Buying Property and House Hunting In France, An Essential Guide by Annette Charlton
- Par nbesse
- Le 18/03/2025
- Dans Living in Uzès and around
Thinking of buying property in France? Then you’ll need to go house hunting to find your perfect dream property. Whether that’s a petite maison, manoir, château or possible commercial property, such as a gîte or chambre d’hôte, you’ll most likely need to work with local real estate agents.
Buying a property at any time takes time, research, property inspections and of course the usual load of paperwork. Undertaking an international purchase, whether to live full-time or part-time involves all this plus a hefty dose of courage and persistence.
Searching can be fun, although time consuming, especially if you live overseas. We know, because we purchased a second home in France in 2009 and now live between our homes in Australia and France...
Tips on Buying Property and House Hunting in France
From our experiences we have compiled this guide to buying property and house hunting in France that will be helpful in making the process easier and hopefully more enjoyable.
Use The Internet
If you don’t already have a list of properties you’re interested in, we find the internet has the largest pool of properties on offer. So search the internet narrowing your search to regions or departments that interest you and prepare a shortlist.
We’ve found that only minimal details are given on the internet so you will need to email the estate agency to get further details, more photos and the name of the agent handling the listing.
Explain Your Situation
In your initial emails state briefly your situation, property requirements and proposed timeline of purchase. Even if you don’t intend to purchase immediately, if you are upfront about this an agent may still be happy to meet you and show you properties on their books with a view to working with you in the future.
Do You Speak French?
If you do not speak French then mention this early on in your communications because a colleague who speaks English will likely be asked to help out and translate on your behalf.
Early on in the process Google can be useful in basic email translations but for all legal and financial documents an independent translator is a good idea...
Want to learn more? Read the full paper of Annette Charlton on A French Collection. Follow A French Collection on Instagram.
Read our paper, Le marché immobilier à Uzès et dans le Gard, written in collaboration with Cathy Matera, of Uzès Résidence. Follow Uzès Résidence on Instagram.