Says Tim Sage, property specialist and estate agent in France
Buyer's Guide to Property in France
In the last issue, we looked at selling a home in France. This time we're going to look at buying in France.
The first question remains the same as for a seller - to use an agency or do it yourself?
There are various ways of finding a property to buy in France; a friend tells you that they've seen an advert or that they know someone with a house to sell; you look online in classified adverts such as Leboncoin or even for private sellers. But generally the favoured way is to use an agency. Agents have a wide choice of properties and will be knowledgeable about the local market and more importantly about the local area.
With this in mind, you'll need to ask yourself plenty of questions. Do you want a holiday home or are you going to live there permanently? Why and where do you want to have your home? How much space do you need? What style of home do you want? Are you able to renovate?
Probably the most important of all is - what can you afford?
It needn't be a puzzle...