Happy home owners are not simply lucky, but are careful enough to follow these golden rules.
The unhappy house buyers I have seen clearly failed in one or several of these areas, due to a lack of experience and not getting the right advice.
The 5 rules we listed on our facebook page, that each buyer should follow are:
1. Visit and spend time in the area
2. Use property portals to check all properties available
3. Get advice and speak to local people
4. Situation comes first, as you ...can adapt the house
5. Negotiate the price
These are pre-requisites, whether you are looking to get a house as a second home, or as an investment or to live there yourself permanently.
How can you follow these rules in practice?
The unhappy house buyers I have seen clearly failed in one or several of these areas, due to a lack of experience and not getting the right advice.
The 5 rules we listed on our facebook page, that each buyer should follow are:
1. Visit and spend time in the area
2. Use property portals to check all properties available
3. Get advice and speak to local people
4. Situation comes first, as you ...can adapt the house
5. Negotiate the price
These are pre-requisites, whether you are looking to get a house as a second home, or as an investment or to live there yourself permanently.
How can you follow these rules in practice?
1. Visit and spend time in the area.
Coming regularly for holidays is a good start, but it’s really not enough. Many who come on holiday, only come in the summer, and then because of the heat, stay as close as possible to their pool or to the beach. If you are buying a house, spring and autumn are the best times to explore the Var. You can find accommodation at up to a quarter the price of summer rates as there are huge numbers of unoccupied villas available. If you are staying longer than a weekend, instead of a hotel try renting a villa off season and get a feel of the outdoor life, drinking your rose on a sunny terrace. These websites have the most out of season rentals: various homeaway sites www.abritel.fr, www.homelidays.com , www.homeaway.com have +12000 villas/flats in the Var, www.airbnb.fr have +4000 rentals, www.amivac.fr has +2000 villas/flats.
2. Use property portals to check all properties available
Browsing the web looking at properties can be fun to start, and may be addictive, but it’s for the good cause. It is worth spending extra hours to find the house you really want and avoid disappointment if you rushed your decision. We have provided you the best portal websites to check. If you do your search in an organised way, avoid viewing the same houses by carefully filtering the houses on date of publication, use the best sites, and narrow your search to a 3-4 towns, you should get a potential list of houses to visit.
3. Get advice and speak to local people
If you have friends already living in the area, ask them advice about which areas are the nicest, and practicalities such as transport, before contacting the estate agencies. Also consider whether you want to get the help of a property finder like Smartfindervar, for independent advice on the options you are considering.
For example, knowing that a stream has freak floods, or where the new TGV line is being built can help you avoid expensive mistakes. You will also hear alot about micro climates, hot areas in Le Luc in the summer, cold valleys in the winter, exposed or protected from the wind. Most of these stories are true even if locals like to exaggerate. Naturally most estate agents have excellent local knowledge; you just need to find an agent who is willing to objectively share that knowledge with you.
4. Situation comes first, as you ...can adapt the house
I have seen people buy a house without noticing there was a railway line hidden behind their hedge. Or others who were convinced no one could build on the land next to them. Or visit a house next to a main road at midday when there was no traffic. If there is a problem with the house, there is almost always a way to overcome the problem, but you can’t do much if you are under the flight path of an airport.
Situation is also about sea views, and views over beautiful fields of vines and olive groves, facing south west to see a magnificent sun set. The usual photos on websites will not show you much, though some sites like LuxImmo have up to 35 photos for each property, and Legget agents have 360 degree views on their houses. But if you really want a nice situation, you must be prepared to visit well over a dozen houses. If you are too busy, SmartfinderVar offers a service for a virtual tour with a report, so you can delegate a large proportion of those vists to us.
5. Negotiate the price
This is where intermediaries like estate agents or a property finder can help you. We can negotiate on your behalf with the owner, and ensure there remains enough good will after the process, that final details and the handover goes smoothly. It is also very important you select a competent notaire, to represent your interests, even if the seller has his own notaire. The 2 notaires will split the work and fees, in the same way an estate agent and a property finder split the commission, so there is no extra cost for you. As notaire fees are fixed and about 8% of the sale price (mostly tax) and the agency commission is 5%, the transaction costs in France are high, so investments should not be short term and be carefully evaluated. Currently it is a buyers a market, especially in the 400- 800 K Eur range with an estimated 2 sellers for 1 buyer, a reversal of the market from 10 years ago. Also don’t only negotiate relative to the asking price, but use the cost per square meter for the area as your benchmark. There is a lot more to say on pricing, and this will be the subject of another article. For an indication of averages per area, you can check this site: http://www.meilleursagents.com/prix-immobilier/var-83/#carte
Now if you follow all these rules, I guarantee you will join the club of happy home owners of the Var !
Coming regularly for holidays is a good start, but it’s really not enough. Many who come on holiday, only come in the summer, and then because of the heat, stay as close as possible to their pool or to the beach. If you are buying a house, spring and autumn are the best times to explore the Var. You can find accommodation at up to a quarter the price of summer rates as there are huge numbers of unoccupied villas available. If you are staying longer than a weekend, instead of a hotel try renting a villa off season and get a feel of the outdoor life, drinking your rose on a sunny terrace. These websites have the most out of season rentals: various homeaway sites www.abritel.fr, www.homelidays.com , www.homeaway.com have +12000 villas/flats in the Var, www.airbnb.fr have +4000 rentals, www.amivac.fr has +2000 villas/flats.
2. Use property portals to check all properties available
Browsing the web looking at properties can be fun to start, and may be addictive, but it’s for the good cause. It is worth spending extra hours to find the house you really want and avoid disappointment if you rushed your decision. We have provided you the best portal websites to check. If you do your search in an organised way, avoid viewing the same houses by carefully filtering the houses on date of publication, use the best sites, and narrow your search to a 3-4 towns, you should get a potential list of houses to visit.
3. Get advice and speak to local people
If you have friends already living in the area, ask them advice about which areas are the nicest, and practicalities such as transport, before contacting the estate agencies. Also consider whether you want to get the help of a property finder like Smartfindervar, for independent advice on the options you are considering.
For example, knowing that a stream has freak floods, or where the new TGV line is being built can help you avoid expensive mistakes. You will also hear alot about micro climates, hot areas in Le Luc in the summer, cold valleys in the winter, exposed or protected from the wind. Most of these stories are true even if locals like to exaggerate. Naturally most estate agents have excellent local knowledge; you just need to find an agent who is willing to objectively share that knowledge with you.
4. Situation comes first, as you ...can adapt the house
I have seen people buy a house without noticing there was a railway line hidden behind their hedge. Or others who were convinced no one could build on the land next to them. Or visit a house next to a main road at midday when there was no traffic. If there is a problem with the house, there is almost always a way to overcome the problem, but you can’t do much if you are under the flight path of an airport.
Situation is also about sea views, and views over beautiful fields of vines and olive groves, facing south west to see a magnificent sun set. The usual photos on websites will not show you much, though some sites like LuxImmo have up to 35 photos for each property, and Legget agents have 360 degree views on their houses. But if you really want a nice situation, you must be prepared to visit well over a dozen houses. If you are too busy, SmartfinderVar offers a service for a virtual tour with a report, so you can delegate a large proportion of those vists to us.
5. Negotiate the price
This is where intermediaries like estate agents or a property finder can help you. We can negotiate on your behalf with the owner, and ensure there remains enough good will after the process, that final details and the handover goes smoothly. It is also very important you select a competent notaire, to represent your interests, even if the seller has his own notaire. The 2 notaires will split the work and fees, in the same way an estate agent and a property finder split the commission, so there is no extra cost for you. As notaire fees are fixed and about 8% of the sale price (mostly tax) and the agency commission is 5%, the transaction costs in France are high, so investments should not be short term and be carefully evaluated. Currently it is a buyers a market, especially in the 400- 800 K Eur range with an estimated 2 sellers for 1 buyer, a reversal of the market from 10 years ago. Also don’t only negotiate relative to the asking price, but use the cost per square meter for the area as your benchmark. There is a lot more to say on pricing, and this will be the subject of another article. For an indication of averages per area, you can check this site: http://www.meilleursagents.com/prix-immobilier/var-83/#carte
Now if you follow all these rules, I guarantee you will join the club of happy home owners of the Var !
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