Trouver des villas à vendre

Real estate listings in France are not the same as in the United States (where you can search every property that’s for sale –and all past sale prices– in one MLS system that every agent uses), or in Canada and the UK (where sellers price their properties at close to market value). On the French Riviera, prices are often unrealistic and it’s hard to find good listings or reasonably-priced villas for sale. This is due to a number of reasons….

Real Estate Listings in France

You may find this shocking, but only 58% of all villa sales are via real estate agents, and many of those are sold ‘off-market’ to their clients (or developers, which then give the agent another commission when they flip it) without the need to publish the listing online.

The rest are via auctions, directly via notaires (4% of sales), or through private sales via local newspapers, social media, classified sites, or specialty property press (listed by the owner). This is because real estate agents charge between 4% and 10%, and many owners would prefer to try selling another way, only dealing with agents if they can’t find a buyer on their own.

Once an agent gets hold of it, they’ll first try to “off-market” offer it to their clients and other agents they have partnerships with. If none of them can find an interested buyer, that’s when they start paying to advertise it. They hold off on making the listing public for as long as possible because publicly advertising it invites competition from other agencies (other agents find it on Google Earth and approach the seller, so they’ll make the commission if they sell it). So usually if a villa hasn’t sold by the time is publicly advertised, it’s because it’s overpriced or has issues. Learn about why so many villas are overpriced.

In summary, villas on the French Riviera proceed through three markets — private, off-market, and publicly listed:

Marché 1 : Le marché privé. Premièrement, les vendeurs essaient de vendre sans faire appel à un agent. À propos la moitié de toutes les villas sont vendues à des particuliers, without being listed with an agent.

Marché 2 : Hors marché. If they couldn’t sell private, then they list with an agent. A large percentage of villas are sold ‘off-market’ by the agent to their existing contacts, without being listed publicly or on the Internet.

Marché 3 : coté en bourse. Si personne ne veut acheter la villa, les agents la répertorient publiquement sur Internet. Ces villas restent généralement sur le marché pendant de nombreuses années et ne se vendent pas à moins que le propriétaire ne baisse considérablement le prix.

Nearly all of the villas that are listed publicly are the ones that have issues and are overpriced.

Make sure to read about real estate agents in France before working with them.

Trouver des villas à vendre

While there’s no single website that has tous the publicly-advertised listings, there are several websites that aggregate, the best is Le Site Immo (which shows when the listing was posted, the m² price and price drops). Other are: Le Figaro, Green Acres, James Edition, et Super Immo. They all allow you to sign up for new listing alerts via email. As you’ll see if you watch the alerts for a while (years, even), the same houses keep getting re-listed over and over.

When searching on these sites, make sure to sort by price as that will make it easier to spot duplicate listings and falsely inflated m² information.

Another thing to be aware of is that some agents refuse to work with other agents (for various reasons), resulting in the agent you’re working with telling you a property has sold when it hasn’t, so make sure to double-check with another agent (or, later, in DVF). Also, many deals fall through — a property with an offer on it is far from a done deal and very well may end up back on the market.

You can find listings of villas that owners are trying to sell directly (‘private sales’) by searching in Facebook groups and on listing sites like Le Bon Coin, PAP et ImmoGo.

On the French Riviera, the seller pays for the agent’s fees, but those fees are baked into the price, so if you buy direct you might be able to negotiate a lower price.

There is an interesting website called Castorus, which tries to track which real estate listings have changed the price, and how long the listing has been online. It will give you a sense of the minimum length of time a listing has been online, and if the price changed on the sites they track.

Reading Real Estate Listings

Listings normally say the number of m² and pieces (rooms) that a villa has, but these numbers are sometimes inflated / inaccurate. Frequently, we see the m² of a villa inflated by 50% to 100%, and sometimes as much as 200%! In theory this is not allowed, but in reality agents do not get punished for false advertising en France.

Each main room, not including the bathrooms, storage or kitchen, are considered a ‘piece’. So a 3-piece is usually a 2-bedroom. Watch out because some agents fluff this a little by calling a 2-bedroom with an extra large living room a 4-piece, so it’s important to double-check. A ‘salle de sejour’ or ‘salon’ is what Americans call a ‘living room’. Some estate agents list rooms as bedrooms even if they aren't what you would consider a bedroom (no windows or super-low ceiling, too small, etc.), so make sure to count in person at the property.

Timing is Important

Since only 62% of villas on the French Riviera are primary residences, that makes the spring and summer less ideal for finding a villa to buy, as many owners have rented out their villas for the summer. There’s more selection in the fall, after the summer vacation rental season. By the winter, owners whose villas are still on the market may be more flexible on pricing.

Auctions & Foreclosures

Auctions and foreclosures may (or may not) provide an opportunity for a bargain in France. Usually an auction is chosen to affect a quick sale – perhaps because of divorce, inheritance, or to settle debt. You can find out if there are any auction or foreclosure properties for sale in the area you want by checking the Notaires website et Kadran.

Properties at auction will typically have a much lower reserve than the market price and all wannabe bidders will need to pay a deposit in advance – which can be anything from 5% to 20% – if you don’t win the bid your money will be returned. Additional fees add up to roughly an extra 10% and may include court expenses, lawyers’ fees, publication fees and more – it is important to check in advance what your obligations are. Here’s some more information about French property auctions.

Acheter une villa ? Lisez ceci en premier !

Lorsque vous êtes prêt à rechercher une propriété, assurez-vous de lire notre guide complet pour acheter un bien immobilier en France. Ces guides expliquent comment estimer la valeur d'une propriété réel valeur, comment obtenir le meilleur prix et éviter les prix excessifs, ce qu'il faut surveiller, comment éviter de se faire arnaquer, et plus encore.

Premièrement, pour comprendre le marché immobilier en France, il faut comprendre comment Le prix au m² est une arnaque géante. Ensuite, vous pouvez passer aux autres guides :

Notre guide sur la direction que prend le marché comprend : les prévisions du marché immobilier de la Côte d'Azur, les tendances actuelles et historiques des prix sur le marché et les raisons pour lesquelles les prix continueront de baisser. De plus, supplémentaire guide des Russes et de leur impact sur le marché immobilier de la Côte d'Azur.

Notre guide des escroqueries et des secrets comprend : des avertissements sur les astuces contraires à l'éthique que les agents, les notaires, les vendeurs, les promoteurs et les constructeurs utilisent pour vous soutirer plus d'argent. C'est un ouvrage à lire absolument et le guide de dénonciation que les professionnels du secteur ne veulent pas que vous voyiez.

Notre guide des agents immobiliers comprend : les choses malhonnêtes que les agents vous diront, comment fonctionnent les agences immobilières, les agents acheteurs et les chercheurs de propriété, pourquoi vous devriez éviter les agents illégaux et non locaux, et à qui faire confiance (un avertissement important).

Notre guide de tarification et détermination de la valeur marchande d'une villa comprend : pourquoi il y a tant de surévaluations extrêmes, comment estimer la valeur marchande d'une villa (ce qu'elle vaut) et un guide étape par étape pour trouver le prix de votre offre.

Notre guide des choses importantes à découvrir comprend : rapports de diagnostic et enquêtes, soleil et microclimats, problèmes potentiels de vue, taxes d'habitation, âge, accès Internet et mobile, zones de danger (rouges), risques pour la santé, problèmes d'intimité et d'espace, problèmes à proximité, ce que vous' Je posséderai réellement des ajouts et des structures illégaux, pourquoi ils vendent, comment vérifier, et plus encore.

Notre guide des éléments à considérer comprend : votre réel les coûts, les problèmes liés à l'achat d'une villa « récemment rénovée », la connaissance de la criminalité locale et des squatteurs et les questions à vous poser.

Notre guide du processus d'achat comprend : la négociation du prix et de l'offre initiale, le choix d'un notaire honnête, l'achat au noir, l'offre officielle et le dépôt, le recours à une SCI, les pièges du contrat, le délai de réflexion, que faire avant de remettre l'argent et le signature définitive.

Notre guide après l'achat comprend : les pièges de l'assurance, des conseils pour les résidences secondaires, la location de votre villa, la rénovation et ce qu'il faut savoir sur l'embauche de personnes.

Guide pour les vendeurs : Comment fixer le prix de votre villa pour qu'elle se vende.