We are NOT real estate agents. We are real estate agents everywhere else (including Scotland where our company is registered) but certainly not in France. And we very actively advise everyone of this fact.

We are, however, professionals who provide all the services that a real real estate agent SHOULD provide : organise a bank account, organise a loan where required, give advice on tax and inheritance laws, organise the EDF, telephone, and water utilities, arrange the insurances, suggest a Notaire (we insist on 2 Notaires not one as is the legal protocol in France despite what some Notaires may claim), we search for a motor vehicle if required, we organise quotes for and oversee renovations, we help with assimilation problems including getting school children enrolled in school as well as other social activities for the new arrivals, and as consultants, we can represent a buyer even when they are purchasing from a French real estate agent or from a private seller. That is something that a French real estate agent is not allowed to do.

For this we charge a consultancy fee for professional services rendered. As a real estate agent registered within the E.U. we can also list and sell properties over the Internet.

Unfortunately, our professional attitude has also given us a lot of problems. The French have a rather disgusting national habit called “Denounciation”. We have been subjected to this on several occasions, right up to the point of being put in front of the Procurer General who decided that despite all the evidence to the contrary, we were obviously guilty as charged and fined accordingly. Interestingly, we were also told that if we paid the fine within 21 days we would get a 20% discount !! And I thought that the January sales were over already ! We didn’t pay, we appealed instead. And we are still appealing as we will not admit to doing something that we deliberately and very carefully did not do.

In Australia, the US, wherever, there are multiple listing services where agents can call their competition (not opposition as in France) and share commissions. This is a huge benefit to the buyers. Not so in France.

When I originally stated that I thought that laws in France were there to protect the consumer, our avocats, both of them, clearly explained that in France the laws are there to protect the “concurance”. The buyer doesn’t count.

We have since learnt that if the court had found us not guilty, they were scared that there would be a whole bunch of people coming to France to do exactly what we are doing.

Maybe someone should show them the Internet one day.

We will work with anyone, agents, consultants, private sellers, whatever, for the benefit of someone trying to acquire a property in France. As consultants we have a responsibility to ensure that both the buyer AND the seller is protected. That is sadly not the case for French real estate agents.

Keep up the good work, we enjoy your emails and news

Cheers

Bruce Walters

You and I have talked about this many times. It indeed is a frustrating and archaic system, based on mistrust and beneficial only to the agent and not the customer.

Someday, this will change, I am sure. I am ready with my domain names MLS-France.com and mlsparis.com Maybe it will happen in my lifetime and I can sell these names for a big fortune!

By the way, the typical commission that I see in the US is between 5-6%, with the buyer’s and seller’s agent splitting the fee. Of course, the fee is negotaible and can be lower or higher, depending on the circumstances. The key here is that brokers work together, a phenomenon that is non-existent in France.