Buying or Renting “Sight-Unseen”—Okay Jose!

Before you say “No way, Jose” to buying or renting a property sight unseen, hear me out.

There are lots of reasons perhaps you can’t be here in France to look at property. During the Covid-19 pandemic, dozens of clients came to us to find them a property to purchase or rent. Because of travel restrictions, they couldn’t come at all. (We didn’t have one single unhappy client, either.)

For those seeking a visa, the immigration authorities require that you have housing in advance of applying for the visa (although we have a work-around for this “Catch-22,” so don’t worry!). Traveling to and from France overseas can also get expensive—money better spent on your new abode, no? And it’s time-consuming.

So, let’s just say that this is the prime problem you’re facing, yet you’re apprehensive about buying or renting a property without having seen it for yourself?

I get it. I just went through this myself recently and decided that because the apartment was for a one-year lease, I wouldn’t agree to taking it without seeing it myself first. But, I was lucky because I was right there in the neighborhood and it wasn’t an issue to visit it.

Even so, any furnished property lease has a 30-day cancellation, so that’s a big safety net. Keep this in mind when renting a property—any one-year furnished rental lease has a 30-day cancellation and any 3-year unfurnished lease in Paris or Nice also has a 30-day cancellation. (Other cities in France may uphold the 90-day cancellation clause on a 3-year rental.) (See this site for more information.)

If you can’t be present to visit the property yourself, you can count on us to be your eyes and ears on the ground and move your project ahead. We can be trusted because we’re not selling something. You hire us as consultants to find a property that suits you, not anyone else. And we know good property when we see it. Anything we present to you will fit the parameters of the search, otherwise, it’s a waste of everyone’s time.

But, let’s look at this more closely. Buying a property and renting a property are two very different things. Let’s consider the ins and outs of each one and start with the idea of making a purchase.

We start the process of ferreting out the properties that suit your parameters and send you the links to their advertisements for you to review and respond. The ones at the top of the list will get visits…by us if you have chosen to do this sight unseen. During those visits, our Property Consultants will assess the viability of the property. If they deem it worthy of serious consideration, photos and videos will be taken and you will be presented with a detailed explanation. You may even have an opportunity to do a FaceTime walk-through so you can be a part of it all. And with Google maps, you can “walk” the neighboring streets, see the building and many aspects of the property. Our consultants will ensure you have all the information you need to make a good decision, and we’ll help you with that decision.

As the potential buyer, you never have to say “yes,” but you have nothing to lose by making an offer on the property at this stage. Your legal liability to purchase a property comes long after this initial offer is made. Normally, an offer of more than 5% less than the asking price will not be considered by the owner. The French are not “hagglers.” A low-ball offer risks insulting the owner to the point of losing out on the property entirely. When you offer asking-price, especially without a loan contingency, the seller is “morally” obligated to accept it! That means there are no bidding wars. And even then, you have no legal liability to buy it.

Here’s when the fun starts. You make an offer. It’s accepted. Everyone is happy. The information is sent to the Notaire. The Notaire pulls all the documents together—this could easily take one month as there are a lot of documents. Our consultants go through them with a fine-toothed comb and report back to you on our findings. Then, a pre-sale agreement is drafted by the Notaire and signed, either in person, with proxy, or remotely.

At this stage, the buyer must plunk down 5% or 10% of the price of the property into the Notaire’s escrow account as “earnest money.” Once the pre-sale agreement is signed, a 10-day cooling-off period begins, during which the buyer can retract the purchase with no ramifications. When that ends, the buyer is legally bound to make the purchase. Should the buyer default, the seller will be entitled to 10% of the purchase property price.

So, all in all, you have four to six weeks to come to France to confirm the purchase! You never have to agree to make the purchase if you aren’t comfortable with it, but in all the years we’ve done this and all the clients who have purchased sight unseen (and there have been many!), not a single one is unhappy! That says a lot!

Our renovation teams are used to working with absentee owners and doing everything from a distance. It’s the same story. You work with their principle designer, you make decisions, and it’s all executed while you’re operating from the other side of the planet if you have to.

When it comes to rental property, it’s pretty much the same system. Our consultants set out to find the properties and provide all the same information so that you can make a decision to rent the property or not. If you choose one, then your “dossier” is submitted to the landlord for approval. This is tougher than a purchase, because there are dozens of potential tenants for every rental property on the market, particularly in Paris or Nice where inventory is limited. Your dossier needs to be highly desirable to be chosen by the landlord.

The good news is that we are your advocates and that makes a big difference. When a landlord or agency sees that the tenant has hired a professional agency such as ours to represent them, it speaks very loudly and very well for the client —what kind of person they are, as well as clearly having the financial means to hire us and pay the rent. We also have special relationships with the landlords and agencies as we work with them regularly. Again, particularly in Paris and Nice where we perform the most searches. They know that our clients make the best tenants (North Americans are clearly the best tenants and the smart landlords and agencies know this!).

Our trusted renovation/decoration resources regularly work remotely with their non-resident clients, too. There is no reason why they can’t fully prepare your new property for your arrival with your guidance. Many of our clients allowed for this during Covid-19 lock-downs and even long before that. It’s part of our standard offerings to assist our clients with such on-the-ground-services. If you’re not here all year-round, we can also recommend “concierges” who can manage your property in your absence. It’s all doable.

While we’re working the magic to find you a property, you can be preparing for your move—getting your visa, divesting of unwanted belongings, shutting down your current residence, preparing to ship your belongings, etc., etc., etc. You don’t have to spend valuable time and money making a trip to France just to visit properties, when we can do it for you, with very little risk on your part. You can trust us 100% to have your best interests in mind. And remember, you never have to say “yes.” Any time you’re not sure, you just say so and we’ll listen.

So, maybe now you’re not saying “No way, Jose” to buying or renting a property sight unseen…because it can get you way ahead of the game and get you on the path to moving to France a whole lot faster, with a lot less hassles and expense!

Okay, Jose!

A la prochaine…