The French Estate Agent

 

715,000€ Really? Don't Get Stung When Buying a House in France

Every now and again, I like to have a look online and see what new properties have appeared for sale in my local area.

Recently, one caught my attention immediately.

Not because of the property itself, but because of the asking price:

€715,000.

Now, this particular property is in a commune where I lived for many years, so I know the local market extremely well. And when I saw €715,000, my first thought was that there are probably only half a dozen properties in the entire commune that could realistically justify that sort of price.

And I know most of them.

So naturally, I had a closer look.

When the description sells a dream

The property description certainly didn't hold back.

It talked about a "unique 3-hectare estate", "two elegant and interconnected residences", a "rare and confidential domain", "untouched nature", "high-end features" and even described the property as a "true lifestyle destination".

Add a heated swimming pool, meadows, woodland and a natural water feature and you could be forgiven for imagining a rather impressive country estate.

The reality?

A typical Breton longère.

It's nicely renovated, certainly. There is also a relatively simple gîte, a heated swimming pool and around three hectares of predominantly agricultural land.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

In fact, it is exactly the sort of property many people moving to Brittany are looking for.

But is it worth €715,000?

That's a completely different question.

Forget the prose and look at the numbers

This is where a little due diligence becomes important.

According to the advertisement, the main house has approximately 200m² of habitable space.

In that particular commune, a reasonable figure for a good quality house is around €1,750 per square metre.

That puts the main house somewhere around €350,000.

There is then approximately 50m² in the gîte. But you can't necessarily value every square metre of every building at exactly the same rate.

The gîte is considerably simpler than the main residence, so perhaps €1,200 to €1,400 per square metre would be more appropriate. That gives us roughly another €60,000 to €70,000.

Then we have the extras.

The swimming pool has value, of course, but an older pool doesn't suddenly add €100,000 to a property. Depending on its age and condition, perhaps €5,000 to €10,000 of additional market value would be more realistic in this particular case.

Three hectares of agricultural land and woodland also sound impressive in an advertisement, but rural land in Brittany is not building land. Having three hectares doesn't automatically make a property enormously more valuable. Perhaps another €10,000 to €15,000 here.

Finally, there are some outbuildings, although these are closer to agricultural hangars than traditional stone barns with obvious conversion potential. Again, they have a value, but probably somewhere in the region of €10,000 to €20,000 rather than a fortune.

Add everything together and I struggle to see €715,000.

My own rough assessment would put the property considerably closer to the €450,000 to €500,000 range.

But isn't a property worth whatever someone will pay?

Ultimately, yes.

There is no law preventing a seller from asking an ambitious price, and occasionally somebody will fall in love with a property and pay considerably more than local averages suggest.

But there's an important difference between an asking price and market value.

At €715,000, this property isn't simply competing against other renovated longères in its local area.

A buyer with more than €700,000 to spend can look much further afield.

They can compare it with larger properties, better locations, more impressive architecture, genuine estates and properties with considerably more valuable facilities.

That's where an ambitious asking price can become difficult to justify.

Check the local market yourself

You don't have to be an estate agent to carry out some basic checks.

There are several online property valuation tools that allow you to look at approximate prices within an individual commune.

One that I regularly use is Meilleurs Agents.

Enter the commune or postcode and you can quickly see indicative property prices, including lower, average and upper ranges.

It isn't a substitute for a professional valuation. No automated system knows whether a particular house has an exceptional view, needs a new roof or has been renovated beautifully.

But it gives you a useful starting point.

If similar houses in a commune generally sell around €1,700 to €2,000 per square metre and you're looking at something effectively being marketed at nearly €3,000 per square metre, you should at least be asking:

Why?

There may be a perfectly good answer.

Or there may not.

Flowery descriptions don't increase market value

This is perhaps the bigger lesson.

French property advertisements, particularly at the upper end of the market, increasingly use very elaborate language.

A field becomes an "untouched natural environment".

A pond becomes a "natural water feature".

A house and gîte become "two elegant residences".

A renovated farmhouse becomes a "confidential domain".

None of those expressions necessarily tell you anything useful about what the property is actually worth.

Strip the description away and look at what you're buying:

How much habitable space is there?

What is its condition?

What is the local price per square metre?

What is the land actually worth?

Are the outbuildings genuinely useful?

What comparable properties could you buy for the same money?

And, perhaps most importantly, what else does your budget buy you?

Do your homework before falling in love

Buying a house in France is often an emotional decision.

That's understandable. You walk through the gates, see the stone house, the swimming pool and the countryside stretching away behind it, and suddenly you're mentally arranging the furniture.

But that is precisely when you need to keep one eye on the numbers.

There's nothing wrong with paying a premium for the perfect property.

Just make sure you know that you're paying one.

Because an impressive description and an ambitious asking price don't necessarily mean you're looking at an exceptional property.

Sometimes you're simply looking at a perfectly nice house with a very optimistic price tag.

You can also watch my video, "€715,000 Really? Don't Get Stung When Buying a House in France", where I break down this particular example and explain how I approached the valuation.

And if you're looking to buy a property in France, do your due diligence, compare local prices and get professional advice before committing yourself.

A few minutes checking the figures could save you a very expensive mistake.