“More Information Please”

We keep being told by English speaking property buyers that it is a buyers market in France.

Well, yes and no.

It is certainly true that prices are falling…..slowly. They are falling but nothing like the fall that is happening in the UK or USA. And they are falling for specific reasons. One reason they are falling is that owners had previously listed their properties at a price that included a ‘negotiation margin’. These properties are now being listed without that ‘negotiation margin’…or at least with a smaller negotiation margin - that means that owners may not take your offer if it is very low compared to the asking price, be sensible and fair in your offer.
Something else you should take into account is the French attitude to selling property. The French have a very different attitude to property, they generally don’t mind if a property stays for sale for 2, 3 or more years (unless they are desperate to sell of course). This is especially true in country areas. 

You will also find that many owners are taking their properties off the market, preferring to keep them or rent them out than sell them for less than they think it is worth.

There are obviously exceptions to this, there are many properties that have been reduced dramatically, and there certainly are bargains to be had (take a look through our ‘negotiable price‘ and ‘reduced price‘ property listings for example). The best bargains to be had at the moment (if you have the money) tend to be at the higher end of the market (i.e. the €500,000+ properties). We have seen one or two dramatic price drops on the odd property there.

Cash buyers are in a strong position - something else we hear from English speaking buyers. Again, this is a bit of a fallacy. It makes no difference to the seller whether you are a cash buyer or buying a property with a mortgage. In fact, if you already have a mortgage in place and are ready to buy it might even be better for the seller if you have a mortgage rather than cash (it is a more certain sale). The length of time for the sale to complete is exactly the same for a mortgage sale or a cash sale.

Instead of trying to negotiate a property price down dramatically it may be better to put in a more sensible offer, but to negotiate with the owner that they leave furniture in place, or carry out needed work on the property etc.

We have introduced a new ‘Quick Link‘ menu item of ‘REDUCED PRICE’. This new menu item will now show all properties which have been reduced in price providing you have marked the property as price reduced as detailed below.

If you have reduced the price of your property make sure you tick the check box in the section entitled ‘Price Reduced Icon On Listing Page?’. This will ensure your property listing is added to the search for reduced price properties and will also add a reduced price ’sticker’ to your listing.

See the reduced price property list HERE. Click on one of the properties in the search to see the reduced price ’sticker’.