Buying a House in France & Learning French

Buying a holiday home in France is still very affordable despite the house price inflation of recent years.

Since 1995, French house prices have risen by 210%.
French property construction dropped 15.1% in February and house prices dropped by 0.6% in France in January.
(Source: Article in the Daily Telegraph by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard.)

As the ripples from the crisis in the sub-prime market in the U.S. spread round the world there is a possibility that house prices in Europe could be affected with France's OFCE research institute estimating that houses in France are 25% overvalued.
It has been reported that average house prices in France fell by 0.9% in the third quarter of 2007, (source, The Daily Telegraph).

With prices potentially beginning to fall, now could be an ideal time to start looking for your holiday home in France.

French estate agents are called agents immobilier and it is usual in France for the buyer not the seller to pay their fees.
Their fees are quite often included in the advertised price of the property, and when that is the case the price will have the letters F.A.I. afterwards.

The price that is displayed in the immobilier's window is not necessarily the price!
It is common for the vendor to have indicated to the immobilier a minimum price he is prepared to accept. If the property has been on the market for some time without selling, you could offer that price so always ask the immoblier what the minimum price is.

The person who handles the legal side and the contracts is called a Notaire.
As with the immoblier it is usual for the buyer to pay the Notaire's fees.
The notaire, who is appointed by the seller or the immoblier, should be impartial between the buyer and the seller representing as he does the French Government.
If you wish to appoint your own Notaire however, you are allowed to do so and the two notaires should split the work and the fees.

French buyers, if they require a survey on a property, will commission a registered builder to prepare a report for them. If you would prefer to have a Surveyor's report, there are now numerous British Surveyors working in France. You should be able to find one in the area of France that you are interested in through your favourite search engine.

When the time comes to transfer your funds to France, you could save thousands of £/$ by using a foreign exchange company rather than a high street bank. They generally charge less commission and give you a better exchange rate on your money.

Whether you are learning French from scratch or trying to improve your French language skills, there are some excellent books available to help you out.
Local second hand bookshops are a good starting point. One book that I picked up from that source is 'Hugo's French self tuition in three months.' This is a very helpful book for beginners and one that I found so useful that I now have two copies, one at home in England, and the other in France.
I've added some more in the list below: