This is the most comprehensive web site I am aware of.
http://www.skovgaard-europe.com/immifran.htm

Roy

nightjar a formulé la demande :
    > "R J Carpenter" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > news:[email protected]...
    > ...
    >> If I understand things, the buyer pays the estate agent fee in France.
    >> At least in the USA it is the seller who pays the commission.
    >> Can anyone confirm?
    > You can arrange it either way. If the buyer pays the estate agent, it is not
    > counted as part of the sale price, which saves a bit of tax.
    > Colin Bignell

I may be wrong, but doing so would be tax avoidance, and would put you
in conflict with the law on real estate taxation... which may lead to
serious troubles (at least I am sure of the case for Belgium, with a
very similar legislation on the matter)

Dominique Foucart

--
Dominique Foucart
Brussels, Capital City of European Community
Trails and Hikes in Haute-Savoie: http://www.samoens.int.ms
Appartment Rental for Hiking and Skiing:
http://dfoucart.tripod.com/samoensquejaime

"Dominique Foucart" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > nightjar a formulé la demande :
    >> "R J Carpenter" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    >> news:[email protected]...
    >> ...
    >>> If I understand things, the buyer pays the estate agent fee in France.
    >>> At least in the USA it is the seller who pays the commission.
    >>> Can anyone confirm?
    >> You can arrange it either way. If the buyer pays the estate agent, it is
    >> not counted as part of the sale price, which saves a bit of tax.
    >> Colin Bignell
    > I may be wrong, but doing so would be tax avoidance, and would put you in
    > conflict with the law on real estate taxation... which may lead to serious
    > troubles (at least I am sure of the case for Belgium, with a very similar
    > legislation on the matter)

That was the advice given to me by my consultants on French law when I
bought a house. It may, of course, only apply to foreign buyers.

Colin Bignell

in article [email protected], nightjar .uk.com> at
nightjar@<insert_my_surname_here wrote on 17/01/05 23:24:

    >
    > "Dominique Foucart" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > news:[email protected]...
    >> nightjar a formulé la demande :
    >>> "R J Carpenter" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    >>> news:[email protected]...
    >>> ...
    >>>> If I understand things, the buyer pays the estate agent fee in France.
    >>>> At least in the USA it is the seller who pays the commission.
    >>>>
    >>>> Can anyone confirm?
    >>>
    >>> You can arrange it either way. If the buyer pays the estate agent, it is
    >>> not counted as part of the sale price, which saves a bit of tax.
    >>>
    >>> Colin Bignell
    >>
    >> I may be wrong, but doing so would be tax avoidance, and would put you in
    >> conflict with the law on real estate taxation... which may lead to serious
    >> troubles (at least I am sure of the case for Belgium, with a very similar
    >> legislation on the matter)
    >
    > That was the advice given to me by my consultants on French law when I
    > bought a house. It may, of course, only apply to foreign buyers.
    >
    > Colin Bignell
    >



I have heard of buyers and sellers splitting the agent's fee. A lot
of stuff can be written into the "promesse de vente", but it should
be prepared via a notaire. In the "old days" sellers would remove
everything removal, even light fixtures etc. So the promesse should
specify what is being sold, various conditions of sale etc, leaving
nothing to doubt.

The actual final signing of the act has to pass through a notaire and it
costs nothing more to engage one at the beginning. In fact, the promesse
should be accurately scripted to well define the rights of each party. This
is especially true if the buyer can not come up with the money on the date
specified in the promesse.

I have handled about a half-dozen sales and purchases of property in
Paris and a couple of times the American buyers misjudged the time
necessary for funds to be wired from the US and could not make the
final date by a few days. In these cases the seller did not invoke
the loss of the down payment (10%) because they wanted all their money.
But a hard nose type might just invoke it. I have always warned buyers
to transfer their money well in advance but some believe their American
banks that the wire "will be there immediately". The wired amount
can be slow in arriving into the French account, a couple of days
easily, and a week is not exceptional.

Earl

"Earl Evleth" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:BE1281D7.2FD3E%[email protected]...
...
    > I have heard of buyers and sellers splitting the agent's fee. A lot
    > of stuff can be written into the "promesse de vente", but it should
    > be prepared via a notaire. In the "old days" sellers would remove
    > everything removal, even light fixtures etc.

That still happens.

    > So the promesse should
    > specify what is being sold, various conditions of sale etc, leaving
    > nothing to doubt.

In Britain, conveyancing lawyers send the vendor a long questionnaire about
what is and is not part of the sale. Any UK buyer would do well to get hold
of a copy as a guide to the sort of detail needed.

Colin Bignell

in article [email protected], nightjar .uk.com> at
nightjar@<insert_my_surname_here wrote on 18/01/05 9:25:

    >
    > In Britain, conveyancing lawyers send the vendor a long questionnaire about
    > what is and is not part of the sale. Any UK buyer would do well to get hold
    > of a copy as a guide to the sort of detail needed.
    >
    > Colin Bignell
    >


The hardest part of researching to buy in an apartment building is
getting information on the other owners, how the building is run
etc. Major work coming up is evident in some cases, French law
requires redoing the exterior facade of the building every 20 years,
which can cost 15,000 euros for each apartment. How are the building's
public spaces maintained, mail delivery, condition of the roof. Is the
management company (the syndic) having big trouble collected charges from
the owners? Older buildings can have major structural problems.

Earl

"Earl Evleth" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:BE1281D7.2FD3E%[email protected]...
    > in article [email protected], nightjar .uk.com> at
    > nightjar@<insert_my_surname_here wrote on 17/01/05 23:24:
    > >
    > > "Dominique Foucart" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > > news:[email protected]...
    > >> nightjar a formulé la demande :
    > >>> "R J Carpenter" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > >>> news:[email protected]...
    > >>> ...
    > >>>> If I understand things, the buyer pays the estate agent fee in
France.
    > >>>> At least in the USA it is the seller who pays the commission.
    > >>>>
    > >>>> Can anyone confirm?
    > >>>
    > >>> You can arrange it either way. If the buyer pays the estate agent, it
is
    > >>> not counted as part of the sale price, which saves a bit of tax.
    > >>>
    > >>> Colin Bignell
    > >>
    > >> I may be wrong, but doing so would be tax avoidance, and would put you
in
    > >> conflict with the law on real estate taxation... which may lead to
serious
    > >> troubles (at least I am sure of the case for Belgium, with a very
similar
    > >> legislation on the matter)
    > >
    > > That was the advice given to me by my consultants on French law when I
    > > bought a house. It may, of course, only apply to foreign buyers.
    > >
    > > Colin Bignell
    > >

I have always warned buyers
    > to transfer their money well in advance but some believe their American
    > banks that the wire "will be there immediately". The wired amount
    > can be slow in arriving into the French account, a couple of days
    > easily, and a week is not exceptional.
I have wired money that appeared to be "lost" for a few days although I had
all the paperwork proving that the funds had been transferred. On one
occasion the final meeting with the notaire had to be put off for a couple
of days because of this.

I have used www.xe.com which give much better Forex rates than the banks and
were excellent when there was a problem, directly faxing proof of transfer
to the notaire.

Lana

"Earl Evleth" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:BE12C9C9.2FDD7%[email protected]...
    > in article [email protected], nightjar .uk.com> at
    > nightjar@<insert_my_surname_here wrote on 18/01/05 9:25:
    > >
    > > In Britain, conveyancing lawyers send the vendor a long questionnaire
about
    > > what is and is not part of the sale. Any UK buyer would do well to get
hold
    > > of a copy as a guide to the sort of detail needed.
    > >
    > > Colin Bignell
    > >
    > The hardest part of researching to buy in an apartment building is
    > getting information on the other owners, how the building is run
    > etc. Major work coming up is evident in some cases, French law
    > requires redoing the exterior facade of the building every 20 years,
    > which can cost 15,000 euros for each apartment. How are the building's
    > public spaces maintained, mail delivery, condition of the roof. Is the
    > management company (the syndic) having big trouble collected charges from
    > the owners? Older buildings can have major structural problems.
Yes. But it is possible to find out from the Syndic if any recent repairs
have been made and if any are projected for the near future. Another thing
is that every sale has to be OK'ed by the Mairie, just in case there are any
public works planned or if the building is of historical interest, in which
case the Maire gets first dibs on the property.

Lana

in article [email protected], szozu at hoppbunny at
hotmail com wrote on 19/01/05 12:47:

    >> I have always warned buyers
    >> to transfer their money well in advance but some believe their American
    >> banks that the wire "will be there immediately". The wired amount
    >> can be slow in arriving into the French account, a couple of days
    >> easily, and a week is not exceptional.
    >>
    > I have wired money that appeared to be "lost" for a few days although I had
    > all the paperwork proving that the funds had been transferred. On one
    > occasion the final meeting with the notaire had to be put off for a couple
    > of days because of this.
    >
    > I have used www.xe.com which give much better Forex rates than the banks and
    > were excellent when there was a problem, directly faxing proof of transfer
    > to the notaire.


Thanks for the information, it has been several years since I was involved
in this sort of thing.

The problem with bank transfers is that the transfer might have occurred at
the siege of a particular bank and if the money has to appear at a branch
somewhere else in Paris, several days might pass. Now things a done more
electronically but I remember in one case, the paper work for the transfer
was on the desk of the person handling in at the local branch, buried
among other papers. He hadn't gotten around to it yet.

The other problem is the time between the promesse the vente, and actual
final delivery of the funds. If the dollar is moving up or down one might
want to fix the transfer amount several months in advance. This is what
futures are for, you purchase a future which will guarantee the conversion
rate today. Recently the dollar has moved from 1.35 to the euro to 1.30.
That 0.05 change os $5,000 on a $135,000 transfer. If one had signed
the promesse de vente today might might want to freeze the conversion
at 1.30 which one can do by securing a transfer today or buying a future.
If the transfer is made today, some banks will place your money here
in a 60 committment which will draw some interest. Actually $130,000
is not that much money these days but if one were handling a larger sum
it might be interesting.

Earl

in article [email protected], szozu at hoppbunny at
hotmail com wrote on 19/01/05 12:50:

    >> The hardest part of researching to buy in an apartment building is
    >> getting information on the other owners, how the building is run
    >> etc. Major work coming up is evident in some cases, French law
    >> requires redoing the exterior facade of the building every 20 years,
    >> which can cost 15,000 euros for each apartment. How are the building's
    >> public spaces maintained, mail delivery, condition of the roof. Is the
    >> management company (the syndic) having big trouble collected charges from
    >> the owners? Older buildings can have major structural problems.
    >>
    > Yes. But it is possible to find out from the Syndic if any recent repairs
    > have been made and if any are projected for the near future. Another thing
    > is that every sale has to be OK'ed by the Mairie, just in case there are any
    > public works planned or if the building is of historical interest, in which
    > case the Maire gets first dibs on the property.


There also will be a building owners association and small committee,
the Conseil Syndical. Reaching the president of that building organization
might allow one to learn all the practical things and a little gossip too.

The real estate agents can lie. On American buyer into our building, ground
floor was told verbally by the agent that they owned half of the building
court yard in the back. So they wanted to expand out into this space
with garden furniture. The ownership was not in their "acte de vente"
but it lead to some harsh words between these newcomers and the rest of us.
The courtyard was actually utility space for garbage cans and other items
and previously left to the concierge to manage. The newcomers got nasty
with the concierge for her use of the area (which was habitual).

Each building has its own sociology. It takes time to learn it. Every
building has a trouble maker. Some buildings can be really pathological.
Some run smoothly.

Earl