44 LEGGETTFRANCE.COM
Joanna Leggett is one of the foremost experts in marketing
French property, appearing on TV and in the press regularly.
Here she gives her top tips on how to get the best price for your
French home.
1. Get your pricing right
We're in our 21st year of doing
this, and I am yet to hear of a
vendor who doesn't have an
inflated idea of the value of his
property, it's human nature! We
invest so much in turning our
house into our home, that it's
difficult to reconcile that the
buyer looks at it through different eyes.
He doesn't care what
we bought it for, nor how much
we have spent on renovations,
refurbishment or simple decoration. He couldn't
give two hoots
that the paint came from Farrow
& Ball, nor that the doors are
made out of Limousin oak and
were created by a famous local
artisan. No, your buyer will look
at what he sees as comparable
properties and will be checking
to see if your's is competitively
priced. Therefore my advice is to
have a detailed discussion with
your agent before listing your
house. Ask them what price similar properties are selling for
(not what their "window price"
is) and take their advice.
2. First impressions count
Don't just take my word for it.
A study, by scientists at Princeton
University, showed that first impressions
of people are made
in just one-tenth of a second
and it's pretty likely that it's
the same for a house. What this
means in practice is that you
need to move cars, bicycles,
stray caravans and general clutter.
Keep barking dogs at bay.
If you have a front garden then
make it as colourful and attractive
as possible, planters with
fresh flowers pay for themselves
a hundred times over if you're
trying to sell. Paint your front
door. It always helps to physically stand
in the area that your
buyer will first see the house
and take a look through a fresh
pair of eyes. Is this "first impresT
HE VERY FIRST THING
I will say is "appoint
Leggett Immobillier",
if you give us an exclusive
mandate then all
the better! I am biased of course,
but I genuinely believe that our
marketing to domestic and international buyers
is unrivalled.
Each year, we spend almost 2m
euros promoting our listings
on TV, magazines, newspapers,
portals, exhibitions and via the
internet. We have a database of
over 50,000 registered buyers
and last year our marketing activity generated
130,000 different enquiries.
So, on the assumption that
you have chosen a good agent,
what else can you do to make
your property stand out from
the crowd? After all, there were
almost one million properties
sold in France last year so the
competition is fierce. Here are
my six top tips:
SELLING YOUR
FRENCH PROPERTY
EXPERT ADVICE LEGGETT MAGAZINE
PHOTOS : C MOINGEON