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The
Compromis du Vente is the agreement to sell. It is this document
that determines the form of the final bill of sale, the Acte.The
Compromis du Vente is the most important part of the buying process.
Once a Compromis du Vente has been signed by both parties and the
seven day cooling off period has passed and the 10% deposit sent
to the Notaires paid then is the house
yours? Well not quite. But we are getting head of ourselves.
First comes the offering a price part. This is done in the form
of giving a written proposal to the estate agent or the owner of
what you are prepared to pay. The French estate agent will advise
you on what they think the owner will accept. Is their advice objective?
No not always, remember they are paid a commission on the agreed
price, not a flat fee, so they have a vested interest in a higher
price. However a good estate agent will know what has been offered
before, what the owner has said is his or her target price, and
of course they will also know the real level of interest in the
property. Because the idea of exclusivity is alien to the culture
here they are in direct competition with may be up to five other
agents they also have huge pressure to get an offer agreed before
their competitors sneak in in front of them.
As a rule of thumb about 5% off the asking price will get an offer
accepted, however some of the asking prices are getting quite speculatively
priced, which is why we strongly advise looking at at least 15 properties
to gauge the general price/quality ratio for the type of house you
are looking for. If you think a property is outrageously overpriced
then it probably is, it shouldn't stop you making an offer at what
you feel is reasonable. This work well in the Autumn if the property
has been on the market all summer. The owner has the choice of accepting
your price or possibly waiting until the spring to see whether a
mug walks in the door.
Making a bid is simple, a letter addressed to the estate agent or
the owner simply saying "Suite a cette visite ce jour (08/07/2003),
nous proposons pour celui a un prix de xx,000Euro." (Following
our visit on.... we would propose a price of xxxxx euro).
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Then
owner will either accept or reject the offer, you can always propose
a second price and keep going back until agreement is reached. If
you are going through an estate agent remember they are also advising
the owner so it is a good idea to keep any discussions about the
price you are really willing to pay to yourselves.
Once the price has been accepted then there are two main forms of
agreement, either a compromis du vente, which is drawn up by a Notaire
or a Sous-seing Prive which is drawn up by the Estate agent. My
advice is always go for a Compromis du Vente, as it is wiser to
trust a notaire than an estate agent,
but both are equally binding to both parties. Both parties need
to sign the Compromis du Vente or Sous-seing Prive, and at his stage
you need to put down a deposit of 10%. This money is held by the
Notaire in a blocked bank account. Some
agents may ask for the cheque to be made payable to them, if they
are a fully qualified member of FNAIM
or CNAB and has a "Carte Professionelle" then it should
be OK, if not then I would advise confirming with the Notaire
exactly who should be paid. Cheques to agents of course should be
the agents professional bank account under the company's name not
to an individual (Sounds self evident I know but you will be surprised
what people will try and pull).
Once all of this has been acheived there is a 7 day cooling off
period in which you may change your mind. After that period you
are bound into buying the house and the owner to sell it to you,
subject to the "Clauses Suspensive"
"Clauses
Suspensive" are additional clauses you may want to add to the
Compromis du Vente, some are standard some more complex.
I have written up more legal orientated pages to take you through
this progress.
Disclaimer. These pages are accurate to the best
of my knowledge but I am not a qualified legal advisor and would
urge buyers
to confirm the above information with a qualified legal
representative before acting.
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