If you are selling a property in France, this article, offers some tips on how to do it.

It has to be said that now is not the easiest time to be selling your French home but if you do want, or need, to sell it, it is definitely possible. It is true that there are fewer foreigners with enough cash to splurge on a holiday home and the banks have made it harder for first time buyers to get on the property ladder but people are always downgrading, upgrading, moving country, changing job, having families or retiring to somewhere new and that means a constant stream, if not a deluge, of potential buyers.

If you want it to be your house that stands out amongst the rest, here are my five top tips for getting it sold.

1.    It’s all in the price

In the current market you absolutely have to be realistic about the price you will get for your house. If it is overpriced it simply will not sell. With so much information about property in France available online, buyers are very savvy, and particularly so in this interminable “crise”. The greatest fear for those investing in property is ending up with a house which isn’t worth what they paid for it. In addition, the French banks, ever cautious, are now even more careful which means that whereas 5 years ago it was unheard of them to send out an expert to value a house, this is now becoming more common. Buyers have choice at the moment and they are not going to choose a house which is not competitively priced.

To make sure that your house is at the right price, listen to your agent and if you trust them, take their advice. So often my estate agent husband values a property only for the vendors to ignore his advice, state their unrealistic asking price and say  “Well we’re not that bothered about selling so we’ll put it on at that price and see if we get a buyer”. a) they won’t and b) why would they think that my husband will be motivated to spend time, money and effort marketing a house he doesn’t feel he has a realistic chance of selling?

Although universally reviled, there are actually a fair few good agents out there and, believe it or not, they do want to sell your house. That’s how they make their living. But it’s a busy world and time is limited so marketing and viewings will be focused on those houses that they think they stand a cat-in-hell’s chance of selling. Often in these cases, any viewings of an overpriced house will merely serve to show comparable properties at lower prices in a more favourable light and clinch the sale of those.

If you own a house in France, you will know that there are a plethora of free magazines widely available full of properties to tempt prospective buyers. When trying to assess the value of your own property, you will doubtless have a flick through these and on websites to compare yours to what else is on the market. Remember that only by speaking to agents will you be able to get the idea of what properties are actually selling for. It is very common to hear “But Monsieur Tout-le-Monde up the road’s house is on the market for 5 million and his doesn’t even have a pool”. The fact is Monsieur Tout-le-Monde hasn’t found a buyer yet and is very unlikely to do so.

2. Prepare an information pack for your agent

Get together as much information as you possibly can to give to your agent. Their job is made much easier if you provide the information in one go rather than piecemeal and they will be better equipped to swiftly answer any questions posed by potential buyers. Useful information includes a copy of the deeds (to prove you do actually own the house (!) and to pre-empt any potential rights of way issues ), the amount of your property taxes (taxe foncière and taxe d’habitation), floor plans if you have them and invoices for any work carried out by professionals in the last 10 years (this should be under guarantee).

As agents in France may cover large areas and may not be au fait with the peculiarities of all the towns and villages in the area, it is also worth pointing out where the nearest shops are, which schools are closest to the house, transport links and anything particularly attractive about the village. For example, some villages in our area have no shops but a bread van visits daily and this is useful to know.  All these titbits of information will help potential buyers build up a picture of what it would be like to actually live in your house.

Take plenty of photos of your house and garden during the summertime when it is looking its best and offer these to your agent. There is nothing like a bit of sun to make a house look appealing and on the flipside, a grey day with bare trees won’t do it any favours.

3. Presentation is key

It sounds obvious but believe me, there are many vendors in France who don’t adhere to this golden rule. That means that if you do, you already have a huge headstart in attracting a buyer. Presenting an immaculate house applies both for when the agent comes to take photos to use in the marketing of your property as well as for each and every viewing. Granted, it is a total pain to keep your house constantly showhome-tidy but it really is essential to present your house in the best light possible.

Before you even put the house on the market, sort out your storage and de-clutter the house. Plenty of storage is a big bonus to homebuyers and lots of clutter is hugely offputting. Do any small bits of DIY to fix minor problems which might put off potential buyers. A bit of money spent here can really pay dividends in securing a quick sale.

When buyers are coming round, make sure the washing up is always done, surfaces in the kitchen are tidy, rubbish is taken out and clothes are not strewn all over the bedrooms. You want potential buyers to feel comfortable and at ease when they are looking around your home, not as if they are being a pain in the neck. With this in mind, ship out sulky teenagers, lock pets away so they can’t jump up and make sure all areas of your house are accessible so it doesn’t look as if you are hiding anything.

Be on hand to answer any questions viewers may have but give them space to chat in private to the agent, who will inevitably have some information about the customer’s likes/dislikes which you’re not privy to. Above all, don’t appear too desperate. The best policy is to leave most of the talking up to the agent and, like a Victorian child, speak when spoken to! It is surprisingly common for vendors to inadvertently put their foot in it and scupper a sale with an off-hand comment.

4. Get the obligatory reports done early

Structural surveys in the UK sense of the word are not the norm in France although they can easily be arranged should you decide that you want one. Instead, there is an ever-growing list of reports which the seller of a property is legally obliged to have carried out including asbestos, lead, termites and electrical compliance. In January 2011 it became a legal requirement to display the energy efficiency rating of a house in any advertising so you absolutely have to get that report done before putting the house on the market.

The others can be done once you have found a buyer but I would recommend getting them done early to avoid any nasty surprises once you have someone ready to commit to a purchase. If you know what you’re dealing with, you can either take remedial action ahead of time, or at least be prepared for the issue to be a point of negotiation in the deal. Plus, if your agent can show a potential buyer that the house has a clean bill of health, it will immediately be more attractive that the “what if..?” property down the road.

All the reports are usually carried out by the same company – your agent should be able to recommend one. Some of the reports are only valid for a limited time so check that the company you choose will carry out the reports again free of charge if they go out of date before you find a buyer. Most do.

5. Make your house easy to view

House buyers often have information overload when it comes to properties. If yours is not available to view when they want to see it, they could well put it to the bottom of the pile out of sight, and out of mind. Some potential purchasers may be coming from abroad and be on a tight schedule with only a day or two available for viewings.

In short, your house needs to be viewable at a moment’s notice. If you’re not going to be there, make sure you leave a key with someone who can be and tell your agent where it is or even better, give your agent a key so they can do viewings whenever they need to.

So there you have it – a five point guide to getting that “Vendu” sign outside your French home. Bon courage!