House Hunting on Vacation

This is your vacation and an excellent time for you to be thinking about purchasing or renting a property in France.

True. But it’s only a good time to be ‘THINKING’ about it, not actually DOING it!

Cartoon by Margo Lestz – courtesy The Curious Rambler

France doesn’t have the same seasonal real estate market as the U.S. because it has less to do with market fluctuations as vacation schedules!

When the French are on summer vacation from Bastille Day through to “La Rentrée,” you can count on very limited inventory, scarcity of owners/sellers/landlords and limited resources (agents, agencies, Notaires, etc.)

When Christmas rolls around, families are more concerned with baking their hams and wrapping their gifts than selling or renting their real estate.

When the kids are out of school for “les vacances scolaires,” parents are packing their skis or their Easter bonnets instead of thinking about their real estate endeavors.

During the month of May, when there are five legal holidays (May 1 Labor Day, May 8 Victory in Europe Day, May 14 Ascension, May 24 Pentecost Sunday and May 25 Pentecost Monday) and the French “faire le pont” (bridge the days to create a long holiday weekend), you can bet no one’s around to show their property.

Most newcomers like starting a new lease in September, when the kids go back to school and when life in France effectively begins after the holiday season. Finding a property to rent for this period means starting way in advance to avoid the July 14 through August vacation period. If you haven’t secured your rental property by the end of June, you may be out of luck.

In the case of seeking property in and around the Nice area, landlords prefer to command high seasonal rents in August and September, making it doubly difficult.

You can add to this list ‘nights’ and ‘weekends.’ Contrary to when real estate is booming in the U.S. after work hours, agents in France want the same work hours as the rest of the country and therefore you can’t expect them to show properties nights and weekends. The owners/sellers/landlords aren’t keen to give up their nights or weekends, either. So, if you think you can hop into Paris over a weekend and see properties, think again.

There are no ‘lock boxes’ in France that give visitation rights to properties to whomever, whenever, so you can’t land, decide to see properties, and be whisked off to visit one property after another. Each visit requires an appointment made with the owner/seller/landlord/agent and this takes time.

It all takes time. Everything in France takes more time than you might be used to, including the entire process of searching, finding, purchasing, renting, renovating, etc., etc., so take a deep, deep breath and enjoy the slow pace instead of fighting it!

Plan around the public holidays in France!

A bientôt ,

 Adrian Leeds

The Adrian Leeds Group

(ready for vacation)

Respond to Adrian: [email protected]

 P.S. I will be on vacation August 8 through 15 and that week, there will be no Parler Paris or Parler Nice Nouvellettres® nor French Property Insider!

P.P.S. Let us help you find the perfect apartment for long-term living. Visit our Long-term Apartment Rental page today or contact us at [email protected] for more information.