Can anybody recommend a reliable and honest UK estate agent who has an established track record in selling French property to the Brit market? Personal experience preferable please.
Thanks for any advice ... Jim
UK Estate Agent for French property
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Rocket Rab
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Hi Jim,
Now, I have to be careful what I say here, because I can only speak from my own experience, but well...
I confess to keeping a close eye on the property market in our neck of the woods and that includes looking very regularly at quite a few French estate agents' websites....and UK ones. Hey ho, what do I find? The UK agents simply form a partnership with a French agent, offer the same property to UK buyers and then cream off another commission on top (or is there any other reason why the exact same property should be marketed at a higher price by the UK agent ??)
So all that to say: do you absolutely have to go through a UK agent?
Now, I have to be careful what I say here, because I can only speak from my own experience, but well...
I confess to keeping a close eye on the property market in our neck of the woods and that includes looking very regularly at quite a few French estate agents' websites....and UK ones. Hey ho, what do I find? The UK agents simply form a partnership with a French agent, offer the same property to UK buyers and then cream off another commission on top (or is there any other reason why the exact same property should be marketed at a higher price by the UK agent ??)
So all that to say: do you absolutely have to go through a UK agent?
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Giddy Goat
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Hi RR! 
I am surprised by your findings, as over the years we have done a lot of property searching in France, and never found any difference in price between the French agents and the Brit ones - by that, I mean the Brit agents based in France and working in tandem with a local French agent who holds the carte professionelle. It doesn't make any sense otherwise as they would be found out very quickly. But what does tend to happen is that a property can be given to several different French agents, who then market it at the figure they see as being appropriate, and this can vary from one to the other. So that's how a discrepancy can turn up between the price, say, asked by French agent A and that asked by Brit (Dutch or whatever) agent working for French agent B.
I am almost certain that the commission is shared equally between the French agent and the foreign agent, if the purchaser is secured by the Brit, for argument's sake, as they have both been involved in marketing the property, and their instruction will generally have come via the French agent.
I assume Jimbo, that you are looking for an agent based in France? There are umpteen Brit websites listing properties for sale throughout France, one well known one being Latitudes - but as with foreign agents working in France, they receive their properties from French agents dotted all over France. This is how the majority (if not all?) the Brit based agents work, though some specialise in certain regions.
Hope that all makes sense!
I am surprised by your findings, as over the years we have done a lot of property searching in France, and never found any difference in price between the French agents and the Brit ones - by that, I mean the Brit agents based in France and working in tandem with a local French agent who holds the carte professionelle. It doesn't make any sense otherwise as they would be found out very quickly. But what does tend to happen is that a property can be given to several different French agents, who then market it at the figure they see as being appropriate, and this can vary from one to the other. So that's how a discrepancy can turn up between the price, say, asked by French agent A and that asked by Brit (Dutch or whatever) agent working for French agent B.I am almost certain that the commission is shared equally between the French agent and the foreign agent, if the purchaser is secured by the Brit, for argument's sake, as they have both been involved in marketing the property, and their instruction will generally have come via the French agent.
I assume Jimbo, that you are looking for an agent based in France? There are umpteen Brit websites listing properties for sale throughout France, one well known one being Latitudes - but as with foreign agents working in France, they receive their properties from French agents dotted all over France. This is how the majority (if not all?) the Brit based agents work, though some specialise in certain regions.
Hope that all makes sense!
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be
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Rocket Rab
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Hi GG;
I'm sure you'll be right about that as my memory is a bit hazy. I was thinking of the Latitudes kind of set-up (but may not have been them) and was pretty sure, but not 100% certain, that I had seen the same property advertised on a French site and on a UK website, but with a UK markup --- maybe it depends, as you say, on which French agent instructed UK agent (i.e. same property with different French agents at different prices).
But maybe Jim is selling, not buying? In which case, good luck to him!
I'm sure you'll be right about that as my memory is a bit hazy. I was thinking of the Latitudes kind of set-up (but may not have been them) and was pretty sure, but not 100% certain, that I had seen the same property advertised on a French site and on a UK website, but with a UK markup --- maybe it depends, as you say, on which French agent instructed UK agent (i.e. same property with different French agents at different prices).
But maybe Jim is selling, not buying? In which case, good luck to him!
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Rocket Rab
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Couldn't resist, have just been having a rabbit around my favourite websites (just for dreams!..):
Latitudes have a luscious property on at
1,793,000 euros
(on an island I am privileged to hop around now and again) and their agent* in France is selling the exact same pile of stones for...
1,480,000 euros (note: this includes French agent's fee)
...so where does the difference go? Just curious
*maybe it isn't their agent, but I'm pretty damn sure it is...
Latitudes have a luscious property on at
1,793,000 euros
(on an island I am privileged to hop around now and again) and their agent* in France is selling the exact same pile of stones for...
1,480,000 euros (note: this includes French agent's fee)
...so where does the difference go? Just curious
*maybe it isn't their agent, but I'm pretty damn sure it is...
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Giddy Goat
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I don't understand, and would be very disappointed if you're right RR. What happens when the rich Brit turns up to view the property? Most of the agents advertise the properties in their windows; it would be very risky to advertise it on the internet at one price but at a lower price locally. Or a punter might well see the property on Latitudes and print off the details, but not contact Latitudes and simply turn up in France on a house-hunting mission, cruise all the local agents and among a fistful, be given details of the same property at a lower figure... Latitudes is huge, (set up by a woman BTW, not that that's relevant) and can't afford to tarnish its reputation in this way...
I'm not disagreeing with you, simply trying to get my head around it!
I'm not disagreeing with you, simply trying to get my head around it!
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be
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Rocket Rab
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Rocket Rab
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Well of course, the property is freely advertised on the Internet by the French estate agent, and that price is the same on the Internet and in agent's window..(i.e. locally)Gascony Goat wrote:.... it would be very risky to advertise it on the internet at one price but at a lower price locally.
...but the UK buyer goes through UK estate agent for sheer convenience (no language problems, estate agent to steer him through buying in France, contracts, payments, rules and regs etc)...
...well, those are all services that have to be paid for one way or another...
so they feature in the final price as an add-on cost (not commission?) to UK buyer.
So French estate agent gets full fee and UK agent gets an 'assistance' fee or something like that??
Note to self: I am in the wrong business....!
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Giddy Goat
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No - never heard of that! 
Anyway, we have viewed properties through Latitudes, and very often it was their local Brit agent who did the viewing - ie the Brit agent who worked alongside the French agent. Not in the full time employ of Latitudes; I don't know how this works - perhaps if the purchaser is via a Latitudes introduction, the local agent shares his half of the commission with Latitudes?
It gets very complicated, as many (most, even) of the foreign France based agents have their own websites for marketing the properties; they cherry pick from the French agents' books with whom they work in tandem and select only those which will be most likely to appeal to the foreign market for inclusion. So there must sometimes be disputes as to who effected the introduction! We printed off property details from sites such as Latitudes before leaving the UK, and didn't necessarily arrange the viewings through them - not all anyway. Am I making sense?
Glad I'm not in the business RR- minefield!
Anyway, we have viewed properties through Latitudes, and very often it was their local Brit agent who did the viewing - ie the Brit agent who worked alongside the French agent. Not in the full time employ of Latitudes; I don't know how this works - perhaps if the purchaser is via a Latitudes introduction, the local agent shares his half of the commission with Latitudes?It gets very complicated, as many (most, even) of the foreign France based agents have their own websites for marketing the properties; they cherry pick from the French agents' books with whom they work in tandem and select only those which will be most likely to appeal to the foreign market for inclusion. So there must sometimes be disputes as to who effected the introduction! We printed off property details from sites such as Latitudes before leaving the UK, and didn't necessarily arrange the viewings through them - not all anyway. Am I making sense?
Glad I'm not in the business RR- minefield!
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be
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Rocket Rab
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Giddy Goat
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Just worth saying that French estate agents work in mysterious ways. And French sellers can be even more mysterious !
Most sales are multi agent. The commission is to the agent who first shows the house to the buyer.
The same property is often at different prices with different French agents.
Some agents quote a price including agents commission (FAI) - others not.
The owner may also advertise privately at a lower price.
Many owners will increase the asking price if they think they can get more from the feelthy rich Parisians or other foreigners.
The price is always negotiable.
Peter
Most sales are multi agent. The commission is to the agent who first shows the house to the buyer.
The same property is often at different prices with different French agents.
Some agents quote a price including agents commission (FAI) - others not.
The owner may also advertise privately at a lower price.
Many owners will increase the asking price if they think they can get more from the feelthy rich Parisians or other foreigners.
The price is always negotiable.
Peter
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Rocket Rab
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I know this is about France (& I have no experience there) but I have to say that what RR suspects happens with differing prices actually does happen here. I knew the Ibiza property market inside out when we were house searching and it was very common for houses to be sold at different prices.it would be very risky to advertise it on the internet at one price but at a lower price locally
I know of one british 'estate agent' (very big on the costas) who I visited. Every house he showed me had been marked up by 20% - when I tackled the manager he explained that they charge a premium 'cos they are acting on behalf of the british client who need their language skills!? At 20% mark-up it would be cheaper to hire an interpreter
It is also common here for seller to add the agents commission to the sales price, as they charge anything from 5% - 12% then the property can appear at different prices locally & on the internet.
For potential buyers this could be something they're not aware of...unless they really researched hard - then of course they'd find the same house cropping up at differing prices!
BTW - being interested in possibly buying something in france in the near future I've found this thread very interesting!
Mouse
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