Real estate agents that work with expats?
 

Hi all - first time poster here but hope to become a regular.

My partner and I are hoping to buy a home in France but are living in Canada presently and only have basic French language skills. We are learning, but in the meantime we need someone to represent us and to be on our side, and to have our best interests at heart. We're looking near the Limoges area, Brittany, Normandy and any other areas (not the south) popular with expats.

If anyone here has had positive experience with real estate agents, mortgage brokers etc. then we'd be grateful for any referrals.

Merci!

Re: Real estate agents that work with expats?
 

I suspect an estate agent will have only one person’s best interests at heart and they won’t be yours.
I don’t think there are any good short cuts here. Study French hard and get yourselves over here for an extended stay so you can visit properties yourself.
And familiarise yourself with the buying process. Connexion magazine might be of interest to you. As well as their regular issues, they produce guides on subjects like inheritance (very important if you’re planning on buying).

Re: Real estate agents that work with expats?
 

I suppose the famous / infamous English speaking immobilier is Leggetts.
You can often find the same properties advertised on their website at a significantly higher price than on other websites, That's the English speaking premium, you may feel it's worth it or you may not.
As I understand it, Leggetts has a network of self employed sales reps. Some have been doing the job for a long time and are good but many join Leggetts for a bit of easy pin money and soon leave when they find it is not necessarily the easy money they expected. So it is a bit the luck of the draw but some people swear by Leggetts, and certainly as a company they have a lot of experience of selling French properties to English speakers.

But you should know that property transactions in France are not confrontational. The theory is that the transaction is tightly governed by French law and the notaire who deals with the transaction is not biased towards either buyer or seller, his job is to ensure that the transaction proceeds correctly and both sides' rights are fully respected. Certain reports must be provided, certain guarantees must be in place and certain facts must be disclosed. This is the law, and having somebody "on your side" does not change it.

Where you do need somebody on your side, as Helen1964 said, is to ensure that you're on top of your inheritance planning. I would trust a notaire rather than an estate agent for advice on this, and unless your notaire speaks English you would be well advised to bring an intepreter because it's important to understand any potential inheritance issues before you complete the purchase.

Re: Real estate agents that work with expats?
 

Hi
Welcome to the forum.
You mention mortgage brokers and you also need to be warned that money is very tightly controlled in France.
Borrowing is limited to what the bank thinks that you can afford and you just don't get 95%+ mortgages that you can get in the UK. (I don't know about Canada).
Will you be allowed to borrow if you don't have a French tax record?
Will you qualify for an appropriate visa to live in France?
Will you need to continue working?
Have a look at this website: Notaires de France
HTH

Re: Real estate agents that work with expats?
 

Hi, and welcome to the forum!
If you're not legally bound when you buy property jointly, then you'll both be considered as individuals, which, as mentioned above, is very important from the Inheritance standpoint. France isn't partner-friendly and the surviving partner in the case of death would have to pay 60% Taxe de Succession on the value of their share of the property if they are mentioned in a Will, and if the partner dies intestate, the whole property will be left to his/her legal next-of-kin. Either way, it could be financially disastrous..... There's a fairly up-to-date thread in the Read Me: Moving to France FAQs above, but the Notaire will explain this in greater detail - the "simplest" solution would be to get married or pacséd (civil union) before you purchase...;)
As mentioned, have you researched the long-term Visa issue? If neither of you has a UK or EU Passport, you must comply with the post-Brexit regulations..... Check these before you start looking for property!:)

Re: Real estate agents that work with expats?
 

You should note that it is the buyer who pays the estate agents fees and a French estate agent will do diddly squat for you until you have signed a contract agreeing to pay their fees,so do not expect a great deal help till you have signed on the dotted line
Perhaps something like this may be helpful?
https://thefrenchpropertyfinders.com/

Re: Real estate agents that work with expats?
 

Valid point and even if person A had the most amazing experience with an estate agent, reality is that person B is not buying the same property and has different needs.
It's a bit like going to a 2nd hand car dealer and a friend told you the car they bought from there was great. Even the friendliest sales person will try to sell what's in stock now, so sometimes it's just luck.

Re: Real estate agents that work with expats?
 

Thanks for all the advice so far!

I should have mentioned that I have an EU (Polish) citizenship and we're married, so this will be helpful in moving and integrating, though I still need to research the particulars.

We would only be looking for a 10-20% mortgage, and even then, only if we choose a place at the limit of our budget. I am hoping that a 20% loan won't be out of our reach, but you never know.

I'll check out all the links and recommendations so far and continue to do my research.