I have a cunning plan

June 12, 2007

Every day I am frustrated by the websites of estate agents in France - most will not even tell you the town the property is in, just saying “in the sector of …”, it could be twenty miles away, rarely is a photo of the front of the house shown and there is never any “honest” photo showing where the property is in relation to the neighbours or less attractive landmarks.

The main reason for this is that French estate agents are scared that buyers will drive around with printed-out details, scour the streets for the house and then knock on the door to negotiate a price which does not include their commission.

Commissions for selling a property are usually between 5 percent and 7 percent of the selling price - this includes taxes of about one fifth of the commission - so on a million euro property this is a lot of money. The agent rarely gets this much unless they have an exclusive agreement to sell and then they have to spend a lot on advertising to get the property sold in just three months.

However, not telling prospective buyers enough about a property means they just are not going to look at the site - no one is going to plan a trip half way across the world, or even come from the UK for a day without more information, good photos and at least knowing where the property is.

I am starting to make accurate floor plans of all properties we offer. I am making full map coordinates of every property and I will take large, clear photos which will show the properties exactly how they are. In some cases I cannot put these on our websites as I may be listing from another (paranoid) agent, but I will have them and I will tell you on the website that I have them so all you have to do is ask.

buying a house, Diary, french property, french estate agents, living in france, personal opinion