AGUIAR FERREIRA, refused to give our money back when we were forced to move out. What happened? Let me tell you. Bottom line, I think, is we were too optimistic. We thought … Read more

Immogo, the specialist in real estate communication

Onroerend goed-communicatie FrankrijkSelling a house is an art in itself. An important part of the job is real estate communication. For houses in France this is a lot more complex than in many other European countries. The market in France is much less transparent, with real estate agents trying to outdo each other and also having to compete with both the notaries and their clients: the private sellers themselves. After all, many owners try to save 5 to 6% commission by finding a buyer themselves – without a broker.

As a result of the fierce competition between brokers, there is no site that – like for instance Funda.nl in the Netherlands – makes the market almost 100% transparent. Real estate agents do not want to share their portfolio online without restrictions, for fear that their competitors will try to poach their clients.

Real estate communication is too much of an investment

Another important problem is that brokers in France are not prepared to invest in their clients. With a few exceptions, especially in the higher price ranges. We can see the lack of motivation from the presentations that the real estate agents produce in the field of real estate communication. Poor pictures, brief descriptions, no presentation advice, for example with home styling. In other countries this is much more evolved. As a result, all the houses on sites outside of France are neatly arranged and super clean on the photo, with only tasteful (and noncommittal) art on the walls.

Why don’t the

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Why are real estate agents in France so expensive?

A real estate agent in France costs the seller between 4% and – in the case of cheaper houses – as much as 10% of the selling price. While in the Netherlands as a seller you only pay 1% to 1.5%. Why is the estate agent so expensive in France? Does he or she deliver so much more quality? The sales advertisements produced by the real estate agents do not reflect this. A superior quality is obviously not the reason for the high price of the French broker. We will gladly explain it to you.

‘MANDAT EXCLUSIVE’ – TIED TO ONE BROKER

If you hire a real estate agent in France, you have to sign a “mandat”. This is the official assignment for the real estate agent to sell the house. There are two types of ‘mandat’. A ‘mandat exclusif’ gives the real estate agent the exclusive right to sell the house.

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Move to France – Cash in and check out… British are crossing the Channel

move to France buy a longere Move to France and live like a Burgundian… now this might be possible even with a limited budget. Especially in view of the still relatively modest property prices in France. In the more rural areas, a sum less than a 100,000 euros will get you a very charming independent home sitting on a nice piece of land. This while many people in the UK own a house that has become much more valuable in the past ten years. A surplus value of a few hundred thousand pounds is no exception! This is why more and more people decide: “Cash in and check out! We are moving to France!” They sell their old house and

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Selling a property in France. What do the notary and the broker cost, and who pays whom?

If you are selling a property in France, the notary costs will be charged to the buyer. These costs are around 7 to 8% and consist largely of taxes. The notary himself is only allowed to keep a small portion of these fees. So he does not really earn a lot. Unless you’ve given the notary an official sales mandate and he actually comes up with the final buyer. In that case you as a seller will have to pay him an extra 3%… the so-called ‘frais de négociation’. The mandatory part, i.e. the fixed notary fees, is calculated as a percentage of the selling price. You can check the amount using the french notary fee calculator on Immonot.com.

The real estate agent in France, on the other hand, is paid by the seller. If you put your house or other property in France up for sale with a estate agent and he (or she) finds a buyer for you, you yourself will have to pay the estate agent’s

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French culture do’s and don’ts

Whether it’s the alluring promise of a high quality of life, or the idea of living in a country where the healthcare system is considered to be world-class, there are plenty of reasons why many expats choose to call France ‘home’. But moving there as an expat brings new challenges – not least getting used to the cultural differences.
To help expats understand and integrate into this country’s rich culture, this article offers some cultural do’s and don’ts – from food etiquette to language learning.

  1. Language

Do’s:Learn the local lingo. This doesn’t mean you have to be fluent right away, but learning some basic phrases and sentences can really help you communicate with others and blend in with the locals more easily.

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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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Buying a house in France with or without real estate agent? An analysis.

Buying a house in France without a real estate agent?Are you buying a house in France, where real estate agents easily charge 5% and sometimes even more? Then it is certainly worth asking yourself whether you should  maybe buy a house without a real estate agent. Depending on the selling price, the brokerage fees can add up considerably. The average price of a house in France is between 200,000 and 300,000 euros. So, at a commission rate of 5% you pay a brokerage fee of many thousands or euros. Of course, in itself it might not be a bad thing to pay a specialist for doing his or her job, as long as that job means that the numbers still add up. The question is what precisely a real estate agent does for

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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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French real estate prices rise – The trend for 2018

2017 was an exceptionally good year for the French real estate market. House prices in France have increased with 2% on average and it now looks likely that this trend will continue in 2018.

French house prices rise

When we take a closer look at house prices in France we see big differences within the French market. The prices in the countryside have on average stayed more or less the same, while the prices in the cities went up.

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