How to choose a property finder in France: the criteria of a reputable firm

What makes a good property finder?

A good property finder, also called a buying agent or property search agent in France, is a professional mandated by you alone, who covers the whole market, limits your viewings to the few that count, negotiates for you and secures the purchase through to the deed, within a legal framework you can verify. The trade is described in the definition of a property finder; this guide teaches you to recognise a good one.

“Property finder” (chasseur immobilier) is not a protected title: it is the activity that is regulated. The Loi Hoguet of 2 January 1970 expressly lists the search for property (“la recherche”) among the operations it governs. A professional who searches and negotiates for buyers must therefore practise under a professional licence and comply with the code of conduct for property professionals (decree of 28 August 2015). Beyond that framework, four qualities make the difference:

• Loyalty: paid by the buyer, the finder defends the buyer alone, with no commission from the seller and no sales mandate on the properties presented.
• Access: published listings, the professional network and properties sold without being advertised.
• The filter: the finder rules properties out on the documents and on video, so that you view only the essentials.
• Security: a price tested against actual sales, diagnostic reports and co-ownership files examined, the preliminary sale agreement (compromis de vente) reviewed.

There is no “best property finder in France” in absolute terms: the best one for you meets this grid on your market, for your type of property and within your budget. If you are still weighing up a property finder against an estate agent, start there: the two do not serve the same client.

What legal framework should you check before signing?

Four points come first: the professional licence, professional indemnity insurance, the written search mandate and the absence of any sum demanded before the purchase.

The most telling point is also the simplest: no money before the purchase. Article 6 of the Loi Hoguet prohibits the professional from demanding or accepting anything, whether as fees or as search costs, before the transaction has actually been concluded.

Membership of the FCI (Fédération des Chasseurs Immobiliers) is a voluntary commitment, not a legal requirement. The questions a firm asks about the origin of your funds, on the other hand, stem from its anti-money-laundering obligations: a sign of seriousness, not of distrust.

Does the property finder really know your market?

Knowledge of a market shows in figures: a reputable property finder quotes the prices actually paid in your town or city, places exceptional properties against the median and knows how many sales serve as comparables.

The reference is the DVF database (demandes de valeurs foncières), which records the property sales published by the French tax authority; it shows why a median is not enough. In Biarritz, the median for houses stands at €7,900/m², yet a tenth of house sales close above €14,200/m² (DVF / DGFiP via data.gouv.fr, April 2026 release, 2025 sales). On the Aix-en-Provence market, eight house sales in ten fall between €2,200/m² and €8,600/m²: a quiet bastide (Provençal country house) and a house on a housing development cannot be compared. These medians and deciles are published as open data.

The depth of the market matters too: the database records 4,820 sales of apartments and houses in Bordeaux in 2025, 328 in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, and on a small market every comparable carries real weight. The type of property matters just as much: searching for a villa in Biarritz or buying a house in Aix-en-Provence calls on neither the same networks nor the same checks as a city-centre apartment.

How do you judge a property finder’s access to off-market properties?

Almost every property finder claims access to off-market properties; the difference shows in the method: where the properties come from, how many arrive and at what point they are offered to you. An off-market property is sold without a public listing, whether out of discretion, because of an inheritance or simply at the owner’s choice. Four questions are enough to judge a network:

• How many off-market properties did you receive last month, for a budget and an area comparable to mine?
• Through which channels: agencies, notaires (the public officers who draw up the deed), managing agents (syndics), wealth managers, direct prospecting?
• What share of your recent purchases closed without a listing?
• How do you protect confidentiality, the seller’s as well as mine?

Unless you have explicitly chosen an entirely confidential search, a property finder should also cover published listings: the property that suits you may have been listed only the day before. The guide to buying an off-market property explains how it works.

What method and what reporting should you insist on?

A good method shows in its paperwork: a written brief at the start, an analysis sheet for every property proposed and a regular update on the search. Without anything in writing, you can judge neither the work done nor the work that remains.

The brief sets the full budget, including acquisition costs (commonly called “notary fees”: around 7 to 8% of the price on existing homes, 2 to 3% on new-build homes, to be estimated with the notary fees calculator), the areas, the essential criteria, the timetable and the financing. For every property shortlisted, the analysis sheet should say what a listing leaves out:

• the price against neighbouring sales, and the estimated room for negotiation;
• the condition of the property and any works to plan for;
• the diagnostic reports, the risk report and, in a co-ownership, the service charges, the works already voted and any proceedings under way;
• the planning rules and the easements that matter for your project;
• a commented video, which shows what photographs leave out: overlooking neighbours, the surroundings, access.

A simple indicator of a method’s quality is the number of viewings it asks of you: a property finder who filters well has you view few properties. Also ask who will coordinate the notaire, the mortgage broker and the diagnostic inspectors through to the deed: the steps of buying a property in France show everything that still has to be secured after the offer. Home Select’s six-step method gives a written example.

How much do property finder fees cost in France, and how do you compare them?

In France, a property finder generally charges a percentage of the purchase price, from 2 to 5% depending on the firm, most often due on success only. To compare, convert every offer into an amount in euros, at your budget, on the same basis, minimum and taxes included.

Take an illustrative case: a property bought at an asking price of €1,040,000, agency commission of €40,000 included, that is €1,000,000 net purchase price (the price paid to the seller, excluding the agency commission). At 2.5% incl. VAT, the fees come to €26,000 calculated on the asking price, €25,000 on the net purchase price. At the same rate, with a minimum of €10,000 incl. VAT, a purchase at €300,000 net purchase price costs €10,000 in fees, about 3.3%: up to €400,000 net purchase price, it is the minimum that sets the price. Finally, a rate quoted excluding VAT costs 20% more once VAT applies: 3% excl. VAT is 3.6% incl. VAT.

Also ask who pays the property finder, property by property: some are paid by the seller’s agency, which shares its commission with them, and that raises a question of loyalty when it comes to negotiating. Home Select’s fees give an example of a published scale; the comparison of luxury property finders, published by Home Select, sets out the public facts about the prestige firms on a single grid, its own included.

Exclusive or non-exclusive mandate: which should you sign?

An exclusive mandate entrusts your search to a single firm for its duration; a non-exclusive mandate (mandat simple) leaves you free to search elsewhere. Neither is better by nature: everything depends on the term, the way out and the firm’s commitments.

Exclusivity is justified when it buys a written commitment: a search plan, a rhythm of proposals, a named point of contact. The Loi Hoguet points the same way: an exclusive mandate must specify the actions the professional undertakes to carry out and how they will report on them to you, at a frequency agreed between you. On the market, terms run from a few months to a year, sometimes with tacit renewal, and some mandates include an initial period during which termination is not possible. Before signing, read:

• the term, the method of renewal and the notice period for termination;
• the exclusivity clause and any penalty clause, which must be expressly stipulated in the mandate, in very conspicuous type (decree of 20 July 1972);
• the scope: areas, type of property, budget;
• the remuneration, its basis, who owes it and when;
• the clause covering a property presented during the mandate and bought after it has ended.

Signed at a distance or away from the firm’s premises, a mandate also carries a fourteen-day right of withdrawal, provided for by the French Consumer Code. Each clause is discussed in the guide to the property search mandate.

The proof to ask for, and the warning signs

Ask for proof you can verify without the firm, and stop at the first warning sign: money demanded in advance, a licence the firm will not show, off-market access with no method behind it.

Proof you can verify

• The age of the company that will sign the mandate, visible on the commercial register (registre du commerce et des sociétés): an old brand can be carried by a recent company.
• Reviews on a named platform, with their number and their dates.
• Activity figures (average timeframe, average negotiation, buyers guided) and the number of cases they are drawn from: these are generally self-declared and unaudited.
• Two recent clients in your segment, whom you can contact with their consent.

Warning signs

• An “official ranking” or a label presented as a certification.
• File fees, a deposit or a subscription demanded before any result.
• A licence number refused, or a licence in the name of a different company from the one on the mandate.
• A percentage with no amount in euros at your budget, no minimum and no stated basis.
• A promise of off-market access with no named channel and no figure.
• Remuneration coming from the seller or their agency, or a sales mandate held on a property presented to you.
• Pressure to decide quickly, with no analysis sheet and no comparison with neighbouring sales.

The ten questions to ask at the first meeting

Ten questions are enough to tell two firms apart from the first meeting. Note down the answers, then check them against the mandate you are handed.

1. What is your licence number, and which company will sign my mandate?
2. Who will follow my search day to day, and how many cases are they handling at the same time?
3. For my budget, how much will I owe you in euros, on what basis, minimum and bonus included?
4. When are you paid, and what do I owe if nothing comes of the search?
5. How do you cover the market: published listings, network, off-market properties?
6. What will each proposal contain, and how soon will the first ones arrive?
7. Who pre-views the properties, and how many viewings will you ask of me on average?
8. Which sales do you base a price offer on, and who negotiates?
9. How long is the mandate, and how can I get out of it?
10. What do you do between the preliminary sale agreement and the deed, and afterwards?

How Home Select measures up to this grid

Home Select applies the same grid to itself and publishes its answers. Like any firm’s, its activity figures are self-declared; its licence and its Google reviews, however, can be verified without it.

Outside Île-de-France, Home Select’s search is led by its management and draws on the network of professional partners; it is conducted remotely, video viewings included, up to the decisive viewing, which is grouped into a single trip. The pages on the property finder in Lyon or the property finder in Nice, like those on Annecy and Arcachon, describe this arrangement market by market; Home Select’s areas bring them together.

The two offers are detailed on the fees page, the course of the search in the method, step by step, and the off-market-only search on the Confidential offer. The client testimonials, chosen from among the Google reviews, complete the proof.