The pandemic of the new coronavirus, the war in Ukraine, and inflation caused Paris real estate prices to rise 7.3% overall in the year to April 2022, but the rate of increase was much lower. By area, the 1st, 4th, and 16th arrondissements saw prices fall between 1.3% and 4.4%.
As I previously mentioned, my family purchased an apartment in the suburbs of Paris. We first visited the planned construction site in mid-May 2020, but due to various circumstances, we did not sign the official contract until August 2021. The scheduled completion date of fall 2021 has since passed, and the price of construction materials has skyrocketed even higher, so although the project is moving forward, it has been a tortoise’s nest. We are now hoping to move in next year.
It was early fall of 2021 when I decided to sell the apartment in the 10th arrondissement of Paris where I still lived. This was because the real estate market in Paris is uncertain and the property I was renting became vacant. I immediately requested assessments from three real estate agencies, and was surprised to find that the difference in assessments was about 800,000 euros, and the difference in commissions was about 15,000 euros, which varied considerably from company to company.
To save on commissions, there are websites such as PAP and leboncoin, which are used by many people to buy and sell between individuals. However, we were concerned about checking documents provided by prospective visitors, coordinating the schedule of visits, communicating the buying and selling process, and handling problems when they arise, so our family decided to hire a real estate agency We decided to ask a real estate company to do it for us.
I could have requested multiple companies, but since it would have been difficult to communicate with them and they all list their properties on major real estate portals such as SeLoger and Bien’ici, I decided to request Liberkeys, the company with the lowest commission, out of the three companies that provided assessments and see how it goes. In the last few years, several real estate companies with low commissions like this have emerged and become popular. Although I was a little apprehensive at first, I was generally satisfied with the results.
As soon as we decided on the project, a professional photographer came to take photos for a 3D walk-through, or a simulated tour of the property, as if we were actually looking around the property.
Preparations proceeded quickly and smoothly, and the information was posted on the website in October 2021. I was excited to see what kind of people would come to visit! But in reality, very few requests for tours came in. Even when we lowered the price a little, only one or two couples a week would come. There were people interested but no offers, and once Christmas came when the market didn’t move, we stopped listing.
As the year 2022 dawned, February came and went without much activity after we resumed listing. Even though I did not want to sell in a hurry, I was indeed getting anxious. So I went to talk to another real estate company, and the person in charge there told me
If the price is even a little higher than the market rate, it is no longer selling. The price my family is offering is still too high.
Buyers are often from the same family structure as the residents, i.e., in the case of our house, only a couple, so we value visits from these people.
The decision is made when about 10 groups of visitors arrive on average.
I bought the apartment I was trying to sell from him. I bought the apartment I was trying to sell from him, and I knew he was a very capable person with a bright and trustworthy personality, a precise approach to networking based on his many years of experience, and a generous follow-up with both sellers and buyers. The only thing is that his commission is 4 times higher than Liberkeys! But I had no other choice, so I thought I would ask for this one: …….
But then a couple of saviors showed up! They loved the apartment so much that they made an offer to buy it right after the tour! And they didn’t even have to haggle for a discount, which is usually the case. I was amazed at how easily they made a decision after such a long period of inactivity.
Soon after that, both the seller and the buyer went together to the notary to sign a provisional contract, and then the formal contract was signed again at the notary’s office at the end of April. The Liberkeys representative said that although it took some time for the buyer to be selected, the process from then to the conclusion of the contract was quite fast. Normally it takes about three months, he said.
However, there were many minor hiccups, such as not having all the necessary documents with both houses and a water leak from the upper floor, so I was truly relieved when the contract was successfully signed!
The buyer is, as the second real estate agent said, a newly married African couple in their 30s with the same family structure as ours. They have very little down payment and the loan term is 25 years, the longest they can get in France right now. They said that the interest rate was very good, and they probably plan to move when they have children or something, but even though the husband works for a major French bank, it is quite a challenge for our family, which is on a solid track. I know it’s a big favor, but I handed over the key to the couple, wishing them a lot of happiness and no payment problems in the future.
I bought the apartment I sold this time in 2014, so the price has increased by about 170,000 euros in 8 years. However, if you exclude the cost of remodeling the interior of the apartment, maintenance and repair of the entire building, and other expenses, it is not nearly a pure “profit”, but more like living in the apartment for free for 9 years.
Thus, all the procedures for buying and selling were successfully completed. After that, I moved back to a small apartment in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris, where I used to live for a while and rented it out. It too was rickety here and there, so we had to do quite a bit of remodeling, but we are now able to live comfortably, albeit in a small space, so we are waiting patiently for a new apartment in the suburbs to be completed here.
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