The current market in France means that in most areas, there are at least two homes for sale for each potential buyer. A property expert gives advice and says selling your property in France needn’t be a puzzle..
So, you’ve decided to sell your home and clearly you want to be the successful one of the two.
Do it yourself or use an agency?
DIY means doing the marketing, handling calls (hopefully), showing visitors around, negotiating the price and dealing with notaires for contracts and deposits etc yourself. The list is endless and did I mention that most of this will be in French!
So, let’s look at the agency route where all this is done for you.
Choose your agency carefully. All agents in France must be qualified, licenced and are regulated but not all offer the same service.
I recommend you avoid signing up to an “Exclusive” contract (Mandat de Vente en éxclusivité) which prevents you from using other agents or even privately selling. It’s my advice that sellers should use a local agent or a notaire for local marketing and use a national or international agency to get maximum exposure.
Organise a meeting with your agent and allow up to three hours to exchange information. It may seem like a lot but in order that the agent to take good photos (a really important aspect of selling) and for them to get to know your home.
Your Title Deeds (Acte Authentique) will supply most of the information needed, so have them to hand. A full set of property “diagnostics” is required for the sale but to market your home you will need at least the “DPE” (Diagnostic Performance Energétique) or energy survey. It is illegal to market your home without this and the penalties are high. Your agent can and should help with this.
Finally it’s time for those all-important photographs. Whether it’s pictures for the shop window, magazines and website or if it’s for 360° Virtual Tours and VR walk-throughs, your home needs to look its best.
By Tim Sage, property expert at Leggett Immobilier [email tsage@leggett.fr]
