120-150 Jeez!!! Didn’t you know what you were looking for!? Wasting all those people’s time - outrageous!!
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we looked at many from the outside and on photos etc. We only used 1 agent and looked at 2 houses. We ended up getting this one through another agent and we paid 35 thousand under the asking price.
Because we wanted to make sure of the area in all Seasons other than Summer which we knew very well, hence we took 3 week long trips in end of Jan, May, end of October purely to see houses, this we did over an 18 month period including both Summers giving a good 5+ Weeks of viewing, at 5 days in the week, at ~5 properties a day = 125 without trying. Yes a lot of viewing, but then I have never complained about what we bought, where we bought, the neighbours, the French, the Chase, the Marie, the distance to the shops, etc, etc, etc.
No more outrageous than reading some of the egotistical, pompous, bleeding heart liberalism, spouted by some folk on here.
OK Tony, if you want to be like that, you’ve just won - 
(btw - that’s NOTHING compared to wasting all those folks time!!!)
my sister in law is an estate agent and one of the biggest bug bears are folks who just ring up, looking at loads of houses every week but never make offers. Most of them are on commission based and work stupid hours. Then again she just sold a house last week and is sitting on nice fat commission as soon as they sign. 150 house is an insane amount but if that’s what it took for you to work out what you were looking for. Glad you finally found a home.
I knew what I was looking for before we even entered the market place. 4 beds minimum, plenty of land and easy access from main roads, anything else was a bonus.
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That’s not a bug bear, that’s the nature of the job. As is her choice to work on commission. Estate agents draw people in and encourage them to view houses. Why should anyone be expected to put in an offer on a property that they are not hoping to buy?
One of my bug bears when we started searching for a house in France was estate agents offering to show you completely unsuitable properties. Having given them a list of our core requirements, when they bothered to get back to us it was often with houses that bore no relation to what we were looking for. (In the end we bought privately…)
The most annoying thing is that they will not tell where a house is so that you can drive by and see if the location is suitable for you.
This is a huge waste of time for everyone.
Walk in their shoes, and take your head out of the clouds.
Unfortunately out there there are “professional viewers” with no interest to buy but love to look around at house. 150 viewings is allot of viewing, all the emails, fuel to get there and back, all the time spent. If state agents charged an hourly rate refundable when you bought a property the time wasters (and there are allot of them) would be weeded out.
I know of someone who got took to court as they had a brother going round to look at houses for them and he was doing videos and on the phone “his wife” which was his sister was asking questions. Later the “wife” contacted the owner and got the place at a discount because there was no agency fees. Unfortunately she slipped up and was found out and was sued by the estate agent and they won and she ended up paying allot more than had she not tried to deceive them,
End of the day thy choose to do the job but still look for honest clients who are not just window shopping or getting a feel for the market so they can go out and do it alone.
Our agent sure earned her money, she was there every step doing all the paperwork which is a pain and doing lots of other stuff above and beyond.
Luckily for the good agents they can spot the time wasters easily enough.
okay, so out local agent, if she knows your legit will give you the location. Same for another agent I know. (not posting there names on here but both located near Trie sur baise
The reason they do not give specific directions until they have got that signature is to ensure you don’t go out fin it get th info of the owner and cut out the agents as this is something allot of folks try to do as it gives you the ability to use the agents fees as a negotiation tool.
yes thats the problem when they try to say well its not what you asked for but please look anyhow. Then again its normally on the paperwork so you can see before you even visit that its not what your looking for. Both house we went to see were what I call lucky dip houses as nothing was what we were looking for.
Of course people look at property when on holiday. They are conditioned to do so by TV programmes, magazines and, oh yes, lots of photos in estate agent’s windows. They are not time wasters they are possible buyers.
For quite a few properties it is possible to glean enough from the description to find the place on Google maps.
I bought the very first house I saw in france, did go and look at a couple of others but only as I’d already made the arrangements.
As usual folk who know nothing of my facts immediately form conclusions.
Good luck to anybody who looks at only 2 or 3 houses, finds one they like and then buys it. With that luck they should gamble as they will strike it rich very quickly. Personally I’ve never even been in say a Shoe shop and looked at or tried on, less than a handfull of pairs to get what I wanted, or bought the first car I saw, or married the first woman I sha??ed. So perhaps I am more choosy than the average Joe.
Not that I want to bore the ass of off anyone reading, but for those with an enquiring mind I will quantity one or two reasons why it took us so long to find what we wanted. Contrary to some comments I believe that our criteria was very clear, it had to be a ‘typical French Farmhouse’, in a nice location, that was quiet, that was not next to a pig farm, industrial estate, Lorry park, etc, which had at 1/2 Acre+, maybe work needing doing other than a total rebuild, be within reasonable distance of civilisation, it had to have a great view of the Mountains, and be around €250K plus say €50K for an exceptional fit. Of that our 3 key requirements were Mountain view, 1/2 Acre+, and quiet location. Clearly that wasn’t definitive enough for the ‘English’ estate agents we started with because the first 50+ we were shown failed in at least one, two, or sometimes three of the criteria. Their priorities appeared to be getting maximum fee (nice fat commission), palming off the unsellable (through price and/or condition) long standing ones on their books, and houses of those they clearly knew well or were at least very friendly with. Notwithstanding at one point they were pushing us to look at €400K+ properties.
Next was the discrepancy between reality and the Agents/Owners artistic license, whereby a Mountain view was something whereby you crossed the road (presumably with a deck chair) to peak over the ridge, or, it was through a gap between the next door farmers barn and the end of a line of French Oaks. A ‘typical farmhouse’ ended up anything riddled with woodworm but nicely painted over, and not next to a pig farm could end up to be next to the Village Dechetterie. A 1/2 Acre turned out to be a plot 500 metres down the road, etc, etc. This is where internet searching lets you down as the only photos to see are those specifically produced to maximise the good points.
However sifting through the dross we actually found a suitable place that did fit our needs, but was €350K after being on the market for 3+ years. Comparing as much as I could to other places it was to me a €250K house with a €50K view at the best, so that’s exactly what we offered (€300K), but were turned down. Maybe we were lucky because it actually sold 9 months later for $275K. However it did justify my estimating skills. It also exposed the myth of buy a cheap place, do it up, and make a killing, as money invest by many (mostly Brits) would never be realised again. The money making having a ‘Gite’ myth was also exposed when the occupancy was pitiful, and then usually by relatives who didn’t pay anyway.
The next 50 also produced a ‘Winner’ other than it’s overpricing, our (very reasonable I thought) offer we made was rejected. However, when we next visited with a view to upping our offer and saw the place again, it wasn’t quite there so we didn’t offer again. Interestingly the different rep from the same Agency said he thought they were stupid to turn down our first offer.
By now we were well past a 100 house, still totally clear on what we wanted and had ditched the English Agents for French ones who were totally on board with us. By the time we’d then seen another 20 - 30 properties, we found 2 that fully suited us. I would add here for anyone still awake that you must avoid the ‘fall in love with it’ ploy, as that’s exactly what the Agent/Owner wants, once they’ve hooked you, it’s just a bit of patience to reel you it. It’s a buyers market so make sure you take good advantage of that. Consequently we chose the best of the 2, and got exactly what we wanted at the right price, with no regrets whatsoever, and that was 5 years ago. Seems to me the market (Excluding Paris and the Alps) has still to recover, and there are big bargains still to be had out there.
As a footnote, I do realise many folk simply don’t have the money, time, or inclination to undertake visits to fully research the market, but please do not criticise those who chose to do it properly.
Lastly, I have now spent more than enough time on this topic, and will not spend any more.
Ciao.
Do it properly? I bought the first house I saw and almost 25 years later I still love it and it’s location as much as on the first day. I always presumed that I’d done it properly but just perhaps there’s no proper way after all.
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Speechless ! And I’ll stay that way 
I find it inexplicable that one is so distrusted. Are the French so different from the Brits?
Do the French really try to do the agents out of their commission?
I know a French person who did exactly what Harry described. They got the price reduced by the agent’s fee and a little bit more because the seller was getting desperate to sell. However, it backfired in the end because several weeks later the agent found a buyer prepared to pay the full price. Even when the person I knew offered to match the price the seller said no. It was a salutary lesson because they lost the house they fell in love with trying to save a few thousand euros.