Estate Agents in France and International Marketing
June 21, 2007
Selling your home is one of the most stressful things in life - this should be made easier by the professionals who you pay to advertise and find a customer to buy it. French Estate Agents charge a commission from about four percent and in some cases well over ten percent.
The Internet has shaken up many traditional ways of marketing very quickly, I remember only four years ago being told by directors of one of the largest travel companies in Europe that Internet marketing was not important or would ever be a significant sales tool - they were taken over the following year.
French immobilier (estate agents) seem to be in a similar state. Most do have a website, but they are among the worst designed and constructed sites in the world. There are also far to many of them all scrabbling for a slice of the same pie - in our department, Herault, there are three times as many estate agents listed as there are bakers, this is ludicrous.
So putting your dreams in the hands of most of the agents in France is often a frustrating experience. You would think that with so many of them selling, they would do a good job of presenting and advertising a property - far from it - there is very little synergy between them and a “multi listing service”, (where one agent will take sole and exclusive responsibility for selling the property and then network the information to all other agents, thereby focusing the marketing and being able to spend time and money of correct presentation and advertising) this is not happening and all agents offer the same properties but none show the full details, not even where the property is in most cases.
This is spam selling - chuck enough against the wall and some will stick. it is not good for owners as the properties are not correctly or adequately advertised and it is not good for buyers as they waste a lot of time seeing properties they would have elimiated much earlier.
I am working hard on developing some new marketing tools for selling property on the Internet and hopefully the inefficient and antiquated estate agants will slowly come to realise we are now living in the 21st century (and I don’t mean the agency).
Here is a mail I had yesterday…
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Hi
We bought a small farmhouse and attached barn in the Creuse area
several years ago.
We regularly visit and absolutely love it. However my partner is retiring this summer and we’ve decided very reluctantly to sell. We’ve left the sale (about 9 months ago) to a local estate agent, but apart from a copy of the agreement we’ve heard nothing from them, despite a promise they would send on a copy of the sale particulars and information about where and how the property is being marketed.
We haven’t contacted them yet because the situation hasn’t been urgent and our French isn’t of the first order. After seeing a programme about buying abroad and the benefits of an “International” estate agent I wondered whether you had any thoughts or advice on selling or could recommend any helpful contacts.
Thanks very much
Peter
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Hello Peter,
The two main problems with selling property in France is that there is no central “listing” system and that many agents have a paranoia of house buyers dealing directly with the seller.
This means that properties are very badly presented, often adverts will not show a picture of the front of the property, or even tell you which town or village a property is in. This is to prevent prospective buyers driving around and identifying the property and then knocking on the door.
Unfortunately, French estate agents have very little understanding of Internet marketing which is now directly responsible for over 70 percent of all property enquiries in other countries (I cannot get any figures for France yet). Some agents I deal with do not even have their own website and the vast majority use a service which lists properties for their own reference but is invisible on search engines of with any other way of presenting property to buyers.
Slowly there is a realisation with some real estate brokers that working together is a good thing, but this will mean a big cultural change in the thinking of French owners. It would be necessary for the seller to give one exclusive mandat (agreement to sell) to an agent for a fixed period of time (six months for example) and it would also be necessary for all agents to have access to a central database of properties so they could efficiently show all relevant properties to all buyers and share the commission. This is the way is works in the USA and in much of the UK and is very efficient.
Changes are coming and I know of some UK agencies making inroads into the French market. However, most of the websites selling to overseas clients are not true registered agencies in France - they are intermediary “portals” who in some cases work with local agents and in others simply take paid advertising from agents or owners. Some of these are very dubious - I have been threatened by one of these rascals when I exposed their deceits in a report.
I doubt if your local agent is actually doing any true marketing. There is a lot of property on offer at present and it is likely that you property just resides with scores of others in a file on their shelf and is dusted off when someone happens to call in their office.
Sorry to sound so negative, but I see this every day and I am conscious of the thousands of private dreams which are just flicked through and dismissed as the page turns.
If you can, my advice is to advertise yourself direct through some of the better portals - there are literally thousands of advertising sites, but in reality there are about ten which I know are good and that get results. The cost would be a few hundred euro, but you will need good photographs and a lot of sensible and accurate information.
I am working on a sales “pack” and website to help people do this for themselves.
I am also trying to get some of the legal and registered French companies to work together to generate a true International portal - this is taking a lot of time and meets resistance and apathy, but we will get it sorted.
Is the mandat you have signed non exclusive - (I assume it is as an exclusive mandat only lasts for three months) - if so you can sell direct or appoint as many sales agencies as you wish.
Do you have any description or photos you can mail me?
Best wishes
Tony
Comment by Andy HoboTraveler.com
What is the future of Real Estate Agents, Estate Agents or Immobilier?
I am not good at French yet, however maybe a French Real Estate agent in UK English, a French Estate Agent is maybe called,
“Agent Immobilier”
There is a term in the USA called a Meeting of the Minds, that is necessary for an enforceale contract.
To not speak French means you do not have a meeting of the minds, therefore you have an agent that is not good.
A person knows when they have a meeting of the minds.
I see the need for buyers agents more and listing agents less.
Trust or thinking a person can perform is not enough, a person needs to know the have an intimate meeting of the minds, both the agent and the client are on the same channel or page.
Comment by Tony
Hi Andy
I Wikied “Meeting of the Minds” and got this definition
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Meeting of the minds (also referred to as mutual assent or consensus ad idem) is a phrase in contract law used to describe the intentions of the parties forming the contract. In particular it refers to the situation where there is a common understanding in the formation of the contract. This condition or element is often considered a necessary requirement to the formation of a contract.
The reasoning is that a party should not be held to a contract that they were not even aware existed. A mutual promise between friends over simple personal matters should not be a situation where legal remedies are to be used. Equally, any such agreement where the obligation is primarily a moral one rather than a legal one should not be enforceable. It is only when all parties involved are aware of the formation of a legal obligation is there a meeting of the minds.
Under the formalist theory of contract, every contract must have six elements: offer, acceptance, consideration, meeting of the minds, capacity and legality. Many other contracts, but not all types of contracts, also must be in writing and be signed by the responsible party, in an element called form
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Language is vitally important in any contractual arrangement relating to property as unless the offer and the acceptance are not clearly understood, there can be no meeting of the minds and therefore no valid contract.
Any person dealing with real-estate in France must read and speak French and fully understand the legal, financial and cultural factors relating to property in France.
It is often not clear who an estate agent is acting for. A seller may rely on an agent to get the best price for their home, a buyer may rely on an agent to find them a home for the lowest price. Bringing a buyer and seller together is the activity of an estate agent, but as their involvement both adds to the price the buyer pays for a home and reduces the price the seller receives, then the true function of an estate agent must be muddied as clearly they are acting in the first instance for themselves.
I agree, with efficient, open and inexpensive Internet tools today, the estate agent (Realtor, Immobilier etc) is unnecessary. Anyone can search and browse millions of property offers, explore regions, find services and obtain lists of properties. With instant communications, detailed negotiations can be done in minutes which once took weeks. All the legal and financial intricacies can be learnt and addresses online through the trillions of pages of data and information which can be accessed.
In most cases a buyer will visit a property before buying, but I know of cases where a home in France has been brought without a buyer visiting it or even visiting the town first, all negotiations and information was by Internet, even payment. The only traditional technology was to get signatures done by registered surface mail.
However, in my experience most people selling are not sufficiently skilled to prepare the materials needed to advertise a house effectively and most people buying do not have sufficient knowledge to use Internet resources efficiently to search for a house. In addition few people will have the knowledge to be able to prepare the documentation needed for the legal processes.
So it is likely that a service will always be needed to arrange the meeting and melding necessary for the presentation of the property, the introduction of the buyer and the structuring of the documentation.
It is not rocket science, there are no special skills or talents needed, anyone can do it - which is why there are three times as many estate agents in our region than bakers - but until the listing and publicising aspect of real estate services can be better automated and made available to sellers - the service of a buyers agent will be very restricted and they will, inevitably, be involved in the listing and selling.
So I doubt much will change - although there will be a shake up of the whole business when better Internet services are developed to make buying and selling though a community (I am working on it)
Best wishes
Tony
Comment by Malcolm Meadows
HI Tony,
I was interested to read this article. We were in contact last year concerning the sale of this house and you made some interesting observations, but I think it was just before you “disappeared” for a while. I can’t remember if I gave you this web address, you will recognise it if I did, but its http://www.french-property.com.
I think its a good web site and the property has had thousands of hits but I have had only 3 or 4 enquiries. It may well be the price, I have discussed this with the 5 immobilliers and had a varied response from reducing it by 10% to 30%. One said do nothing, we just have to wait for an amateur!
I have the feeling that it is such a unique house, very large, on a small site, bounded on 2 sides by the streets of the village that it may well be a combination of situation and price. Would be grateful for your comments.
Good to know you are well and truly back in action.
Regards
Malcolm
Comment by Claire Pernet
Hello.
I am a new business and I am seeking assistance in publicising my new bilingual web-site.
I would be happy to paste your link or put an add on one of my page.
I am specialising in relocation services including property searches, tackling French bureaucracy, cultural integration ( Schools, medical, leisure…)
I also focus on the leisure and holiday sector with tailor make trips, for individuals and groups ( family holiday, stag and hen week-ends, honeymoon…)
So if you can be any help and offer any comments, I will be very grateful.
Best regards,
Claire Pernet