Second home or investment: the question to settle first<\/h2>\n
Ask yourself how many weeks a year you will actually be there. Under four, the maths rarely works and you are buying a storage problem with a view. Between four and twelve, you are buying a second home and should optimise for pleasure and ease of access. Above twelve, you are quietly planning to retire there, and the criteria change again: healthcare, winter life, proximity to an airport that flies year round rather than in August only.<\/p>\n
Be honest at this stage. Most of the French second homes that come back on the market within five years were bought on a summer feeling and used three weekends a year.<\/p>\n
Where Americans actually buy<\/h2>\n
Provence is the postcard, but it is not where most of our American clients end up. The shift of the last few years has been towards the Atlantic and the north, for three reasons: summers that remain bearable, prices that are a fraction of the Riviera, and direct access from Paris by train.<\/p>\n
Four regions come up again and again:<\/p>\n
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- Normandy<\/strong>, for the combination of stone houses, coastline and a two hour train from Paris. We have written separately about the best places in Normandy for American buyers<\/a>.<\/li>\n
- Southern Brittany<\/strong>, for the light and the sailing, with a milder climate than its reputation suggests. See our guide to where to buy in Brittany<\/a>.<\/li>\n
- The south<\/strong>, still, for those who want the heat and accept the price. Our overview of where to buy in the south of France<\/a> sets out the trade-offs.<\/li>\n
- The Perche and inland countryside<\/strong>, for budgets that would buy a studio on the coast and buy a house with land here.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
If you are hesitating between the two most common shortlists, our comparison of Normandy versus Brittany<\/a> is the fastest way to decide.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\nHow the French process differs from an American closing<\/h2>\n
Three differences catch American buyers out.<\/p>\n
There is no buyer’s agent by default.<\/strong> In France, the estate agent is instructed and paid by the seller. They are not neutral, and they are not yours. An American used to dual agency rules will assume someone is representing their side of the table, and nobody is. We have set this out in detail in our comparison of a buyer’s agent and an estate agent in France<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The notaire is not your lawyer.<\/strong> The notaire is a public officer who secures the transaction and collects the taxes. They act for the deal, not for you. They will not tell you that the roof is thirty years old or that the price is fifteen percent above the street.<\/p>\n
The offer binds early.<\/strong> Once the compromis de vente is signed, you are committed subject to a short cooling off period and to the conditions written into the contract. Everything you want protected, from the mortgage condition to the survey findings, has to be in that document. There is no renegotiating afterwards in the American style.<\/p>\n
The costs nobody quotes you<\/h2>\n
The asking price is the smallest surprise. Budget for:<\/p>\n
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- Acquisition costs<\/strong>, known in France as frais de notaire, which include transfer duties and are substantially higher on older properties than on new build. These were revised recently, so ask for a current calculation rather than relying on a figure you read last year.<\/li>\n
- Annual property taxes<\/strong>, including the taxe d’habitation, which was abolished on main residences but is still due on second homes, and is being increased by many coastal and tourist communes specifically to target second home owners.<\/li>\n
- Running costs on a house used eight weeks a year<\/strong>, where heating an old building intermittently costs more than heating it continuously.<\/li>\n
- Management<\/strong>, because somebody has to open the house, check it in February and meet the plumber.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
On financing, note that French banks do lend to non-resident Americans, under conditions that differ from a US mortgage. Our guide to French mortgages for Americans<\/a> covers what is realistic.<\/p>\n
Buying from four thousand miles away<\/h2>\n
The practical obstacle is not the paperwork, it is the viewing. Good properties in these regions sell in days, often before they appear online. A buyer who can only fly over twice a year will see what is left rather than what is good.<\/p>\n
This is the problem we exist to solve. We search on your brief, visit on your behalf, send you video walkthroughs of the ones worth your attention and tell you plainly when a house is not worth the flight. When the right one appears, we negotiate on the basis of what comparable houses actually sold for, not what the listing says, and we can act within the day rather than within the month.<\/p>\n
- Annual property taxes<\/strong>, including the taxe d’habitation, which was abolished on main residences but is still due on second homes, and is being increased by many coastal and tourist communes specifically to target second home owners.<\/li>\n
- Southern Brittany<\/strong>, for the light and the sailing, with a milder climate than its reputation suggests. See our guide to where to buy in Brittany<\/a>.<\/li>\n