Guest Blog: Henry Pryor

Here comes Google!


It was only a matter of time but we now know that everyone's favourite search engine looks like it wants a bit of the Property pie. I don’t mean that it’s going to start buying and selling homes nor is it about to help build some of the 200,000 new homes we were told we needed to keep homes affordable. No, it wants to help it’s users to find homes to buy or to rent.

Rightmove, the UK’s biggest property portal announced it’s busiest week ever at the start of January with over 157 million page views over seven days that the country was covered by snow. We knew that most home movers now start their search online but these numbers make scary reading for traditional estate agents who used to control the registers of prospective buyers and tenants. Pre-qualifying those who were to look at their clients homes is still something that some agents trot out as an excuse for the fees they charge.

Sadly, the internet means that you don’t have to answer a whole heap of irrelevant questions from someone you know wants to ‘sell’ you something (probably a mortgage or some conveyancing services!). You choose when you want to look, you choose what you say, you can lie and say you have more to spend than your spouse would ever believe and you can do it all anonymously.

Over 90% of all the estate agents in the UK and a growing number of agents and brokers abroad pay to list on Rightmove and in the UK their rates for new joiners are now over £400 per month per branch! Small wonder that Rightmove is a £600m company and even less surprise that Google is interested in taking a slice of this pie.

Of course Google aren’t saying that they want to compete. It’s all about providing a service to their users. I am still amazed at the number of people I see who put a www address into Google rather than just typing it into a web browser so I can testify to the number of people who given the chance will stay within the Google site if they can.

Imagine using Google maps for directions, seeing homes for sale as you do (and cars, jobs and who knows what else in the near future) and being offered the chance to view the homes, being offered two or three mortgage products while you’re looking and given the chance to be sent more properties like this in the future - all without leaving the Google site and you can see why the established portals might be nervous.

The Digital Property Group (owned by the Daily Mail group) also have a significant investment in the property marketing space having paid north of £70m over the years to acquire brands such as Primelocation, FindaProperty, Under one Roof to name but three. They along with Trinity Mirror (who own Smart New Homes amongst other online property businesses) will all be planning a defence no doubt.

One aggregator, home.co.uk has already taken the option open to all (including estate agents) of using the helpful Google code to populate the Google Base product that at present you can list your inventory on. Home.co.uk has irritated some property players as they collect their inventory by indexing other sites.

This is exactly what Google does so the argument seems a little flawed to me. The bottom line is that those looking to market their properties have never had it so good. The choices are numerous and if you’re looking for something it’s never been easier.

I expect Google will launch with innovations in the next few months. At their offices in London last Spring they helpfully explained the Google approach of being certain that what they want to do will work. There has been silence so far from the Company but you can be sure that when they do go public with their property offering we can expect their competition to be howling and pointing out the Google motto “don’t be evil”!

It is unlikely that customers are going to be anything like as worried.

Henry Pryor

Many thanks indeed to Henry for this entry.  To find out more about his work as a buying agent, industry pundit, internet entrepreneur and all round "good egg" please visit his website at www.hclp.co.uk

www.cognacproperty.com

Absolutely delighted - my next "guest" blogger will be....

....the "housing expert" himself, Mr Henry Pryor.

You will probably know Henry from his regular appearances on the BBC (as well as Sky News, ITV and channel 4) or from the Sunday Times where he appears in the "ask the experts" column.

We first met when we both worked at Savills in the early 1980's.  I think that one of his greatest achievements since then is to set up http://www.primemove.com/ from which he still collects data on around 97% of all homes for sale or to let in the UK. A phenomenal database.

Like me, he also offers a "buying agent" service for private clients and you can find out more about this by visiting his website at  http://www.hclp.co.uk/

I will be posting up his thoughts this coming Friday and can assure you that - as always - they'll be worth reading.

www.cognacproperty.com

British house owners in France make £1 billion

This amazing statistic has been revealed by the foreign exchange team at Close Brothers:

Between 2008 and 2009, property prices in France declined by around 6.63%, but because of the rise in the value of the Euro, if those Brits owning property there had sold-up and converted the money back into Sterling, they would have actually made money. Close Treasury estimates that there are around 98,000 properties in France owned by British citizens, and between 2008 and 2009, the combined Sterling value of these would have increased by just over £1 billion, or £10,373 per property.


Of course the currency swing could have been the other way and we'd all have been £10,373 worse off but it's nice to know that despite the recession we've actually had a little bit of good fortune over the last 18 months.

Rest assured though that I won't be blowing my slice of the billion pounds on a caribbean cruise just yet.

www.cognacproperty.com

A guide to buying property in France

Whether you are taking your first tentative steps to buying a house here or are a seasoned ex-pat it pays to take professional advice throughout.  Here's my step by step guide to finding and buying your dream home in France.

Viewing

Around 50% of house sales in France are still done so privately, without the help and advice of an estate agent.

For most people though you would be well advised to either appoint a buying agent to act upon your behalf or to only view properties through licenced immobiliers.

A buying agent will scour the local market, visit properties on your behalf, compile a shortlist, accompany you on all viewings and help negotiate the lowest price possible. For this service they will typically charge you between 2-3% of the purchase price. You can find a list of accredited agencies by visiting the website of their national federation at www.fnci.fr

Traditional agencies must also have a carte professionnelle as well as a financial guarantee and full professional indemnity insurance. Most agencies are members of their national federation, you can find a list at www.fnaim.fr.

Many people begin their house search using the internet. Just as in the UK there are a selection of “portals” listing house details across France.

Making an offer

The process here is not too dissimilar to the UK.

Once you have found a house that you like you should make an offer (preferably in writing) to either the agent or vendor.

Make sure that all parties know exactly what is included in the offer (ie if it includes agents fees) and don’t forget to set aside a budget for the notaires fees and taxes.

There is no hard & fast rule as to how low your offer should be. In a “hot” market you may well need to pay the asking price, in troubled times you may well be able to negotiate a hefty discount.

You should have all your financing in place before you make the offer.

Structural survey

As you probably know most French purchasers do not bother to have a house surveyed.

There are a list of tests that the vendor must pay for and have undertaken by professionals. This is called the Dossier de Diagnostic Technique (DDT).

Up to seven surveys must now be undertaken. These are for asbestos, electrics, energy efficiency, gas, lead, “natural or technological risks” and termites.

Most sellers wait until they have an offer agreed before commissioning the reports, some of which have a short “shelf life” before they need to be undertaken again.

If you would like a more comprehensive survey you will find plenty of RICS registered surveyors offering a service throughout France.

Legal representation

Contrary to popular opinion, the Notaire is not there to represent you. They represent the state and undertake planning and other searches with the local authorities.

If you want to have someone representing your legal interests there are many UK legal practices who employ French notaries and offer this service (for a fee).

Preliminary sale agreement (Compromis de Vente)

Once your offer is accepted and the compulsory tests have been undertaken you will be asked to sign the compromise de vente.

This will either have been drafted by the agent or notaire. It is a binding agreement between the vendor and the buyer, subject to any conditions that may be stipulated in the contract. The most common such condition is that relating to a mortgage being secured but others could include planning consent, rights of way etc.

Once signed you do have a seven day cooling off period – during which you may pull out of the transaction at any time, without explanation, but you must do this by registered letter.

You will usually pay a deposit (between 5-10%) to the agent or notaire and this will be kept in a special bank account as a guarantee until the purchase is completed.

Completion (Acte de Vente)

It usually takes between eight – twelve weeks from signing the compromis for the final acte de vente to be completed and ready for signature.

The signing is at the notaires office and they will confirm the final time and date a short time beforehand. Beware, the date set in the compromis is a target date and not set in stone.

You must have transferred the balance of funds in advance (make sure you shop around using specialist currency brokers). You must also provide proof that the house is insured.

Once the signing is complete you are given the keys and the house is yours.

Buying new build property

This option is particularly popular with French buyers and is strictly regulated with developers forced to have a bank guarantee in place for each new development.

This guarantee is provided in the Deed of Sale to ensure that the new development will be completed to the advertised standards even if the developer or construction company runs into financial difficulties.

Contracts are drawn up in accordance with the French “Code de la Construction et de l’Habitation”. This sets out very clear terms and conditions and is extremely protective of the purchaser.

Notaires fees are lower and typically 2.5-4% of the house cost.

Houses come with a 10 year guarantee and need to comply with modern building standards.

The first step is to identify the developer/builder you wish to use. Visit the sites and make sure your chosen plot is available.

Once you have made your decision you will be asked to make a deposit of between 2-5%. Again this will be held in a special bank account by either the notaire or the developer (if he is licenced to do so) and, again, you have a 7 day cooling off period.

The payment of the deposit is accompanied by the signing of the “Contrat de reservation” which reserves the property and fixes the price.

This contract specifies the building schedule, stage payments and date of delivery (ie completion).

About 4-6 months after signing the reservation contract the notaire will send you the deed of sale (or projet d’acte) by recorded delivery. You should sign this within one month, usually at the notaires office.

When the property is ready to be handed over you will be accompanied by a representative of the developer and will agree all snagging issues. You then have a further 30 days to add to this list which you must do by recorded delivery.

I believe that everything here is correct at the time of writing but obviously things change and you should take up to the minute professional advice at the time of purchase.

www.cognacproperty.com

Google looking to buy one or two real estate companies a month

Google is once again making waves about its intentions in online real estate, with an executive of the search giant reportedly saying at a conference last week that they are "actively looking to acquire one to two small real estate companies a month.”

So begins this article from a Seattle based news source.

The conference was the prestigious "Real estate connect" gathering in New York and the speaker who reportedly made the comment was Sam Sebastian who works for Google as a director of their Local & B2B markets in Chicago.

One to two real estate companies a month eh....they don't do things by halves and if it's true then expect to see a global feeding frenzy. 

Stick the kettle on, grab yourself a cup of coffee and some chocolate biscuits, settle back and enjoy the show.

www.cognacproperty.com

Guest blog: Sarah Beeny

My Top Tips – Selling in 2010 – Sarah Beeny – Tepilo.com

Happy New Year!

I was flattered to be asked to write a few tips for selling your property in 2010. Here goes with a few ideas on how to sell in the current market.

• Be realistic on price - As a general rule everything has a price - the chances are if you have not had any viewers or had viewers but no offers, it's probably on for too much money.

• Clean the whole house - If you smoke, stop smoking inside and clean all ashtrays - if you have pets, wash their beds. Pet and cigarette odour are the two smells that come up most often in ‘put off' smells list.

• De-clutter - As if you haven’t heard it before, but use this as the perfect moment to move the piles of stuff you don't use to a charity shop.

• Don’t wait to get your house on the market - Traditionally there are busier and quieter times of the year for house selling. These are based on what much of the population is doing. If now is the right time in your life to sell, get on with it asap. If the market falls lower by the ‘suitable time economically' you will kick yourself.

Best Wishes,


Sarah x

www.cognacproperty.com

France tops quality of life index for 5th year running

International Living magazine have just published their annual "Quality of Life" index. Here's what they say about the number one place in the world to live:

For the fifth year running, France takes first in our annual Quality of Life Index. No surprise. Its tiresome bureaucracy and high taxes are outweighed by an unsurpassable quality of life, including the world's best health care.

France always nets high scores in most categories. But you don't need number-crunchers to tell you its bon vivant lifestyle is special. Step off a plane and you'll experience it first-hand.

They weight their findings in the following way:

• cost of living (15%)
• culture & leisure (10%)
• economy (15%)
• environment (10%)
• freedom (10%)
• health (10%)
• infrastructure (10%)
• safety/risk (10%)
• climate (10%)

So there's no excuse at all for not taking the plunge and making 2010 the year that you buy a house over here and turn your dreams into reality.

www.cognacproperty.com