miss limousin

Hi Strake
How did you find your 'Russian speaking' market? I am looking to sell my small house later on this year, and could do with a quick sale - 3months is very quick! and what 'promotion' strategy did you use? Would be very grateful for any tips. Thanks

cupoftea

As far as I am concerned, the value of the house is the value of the house, and has nothing to do with agents fees, notaires fees, cost of diagnostics or any other expense associated with the move.

I have just bought a house advertised by the agent at 118 000 € and I paid 108 000 € for it. If a seller chooses to use an overpriced and ineffective agent then it is for them to take the financial hit, not the buyer.

Both buyer and seller have their costs and their budgets, and need to take account of them when they plan their respective sales and purchases. But they have nothing to do with the purchase price, which should be based purely on the value of the house.

Personally I would never employ an agent, not for selling a house, nor for managing rental property. I think they are a rip off.

Chatter Static

Walking in a estate agents door should be a last resort look in the window or on the website by all means if you see something you like go try and find the front door and if the owner is not in you can always visit the cadastral office and ask who the owner is for a plot number if they have contact details on file they will give them to you.

strake

miss L

Not sure if I'm allowed to post company names here but drop me a PM and I'll provide info.

miss limousin

Thanks, have sent pm

strake

PM sent

Im_and_Er

The secret to selling quickly is realistic pricing and that means pitching a property at what it's is actually worth as opposed to what you think it is which is often a lot more.

Too many people seem to apply UK norms where you buy for X, spend Y on doing it up, extending, or what have you, then expect to recover not only X + Y but also make a substantial profit on top and that just don't work in France.

Friends of ours have just sold their €300k + property in a matter of weeks because they priced it sensibly and to sell.

When they bought it about 10 years ago years back they spent about €40k on having a large heated pool installed but that didn't automatically make it worth €40k more than they'd paid for it, it did enhance it's saleability though.

Tweedpipe

Words of great wisdom here from Im_&_eR.
As a collector (not of real estate I hasten to add), I peruse Leboncoin.fr several times daily. Some of the asking prices are crazy, and remain unsold, then re-appear etc. Those that are sensibly priced are snapped up sometimes the same day depending on the supply/demand of the article in question.
I have purchased some excellent Apple vintage (and other) collectable items which have been suitably priced, but always try to establish a rapport with the seller before parting with money.
Good photos are essential for an ad, especially relating to property.

maisondeschats

Hi Strake
I am a new member & have joined in order to contact you. We are retiring & have bought a small property in France and are about to advertise for sale our lovely completely restored larger property with outbuildings & 2 ha of land. After much research I had already come to conclusion that the French would not be interested, that the UK buyers want something cheap (estimated selling value between €200,000 and €250,000) but that the Russian market looked promising. Please could you let me know which advertising site you used, the cost and your experiences. Your help much appreciated. <snip> Thanks.

cjm

Totally agree. We do this to ourselves. We buy a wreck, spend oodles of cash putting it into the state of luxury we would want to see in a house in the UK and, as Im_and_Er says, expect a rich reward when we sell up. The word is profit. It ain't like that in France, certainly if you are seeking to sell to a French purchaser. Only the Brits would pay the price. Houses also don't sell overnight, so for a Brit to sell a house with pool at some €300K that property may sit on the agent's books for 12 months.
Yes, by all means update your home, unless it starts out as a ruin, but do it because you love it and want it for yourself. Not for some misguided belief you will be able to cash-in later. I reckon if you get back about the same, perhaps a tad more than what you paid for a house, that's all you should expect.

Tweedpipe

We regularly watch - and enjoy, Stephane Plaza's program 'Maison a Vendre' on channel M6.
One thing is obvious - and widely misunderstood by most sellers alike - is that if a property is valued at say 300k euros, and a pool is then added at a cost of 30K, the value of the property does not then become 330k. The addition of a pool certainly often gives a property more appeal, and therefore attract a larger number of potential buyers, so in that respect could be considered a plus when it comes to selling.
I believe I mentioned in a previous post that when we were looking to purchase, the agents were politely informed that we didn't want a pool. We visited literally dozens of places, and (surprise-surprise) several had pools. One of the villas in particular was superb, ticked all the boxes, including being within our price range - but it had a pool! Which was probably the main reason we gave it a thumbs down. That agent shot himself in the foot.
From recent programs we've watched, there appears to be no indication in general to suggest that the property market is 'on the move'. There still is far more supply than demand, and I see that another agency in the next town has closed down.

Chatter Static

A home here is worth what the next buyer pays for it and typically not the price in the sellers head, I know here in the north the market is flooded with british owned properties that have had the diy methodology to do them up, windows open the wrong way, English twin and earth wiring in them and mouldy plasterboard in stone home that just doesn't suit it that which has been vacant some time, Clip 'n lock flooring in old stone houses Far too many people come here and take the easy known British standards instead of learning the French standards which they do have in this country to a lot of peoples belief.

It really is a case of buyer beware.