If you’ve been following my blog, you know that we just bought a house and moved. Well, 95 percent moved. Luckily we’re in the same town so the things that remain at the apartment won’t be a big deal to get over here. But actually unpacking the boxes? Well, that IS a big deal. They’re taking up space in our garage at present. A loooot of space.
Anyway, before I get back to that, I wanted to share a few facts and other things I found interesting while going through the home buying process in France.
So read on for info about buying a house in France!
Buying a house in France and the moving process
First, let me say that my in-laws are moving stars. If there was a reality TV show (is there already?) on people who are really skilled movers, they would win. I’m sure of it. My mother-in-law is super organized and a cleaning machine and my father-in-law is extremely handy and just never stops moving and packing and running around. They don’t even read my blog but I have to tell the internet how much I appreciate their help. Otherwise, I’d still be on the elevator trying to figure out how to get the fridge out the door.
Note: I’m not an expert on French real estate and am just sharing my experience with buying a house in France, so this list isn’t the end all and be all of buying a home and moving in France by any means.
Here are a few of my observations on buying a house in France as an American:
- Home inspections (beyond the required energy/gas and a few other obligatory things) aren’t common here and the overwhelming majority of French people buy homes without having the roof, foundation, plumbing, etc. checked over by a professional. The French will also tell you a more thorough inspection isn’t really necessary.To give some context, my parents recently sold their home in the U.S. and the detailed home inspection turned up a faulty window lock, a door knob that didn’t turn properly, a light socket that didn’t work right and other minor things. It’s common in the U.S. for the seller to fix these issues or for a credit to be given toward the home’s cost. Not in France. If you do an inspection (I paid for one because it seems foolish not to), anything that turns up can be presented to the seller, but in most cases, homes are sold “as-is” and it is the buyer’s responsibility to fix things once they’ve moved in. You surely won’t get money from the seller. So for instance, in our home, we have to have a roofer repair a few pieces of slate around the chimney and a few other little things. They’re not super expensive repairs, but will be things we have to get taken care of.
- At the closing when buying a house in France, which is handled by a notary, there’s no negotiating ahead of time for the seller to pay any of the buyer’s closing fees. This is apparently common in the U.S. and something I saw when I caught up on a little HGTV in the U.S. Anything is negotiable in theory, but this is not a common practice in France at all.
- If you’re moving in France, the buyer pays the real estate agent’s commission. And these range but ours was was about 7.5% of the purchase price.
- Banks are slow. While I’ve never purchased a house in the U.S. and don’t have a frame of reference for this, buying a house in France takes quite a while. Sure, the fact that banks are closed on Mondays in many cases and close for lunch may have something to do with the delay, but does it really take a couple of months for a loan to be processed? I guess so!
- Neighbors don’t bake you a cake. There’s no welcome wagon. No introductions. I guess the French don’t have a reputation for being the warmest group of people, but I thought some neighbors would at least say hi! I was wrong and Tom told me that it would be unusual even for me to go knock on someone’s door to introduce myself (relates to his post on social differences). While this varies depending o where you live in the U.S., I feel that in suburban neighborhoods at least, it’s normal to welcome newcomers. Not here. I will be knocking on their doors. Hahha.
- When moving and buying a house in France, it’s normal to have a washer in the kitchen, a toilet separate from the sink in the bathroom and a small fridge, but we managed to find a house with space for a washer and dryer in the laundry room, space for a full-size fridge and two bathrooms with a sink in the same room as the toilet! Guess we got lucky there!
Anyway, as always, thanks for reading! 😉
Anything on this list surprise you? Do you have anything to add about buying a house in France?
Photo credit: GloriaGarcía / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND
PIN MY BUYING A HOUSE IN FRANCE GRAPHIC:
about how much does it cost to buy a house in France? In say, Paris or in a suburb around it?
Hi there, I think you can find something for every budget if you compromise on the location. Have a look at French real estate sites like Century21.fr, LaForet, SquareHabitat, Orpi, etc. An apartment in Paris will run somewhere around 7,000-10,000 euros per square meter depending on where you are. Something central in a great area close to public transport in a “hot” neighborhood will be closer to 10k euros/square meter and up. But check out some sites
I’m currently in my second house, and I’ve only ever had one neighbor bake me a cake. They turned out to to be really overly nosey too. They are nice, however.
The closing costs thing does surprise me. It’s a way to negotiate in the US. I got most of my closing costs covered on both houses, and when I sold the first house, I also paid part of the buyer’s closing. It’s just expected.
I did not find that the banks were slow for me.
Inspections… don’t get me started. I had an inspector for my first house that found many picky things like you mentioned, but he failed to find some really big stuff! So, I don’t trust inspections anyhow. I got another inspection when I bought this house I’m in now, and sure, enough, we had a big shower drain leak the first month! Thing is that inspectors would have to tear a house apart to truly find all things that are wrong! I guess the French are just more trusting, or willing to accept fate. Also, there are all these businesses built around home buying and selling in the US. I suspect some of the relationships between inspectors and realtors, plus those silly home warranties that sellers are forced to buy. It’s all a racket, really.
The thing that surprised me is that the buyer pays the agent’s fee! Wow. It all sounds so much more expensive than in the US.
Well this move in-a-house stuff is a lot about trust.
As US government rights “in god we trust”, French mainly would write :in my own judgement I trust”, and play such loads of money in buying houses without having a professionnal eye on it. Of course a lot end up in front of courts. But not so much I would guess if we compare with other countries.
Actually inspections are already very costly and compulsory on termits, abestos, and some such difficult-to-guess-but-possible-to-professionnals topics.
In the other hand, for leaking toilets and faulty switches, the French refer to the old French educationnal tradition to build up self judgement abilities. French are very proud of that, and not always right to be so proud. But a lot of strange things could be explained by the fact each French believe he managed to built very sound self-judgement brain and loves to use it “his way”.
Very lucky that your in-laws are the pros. Always handy having great help. Thanks for shining a light on a topic I didn’t know about.
As the owner of a Real Estate company in the U.S., I definitely saw some differences! Sellers pay the commission here, and it’s usually though not always) 6%, and 5% is not unheard of.
Homes can be listed “as-is” and it usually means the house needs a ton of work. Inspections are still necessary to secure a loan, and some types of home loans are more strict about what has to be fixed and whether or not they will give the loan–which is to say, if the seller doesn’t fix certain things, the lender won’t give the loan, period.
Average closing time in my city right now is 45 days, which is considered a bit average but also a bit quick; 2 months is not uncommon at all when there is a loan involved. A cash deal is a different story.
The title company handles the closing here, but you sign there with one of their notaries.
Not sure if you’re able to answer this for me, but can Americans without any prior citizenship/permanent residence visa purchase a home in France? Meaning if you work remote for your job and want to make France a primary residence, do you know what the steps would entail? I do realize you pay global/capital gains tax which would make it more expensive. The internet is very vague, aside from needing to visit a prefecture for more information. But I’m just curious if you have any knowledge on this topic. Thanks!
Hi Victoria, I think your best bet is to contact an accountant who is familiar with US/American tax laws. That way someone can give you specific advice tailored to your situation.
If you come to live in France as a permanent resident (or even as a tourist), you can absolutely buy a house, no problem. Sometimes getting a loan and dealing with banks can be tricky as Americans, but it can be done.
Just be aware if you come on a long stay visitor visa, you can’t work. And if you come on another visa and work, all earnings need to be declared in France even if you work remotely and taxes/social charges can be quite high. You’d have to be some sort of business entity. A woman named Allison Lounes consults with people about this stuff for a living so you may want to get in touch: http://www.parisunraveled.com/consulting-services/
Good luck!
Excellent! Very informational, thank you so much for your help/input!
You’re very welcome. Happy to help!
These surprised me… but in the opposite direction! I’m from Spain and so all of the French attitudes seem completely normal to me, I would never bring a cake to my new neighbours, nor do we do home inspections here either, I’m shocked to learn you do this in the US! A home inspection simply seems completely bizarre to me.
I think paperwork may be slower in Spain than in France too…
Well, I’m not too worried about moving to France in terms of cultural aspects, I guess I should study a bit more French before leaving though (the two years I did in high school 10 years ago weren’t enough for me to be fluent).
Nice write-up!
Honestly none of it surprises me and in a way wish it was somewhat similar here. When we purchased our homes over the years we had a friend in the building business always join us which I know not everyone has a friend like that, cos inspections to me are just another money ploy. Whether being the seller or buyer doesn’t matter it’s expensive and a waste of time. If you’re buying an older home expect issues cos inspections never find them!!! Our friend just tells us if the home is well built and if he sees something dangerous then we’ll address it. As a seller inspections are annoying especially when you the homeowner know there’s nothing wrong but they’re looking for something, ANYTHING to complain about. Our last home we had NO issues, BUT he saw a little water on the floor by dishwasher(I just unloaded it so water spilled) the electric panel one of the breakers wasn’t tripping ( we had electrician friend come over and said the inspector must be a weakling cos he wasn’t pushing hard enough- I recorded it to show buyer) stupid stuff like that.
The buyers realtor says we have to fix those issues, twice I said there are no issues. Finally the third time I said to her your inspector didn’t do his job right so either buyer is interested or not, there’s nothing to fix plus we had to purchase a home warranty for buyer, I was so over it. If you’re buying a house don’t expect perfection. We’re on our third home and each of them we found issues that the inspector never looked at or discovered.
As for buyer paying realtor fees, wow!!! We sold our last two homes by For Sale by Owner, gave a little commission to buyers realtor as a thank you. Can sellers in France Sale by Owner?