@Mik_Bennett I really love the idea that there is more to a house than bricks and mortar to make it a home. This is exactly what I have been trying to express, you did it brilliantly.
I happen to work for the French school of Military engineering in Angers, where part of my work is to give infrastructure engineers comprehensive coaching in English before they are sent abroad. I would certainly team up with some colleagues who are more specialized in structural engineering if needed.
There are indeed no qualifications for this service, and lots of real estate agents with a “carte T” don’t know anything about construction or building maintenance, unless they have personal experience in renovation.
As @Jennifer11 was saying, some of them (not most of them) will try to get you to sign anything.
Thank you again for your encouragements, my first task is to meet with a real estate lawyer and do things properly.
I’ll get in touch with the forum administrators (how?) if this goes further, I am amazed at how helpful people are here.
Time = money! When looking for this house (which involved moving across France to an area we had never even visited) ticking the boxes you mention took quite a lot of work! We even dug into town council minutes to see whether budgets were healthy.
But he’s not advertising yet! Just sounding things out,
A neighbour put her house on the market and moved to a new area. She asked me to keep an eye on her empty property.
Whilst walking the dogs, I spotted a couple peering over her fence. I asked if I could help and they explained that they were interested in the house but were checking out the area before a formal visit. They asked lots of questions including about the chasse. I explained that the head man of the chasse lived nextdoor but one and was very generous when successful. I also assured them that if they moved in they would have the best neighbours in the world.
They thanked me for answering all their questions. They asked where I was from and how long I had lived in France. Then they asked where I lived.
“Next door” I replied.
They bought the house and we have since become good friends.
What a lovely story. Quite different from the first house we rented in Normandy near Falaise. We went next door to introduce ourselves to the new neighbours, an old couple who shared their house with hens and geese.
“Well yes” the woman said. and she closed the door.
Something else for buyers to think about. If UK estate agents are doing this, France may well follow. Agents are using AI to ‘enhance’ the look of rooms, as furniture or cover up cracks, etc.
Has already! It was really off putting as in general these images made houses look weird. Preferred people’s own styles or empty rooms. However any manipulated photo was labelled as such.
I’m afraid agencies are already using AI for posting online listings. Very annoying when space cadet agents cart me along to a n AI enhanced property, when my brief was “specifically no works required” . The agent’s excuse is that AI shows you the “potential” the dump offers.
Absolute waste of time!
OK. Use AI to help buyers see potential once they have already seen the reality. And get a guesstimate to achieve the AI look.
Otherwise, a buyer really loses trust in that agent.
Whilst I agree that your proposed service is a good idea I reckon that in order to make it financially viable you would have to charge a lot more than a lot of people would be prepared to pay.
The time to do the very specific research required will be high, as will the amount of travel that you’d need to do in order to find out what a place is like at all those different times of day & week.
Despite houses being one of the biggest purchases that people make the rose tinted spectacles can be very strong.
My view – since you ask – is that it’s pointless, because life is such that nothing is set in stone.
Your report would only be valid at the very moment you wrote it. After that, charming neighbours might move away, a wildfire might destroy the landscape, a wind farm project might be approved nearby, a school might close or change management, and so on. Furthermore, the appreciation of a house and its surroundings is a very personal matter.
That’s just my humble opinion, for what it’s worth.
Thank you @Badger, I am aware of the difficulty making it viable. I have a job that leaves me lots of free time and holidays, so I am not desperate to make a living from this. I am looking at my options for the next part of my professional career, and this is something I would genuinely enjoy doing.
I have some figures in mind based on what I know people are ready to pay for, and it should be viable if conducted methodically. As far as travelling is concerned, I would probably start around Maine et Loire, East Brittany and Lower Normandy.
Thank you @Juliet for your opinion, I need to understand why it can be seen as pointless and you’re right, some things can change quickly, that’s true.
Still, when you buy a house, you try to make it match your present circumstances knowing they can change very fast too. A divorce, illness, losing your job are things you know can happen yet at some stage in your life you have to assume they won’t, otherwise you stop making plans.
I would not be trying to identify what can change in the environment of a property, on the contrary I would try to anticipate how a small village can become a dormitory town and lose its identity because a new dual carriageway is in the pipeline, or if those lovely people next door wouldn’t be planning to build a swimming-pool just against the lovely terrace where you could see yourself having breakfast.
The idea is to help people decide with their eyes wide open before the window closes.
It is probably not for everyone, but some people may find it helpful.
Having just bought a house relying only on the reports required by French law, I would absolutely pay to have a thorough US style inspection done. SO many things were wrong with the house that neither the agent nor the owner disclosed. This would never have happened in the US. There actually are services available that do this in 24 where I am, but no one made me aware of them. Of course. If I buy another house here, I would pay to have a full inspection done. However, I would hire someone as part of a team with qualified experts in electric, septic, plumbing, HVAC, roofing etc.
