Selling your French home? Choose the right sales mandate

When selling your French property through a real estate agent, you’re being offered a choice between simple, semi-exclusive or exclusive sales agreements. What are the differences between these 3 options? In this article you’ll find some concrete information.

Different types of sales agreements

Non-exclusive agency sales agreement:  this is the agreement giving you the most freedom. It can be signed with as many real estate agents as you want as there is no exclusivity attached to it, while leaving you free to try and sell it by yourself in the meantime. The downside of this type of agreement is an overexposure of your property, not always sending the good signal to a potential buyer seeing your property everywhere. On top of it, estate agents tend to advertise more easily properties they have been given with some sort of exclusivity (such as semi-exclusive or exclusive sales mandates)

Exclusive agency sales agreement: This agreement can be signed with only one estate agent, giving him the exclusivity of the sale of your property.  There is a fixed period attached to it, generally 3 months. During that time, you are not allowed to sell the property by yourself. The interesting part of this agreement is the following: as one and only agency has your property on its books, it will most of the time do its best in terms of advertising as well as introducing it in priority to its potential clients in order to sell it during the time of the exclusivity. It results in a better promotion of your property compare to non-exclusive sales agreements. The most important point is to choose carefully the estate agent you’re going to use.

Semi-exclusive agency sales agreement: This one is the same as the exclusive sales agreement, with a major difference: you have the option to sell it directly by yourself. This is the best option for a seller as you get both of best worlds as long as you are ready to spend some money on advertising the property by yourself.

Who’s paying the agency fees?
Most of the times agency fees are being paid by the seller, as he’s the one signing the agreement with the agency. You will need to agree on how much you would like to get from the sale of your property with your agent (this amount is called the “net vendeur”). The agency fees will then be added to the asking price to create what is called “Prix Frais d’Agence Inclus” (Price Including Agency Fees).

What if I manage to sell the property myself?
As long as you haven’t signed an Exclusive agreement, you are entitled to sell the property by yourself. If you manage to do so, you won’t have to pay anything to the estate agent(s) you’ve signed an agreement with. In this case, you will have to let the estate agent(s) know as it would need to be removed from his portfolio.

What about you? Which agreement would you choose when selling your property? Please share your experience and tips with us!

Also if you wish to sell your French property directly with us you can contact us here

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