Am I the only person who thinks that some French Estate Agents do a poor job? 2014 - 2019

My Article about French Estate Agents


Please read my article! about French Estate Agents ! I would would very much welcome your ideas ! Look forward to hearing from you! Mark


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Yep, delicious. Had some nice Nasi Goreng and rest in my MN days in Jakarta et environs. There's a very nice Indonesian (Le Java) in Cahors, behind the hospital which is brill.

Mind you, the food is fabulous, so it is a must!

YES ! Plus, now is the ideal opportunity to learn how to play the Javanese nose flute !

Wooooo, Javanese extended families, especially in the Yogyakarta region!

Everyone should know his or her place and duty, honouring and respecting those in higher positions within the family, while remaining benevolent towards, and responsible for, those in lower positions. All of these positions are decided by age, who owns what, who has what money, cattle, a plantation, company or whatever and then remember it because the hierarchy is embedded in the Javanese language, which has three pronoun and verb forms for addressing the second person (the 'you' who is above, equal, or inferior in rank) that express the respect to which the other person is entitled. That respect is counterbalanced by a reciprocal claim of patronage and protection. Read Clifford Geertz who was once the expert on kinship in Java. It is considered the main thing in life there.

So, one nice house, €71k, one nice wife, several children no doubt, the in-laws, her siblings (the families are not small), their children, the parents' siblings, possibly living grandparents, a few others who are related to who knows who, and all the social rules about kinship. Probably the €710k figure would be closer!

Go for it boy ;-)

The attached seems a great idea to me. Buy the property and marry the seller, a good looking 40 year old widow all for the give-away pice of €71K. Just need to get my passport sorted for Indonesia and Bobs yer uncle !

Oh yes, just need to sort a contract clause about mother-in-law & children...

http://www.sudouest.fr/2015/03/11/maison-a-vendre-si-vous-achetez-vous-pouvez-epouser-la-proprietaire-1856161-5166.php

Well who will sell my friends property in Bergerac?

How long will it take?

So sorry to hear that your trip was another wasted one Roger. They do say that when you see the house you like, you will just know. I know it's a very frustrating procedure but as you say, you would think that with cash in hand, you would expect better service. Keep heading south Roger !! ...... The agents are no better I'm afraid but I will be able to introduce you to a few friends of mine who are keen to sell and would be happy to sell and even happier to sell without having to add upwards of 5% on top of the price for an agent!

I had a visit from a brand new agency in town (Bourse-Immobilier). The chap was brill, very polite and professional. He spent two hours looking around and asking questions. I was impressed ! I believe he is the genuine article but I suppose the proof is in the pudding ?

Peter, it was a tongue in cheek comment :) There are so many threads complaining about not just agents but other tradesman that provide bad service but rarely do we see discussion from someone saying they received great service that went beyond the call of duty or praising an individual for a job well done. I am not suggesting as you say that the baker etc receives extra gratitude as I agree it is the service and quality we all expect, however not all service providers are the same and we are all quick to condemn those that are not up to standard. Word of mouth is the best form of advertising and recommendations can go a long way.

The fact that it has taken an agent six weeks and it is still not visible on their website is outrageous as it will probably mean it is also not on any of the main advertising portals either, you should be ranting and making a fuss, I would!

Sheelagh,

None of the descriptions have been misleading although regarding the photos many of the agents would benefit from a decent camera or a basic photography course-I think my photos were better than those of the agency. However, I guess the agent or their photographer did not have the time I had. To be fair I guess also the devil is in the detail & includes for us background noise, off-road Hymer parking (!), & is their a shared barn or a shared wall etc..

Peter,

One of our agents sent us details of your house as an 'out of the box' property i.e different to what we said we wanted. I'll pm the details.

Roger

I will start a 'happy with agents' thread if you wish Sheelagh but isn't it the job of an agent to do their job in a competant manner in the first place ? The commissions charged nowadays should be praise enough should't it ? When I buy a loaf of bread I don't go back to the bakery and say 'ooh, that bread was gorgeous' or ' that septic tank emptying was brill' to company concerned. It's the service and quality I would expect ! A 'happy with agents' thread would be easy enough following loads of positive experiences with agent but the public have a right to complain surely ?

I put my property with a local agent about six weeks ago and it's STILL not been put on their website !!! I really can't be bothered to complain or kick up a fuss....

Sorry,, rant over !

Yes it would-complete with contact details!

It's taken me a while to read through the recent threads as I have not looked for a couple of weeks. I am appalled by some of the comments saying that agents have not quickly added properties online or indeed making the descriptions totally misleading. As I have said before unfortunately it means we all end up being tarred with the same brush, I work hard and most importantly listen to the clients, hence I have worked successfully as an agent for over 7 years. Now wouldn't it be good if someone started a thread singing the praises of the good agents they have met :)

Thought I would copy my FaceBook post of today-

"House close to Pressignac was down very narrow lanes. Photographs were SO deceptive-what looked like lots of Hettie Hymer parking was an optical illusion. Had to park half on lane half on grass & the lane had a perpetual small stream at the beginning-backed out with great care. Living there-fat chance! When we sold our house we made sure there were no unpleasant surprises to avoid wasting everybody's time. So the description & photos were clear. The only surprises were good ones!

Here, there has been a disappointment with EVERY house we've seen-frustrating for everyone sad to say."It can only get better

— ![|16x16](upload://2mPfA3u6xlLsEoEglnDkJaFibN0.png)feeling determined."

As cash buyers with €250K+ burning a hole in our pockets as my old mum used to say we are really surprised at how hard it is to find what we want. Maybe house hunting is like falling in love? We have our clear criteria but without soul in a song or that coup de coeur nothing seems to fit.

Maybe we need to head south, although the weather is good-April showers in February seems to be the order of the day with a dash of sleet.

Now it's 'walkies' for us all...

Absolutely, although some of them still manage to be as grumpy as hell.

The very comfortable and the rich in UK are safe from the disoriented health system and the legal system which pretends to perform well.

In fact to me happiness in Uk seems to be based on the value of your house or houses.

I think that we wondered over here with that in our minds and become

aware that the French have a different approach to life.

Life seems to come before money.

Yeah well, that's easy for you to say !

Aiee! Mia hacienda este solamente dos mil hectares, muy poco. Para ese yo rindo los impuestos, totalmente cinco porciento menos gastos...

It could be worse, we could be in Peru !