You regularly deal with buyers from the UK and Ireland. They tend to ask the same questions: what the notaire fees cover, what a compromis is, how long the cooling-off period lasts, what the DPE rating means. French House Hunt answers those questions in plain English, before they reach your desk.
What your clients find here
French House Hunt is an independent, free guide to the French buying process for English-speaking buyers. We built it after buying a house ourselves in Sainte-Marie-la-Mer, in the Pyrénées-Orientales. The site is not an agency and not a listings portal. It prepares buyers before they contact you and supports them during the transaction.
- The buying process explained: from searching to signing the acte authentique, with the role of each professional (agent, notaire, diagnostiqueur, broker).
- A buying costs calculator: transfer duties, notaire fees, agency fees, so buyers understand the total cost before the first meeting.
- The survey pack explained: DPE, energy audit, asbestos, lead, termites, electricity, gas, drainage, and what the buyer should take away from each report.
- A viewing checklist so practical information (floor area, heating, drainage, taxe foncière) is gathered from the start.
- A Search Helper that turns a buyer’s criteria into searches on French property sites.
- A free PDF buying guide in English, including the post-Brexit rules on stays and residency.
Why point your clients here
A buyer who has read these pages arrives knowing what a compromis is, why the cooling-off period exists and what the fees are. You save time, the buyer feels confident, and the sale moves faster.
We are independent: we don’t sell property, we take no commission on sales, and we never put buyers in touch with professionals without their explicit consent.
A ready-made paragraph for your website
Copy this onto your “international buyers” page. Feel free to adapt it.
French House Hunt explains, step by step and in plain English, how buying a house in France works: costs, the compromis, the cooling-off period, the survey pack and the rules on stays after Brexit. It has a buying costs calculator, a viewing checklist and a free guide. We recommend reading it before our first meeting.
frenchhousehunt.com: the guide to buying a house in France
Short version for a list of links:
For notaires
Your English-speaking clients can read, before their appointment, a plain-English explanation of the compromis de vente, the 10-day cooling-off period, conditions such as the loan condition, and what the purchase costs are made of. We keep the French legal terms and explain them, so clients recognise the words you use. Page to recommend: frenchhousehunt.com/costs.
For mortgage brokers
Buyers from the UK and Ireland rarely know how French lending to non-residents works: the deposit required, borrower insurance, the 35 percent debt-to-income rule, the time it takes, the loan condition in the compromis. We explain these points and tell our readers that a broker who specialises in non-residents saves time. If that is you, we are happy to mention you in our financing content.
For diagnosticians
The dossier de diagnostic technique is rarely read by a buyer who doesn’t read technical French. Our page explains the DPE, the energy audit and the asbestos, lead, termite, electricity, gas and drainage reports in English, and what the buyer should check before signing. You can send clients there together with your report. Page to recommend: frenchhousehunt.com/diagnostics.
For estate agents
We work with one or two agents per département. With the buyer’s explicit consent, they receive the search criteria of our readers in their area. In the Pyrénées-Orientales that is Liam Gall. If you regularly work with English-speaking buyers in another département, get in touch.
Who we are
Marc Roelofs, a marketing specialist with more than thirty years’ experience, and Marieke, owners of a house in Sainte-Marie-la-Mer (66). The site is run from the Netherlands and France. It carries no property advertising and takes no commission on sales. Marc also runs the Dutch-language sister site eenhuiskopeninfrankrijk.nl for buyers from the Netherlands and Belgium.
A question, a correction, or a paragraph you would like adapted for your site: info@frenchhousehunt.com or the contact form. We reply in English, French or Dutch.