It is usually the first question American and international buyers ask: how much does a buyer’s agent cost in Paris, and is it worth it? The answer depends on the agent’s fee model, the price of the property and what the agent actually does for you. This guide explains how fees work in France, gives […]

In Paris, the best apartments often sell within days, sometimes before they are even listed. For an American or any foreign buyer searching from abroad, a buyer’s agent (in French, a chasseur immobilier) is the most effective way to compete. But the profession is less familiar outside France, and not every agent offers the same […]

Images of French protests travel fast, and from New York or London a handful of dramatic scenes can make the whole country look affected. The reality on the ground is very different. France remains a safe place to buy property: homes have been overwhelmingly spared, the unrest is concentrated in a small number of places, […]

The house in Normandy was the easy part. The surprise comes a few months later, in the form of a French tax notice nobody mentioned during the viewings. Owning property in France as a foreign resident means paying tax on it every year, and a substantial bill on the day you sell. For an owner […]

You have found the house, agreed a price and shaken hands. Then the notaire sends the provisional statement, and the figure at the bottom is tens of thousands of euros higher than the one you negotiated. On an existing property in France, acquisition costs add roughly 7% to 8% to the price, payable in full […]

Most buyers arrive with a region already chosen, usually by a summer holiday or a film. It is rarely the right one. France counts around 3.7 million second homes, one property in ten, and the country is far more varied than it looks from abroad: a three-hour drive changes the climate, the architecture, the price […]

What Americans need to know before buying a second home in France: where to look, how the process differs from a US closing, what it really costs and how to buy from four thousand miles away.

For an Irish buyer, France looks like the easiest property market abroad. You are an EU citizen, you earn in euros, Paris is one hour ahead, and you can be in Bordeaux, Nantes or Nice before lunch. No visa, no currency risk, no residency paperwork worth mentioning. That ease is real, and it is also […]

Yes. France places no restriction on lending to foreign nationals, and American buyers finance French property every week. But the honest version of that answer comes with three conditions that nobody mentions until you are three weeks into an application: you will need a substantially larger deposit than a French resident, your file will take […]

Walk east along rue du Temple in the 4th arrondissement and you will pass under a stone archway at number 41 without noticing it. Step through, and the street noise stops within three seconds. Behind it sits a silent cobbled courtyard framed in old stone and exposed beams, with a restaurant terrace in the middle […]