Buying property in Megève from abroad

The difficulty of buying in Megève from abroad is never the law: no nationality or residency condition applies to buying in France. The difficulty is the sorting: how to buy a house in Megève you have not visited, in a village where two neighbouring chalets may not belong to the same market, depending on the slope, the exposure, the walking distance to the centre and what the land still allows.

That is the work of Home Select, which works for the buyer alone. The search is steered by Home Select’s management; the brief is set by video call or by telephone. Each property is qualified on documents: diagnostics, risk report, planning rules, co-ownership for an apartment, the seller’s situation. Pre-viewings are done on video, steered by Home Select with the seller’s agent, window by window and at the hour of the winter sun. The price is checked against comparable DVF sales on the slope. Only the properties that deserve your trip remain: a single journey, grouping the decisive viewings.

Three checks specific to Megève decide a remote purchase. The January sun: in the mountains, exposure is judged in midwinter, and Home Select asks for the sun path at the solstice for every shortlisted property. Ski-in access: at the village’s altitude, snow at the door is never guaranteed all season, and the real return from the slopes is checked on a day of thaw. The land and the building: the planning rules strictly govern roofs, pitches and materials, and an old chalet calls for a serious structural survey; have the works costed before the offer.

The law, for its part, protects the buyer in the same way, French or not. The diagnostics, energy rating, asbestos, lead, electricity, gas, risk report, are the seller’s responsibility. An offer to purchase comes with no payment: an offer accompanied by a deposit is void. After the sale agreement is signed, you have a ten-day cooling-off period. The taxation of your country of residence, tax treaties and inheritance are matters for the notary and a tax adviser: another trade, which Home Select does not mix with the search.

Megève has two peaks, winter with the festive season and February first, summer in July and August. Transactions concentrate in spring and autumn, better suited to viewings, and most of the fine sales happen without a listing, between families, notaires and concierges. Many of the homes for sale in Megève that matter never reach the portals: Home Select receives more than 100 off-market properties every day, monitors 1,700 listing sites and relies on a network of 15,000 partners to see them before they are published, if they ever are.

For a remote buyer, the sequence is prepared in reverse: brief and financing in winter, shortlist in spring, decisive trip set on your criterion, winter for the sun and ski-in access, the off-season for calm and access, signing by power of attorney if you do not return. Home Select charges its fees 100% on success, nothing is owed before the deed: the Exclusive offer at 2.5% incl. VAT of the net seller price, minimum €10,000 incl. VAT, or, for a project of €2m and above, the Confidential offer at 1.5% incl. VAT of the net seller price, with the same full service and off-market properties only.