jllevans

Hi everyone,

Would really appreciate some info / help in case anyone has experience in this

Small bit of background: My Mother is currently renting in Toulon area (in La Garde) but it is very hard to find people that will rent to her since she has no income and not so much savings left now. Long story short it looks like I am going to need to look into buying somewhere for her, which I would need a mortgage for. I am a UK citizen (now living/working in Geneva), cannot speak French and have never bought a property before even in UK..

So I am not too sure where to start but know in the UK it is good to speak to a mortgage broker who will compare the deals available in the market, I guess it is the same in France? Does anybody know of any in France that are English speaking?

Many thanks in advance for any thoughts / comments at all

Brgds

Joe

dmu

Hi, and welcome to the forum!
Someone will come along to advise on taking out a loan (AFAIK "mortgage brokers"' as such don't exist in France, it would be a Bank).
Meanwhile you could act as "Garant" for your mother's rent, provided you justify your regular monthly salary of 3-4 times the rent, which is what most French landlords demand of prospective tenants. Does your mother speak adequate French to set this up?
Don't hesitate to ask advice if there are other problems regarding her situation (e.g. healthcare coverage, .....). A visit to her local "Assistante Sociale" at the Mairie might be advisable if she's living on her savings.

EuroTrash

I'm sure brokers do exist, but most people I know have used their banks because you would expect the relationship you have built up to put you in a favourable position.

The rule of thumb is that you need a permanent job contract with a salary of at least 3 times your loan repayments. Borrowing is tightly controlled in France to try and prevent surindettement. I know people who work in the UK have issues because the UK doesn't insist on employers issuing formal written job contracts, so they can't produce the required paperwork, but I imagine Switzerland is quite hot on stuff like that?

Will prospective landlords not accept you as your mum's guarantor? If they would, that might be a simpler solution.

EDIT - sorry DMU, posts crossed - but Great Minds think alike ;-)

dmu

Just checked: they're called "courtiers en crédits immobiliers et prêts immobiliers" which seem to correspond to the sharks inundating the TV with adverts. A Bank who knows you and your history would be more reliable.
As ET, the other Great Mind says, it would be simpler to act as "Garant" (i.e. you undertake to pay the rent if your mother can't).

petitefrancaise

A contact of mine near Toulouse may be able to help you.
Paulette Booth – AXA Agence International Clients – 05.61.30.18.30
Paulette is a very experienced mortgage broker (formerly worked for Barclays in the UK) and has helped many of the ex-pat community in the area get mortgages. She's lovely too!

Tweedpipe

I suggest it may be wise to remove that tel number, as it's never wise to add them on a general forum, as they could be inundated by calls from weirdos.
(Now, what was that number again)........

jllevans

Thanks very much everyone for your info and thoughts, very much appreciated

Yes it would be much simpler if I could just be guarantor on a rental contract but my Mother is slightly disabled / vulnerable and so I would need to do some works on a place for it to work well for her. The owner of the current place she is in has decided to sell it, when renting you never have any security for things like that.. In any case the money she has left will only last a few more years anyway and so I see this as a way of getting on to the property ladder and paying a mortgage to myself rather than rent to a landlord

I will try calling Paulette (without being a weirdo!)

All the best

Chti Anglais

Just about every estate agent will have a courtier in their pocket, normal fee is about 1% and can be added to the mortgage. With a Swiss salary from a "permanent" job you should be able to get a deal with only 3 tp 5 % deposit if your salary is OK for the repayments.

Chatter Static

They tend to deal with rachat de credit's "refinancement of credit" which tends to be a big deal here and prêts immobiliers "Mortgages" plenty of them about but it is just as easy to deal with a bank directly.

Getting finance on property here outside of the textbook norms these days is like panning for rocking horse shit because the loan is based on the person not the property, banks rarely visit property they are loaning on and dont tend to care what condition it's in either. However everyone says they can give you a loan and runs you through the rigamarole of the paperwork with little outcome.

Chti Anglais

The poster is working in Geneva, if he's earning enough for the repayments his chosen courtier will sort out a good choice of mortgages. I speak from recent first hand experience. However as stated the bank will not care on condition or value of the property so there is a danger of paying a lot over the odds.

cyrian

I think that France is not the country "to get on the property ladder" because property (outwith a few areas) does not increase in value as in the UK.
You are not guaranteed to get your money back for any upgrading work you do.
Fair enough - buy a property in France but don't expect to make an eventual profit.

Tweedpipe

and so true.

To the OP: It's a worthy suggestion to purchase a property here in order to assist your mother in a precarious situation. But as noted by Cyrian, don't do so thinking it will be an 'investment' (unless it's highly desirable and in a very sought-after location such as the centre of Paris). And be careful if buying an older property, as an eventual resale could be very difficult; in general, newer properties attract more buyers.
We purchased our recent-build 'dream' early-retirement property nine years ago, having made a lower offer on the going rate price at the time. Now nine years later I'm sure we couldn't get near what we paid at the time - fortunately we have no desire to sell for the foreseeable future.
Such is the general situation in France.

EuroTrash

Logically, if he has a permanent job contract and earns enough, he could deal direct with a bank and save himself the courtier's cut

The comments about the property market are very true. The transaction itself is quite expensive so you need to make a certain percentage profit on a resale in order to even break even, and house prices don't really increase.

Chatter Static

My comment was based on if your financial status doesn't fit French norms on paper then even more so now they will be uninclined to loan you cash. With the current climate the Vogons would be more inclined to make a loan.

Im also speaking from experience.....

jllevans

Thanks everyone for the comments, I really appreciate the insights.

I have a mortgage offer from BNP Paribas, which is over 25 years and starts @ 2.2%, waiting to hear back from others (including Paulette).

La Garde is a really nice little town on the Cote D'Azure so I would hope prices would not collapse at least. There is a lot of tourism interest around there, people seem to get good money for renting their places out for the whole summer - partly why it is difficult to find decent places to rent all year round. I imagine/hope there will always be well off French people that want to spend summers down there (hence supporting the local housing market a bit).

My main drivers are that it is better to pay into a mortgage every month than money to a landlord and also to get a place my Mum can settle long term without fear of being moved on (she has been a few times already and her health is worsening so it is a huge stress each time)

I hoped that there would be be a possibility of some capital gain also but you think that is really unlikely?

What if La Pen wins the election? I know everyone says its not possible - but same was true for Trump and Brexit until they happened.. Would her winning impact property prices at all? I hope she wouldn't tax foreign owners like in Spain..

All the best