[jbbkt]

Hello, my wife and I have decided to take the plunge and buy a house here in France.
We have viewed some with agents and some privately. Now we have decided on one and are looking to make an offer BUT we aren't 100% sure what steps are involved for private buying. We know we need to arrange the mortgage and make an offer but searching on the Internet only gives information for people buy through an agent.

Has anyone had experience buying privately? Can none give us some information to the process?

I know this may have been covered previously but I can't find any threads

Thank in advance

 

[Bevdeforges]

If your French is up to it, PAP has pretty good information on the process of buying property in France (and PAP is all about private transations). Achat - Vente - tous nos conseils pour vendre et acheter votre bien immobilier | De Particulier à Particulier - PAP
Cheers,
Bev

 

[jbbkt]

Cheers Bev, I'll take a look at that when I get back to work, am sure a colleague will help me translate if I'm unsure.

We now can't decide if we want to buy a house or land and build, we have seen a nice plot but need to find information on what to do

 

[Bevdeforges]

Cheers Bev, I'll take a look at that when I get back to work, am sure a colleague will help me translate if I'm unsure.

We now can't decide if we want to buy a house or land and build, we have seen a nice plot but need to find information on what to do

Some British friends of mine went the land-and-build route. The house they wound up with is GORGEOUS and fitted out exactly the way they wanted it (or nearly so). They ran into a few unexpected "challenges" that you may want to take into account in your decision:

• The whole project took WAY longer than they expected. (Seems like everything in France is like that.)
  
• They found the French builder rather unwilling to make certain changes they wanted to make to the standard floorplan of the house.
  
• You also have to conform to what the local mairie will allow - the building regs control things like the style of roofing tiles, height of the building, what colors you can paint the outside, positioning of the building on the property, etc, etc.
  
• If you want certain kinds of "non-French" or "non-standard" fittings (say, carpet with an underpad rather than the stuff that is glued to the floor), you will probably have to import them and possibly the workmen to install, or import the materials and do it yourself.

Nothing insurmountable, but be ready for lots of delays and a certain level of frustration in getting precisely what you want.
Cheers,
Bev