John I am afraid I cannot agree that Leggetts are helpful, they couldn't help us!
It`s all down to the individual agent.
I had a quick look at a few pieces of property in Marseille (which is where I live) and I found the descriptions a little vague. Working with "the best" doesn't really mean much, some agents specialise, others don't, some try to get the seller to reduce the price, others don't, some accept all pieces of property others don't, in France, and in Marseille especially, you need to know what you want and THEN select the agency. On top of it this tranio agent seems to be a Russian man, who speaks Russian and English. He doesn't mention French, this, if tree, obviously, would be a MAJOR drawback. Good luck!
Hi Every one,
As an estate agent I would like to add some comments on this interesting topics I missed until now. Thanks to those who revive it recently.
Maybe surprizingly, I agree with those of you who think estate agents are not very helpful while costing a lot of money. French estate agents especilly did not adjust to the present time. They used to be salesmen connecting sellers with buyers. Nowadays, sellers and buyers can find each other on the net, so why are they still in the middle ? And why should they have an exclusive mandate from the sellers in an open market ? It only provides them with the garantee that, however dodgy their service, if the houseis to be sold, they will be paid.
The last but not least issue si how can they say they are helping the buyers when their fees are based upon the selling price. That means the more the buyer pay the happier they are...
Some of us decided we should change that. We are not selling houses anymore. We are searching houses that are fitting our customers'requirements and we provide them with the information they need, even the one they do not request but we deem critical to the purchase. More, we ask to be paid on the discount we get after the negotiation. So the less the buyer pay, the happier we are...
Times are changing, buyers should also adjust and look for estate agents who provide a service, not only for bright websites with stunning, lovely, amazing, charming properties...
I don't want to advertise too much on this forum but look for property finders' sites. You might be surprized, for good.
I applied to join their network five years ago all the way to La Rochebeaucourt and i should have joined their meeting but begged for rescheduling. Next day i was out.
Hello everyone.
I read almost all the comments and have the following to say after 35 years as a real estate broker with my own office in coastal southern California. (currently average time/house to sell is 24hrs to 45 days in Socal).
I now live in Antibes (10 months) and have been calling and visiting homes to buy and depending on the situation/agent i will tell them what i did for 35 yrs and other times i let them run the show they think or at least their mouth.
I own several rental homes in CA and AZ and decided to retire in SOF since my wife is French and 15 yr old daughter speaks French.
- A couple (London/husband, wife from SF bay area) who lived in Mougins for 3 yrs, and who had moved the entire family here was going to rent my main home in San Diego and so they came over and we talked for a couple hours. I asked the wife if she would recommend any agent in Cote Dāazur area to see whats available and she and her husband said, they would not recommend anybody. They had met over 50 agents and some are even their friends and they are not honest or know enough to recommend.
- Now that i have hands on experience, i will tel you as i see it and obviously this does not mean that there are not honest and hard working agents that do a very good job in France.
So, the problem in France is the French government and their archaic systems.
In the US many yrs ago we used the French system of recordings and public records but gave it up and stared using the British system. Well, we took the British system to another level strictly because of 2 reasons.
#1. is called law enforcement and licensure including disclosures and
#2 Technology
So, the agents in France are not strictly to blame as they have no support from the local, state and federal government.
RULESā¦must be enforced.
EX;
Let the buyer be aware.
If in doubt, disclose. Mandatory inspection and appraisal with COMPS.
So lets not blame only the agents. Yes, most are a joke and so far out of 22 that i have met all 22 are not even close to being proās. Their offices donāt pay for them and so they are free to roam. Get thisā¦in Antibes which has a population of say 70,000 there are over 200 agencies, more than bulangeries LOL.I laugh as they are everywhere, with same listings but different photos and prices. BUT THEY ALL HIDE THE PROPERTY ADDRESS> Its comical to me to see how they work.
But, this started many years ago. And here is the other story.
The south of France for an example with its beautiful coast, hype towns of St Tropez, Cannes etc have attracted many wealthy people. Add the proximity to Monaco and events such as film festival, formula 1 and its easy to see how someone from northern Europe, Russia, the UK can get caught up and buy property here. Now thats when the problems start.
The sterling is stronger / euro and no matter what anyone says France is a prettier country than England. The food and laid back lifestyle appeals to many.
So the greedy old French sellers heard about their neighbors selling to Sweedes for 1 million and it snowballed from there.
The agents are greedy, and they are 3 rd rate actors. They are not experienced to know to reject greedy owners prices. And since they donāt provide comps and compete with each other as listings are farmed out to multiple agencies who take photos with different angles and pitch different prices hoping to find a dummy that will fall for their BS. Way overpriced is the local market and sales are very stagnant.
BUT the ads from the BIG name agencies keep it all looking like its great and everyone is selling, BUT reality is the listings stay on the market for years. Some as many as 6 -7 or more.
Other sellers list at very high price and donāt care if they donāt sell. Others are fishing for dummies.
The notaire system archaic and it costs 70,000 euro over 80,000 USD in transaction fees on a $1m home.
In the US the same price costs under 7,000 and close within 3 weeks of signing.
Its very secretive, very old and very pathetic.
This equates to NO DEMAND as buyers have heard the horror stories as they get exposed. The Russians are gone, the Brits/Americans are thinking /not acting and the Germans are skeptical while the Chinese are not wanted.
And with many flights to many Euro cities, Portugal, Greece, Spain etc is looking better and better.
My 2 cents for whatever is worth. Iām 56 and retired, renting and seriously looking to buy. But the agents turn me off and the French system even more.
But life goes on and the wine is good & cheap!!!
You are not alone and it costs so much.
The system is as it is. If you want to live here and be contented you have to accept we do things differently and we arenāt likely to change just because foreigners do things differently.
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While I think we have to accept that French Immobiliers are French Immobiliers and not British Estate agents or US Realtors and that the French property market is vastly different to the UK or US one sometimes you get the impression that they arenāt really trying - while they have woken up to the idea that you need m ore than one photo online to sell a house it is still not difficult to find poorly exposed photos of untidy rooms (beds unmade, piles of laundry, even one I saw with the remnants of a meal on the kitchen table).
But, as Vero says - itās France, if it were just the same as home there would be no point moving 
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The only thing guaranteed is CHANGE and death. No one said to change the culture of the land.
Change to the prehistoric way of marketing and selling real estate is coming.
At one time everyone was a foreigner. Wake up ā¦ the planet is 4.5 billion years old and France as the country or any hasnāt been there not even 3k yrs.
Foreigners such as me that came from California see the obvious changes that are coming to France and all of Europe which is old. But the intellect youth want change and will get it.
Whatās the relevance of that?
Well I hate to say this but you are older than I am and also retired, I probably have a lot more to do with āthe intellect youthā here in France than you do.
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I was confused so I went back to your original post and I still donāt know what you mean here:
What do you mean by ālocal, state and federal governmentā, in France?
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My following statement may seem to have no relevance to this thread but here goes:
In the Autumn of 1989 my then young family were on holiday in Florida. We watched the news and it was all about an earthquake in, I think, California?, and a bridge that collapsed. We were there for 3 weeks and was surprised on our return home to learn that the Berlin wall had fallen! Surely one of the most iconic moments of the post WW2 era yet For America all that mattered back then,as today, was and is America.
I guess what I am trying to say is that America thinks that everyone and everything should be like them. For what itās worth I think that the way buying and selling of houses in France is conducted is far far better than the English system although I cannot comment on the American way. Here, when the compromis is signed then you know that the property will be yours and that part of the stress process is done.
Our daughter is currently buying in England and Hopeās to complete in 10 days time but every day she stresses, not knowing if someone might collapse the ladder on or before completion day.
If you choose to live and buy property in France then you have to accept the way estate agents and the house buying/selling works and at the risk of repeating myself I donāt think the system here needs amending asit aināt broken. I have bought 4 and sold 3 houses here and many more in England and i would chose the French system every time.
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What you are describing is the French legal system for buying a house and not the way French estate agents work.
We found the way that keeping the address of properties for sale secret means that there is a lot of time wasting for both the agents and prospective purchasers.
Having to complete a Bonne de Visite shows that the French are as keen to avoid paying commission as they are on paying other taxes etc.
āthe French are as keen to avoid paying commission as they are on paying other taxes etc.ā
Whow! Rather a sweeping statement IMO. perhaps you can elaborate on the second part of your statement?
For the first part I think it is extremely easy to find a house that an agent has for sale. A few minutes on Google earth and a study of the property photos and a few questions to the locals usually will reveal the properties location.
I think it is a British hangup when arriving on an intense property search over a few days and rely on an agent to show them around and are then aghast to fine that an agent charges his percentage with the buyers comment of something like āwhat a RIP off, UK agents charge much lessā. When in Franceā¦
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Having to spend time on Google Earth and having to ask for more information, is a lot dfferent from having the address.
When we started our gite, many peopke were amazed that we were going to declare the
income, including a local Mayor, so my comments were based on personal experience.
So your experiences claim that our nation is full of taxfrauders ?
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Obviously not, but it has been publicly acknowledged that there is a reluctance to pay tax, which is why President Macron is undertaking his amendments to tax etc.
I think there has been public acknowledgement in almost every country in the world that people donāt like paying tax so to single out France is unfair.
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But this is called Survive France, not the rest of the world.
The restrictions on small business turnover is not conducive to fiscal rectitude or entrepreneurs, hence the attempts to amend them.