Useful Addresses

I spent three months searching the Web for properties, using both English and French versions of the sites created by various immobilier (real estate agents). Since there's no such thing in France as an "exclusive listing," in theory nearly all realtors should have the same properties. But they don't. You see a lot of overlap, but you also find unique properties on each site so it is definitely worth searching through various immobilier and forum.

I looked at Provence and the Languedoc Roussillon as a grid and searched area by area between Apt in Provence and Beziers in Languedoc Rousillon. I developed a standard list of key words and searched them in each area or town. You'll need to make your own list, but my search terms included Houses for Sale, Maison a Vendre, Immobilier (with name of city), Real Etate Agent (with name of city), French real estate and Maison de Village (name of city).

It is the subject of some debate whether you get a better deal buying directly from a homeowner or through an agent. If you work through an agent, between the agent fees and the fees charged by the Notaire -- the government officials who preside over property sales -- you pay an average of 8-12 percent more for older properties. (There are special breaks on taxes and fees for properties less than five years old.) You have to pay the notaire no matter what, so with the 3-5 percent agent fees, buying from an individual has real appeal. On the other hand, people selling their own homes often overvalue their properties and can be difficult in negotiations since they have more emotional investment. A good agent can answer questions and save you a lot of wear and tear. But don't forget, they represent the seller, not you, so question absolutely everything you're told and verify everything.

Beside the immobilier sites, I also quickly found other sites that were of great use, including online expatriate forum, online classified and portals, and some newspaper sites. There were sites that contained a huge amount of information on every topic related to buying a home and moving to France and there were even a number of independent Web sites set up by tech-savvy sellers for their own homes.

Here are a few Web addresses that I found useful and may provide a good place to start:

L'Immobilier en Provence CTI, the Website of the realtor who sold me my home, Vincent Dumond
Maison de Provence Immobilier Luberon
Immo30 for the area around Uzes/St. Quentin la Poterie. Agent Eric Bardel is fabulous.
ImmoFrance.com
French-Property.com which contains a great deal of relevant information and a forum
FrenchEntree.com, a portal to real estate listings, great general background and an e-newsletter
Franglo.com, a network of Websites, classifieds (including houses for sale and rent) and a forum for English speakers
Americans in France, a portal to all kinds of information, as well as classified ads
Creme de Languedoc, another portal and great resource with excellent listings by both individuals and agents