Property finder or estate agent: what is the difference, and who pays what?

What is the difference between a property finder and an estate agent?

The difference lies in the mandate: an estate agent is mandated by the seller to sell their property, a property finder by the buyer to find, check and negotiate theirs. Same law, same professional card; opposite client, therefore opposite loyalty.

The sales mandate binds the agent to the owner: to sell the property at the price and on the terms agreed with them. The search mandate binds the finder to the buyer: to look for the property that meets a written brief, within a defined budget, then negotiate it at the right price. One is paid for a completed sale, the other for a successful purchase.

The same legal framework

Agents and finders both practise under the Loi Hoguet (law no. 70-9 of 2 January 1970) and its decree of 20 July 1972: a carte T professional card, issued by the chamber of commerce and industry (CCI) since 2015, professional liability insurance, a prior written mandate, every mandate entered in the mandate register, and no money collected before the transaction is concluded. Both answer to the same code of conduct, set by decree no. 2015-1090 of 28 August 2015.

A property finder is therefore neither an informal adviser nor a category apart, but a transaction professional who has chosen a side. The definition of a property finder describes the trade in detail, the guide to the property search mandate the contract that binds it.

Who represents whom, and why is it decisive in a negotiation?

In a negotiation, the agent speaks for the seller and the finder for the buyer: each holds information that they share only with their own client. That asymmetry weighs on the final price: a buyer negotiating alone does so against a professional who knows the seller’s file.

Anyone acting under a mandate acts on behalf of the person who gave it: that is the very definition of a mandate. The seller’s agent often knows the owner’s timetable, their floor price, the offers received and the reasons for the sale, and has no duty to share any of it with you; what the agent does owe you is accurate and fair information about the property. The agent is not against you: they work for the seller, and for the sale to complete.

What a negotiator on your side changes in practice

• Your ceiling stays confidential: the offer starts from the actual sales in the area, not from your maximum budget.
• The price is negotiated against comparables: the sales recorded in the DVF register, address by address, and the real condition of the property.
• Terms are negotiated as much as price: signing date, conditions precedent, date of vacant possession, works already voted by the co-owners.
• Defects become arguments: a diagnostic report or the minutes of a general meeting of co-owners carries more weight than an impression from a viewing.
• The seller receives a file, not an intention: financing in place, a written and reasoned offer.

Property finder vs estate agent: the comparison in twelve criteria

Twelve criteria, one cause: the client, from whom everything else follows. The table sets an agent holding a sales mandate against a finder holding a search mandate.

One nuance prevents many misunderstandings: the title does not tell the whole story, the mandate does. An agency can sign a search mandate with a buyer, and a property finder who also took on sales mandates would, on those properties, be working for the seller.

Who pays what when you buy with a property finder?

When the property is sold by an agency, the buyer pays two professionals: the agency, through a commission included in what the buyer pays, and their property finder, through fees set in their own mandate. When the owner sells without an intermediary, only the finder’s fees come on top of the price.

The agency commission: freely set, displayed, always on your bill

Commission rates are freely set: each agency draws up its own scale and must display it in its offices and on its website. On average, the commission runs at around 4% of the sale price, a rough guide that each scale then adjusts. The sales mandate states who owes it: if the seller pays, it is taken out of the price; if the buyer pays, it is added to the net purchase price, and the listing must show the price both including and excluding the agency fee. Either way, it is the buyer who funds it.

This choice is not neutral for the acquisition costs (commonly called notary fees), which run at around 7 to 8% of the price on existing homes: depending on whether the mandate and the deed place the commission on the seller or on the buyer, it does or does not form part of the amount on which those costs are calculated. Your notaire works out the difference; the French notary fees calculator gives the order of magnitude of those costs.

The property finder’s fees: separate, and due on success

Home Select charges 2.5% incl. VAT of the net purchase price, the price actually paid to the seller excluding the agency commission, with a minimum of €10,000 incl. VAT, which applies to any net purchase price below €400,000. The Confidential offer, reserved for projects of €2m and above, is at 1.5% incl. VAT: €30,000 incl. VAT on a property bought at a net purchase price of €2,000,000. Nothing is due before the purchase, no advance and no file fee: the fees are paid at the signing of the authentic deed, on a separate invoice.

A worked example, in figures

Take an illustrative case: a house offered at €1,040,000 by an agency, including a 4% commission on the net purchase price. Home Select secures 6% off the asking price on average: the example assumes that rate, an average and not a promise. As the commission is proportional to the price, the net purchase price and the commission both fall by 6%.

Here the 6% represents €62,400 less on the price paid, commission included; once the fees are settled, the buyer pays out €38,900 less than the asking price. Read fairly, the calculation does not set 6% against zero: a buyer on their own negotiates too, and if they obtained around 3.7%, they would pay out the same total. In this case, then, the fees are covered as soon as the finder’s negotiation beats what you would have obtained alone by a little over two points; beyond that, the difference is yours. The fees page details the scale and a second example.

Does a property finder work with estate agents or against them?

With them: a property finder’s clients often buy properties for which an agency holds the sales mandate, and the agent gets what they are looking for, a committed, funded buyer able to complete. Each remains paid under the mandate that binds them.

Home Select draws on a network of 15,000 professional partners, agents, notaires and managing agents, who bring it at least 100 off-market properties a day; automated monitoring covers 1,700 listing sites in parallel. When a property is listed with an agency, the offer goes through the agent, who presents it to the seller and collects their commission as on any sale: Home Select asks for no share of it and receives nothing from the seller.

What each side gains

• The agent: a mandated buyer with a defined budget and verified financing, who views only when there is a genuine match, then a written offer and a timetable that is kept.
• The buyer: the properties on the books of the area’s agencies, not just one, previews when an agent flags a property before listing it, and a first screening made before they view.
• The seller: a serious buyer, a reasoned negotiation rather than a random offer, and a sale prepared to go the distance.

This cooperation is not collusion: on any given property, the agent remains at the seller’s service and the finder at the buyer’s. Agents who wish to present properties to Home Select’s buyers go through the partnership for estate agents; sales concluded without advertising are described on the off-market page and in the guide to buying an off-market property.

Estate agent, independent agent, notaire, property finder: who does what?

Several professionals may be involved in a purchase, but usually only one is mandated by the buyer to search and negotiate on their behalf: the property finder. The estate agent, the independent agent (mandataire) and the negotiating notaire most often work under the seller’s mandate; the notaire who draws up the deed authenticates the sale for both parties.

The deciding question: who are you working for on this property?

Before discussing a property, ask whoever you are dealing with who appointed them, who pays them, how much and on what basis. A property finder replaces neither the notaire, nor the surveyor, nor the mortgage broker: it coordinates them. To judge a property-finding firm itself, the guide to choosing a property finder offers a complete grid.

When an estate agent is enough, and when a property finder is the better choice

An estate agent is enough when you know the market, can view quickly and the property you want sells often; a property finder is called for as soon as one of those three is missing.

When an estate agent is enough

• You live locally and know the prices actually signed in the neighbourhood you are targeting.
• You can view within the day when a property comes up, and give your weekends to the search.
• The property you want is common on a deep market: Lyon recorded 7,165 home sales in 2025, Bordeaux 4,820.
• You can read a co-ownership file and diagnostics, and negotiate without revealing your ceiling.

When a property finder is called for

• Distance: you are searching from Paris, another region or abroad, and every viewing costs a journey. Buying remotely calls for a different organisation, with video viewings and checks made on the documents.
• Scarcity: on a narrow market, the right property rarely comes up. Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat recorded 48 home sales in 2025, Cassis 125: one agency’s stock does not make a market there.
• Prestige: at Cap Ferret, a tenth of house sales closed above €18,800/m², in Biarritz above €14,200/m². At that level, some sellers prefer discretion, from the villa in Saint-Tropez to the chalet in Megève; the guide to buying luxury property in France details the rules.
• Time: a buyer searching alone makes 40 viewings or more, over 6 months and about 150 hours; Home Select brings the search down to 3 viewings, 45 days to an accepted offer and about 15 hours on average.
• Complexity: works voted by the co-owners, an old house, planning rules, drainage, the Loi Littoral (coastal law) or the Loi Montagne (mountain law); all points to check before committing.

Sales volumes and deciles quoted: DVF / DGFiP via data.gouv.fr, April 2026 release, 2025 sales.

How does Home Select work on the buyer’s side?

Founded in Paris in 2011, Home Select is a buyer’s agent in France that works for the buyer and for the buyer alone: never a sales mandate, no commission from the seller or from an agency, fees that are published and due on success. Home Select has guided more than 1,200 buyers this way, with a 4.8/5 rating on Google (130+ reviews) and 96% of clients satisfied.

1. The brief, written up after a first conversation by video call or phone; the search is launched within 24 hours.
2. The hunt across every source: listings, agencies, the network, off-market properties and previews; first proposals within 48 hours of the mandate being signed.
3. The pre-viewings: a commented video and an analysis sheet for every property shortlisted, with the price benchmarked against DVF sales, address by address.
4. The offer and the negotiation, on price as on terms.
5. Securing the preliminary sale agreement (compromis de vente): review, diagnostics, co-ownership, coordination of the notaire, the mortgage broker and the surveyors.
6. Support through to the deed and afterwards: tradespeople, administrative formalities, settling in.

Outside Île-de-France, Home Select runs the search through its management and draws on its network of 15,000 partners: the search is conducted remotely, video viewings included, up to the decisive viewing; you travel only then, with viewings grouped into a single trip. The markets covered, from the Côte d’Azur to the Basque Country, from Provence to Normandy, are brought together on the areas page, and the city pages, such as those on the property finder in Aix-en-Provence or the property finder in La Rochelle, detail the local market.

Two offers, the same full service. The Exclusive offer, an exclusive search mandate, costs 2.5% incl. VAT of the net purchase price, minimum €10,000 incl. VAT, for every budget and across the whole market. The Confidential offer, a simple mandate reserved for projects of €2m and above, costs 1.5% incl. VAT, presents off-market properties only and leaves you free to search in parallel. The mandate lasts twelve months at most and can be terminated at any time on seven days’ notice. The method details each step, the fees each calculation.