As you would expect the higher your level of French the easier and more comprehensible this process actually is. However as the expatiate market expands so does the level of English spoken by estate agents in the Aude and the number of services provided by native English speakers.
There are three main ways to find your ideal home. Through an estate agent, agence immobilier, buying direct from an owner, or through a property location service. If you would like a service that arranges all your appointments with estate agents and owners direct. Is on hand to translate,advise and guide you through the process. Click Here

Agence immobilier- a good one should be a member of the professional association FNAIM. Not surprisingly an estate agent earns her or his money selling properties, usually 10% of the agreed price and usually paid by the seller not the purchaser. Ensure you confirm this fact before hand as some sharp practice has been occurring recently whereby purchasers have been paying agents, I suspect a double whammy has been played occasionally with the agents racking off 10% from both parties. Caveat emptor.
The agency world is highly competitive in the Aude. Sellers are in no way bound to using just one agency. A single property can be with upwards of five agents. This is why agents are usually very vague about the real location of a property, adverts in the press and in agents windows say things like, "close to Narbonne", this can mean anything from in Narbonne itself to half way to Carcassonne. They do this for two reasons, firstly to ensure you walk through their door and not the agent two doors down and secondly that you do not approach the buyer direct.
This is also the reason why an agent gets you, the buyer, to sign an agreement listing the houses they have shown you. This accord ties you, should you wish to buy the property, into buying it through them for the next 18 months. There is nothing sinister about this document, without it they wouldn't be able to make a living.
Good agents should have a knowledge of the local services, schools, planning permission regimes and flood conditions.
Price negotiations with agents is a trickey issue. For this I go back to my first point, an agent is paid a percentage of the final price: Therefore it is in their ultimate best interest to get the best price possible for a property. However a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush and an agent is aware of the real potential buyers in a property, they may be able to persuade a seller to go for a lower price to realise their asset sooner rather than later. As rule of thumb though, all things being equal, an agent will over price a property by between 5-10% to give themselves room for manoeuvre.
For a list of local estate agents in the Aude click here

Aude Property Location Services
With the increase in popularity of the Aude amongst non-French speakers and people for who are money rich but time poor a number of property location services are available. We run one on a small, select scale.see Our Service They will take your requirements, search all available options, talk to agents and owners on your behalf, sort out the notaires, help you in the bidding process and guide you through the whole transaction. LanguedocLive are another service, part of France wide franchise (I think)that provide a similar service, they have an office in Fitou, an agent in the Corbieres. Relocate to France specialise in the fantastic high Aude.

Buying From the owner direct
Cutting out the middle man has a huge advantage, namably the 10% agency fees. The best, but time consuming, way to find property is to walk round villages looking for "a vendre" signs. Asking at the local bar or cafe and looking at the little hand written ads in supermarkets also can turn up some jems. A good undrestanding of French is very helpful, as many of the properties are empty and just a hand written phone number is visible as contact details. Various website have properties posted by the owners direct, le-guide has a few as does the forums of The Languedoc Page, Sam's site OdetoAude sometimes has some, as does Sam's other site French factor . www.midi-web is a good site for those looking in Roussillon.
An issue that may come up when buying from an owner direct is the possibility of part of the price cash in hand, liquide. There are advantages and disadvantages to this one. One big disadvantage is of course that it is illegal. The advantage is that any cash in hand transfer comes off the official price of the property so the notaires fees are lesser, and often the owner will knock an extra bit off the price so that he/she can get away with paying lower Capital Gains Tax. A common situation is that you will be buying a house of the children of the recently deceased owner, they will have undervalued the property for inheritant tax purposes and now face a large tax bill which they are trying to get round by asking for an under the table contribution. Which neatly gets us onto another possible disadvantage for the buyer, CapGains on secondary houses takes 22 years to get down to zero. You will pay this tax when you come to sell the house on the difference between the official price and what you finally get- liquide brings down the official price so you could well end up turning a short term positive into a long term negative. Last but not least, if you are buying a really cheap place there is a minium Notaires fee which you have to pay regardless- so a reduced price may not benefit you at all. On balance I would say that under the table deals mainly benefit the seller as the price of the buyer and the State. But you're big boys and girls now- just don't say I didn't warn you.

This guide is for general information only and is accurate to only the full knowledge of the author. It should not be read as the absolute truth in law. The author and the site bear no responsibility or liability from actions taken based on this information. We strongly advise purchasers of property to consult independent legal advisors should they require informed, considered guidance.

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