Sunday, July 15, 2012
Welcome to our Newest Advertiser
If you’ve
ever hunted for a home in a foreign country—or are looking for one now--you
know how time consuming it can be.
You spend
hours on the internet, squinting at photos and watching bad videos, trying to
determine if ‘’lush country setting’’ means 20 miles from the closest grocery
with high-speed internet coming ‘’soon.’’
You study
the windows of all the local realtors, only to find that the perfect house in
the photo was unfortunately—dommage!--just sold.
You make
appointments with realtors who tell you that what you’re looking for simply
does not exist. And when they do have a listing with
potential, the owner will have just left for Paris with the only set of keys.
Or be caught up in messy divorce proceedings pour le moment. Or be
at beach with her children until we-don’t-know-when. Or actually isn’t quite
certain that she wants to sell after all.
If you do
find the house of your dreams, you’ll be encouraged to decide quickly because
someone else is this close to making an offer.
Then when it
comes to mortgages, taxes, property laws and such, you’ll get loads of
well-meaning advice from friends and experts...and just as much advice that
contradicts it.
Everyone I
know who has bought real estate in a foreign country
reports that these scenarios tend to be the rule rather than the
exception. And still so many people, myself included, feel it’s one of the best
things they’ve ever done. But if you’re thinking of buying abroad, wouldn’t it
be incredibly helpful to have someone on the ground to help? Ah, but you
do: Tim Swannie, Francois-Xavier de Vial and
the gang at Home Hunts.
Home Hunts is a buyers’ agent specializing in finding luxury homes and investment
properties in France, Monaco, Geneva, London and New York. They work at
no cost to the buyer.
‘’We’re a
registered realtor (immobilier) with all the relevant insurance but we don’t
act like a traditional estate agent,’’ explains Home Hunts’ director Tim
Swannie, who founded the company in 2005 with partner Francois-Xavier de
Vial. ‘’You tell us what you want and we go out and find it.’’
Home
Hunts collaborates with all of the
best selling
agents, notaires and developers to search the entire market on your behalf.
They also periodically work with private owners to handle direct sales. ‘’As
we’ve become more well known--our website now gets 220,000 hits per month--we
do get owners who ask us for help selling their house,’’ Tim explains. ‘’And if
it’s a good property at a good price we’ll take it. But our focus is very much
the buyer.’’
Tim has vast industry experience, having worked in property and recruitment
throughout Europe, particularly in the UK, France and Benelux. (He hails from Harrogate,
Yorkshire, in the North of England.) A
frequent visitor to the French Riviera over the years, he moved here
permanently in 2004 and is currently based in the Cannes area, although he
continues to travel extensively.
Francois–Xavier, meanwhile, was brought up in Paris. His
international sales and marketing career has taken him to more than 100
countries...but his love of Provence finally drew him to Marseille, where he
settled with his family in 2002. He worked for an English-based estate agency
here in the South of France for several years before he and Tim saw a niche in
the marketplace and set out to fill it.
‘’We really
saw how we could help overseas buyers,’’ Tim says,
‘’and act as their eyes and ears on the ground in France.’’
While Home Hunts’ head office is in Marseille, the company has a team of 30
multi-lingual, international property specialists, each of whom oversees a
specific region. New clients who contact the firm are immediately
directed to the specialist in their geographic area of interest. ‘’Not only are
our consultants residents of the countries we operate in,’’ Tim says, ‘’but
they have outstanding local knowledge and strong associations with the best
partner agencies, developers and private sellers in those areas.’’
Asa rule,
Home Hunts clients tend to be heavily European (British, Scandinavian, Dutch,
Swiss, German, etc.) and Americans figure prominently as well. On the
Riviera and in Paris in particular, lots of clients right now are
coming from Russia, China and the Middle East.
Because so
many of their buyers are international, Home Hunts will do whatever they can to
make the process easy: airport pickups, hotel booking, driving clients around
to see properties and more.
Home Hunts will also make recommendations for specialists to help with finance, tax and legal
issues. They’ll negotiate on your behalf to ensure you get the best
possible deal and assist you throughout the entire buying process. Once the
sale has gone through, they offer ongoing support with everything from
home improvements to rentals.
As a rule,
Home Hunts work with buyers looking to spend €1 million or more on the Riviera
and €750,000 in Provence. ‘’When we do get inquiries at lower prices,’’ Tim
says, ‘’we refer them to other companies and agents that specializes in that
price range. We’ll pass you to someone who speaks your language and specializes
in the type of property you want.’’
So what’s
hot right now in Provence? Home Hunts Provence manager Nicola
Christinger-Grant says that the village of Uzes--which is not, strictly
speaking, in Provence but rather in the Gard Provencal--is definitely her #1
undiscovered up-and-coming location. ‘’We have buyers from all over showing
interest there at the moment,’’ she reports. ‘’Uzes is situated with Nimes to the south,
Avignon to the East and the Cevennes mountains to the north/west. It offers a
fabulous mix of countryside and deep gorges, with the river Gardon skirting
through many neighbouring villages. Like St Remy de Provence, the main town
center has a circular boulevard lined with shops. And nestled inside is the
main square, Place aux Herbes, the heart of this chic, honey-colored
town. Architecture and property types here are also interesting, with
farmhouses, village houses, hotel particulier and villas--all
offering excellent value for money.’’
To date,
Home Hunts has successfully sourced more than 300 homes for happy
buyers and is currently negotiating on 14
properties for their clients. ‘’Sometimes the house of
your dreams lands in your lap,’’ Tim says. ‘’More often, it takes extensive
searching—a process that can be long, confusing, frustrating and, if you’re
hunting long distance, even more difficult. We’re here to help.’’
For more info, see the Home Hunts website here. You
can see the different regional offices and meet the team members here. To reach Tim directly, call the
company headquarters at +33 (0)9 70 44 66 43 or email him at tim@home-hunts.com.
Photos: Tim Swannie (left) and
Francois-Xavier de Vial. House photos are as follows:
1. & 2. For sale!
Located in a charming village of Sanilhac, less than ten minutes from Uzes,
this detached house was originally part of a large agricultural domaine. It's
surrounded by vineyards and offers stunning views of Mont Ventoux. The
house has 230 square meters of living space including four bedrooms,
with gardens/grounds of 4800 square meters, a pool, terraced area, outbuildings and numerous trees including olive, apricot, plum,
fig, cherry, quince, apple and pear. Originally dating to the late 19th
century, the property was extended in 1950 and renovated in 2004. Price: €790,000. For info,
click here.
3.
Sold! Home Hunts handled the sale of this six-bedroom waterfront
property on the Cap d'Antibes (French Riviera). Completely renovated
throughout, it has an indoor/outdoor pool, beautiful gardens and access to a
private beach. The family from Geneva that purchased it went on to buy another
property nearby for their staff. It was priced at €19 million.
4.
Sold! This beautifully renovated farmhouse, in a small
village just to the South of Uzes, has five bedrooms, a small stone
outbuilding, well laid out gardens a pool. Priced at €795,000.
5.
& 6. For sale! Located within walking distance to the town
center of Uzes, this beautiful 'maison de maitre' dating to 17th/18th
century was recently reduced in price. It has an olive grove with 60 trees
and grounds of almost 9000 square meters, sitting next to a pretty river which
offers private safe bathing in a natural pool. Original materials and
features (central staircase, stone fireplaces, etc.) have been preserved. A
guest house and several other outbuildings await renovation. Priced at €1.18
million. For info, click here.
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We have bought property in a foreign country, a somewhat third world island in the Atlantic off of the coast of south Florida in the US and our experiences were similar to what you've described. It took ten years to find the perfect spot and along the way, it would have been very easy to give up. Many did.
ReplyDeleteIf we were younger, we would be seeking the help of Tim and Francois-Xavier, as we love your area of Provence. Thanks for sharing this valuable and much needed service Julie. We wish them both great success and I'm sure they will be received well.
Sam
Dear Julie,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your outstanding Blog and for your excellent articles, all highly appreciated.
My wife, Danielle, and I have been traveling through Provence and the Cote d'Azur for the past 30 years, and we have often thought of moving to Aix-en-Provence full time. We will keep you advised on this!
You bring Provence "to life" with your Blogs and articles for which we are all highly appreciative.
Thanks for all you are doing!
All the best from Houston,
Bill Gottfried
Hi Julie, hope all is well in Saint Remy. One thing that is good to realise for Americans and others wishing to buy in Provence is that French estate agents have an agreement (mandate to sell) with their clients, the sellers of houses. They have a portfolio of houses to sell and a duty to sell their clients' properties at the best possible price. Many houses are listed with several agents, but not with all agents and there's no MLS system in France. It is therefore crucial to engage a bi-lingual independent buyer's agent who only works for buyers and does not also sell houses. He or she can search the entire market for you and you'll be certain to have covered all agents, Notaire's and private sales. How do you know a buyer's agent is truly independent and will search the entire market for you (i.e. not only their own portfolio and perhaps one or two other agents)? Firstly, you pay a buyer's agent a success fee, as the buyer's agent does not share fees with seller's agents (there's no such thing as a "free search" . . ) and secondly, look if they have houses for sale. I don't mean a few example houses, but truly a portfolio of houses to sell. If they do, they'll obviously be biased towards their own portfolio. This glaring conflict of interest is not always understood in France. This is why I set up Provence Search. All agents are happy to work with me, as I don't share commission with them, but am paid by my clients. Sophia Mose J.D. LL.M Member of the New York Bar
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