Buying a Property in France

Many people who have visited France have become enchanted with the French way of life and have contemplated moving to France or buying a second property.

But buying property in France can be a confusing experience unless you know the ropes
So if we start at the very beginning - step by step we’ll work our way through the whole procedure - hopefully our explanations will save some of our listeners from the pitfalls and disasters that can happen.

Finding the property

Research - Find out as much as possible - Get an idea of what properties are on the market, and at what prices.

Property prices vary enormously from region to region, as do the types of property and their style and architecture.

There is a lot of information readily available from magazines and Internet websites advertising properties for sale in France, so from the comfort of your own home, it is very easy to get an idea of what type of property is available and at what cost before you actually start your search.
How to buy the property

There are three options:

Buy for cash - a straight forward option, but once capital has been invested in a French property it can be difficult to release equity although not impossible in some circumstances.
Re-mortgage your main home to raise the cash - again, a straight forward option and one that doesn't involve you having to deal with any French banks, but you will probably find that the interest rates charged by banks and building societies in other countries may be higher than interest rates in France. Bear in mind the mortgage warning "Your home may be repossessed if you do