French purchase offer – Offre d’achat

Promise of purchase – Offre d’achat If you want to sell your house in France and you find buyers who say they are interested, you logically start with negotiations. At some point the price will be agreed upon and an appointment has to be made for signing a compromis de vente (preliminary deed). By the … Read more

What’s wrong with the property agents in France?

property agents in franceProperty agents in France are having to deal with  big problem. Almost 50% of the real estate transactions in France is done ‘entre particuliers’. This means that buyers and sellers find each other, negotiate and close the transaction without the intervention of a professional realtor. Only the signing of the contracts is, of course, done at the notary’s. In any case 50% private sales is a lot more than in neighbouring countries, where the involvement of a property broker is standard practice. In the Netherlands, for instance, only a few per cent of the deals go through without an agency. How can we explain this difference?

Property agents in France – a high price

The most important reason for bypassing the property agents in France is the high prices they charge. Lately there is a bit of a shift downwards under pressure from the market and the Internet, but for a long time you had to pay the ‘agent immobilier’ at least 6%. A broker in Burgundy, with an

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“We take the commission from the buyer.” Yeah, right.

Apart from trying to find buyers for the owners advertising on our site Immogo, I’m also selling my own house. Just now, I received the following email:

Dear vendor, I would like to introduce myself to you. My name is Xxxx and I work for Xxxx-Immobilier. I have noticed your advertisement and maybe you would like to have a look on our side nameofpropertysite.com. We have a lot of potential buyers manly from the uk and other european countries and we are providing a wide range of publicity. There are no costs for you as we take the commission from the buyer and we do not work exclusiv. So you are still free to sell your property alone or with other agences. If you like to benefit from our knowlegde and support do not hesitate to contact me via…

I wonder why the property agents (or their Agents Commerciaux) keep using the same blatant lie: “There are no costs for you as

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Sell through Immogo? Make sure you have a clear arrangement with your ‘agent immobilier’.

French property agents and their UK intermediaries are not fond of Immogo. We support the private seller in his quest to find a private buyer. And of course it irks them to see we only ask 1% whereas they – with their more comprehensive services and bigger risks (hence expensive insurance policies) have to ask 5 or 6%. Please be aware that if Immogo finds your buyer, the 1% is always due. Even if you let your broker handle the transaction.

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