Below is the transcript from the video...

Here's what we should have done and what you should do to ensure you end up with the best house for you at the best price. Rent an apartment in the town or city you want to live in for maybe six months or maybe even a year. Get to know the different local areas to avoid buying in an area that is perhaps not so good in one way or another.

There is also no reason why you cannot register with several estate agents. That would give you a better selection of properties to visit.Do as many viewings of potentially suitable properties as you can. The more the merrier. Try to video each viewing on your phone so you can refer back to them later. Otherwise it's possible that they may kind of meld into one and questions and answers from each viewing might get a bit mixed up.

Don't let your heart rule your head. My lovely wife saw the house we eventually bought and immediately, upon stepping through the front door proclaimed "I want this house" before she'd even seen it. That happened right in front of the agent and the seller.

On our house tour I noted that the kitchen was pretty small and there was no designated place to park a car but she'd already made up her mind. So, we stopped looking at other houses and bought this one. Although I like our house, I do now think that was a mistake. It’s a nice house but we could have done better.

Okay, so once you've found the property you want, you can save thousands by not offering the asking price. Ask the agent how long the property has been on the market. If it's a fairly long time and there are no problems like subsidence or they're about to build a new motorway next door then the asking price is probably too high.

Also ask how long the sellers have lived there and how much they paid when they bought it. Try to find out what similar properties are selling for in the same area. Then you'll know if the sellers are just 'trying it on' with an inflated price, knowing they will be beaten down to a lower one.

Now that you're armed with this information you can ask informally just how low an offer the seller is likely to accept. Even if you are full of excitement about buying this particular property, don't let the agent or sellers see that. Keep your cool. Pretend you're interested but perhaps not that interested so they know you can easily walk away.

Let them stew for two or three days after the viewing and maybe use that time to view some more properties.

Come back and do a second viewing and possibly a third. You need to make sure the house is sound and will not fall down around your ears.

Then, finally, if it checks all the boxes and you still want it, put in an offer (an offre d'achat) a few thousand Euros below the amount the agent said would be the lowest acceptable offer and make it subject to the positive results of a survey. They can only say no but you might be pleasantly surprised and they might accept your offer. You won't know if you don't ask and after all, you have nothing to lose.

If they staunchly refuse your offer, put in another that's a little bit higher and see what happens. Always be prepared to walk away or at least give the impression you are.

If that is still not accepted, try a third time with an offer that's closer to the minimum you were told about but still a bit under. Give the impression that it's your final offer.

Selling property in France can take very a long time and most sellers just want to move on and get on with their lives so it's worthwhile doing this haggle dance because you will most probably end up with the property you want at a MUCH lower price than if you hadn't. If you save say, €10,000 by haggling it will be well worth the time it took and you'll be really pleased you did this course.

There will be some circumstances where you have no option but to offer the asking price but I believe that happens very rarely. Always put in an offer first before offering the asking price unless you know for sure that someone else wants the same property as you, in which case you may need to get in quick. Again, this would be a rare occurrence.

Another thing you should know is that sometimes, shall we say, less honourable agents might try to create a situation where more than one person is in the frame to buy a house at the same time. I have been to house viewings in the past where the agent pretends to have made a mistake with their diary and double booked two potential buyers to view at the same time. They then show you both around together, thus creating a competitive situation, if indeed you both decide you want the property. In that case, the haggle dance goes out the window. This only happens very rarely though.

A British friend who has worked as an immobilier in France for some time has told me that it is not unknown for unscrupulous agents to sometimes use members of their family or friends to pose as potential buyers at the same viewing you are at in order to create that competitive situation and prevent you from make an offer below the asking price. That is very naughty but it does happen. So, my advice is, if you find that another person is to share your viewing, just walk away. You are most probably being tricked.

The buying process in France can be fairly quick but usually it isn't and in some cases, it can take six months or more to buy the property you want. If it's a large country house set in acres or hectares, local farmers are often given first dibs on the land so you will have to wait for that. If nobody wants it the sale then goes ahead as normal.

During the time it takes for all the bureaucracy to pan out though, you could fall foul of exchange rate movements. Often, it's a good idea to lock in your exchange rate as soon as you have agreed on the price and agreed to buy. Luckily, we have a lesson on how you can do that, coming up shortly.

Property Surveys

Now, let's look at property surveys. Estate agents might tell you that people rarely have surveys in France and that might be true. However, it is really not a good idea.

French houses can hide all kinds of problems which could cost you a small fortune to put right further down the line. Roofs are a case in point and can be desperately expensive to repair, as we found to our cost.

The first time it rained heavily, about six weeks after we moved in, there was water cascading through our bedroom ceiling. It turned out that the roof needed a lot of work and it cost us more than 18,000 Euros to put right. As green émigras it’s more than possible that we were overcharged by some way, but that’s another story!

Termites are another well known and expensive problem to put right, especially in Southern France where the climate is considerably warmer and more termite-friendly than the north.

This is Ruth Semple. Ruth is a highly qualified and very experienced surveyor and luckily for us she speaks really good English. Where are you from Ruth?

Belfast!

We’ll that explains that!

What are the main types of problems that you tend to find when carrying out surveys on older French houses.

Thank you Ruth. I think you are a very good person to know.

So my advice is to make sure you do have a survey carried out before you commit to buying your dream house. It may cost a few hundred Euros but it could save you tens of thousands if indeed there are problems about which you’d be otherwise unaware, until the roof falls in!

Brilliant Tip

It may cost a few hundred Euros to have a survey carried out but if no problems are found then you have the peace of mind that knowledge brings.

If problems are discovered however, you can either walk away or present your findings to the agent and sellers and ask for discount on the property price to help pay for the repairs. Depending on the severity of the problems, you are likely to save at least the cost of your survey and perhaps many thousands more.

Another Brilliant Tip

If, after moving into your new property, you discover that there are any serious problems which were concealed from you by the sellers and/or agent, you have legal recourse to seek compensation through the concept of 'vices cachés' (Pron: Veece Cashay) which translates as 'hidden defects'.

Sellers and estate agents are expected to disclose any significant issues with the property during the sales process. Failing to do so could make them liable for compensation. You could even reverse the purchase altogether, although in practice that could prove to be a whole new can of worms.

There is a time limit for making claims too. You need to act within a certain timeframe, usually within two years of discovering the issue. After this period, it might be more challenging to obtain compensation. Estate agents will usually not tell you about your right to do this unless you specifically ask, because obviously, they do not want to you to mess up their sale.

Yet Another Brilliant Tip

If you’re not already living in France, in the week you expect to take possession of your new French home, come out a few days early and rent an apartment for a week or maybe a couple of weeks depending on when you expect your removal van to arrive. We hired an apartment for about eight days when we first arrived in France to take possession of our new house, because although our furniture and other stuff arrived a few days after we got the keys, the house was really not liveable initially so we were glad to have a lifeboat just up the road. Having said that, even a year later we were still finding new removal boxes that were still unopened. But you get the gist…

And Yet Another Brilliant Tip

Save maybe tens of thousands of Euros by buying directly from a Notaire rather than an estate agent.

Notaires are the French equivalent of solicitors but they are allowed to sell property under certain circumstances.

For example, where somebody inherits a property but does not want it and just wants to sell it or when it's owned by a bank or other institution. It could be part of a property portfolio which they want to liquidate. Bankruptcy and repossession are also reasons for sale by Notaire.

Often, in cases like that, the Notaire is given responsibility to sell and they may not be under the same kind of pressure to acheive a certain price, as might be the case with an estate agent. Also, Notaires are not allowed to advertise as effectively as estate agents can so that makes their selling job more difficult. For that reason they may value any potential buyers that come their way and be more inclined to accept a silly offer.

Therefore, property can be sold way below the real market value, possibly saving you thousands and thousands.

So, it's worthwhile taking a look and perhaps there will be bargains to be had. But how do you find properties sold by Notaires if they are not advertised everywhere?

Well, individual Notaires sometimes advertise properties for sale on their own web sites and their local regional professional association, the Chambre des Notaires might also have some property listings.

However, the best and easiest place to find properties for sale by Notaires is on the Immobilier Notaires web site at:

https://www.immobilier.notaires.fr/

Clickable link in the notes.

Now, go and save tens of thousands of Euros on your French property purchase and remember who told you about this.

Some things that people don’t always consider when choosing a house…

Which way does it face? This can be important if you want to have a sunny place where you can enjoy your apéro.
If you are looking at a property on a main road, what is the air quality like? Will you be constantly breathing exhaust fumes?
Is it on a flight path?
What’s the internet connectivity like? If you rely on your Wi-Fi for work or just for watching TV then you will need a good connection. Is fibre available or are we talking about Victorian copper pairs technology?
Who are the neighbours? What are they like? As I suggested before, if you’re feeling adventurous maybe knock on the neighbour’s doors and say hi. Say you’re thinking of moving in and ask what the area is like.
If you're moving to the south of France I would seriously suggest that any house you end up buying should have air conditioning installed already. While the south of France has much milder winters than say, Canada, the northern United States or the UK, our summers here can be pretty damn hot. Damn hot!
Honestly, if you move to the south you are going to need air conditioning. You definitely are. Either buy a house that has it already or factor in the cost of having it installed as soon as you move in.You might also want to think about having a solar panel installation to help pay for the cost of running it. A/C can be very expensive to run and remember that it does get cold in the winter so reversible air conditioning might be the way to go because that can provide heating that's paid for by the sun (when it's shining) and also help save the planet!A solar installation will all pay for itself eventually but much quicker in Southern France than in many other countries. After all, we have more than 300 days of sunshine each year. It will add value to your house and make it easier to sell if you ever need to move, it's better for the planet and you will have a much more comfortable life here and manage to get more sleep at night. You can even sell any surplus back to the grid. It's a win-win situation all round! What's not to like?We have just had a 3KW solar installation put on our roof to help pay for our air conditioning. It also helps to pay for our laundry, hot water, heating, cooking and a host of other stuff.In Southern France, with more than 300 sunny days each year, solar energy really does come into its own.

Buying a property in France – Part 2