In my Facebook group ‘Huizen in Frankrijk zonder makelaar‘, (Dutch group for houses in France. I also have a very big French following with the group ‘Maisons à vendre sans agence en France‘) the Belgian Walter Oeyen wrote a litany of complaints about the poor information he received as a house hunter, from both professional estate agents and private sellers. His story is broad and interesting enough for anyone looking to buy a house in France. Sellers too can learn a great deal from it, because every one of his complaints is also a tip on how to do better. The bold and italic texts are by Walter Oeyen. The regular text is mine.
Question: Why are sellers in France so reluctant to share information? What do I want to know when I read a listing? Let’s start with the basics… “Where is it?” Sometimes it says the property is x km from City A and xx km from City B, but that doesn’t help me at all. I’d like the exact address so I can use Google Street View. Traveling a thousand kilometers from Belgium without knowing what I’m going to see or where it is—I’m not even going to start. A photo of the street-facing facade is very often missing, which means you can’t find the property on Street View either. And even when such a photo does exist, it’s sometimes framed in such a way that you can’t quite tell how the house is situated relative to its neighbors. If you arrive on site only to discover that the beautiful single-family home is right next to a ten-story building, you head home feeling very disappointed. Why is this the case?
Answer: This is a well-known issue on the French property market. Because sellers can list their home with multiple agents simultaneously, those agents play their cards close to their chest. With a clear photo of the street front, a competitor can far too easily identify the property, ring the doorbell and ask whether they can take it on too. For private sellers the same logic applies. If you’d rather not involve an estate agent, you don’t want agents showing up at your door with a sales pitch either. And if it’s a second home, you don’t want to publish the exact address online and tip off burglars that a house will be sitting empty for months. Just look at the interior photos to see what’s on offer.
As a buyer, you can try calling the selling agent and asking for the address, but you won’t get it easily. For all they know, you’re a spy for a competing agency. Or maybe you’re planning to go there unaccompanied and buy directly from the owner — in which case a loose-lipped agent earns nothing.
Private sellers who list on Immogo are somewhat protected from this kind of thing, partly because the site has a smaller reach than, say, LeBonCoin, where your property is effectively on the street. I also see all incoming enquiries, which allows me to filter out agents and the many scammers that populate the internet. The odd one may slip through, but I’d say I catch around 90%.
As a private buyer, you’re of course free to contact sellers directly through my Facebook group or on Immogo and ask specific questions. The first one will probably be: “So… where exactly is it?”
Question: Why are the photos sometimes so dismal? A photo of a pretty vase with flowers, a corner of a room with granny’s portrait on the wall, a living room shot where you can see the floor tiles curving because the photo was taken with a special lens to make it look huuuge… The description mentions rooms of such and such a size, but all I see is a photo of the garden, a sweeping mountain view and a shot of the corner of a shower cubicle. No photos of the garage, the bedrooms, the attic — which, according to the text, do exist.
Answer: It’s hard to expect professional photography from private sellers, even though almost everyone now has an excellent camera in their pocket. Some agents are just as bad, incidentally. But investing in a proper photographer is something nobody wants to do, because many homes are listed with five or six agencies at once. So nobody dares spend money with the risk that another agent will end up making the sale.
That said — if they do hire a good photographer, you get complaints about “photos taken with a special lens to make it look huuuge.” You can’t win. Either way, property photography in France is, for the reasons mentioned, severely underdeveloped (pun intended). In the Netherlands, even the most modest home gets styled and photographed professionally before going on Funda, resulting in nothing but beautifully tidy, spotless properties. Though of course, you then have to learn to see through that too.
Question: What does it cost? The price is listed, yes. The difference between listing X and listing Y is sometimes substantial. The biggest gap I’ve found so far was nearly €12,000 for the same property. Does that say it all? No. Buyer’s costs, seller’s costs — that’s always mentioned. Useful enough. Notary fees and taxes can be looked up on a dedicated notary website.
Answer: One agent charges 6%, another is happy with 3%, and the private seller doesn’t have to pay commission at all. On a €200,000 property, 6% is indeed €12,000. Private sellers on Immogo often stick to the publicly advertised agent price anyway, so as not to upset their estate agent. My advice is always to simply list your own net price. You’ll have a better chance of selling, and let the agent prove he’s worth that extra 6%. Either way, even if you see the same price on Immogo as with an agent, you know there’s 6% of extra negotiating room to be divided up.
Question: Why is the taxe foncière almost always missing? Sometimes it’s mentioned, but oddly one agent might say €750 while another mentions €1,600 for the same property. It’s a significant annual cost and worth knowing about.
Answer: The taxe foncière is the French equivalent of an annual property tax. It can add up significantly, and many buyers fail to factor it in when purchasing. In the town where I own a house, Tournus in southern Burgundy, the taxe foncière is considerably higher than in many other towns. I pay around €180 per month in this tax. Elsewhere it can be half that or less. If it’s not in the listing, I’d definitely ask the seller about it, because it affects your running costs and therefore the price you can afford to pay.
Question: What about the fosse septique, or connection to mains drainage? That information is often missing too. And bringing a septic tank up to standard can be an expensive business. One agent was surprised during a viewing that I already knew the fosse septique was not in order (I do a lot of research beforehand) but reassured me it could be sorted for €1,000. A specialist quoted me over €10,000 for that same property: new tank, new filters, excavation work, and so on. That tells you something about what agents know — or want to know.
Answer: Not all agents are equally honest. Some will say whatever it takes to make a sale, and the system encourages this. In the Netherlands, each property is listed with a single agent, who will eventually sell it and can count on roughly 1.5% commission. There’s far less pressure, which makes for more objective information to buyers. A figure of €1,000 to bring a septic tank up to standard is possible if, for instance, only a vent pipe is missing. But replacing a tank and drainage field entirely can run into tens of thousands. If in doubt, get a quote first and use the estimated cost in your negotiations.
Question: A request for more information seems to be Chinese to many sellers, I think. I sometimes receive the exact same text and photos that were already in the listing. Some agents and sellers insist you call them for more information. Are they going to read out the technical file over the phone? Describe photos to me? I always mention in my enquiry that I live in Belgium and don’t want to make a pointless 1,000 km round trip.
Answer: It also depends entirely on how you phrase the question. The standard request I see constantly in responses is: “More info and photos please.” This appears even when the listing already runs to two pages of text and contains 30 photos (Immogo has no limit). A seller can do nothing with a request like that. Information about what? Photos of what?
For a private seller it’s straightforward enough to take a few extra photos of the garden, the surroundings or the attic on request. An agent, on the other hand, may have to drive half an hour to get there. They’re less eager to jump in the car straight away — especially when the request for more information is vague and comes from someone abroad, who they know won’t be visiting any time soon. They’d rather wait for a local buyer they can take straight to the property and perhaps show a few other listings along the way.
Either way: always tell the seller exactly what information you’re missing. Ask specific questions, and you’ll get specific answers.
Question: Another apparent problem: the technical dossier. Only one agent — one — sent it to me. The rest either know nothing about it or don’t want to share it, because then I might find out too much, and… well, then what? It’s a legal requirement, that dossier. One agent was going to hand it over only at the signing of the deed. By which point it’s too late to do me any good.
Answer: The dossier technique, containing all the required surveys, is mandatory on sale and must be attached to the compromis de vente. It’s rare for all surveys to be completed as soon as a property goes on the market. It’s a significant investment, and some sections are only valid for a year. The seller therefore tends to wait until there’s a serious buyer and a compromis de vente can be drawn up. The energy performance certificate (DPE) is required for publication, though bear in mind this is France. Regulations here are rarely enforced as strictly as they’re written. I’ve never heard of anyone being fined for failing to include the DPE. That said, if the DPE is missing from the compromis de vente, it can be grounds for the sale to be declared void afterwards.
Question: And then there are sellers and agents who simply don’t respond to an enquiry at all. Why?
Answer: Good question. Some are simply not very good at their job. Some private sellers think they already have enough interest and stop responding to new enquiries. As the person behind Immogo, I always impress on sellers that they are their own estate agent, and that they need to behave accordingly — keeping a proper record of all contacts and handling every enquiry properly. Respond quickly, provide the right information, follow up if a buyer goes quiet after an initial exchange. Incidentally, in around 80% of cases, the seller provides additional information and then hears nothing further. That’s fairly rude. If an offer doesn’t appeal to you, at least have the decency to let the seller know. What I’m saying is: the effort needs to come from both sides.
PS: there’s also an english language Facebook group. Not as big, but you can change that by following it!
