Garble

Hi BE commnuity!

Does anyone have any recommendations for good property websites (rent and buy)?
Again, this seems like it's a bit of a fractured set up in France; in other countries I have experience in, there's usually one main site everyone uses with some minor ones here and there ...but France seems not to have this... at least from my google searches. I did find some nice sites but they seemed to cater for specific regions or were kinda rubbish with few listings.

I found some old threads here but the suggestions weren't great.

I'm looking for Lyon area and Nantes/Rennes ideally. I'm really hoping there isn't something like 3 sites per city

Something like idealista.es, but for Fr obviously...

Merci!

south_bound

I would start with seloger.com and leboncoin.com (the second is a general classified ads site but many estate agents list there). There is also pap.fr for private sellers.

The best way we found was word of mouth if you are on the spot. The quality of estate agents varies enormously but if you can find a good one it is worth working with them - make them work for the enormous commissions they charge. Many agencies do letting and selling as in the UK. Don't expect to see many for sale signs as most properties are on the books with many agents at the same time, plus the seller often looks for buyers directly to save on the commission. Factor in up to 7% commission plus 7% in taxes (notaire fee) - thats another one to add to the list of taxes from the other thread.

Garble

Thanks! I'd prefer to avoid middlepersons alrite, I didnt find pap or leboncoin so far. Thanks again!

EuroTrash

For renting you'll need to provide a copy of your employment contract. French landlords generally want to see you have a secure income of at least 3 times your rent. Basically this is because French rental law is very much on the side of the tenant, it's hard for landlords to evict even a non paying tenant once they've been let in. So most professional landlords take out insurance against non payers, and the most important box you have to tick in order for an insurance company to accept you as a risk is the secure income of at least 3 times rent. They don't ask for things like previous references etc as eg UK landords do (or used to do).

As said, seloger and leboncoin are the best places to look.

Garble

Thanks again all!
Three times the rent! uh oh...

dmu

Hi again! Do you mean that you've got job offers in Lyon and the Nantes/Rennes region? Well done, is the first reaction!
Take a look in the "Renting" Thread in the Read-Me: Moving to France FAQs above, which confirms what ET says regarding French landlords' financial requirements (some, e.g. in large cities, even require a regular salary of 4 x the rent, as the demand is so high...). You'd have to search in the sites mentioned to see whether a rental of about 500€ would get you an appartment in your chosen city big enough for your family.
A bit off-topic, but important, how old is your child? Take a look in the "Schooling" thread in the above FAQs for general info on State Schools.

Garble

Thanks for the well wishes and tips! I'll be sure to check those things out