1. Property hunting – Acquisitions

What is a property hunter?

A real estate or property hunter is a person who will search for real estate on behalf of his client, who will accompany him throughout the different stages of the acquisition process, who will control everything, follow, organise, until the signature final, always having in mind to defend the interests of its client: the buyer.

Property hunting is the founding profession of FRH.

The implementation of this service was born from a simple observation: unlike other countries in Northern Europe or the United States, in France, the buyer is completely neglected by the

real estate agencies preferring to devote themselves to the search for sales mandates and more particularly defending the interests of sellers.

We wanted to correct this and offer a real support service to buyers to respond to the following frustrations:

• I’m not there
• I don’t know the territory
• I do not have time
• I don’t speak the language
• I don’t know the market prices
• I’m afraid of being fooled
• I’m afraid of buying too much
• I can’t evaluate the goods
• I’m lost in the middle of all these announcements
• The real estate agencies do not call me back
• I want to deal with a single interlocutor
• I have specific demands

Most foreign customers from the above-mentioned countries are completely confused by the complexity of the French system which does not offer a “buyer’s agent”.

It is this service, complemented by other services of our creation, that we want to provide to these customers. Our service is also aimed at French customers, because for them too, support from traditional agencies is minimal.

We found that French customers, once reassured about the non-existence of additional costs, also tended to appreciate having to deal with a single contact for their research.

What are the steps of a typical FRH property hunting mission?

1 – We validate the real estate project with the client.

Live or by video, the first interview should allow you to understand your project, your needs, your tastes and your expectations.

We define with him the search criteria (location, type of house, size, etc.) as well as the overall budget including notary fees, commission, etc., and we ensure his solvency.

Once all these criteria have been reviewed, if the project seems consistent with the market, we proceed to the signature of a research mandate, always exclusive.

2 – We search properties that meet the criteria and demands of our client

We only select the properties corresponding to the criteria established with the client, we carry out the pre-visits, send complete reports with our own photos if necessary, videos and aerial view if necessary.

The primary objective is to avoid an unnecessary visit to our client by having detected the pitfalls upstream, during the qualification of the property, with the professional or the seller.

Research is carried out on all possible prescribers: agencies, individuals, notaries, lawyers, property and off-market dealers.

3 – Visit selected properties

After having validated together the properties that the client wishes to visit, we organize the visits with them, live or by video.

During visits, our expertise allows us to advise our clients on the work to be considered, a layout that they would not have considered, etc., and as we have pre-visited the house, we have what to focus on and the specificities. to be checked in a house, an apartment, within a condominium, a location, and a neighbourhood.

If the client positions himself on a property, we will conduct the negotiations in the interest of our client and will write him a very complete offer model that the client only has to sign and send to the agency. or individual seller.

4 – Guidance until the end

This support consists of carrying out all the steps necessary for the smooth running of the acquisition, including the steps with the trustee, the mandatory technical diagnoses, the control of the house, septic tank, etc., putting you in touch with all the useful service providers ( credit brokers, construction companies, removals insurance, etc.).

5 – Signature

Our support is provided until the signing of the final deed with the explanation of all legal documents, translation assistance if necessary (with sworn translators), drafting of model letters, etc.

At no time should our clients or buyers feel alone when faced with the various interlocutors of a project.

Chronological order of an acquisition research mission

1 – 2 hours:

• Project definition interview
• Research mandate

1 – 2 months:

• First selection of properties online
• Share pre-selection with client
• Visit selected properties without client
• Send video and visit report to client
• Visit properties with client
• Inspection *risk zone etc.)
• Negotiation
• Bring out offer
• Acceptance offer

15 days:

• Validate information and history
• Assistance preliminary sales agreement
• Sign “compromis de vente”

2 – 3 months:

• Assistance financing, paperwork
• Assistance house inspection etc.
• Deed signing assistance
• Signature of the deed

2 – 3 days:

• Help with moving in (contracts, providers)
• Champagne and gift
• Collect testimonial client

Reduced fees

Our fees are only due if the mission is successful. There are two scenarios:

1. If we find the property with a collaborating real estate agency, we do not take any additional fees. We share the commission of the vengeful agency up to 40% or 50% depending on the case.

The client therefore has no additional fees to pay for us to put ourselves in his place to do his research.

These exceptions are mentioned in the mandate but not in our communication.

2. In the event that we can buy the house from an individual, we apply fees of 3.6% including tax of the net selling price excluding the notary. This has a double advantage: we do not take any fees from the seller, which facilitates the commercial approach and we only take a reduced commission from the customer.

The objective of this pricing is to have a powerful marketing argument in terms of price and to make the customer understand that he is not going to overpay for our service.

Our fees include all the assistance mentioned above, plus assistance with the transfer of electricity, water and internet contracts.