MAKE A PLAN AND STICK TO IT!

Planning is crucial, are you making a permanent move, buying a holiday home or making a buy-to-let investment? Remember LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION! and only search in an area which meets your criteria. Set yourself a budget and stick to it; moreover, get your finances in place before you visit, if yours is not a cash purchase then an equity release loan or mortgage extension take time to negotiate.

REMEMBER: The amount you can raise needs to cover purchasing costs as well as the purchase price - as a rule of thumb count on 10% of the purchase price again. So if you have €200,000 to play with you should be looking at properties valued at around €180,000 as you will have costs of at least €18,000 on top.

This is because the total price you pay has 3 components when buying through an estate agent:

• net vendeur - the amount the seller receives
• estate agent's (immobilier) commission - unlike the UK, it is the buyer, not the seller, who pays this. If you sell your house in the UK to buy in France, you'll be paying estate agent fees in both countries! Usually it is between 6-10 per cent of the net vendeur price - but with a fixed fee for very low price properties.
• notaire's fee - this is regulated by the French government and is on a sliding scale according to the net vendeur price (the higher the house price, the lower the percentage). Most of this fee is stamp duty.  

     more . . .