If in Doubt, Then Just Don’t Do It

Buying or renting a property “sight-unseen” is actually the easiest and less stressful way of making this happen. You probably don’t think so or you have a knee-jerk negative reaction to letting someone else choose a property for you…but it doesn’t work the way you imagine.

When the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, and no one could travel anywhere, we were able to successfully find and secure properties for dozens of clients…all of whom have been very happy with their choices, especially sight-unseen. Many of them even went so far as having renovation done to completion without having seen it in person at any stage.

I met with one such client this past week in Nice. She and her husband bought an apartment on the Promenade des Anglais not only sight-unseen, but they had never even been to Nice before. It was a leap of faith, but the apartment was so special that we wouldn’t let them walk away. Five of us were standing in the living room with its rounded protuberance of windows overlooking the Baie des Anges, on the phone with our client and in unison we kept saying, “You don’t understand. You have to buy this apartment! You won’t regret it!”

View of the Promenade des Anglais

They did. Martine di Mattéo renovated it, all without them ever having to come to see it for themselves. At the very end of the process, they finally came to Nice. When she walked in for the first time, and saw it fresh out of the box, as Martine was putting the finishing touches on it, she cried—literally cried from happiness. Now, a couple years later, she comes, even without the family, and claims she never wants to leave Nice and her beautiful apartment—she’s so at home there.

Martine di Mattéo putting the finishing touches on the apartment in Nice

We’ve seen this time and time again and don’t have a single client who has been unhappy with their long-distance choice. That’s because we’re not trying to sell you something! You’ve hired us to do a job, and that’s the job we do.

Let’s start with the basics. Our Property Consultants will be your eyes and ears on the ground. They know property. They know what property will work for you, as long as you have effectively communicated not only what you want, but who you are as a person and what would suit you.

What you think you want may not be as important as who you are as a person. This is because we all imagine things for ourselves that may or may not ultimately ring true or work as well for us as we think. For example, a client may say, “I want a house with land around it” and out of the other corner of their mouth comes, “but I don’t want to need a car.” Think again.

Communicating to us who you are as a person, as well as the parameters of the property you have in your mind, will help us narrow down the search to the properties that make sense for you. We’re doing the work, not you. You get to just sit back and relax while we’re doing the leg work. There’s no stress on your part.

Our Property Consultant then presents to you the available properties found on the market and the two of you will eliminate the ones that won’t work from the ones that can be visited. Our consultant does the visits. You can just sit back and relax and let us do all the work. When a great property comes on the market, our consultant will immediately inform you. They will have taken lots of pictures and videos.

Our job is not to “sell” or “rent” something. Our job is to find you the best property we can that works FOR YOU. It’s not for us! It’s for you! So, anything we present to you will be something we know will work for you.

For rental apartments, securing the apartment before you arrive means you can move immediately into it. If we wait for you to arrive to begin the search, you may spend weeks in a short-term rental apartment before we find the right property for you…and that costs money. Meanwhile, every rental property in Paris or Nice carries a 30-day cancellation, meaning that if you’re not happy with the property, you can always leave one month in advance!

We’re not suggesting you take the apartment lightly, but it’s so hard to find and secure an apartment in both major cities, that this gives you the reassurance you need to forge ahead knowing that it’s reparable. And best of all, you can have an apartment ready to move into immediately upon arrival in France! You won’t have to rent a short-term apartment for weeks on end, which is expensive to live in while you’re anxiously looking at apartments. If we’re out there looking for apartments on your behalf well in advance of your arrival, we have the time it takes to look at a lot of properties and to make a good decision.

For properties to purchase, you have a real window of opportunity to visit the property before you are fully committed to it. From the point your offer is accepted, it takes about one month for the Notaires to gather together all of the documents for a pre-sale agreement. Once the pre-sale agreement is signed, you have another 10 days within which you can retract the purchase, so this gives you time to come to France to confirm the purchase!

You never have to say “yes” to any property we find you, either. If for any reason you are not 100% sure, then just say “no.”

This week I visited an apartment on a pedestrian street just a block from the beach in the same building as our Fractional Ownership property, Le Palais du Soleil. It’s a 44 square meter two-room apartment on the 5th floor of an Art Deco building with an elevator, a separate kitchen, large bathroom, with a balcony and a view on the sea. The price is 449,000€.

While it is basically move-in ready, for a new buyer, I’d recommend taking down the wall between the living room and kitchen to make one large lovely space with lots of light and views, redesigning the kitchen so that the cabinets don’t block the sliding glass door, and adding air-conditioning by putting a compressor on the balcony. And, if it were for me, I’d change the shower in the bathroom to a bathtub (but that’s a personal preference).

It’s all doable, and then the apartment would be PERFECT. This is a perfect opportunity for someone to buy this sight-unseen, because we’ve seen it and know the possibilities. (If you are interested, contact Ella Dyer. It won’t last long!!!)

Property Consultant, Ella Dyer

Ultimately, it is a lot more work for us to find you a property sight-unseen, but a lot less work for you, and a lot less stress for you, too. We see that our clients who allow us to work on their behalf in this way are much more relaxed about the entire process, while others who feel they need a lot of control, create stress on themselves by taking on all of that responsibility. When you allow us to have the reigns, the burden is on us to find you something even better than great, and that’s good incentive for us to go for the gold…and we do!

And the bottom line is that you never have to agree to renting or purchasing anything you don’t want to. No matter what, you make the decision and if you aren’t comfortable, then just don’t do it. But, if all the pieces to the puzzle are fitting together well, then you’re in good hands with us to make it happen, even if sight-unseen.

I have a saying, “When in doubt, don’t do it.” This can be viewed from the other sense, too: If not in doubt, then just do it!

Let us know if and when we can get started! Contact us today.

A la prochaine…