Paris · Method
Home Select, apartment finder in Paris since 2011, follows the same method for every search: a written brief, a hunt across every source, listings and off-market alike, filmed pre-viewings, then the offer, the negotiation and the review of documents until completion. On average, 45 days separate the written brief from the accepted offer.
A first confidential conversation, with no commitment
01Method
Everything starts with a search mandate, signed before the first viewing: French law, the Hoguet law, requires it of every property professional, and it is what makes your apartment finder your representative, on the buyer’s side only. Home Select never receives a commission from a seller: its only interest is that you buy the right apartment, at the right price.
The first meeting sets what listings do not say: how the property will be used, the real budget once notaire costs and any works are counted, the non-negotiable criteria and those that can give, the timing. This written brief becomes the reference for the whole search; it avoids courtesy viewings and makes it possible to decide quickly when the right property appears.
In Paris, this groundwork decides everything. Twenty arrondissements, hundreds of micro-markets, very different co-ownerships behind similar façades: without ranked criteria, a buyer views everything and decides nothing.
02Method
Once the mandate is signed, the first proposals arrive within 48 hours. They come from three sources: listings, monitored continuously on 1,700 websites; the network of 15,000 agents, notaires and building managers, which brings up more than 100 off-market properties every day; and early releases, apartments an agency entrusts to a finder it knows before publishing them.
Each lead is qualified on file before any viewing: legal floor area, floor and lift, aspect, service charges, condition of the building, comparable sales in the street. Many listings that seemed to match the brief fall at this stage, and that is a good thing: each one is a Saturday saved.
The shortlisted properties are then pre-viewed by your apartment finder, filmed and commented, with an analysis sheet: what appeals, what worries, what the price should reflect. You only travel for those that live up to their promise, three on average before buying, against more than forty viewings for a buyer on their own.
03Method
When the right apartment appears, speed counts as much as price. Home Select prepares a written offer, argued with comparable sales, and defends it with the seller and their agent; on contested properties, a solid financing plan often weighs more than outbidding.
This is the end of the search as Home Select defines it: 45 days on average after the written brief, with an average negotiation of 6% off the seller’s price.
It is usually signed in the following weeks, after reviewing the surveys, the co-ownership rules and the minutes of general meetings. The buyer then has a ten-day cooling-off period.
The loan condition protects the buyer: if the bank refuses the loan within the agreed period, the deposit is returned.
It is usually signed two to three months after the preliminary agreement, the time needed for planning documents, pre-emption checks and financing. That is the day Home Select’s fees become due, and not before.
04Method
Co-ownership first: a Haussmann building can hide an imminent façade renovation, a roof to redo or a building in dispute, which only the minutes of the latest general meetings reveal. Your apartment finder reads them before the offer, not after, and the works to plan for are costed by an architect or a contractor before you commit.
Noise and light next, which can only be judged at certain hours: a street that is quiet at noon may come alive at night, a living room bright in June may be dark in November. A second viewing at another time of day removes the doubt before signing.
Speed, finally: correctly priced apartments go within days, especially in spring. A buyer whose brief is written, whose financing is prepared and whose finder is already on site can decide within twenty-four hours, without rushing. And half of Home Select’s clients live abroad or are returning from abroad: filmed pre-viewings and a team working in six languages make a remote search possible.
An apartment finder answers within one working day. A first confidential conversation, with no commitment.
On the ground
On this market, a share of the sought-after properties sells before publication, between families and through notaires and local networks. Home Select receives more than 100 off-market properties every day from its network of 15,000 partners.
Every lead is verified and priced for you before you travel, on file then on a video viewing: you view only the shortlisted properties, your decisive viewings grouped into a single trip. Home Select then defends your offer, with a complete file and the actual sales of the area in hand.
Surveys, co-ownership rules, easements, local building specifics: every document is checked before you commit.
Both are billed only if the property is found and the purchase completed. On top comes 10% of the negotiated reduction: Home Select is also paid on what you save.
Exclusive search mandate
2.5% of the net purchase price, minimum €10,000 incl. VAT + 10% of the negotiated reduction
The full service, for every budget: brief, sourcing, off-market, pre-visits, negotiation and follow-through to the notary signing.
The Exclusive offer
Simple search mandate
1.5% of the net purchase price, projects from €2M + 10% of the negotiated reduction
The very same full service, on a selection made exclusively of off-market properties. For buyers who never want to see their search on a portal.
The Confidential offerIn the same dossier
The whole city: Apartment finder in Paris
Read next: How much does an apartment finder cost in Paris?Buying an off-market apartment in Paris Method
Frequently asked questions
Home Select completes its searches in 45 days on average, from the written brief to the accepted offer. Then come the preliminary agreement and the final deed, usually two to three months later: the keys therefore arrive a few months after the offer.
No. Filmed pre-viewings and analysis sheets make it possible to shortlist remotely; you only travel for the decisive viewings. Half of Home Select’s clients live abroad or are returning from abroad, and the team works in six languages.
They replace neither your bank nor your broker, but they take financing into account: the offer rests on a credible financing plan, and the preliminary agreement includes the loan condition that protects the buyer.
Yes. The mandate runs for twelve months at most, renewed month by month, and can be terminated at any time with seven days’ notice. Nothing is due if you do not buy a property presented by Home Select.
How the property will be used, main home, pied-à-terre or family apartment, the real budget including costs, the size and number of rooms, the districts accepted and those that are not, the floor, the outdoor space, the condition accepted, the timing. It is written down, reviewed with you, and serves as the reference for every proposal.
Three on average for Home Select’s clients, around fifteen hours in total, against more than forty viewings and nearly 150 hours for a search carried out alone. The sorting happens beforehand, on file and in filmed pre-viewings.
Home Select, an apartment finder in Paris, charges 2.5% of the net purchase price (minimum €10,000 incl. VAT) on the Exclusive offer, or 1.5% on the Confidential offer for projects of €2m and above, plus 10% of the negotiated reduction in both cases. Home Select is paid on success only, and also on what you save: nothing is due until you have bought.
What happens next
A first confidential conversation, with no commitment. A buyer’s agent answers within one working day.
It takes 1 minute.
You arrived through one of Home Select’s ads or campaigns.Ad measurement. Do you agree to Home Select measuring how well it works? Home Select will know which campaign brought you here and, if you get in touch, the ad platform will only learn that its ad worked, without receiving your contact details.Do you agree to Home Select measuring how well its ads work? If you arrive through one of them, Home Select will know which one and, if you get in touch, the ad platform will only learn that its ad worked, without receiving your contact details. Learn more Your current choice: .
