Buying property in Saint-Raphaël from abroad

Outside Île-de-France, Home Select runs the search directly from its management, with its network of 15,000 partners. The brief is drawn up by video call or by phone. Home Select monitors 1,700 listing sites and receives more than 100 off-market properties every day; each shortlisted property is vetted on documents: diagnostics, plans, co-ownership minutes, planning rules and, in the Estérel, brush clearance and fire risk.

Then comes the video pre-viewing, steered by Home Select with the seller’s agent: the rooms, the view from the windows, the common areas, the access, everything the listing does not show. Each property presented comes with its written file and its comparable sales. The asking price is tested against the sales registered in the area, then Home Select negotiates, secures the preliminary contract and coordinates the notary through to the deed.

The only trip the method requires is the one for the decisive viewings, grouped into a single visit and organised by Home Select with the sellers’ agents. It is best scheduled in spring or early autumn, as summer makes viewings difficult. Prepare it as a decision day: files read, remaining questions listed and, if possible, a second look at the favourite property at another time of day. On site, you judge what no video fully replaces: the light, the noise, the neighbourhood, the slope of an access.

The offer is made in writing, with no payment of any kind: in France, a purchase offer accompanied by a payment is void. Once the offer is accepted come the preliminary contract, then the authentic deed at the notary’s, which Home Select coordinates. A notarial power of attorney allows you to sign without coming back; the notary prepares the documents of a buyer living abroad in advance.

France imposes no nationality or residency condition on the buyer of a property: a foreign buyer purchases in Saint-Raphaël on the same terms as a French one. The difficulty of a remote purchase is logistical, never legal, and that is what the Home Select method takes charge of.

Other questions belong to other trades. The taxation of your country of residence, the way the property is held and inheritance are dealt with by your notary and a tax adviser, preferably before the offer. Financing from abroad is prepared with your bank. The notary will also ask for your civil status and, if you are married, your matrimonial regime: for a couple married abroad, it is best established early. Home Select does not mix these subjects with the search: its role is to find the right property, secure it at the right price and make the purchase safe through to the deed.