Tool
When will you get the keys? Your purchase timeline, day by day
Pick a start date and how you buy: the tool places every step on the calendar, with what Home Select does at each one, up to the handover of the keys.
Your timeline
- Mandate signed, briefing by video call The search mandate is signed remotely and can be ended at any time with seven days’ notice. Home Select Listening to the project, total budget costs included, viewing calendar.
- Brief validated Criteria, acceptable trade-offs, towns and areas, how the home will be used. Home Select A written brief, reviewed with you, that drives the search.
- Search, shortlist, video pre-viewings The whole market, listings and off-market homes, checked against actual sales address by address. Portals, agencies, appointments made one by one, viewings over the weeks. Home Select Home Select receives off-market properties from its partners every day and sets aside what does not meet the brief.
- Decisive viewings, grouped into a single trip Two or three shortlisted homes, viewed in two days. Around forty viewings, often for nothing, spread over the length of the search. Home Select Home Select organises the trip, the second viewing and the checks on site.
- Written offer With proof of financing: a financed offer goes ahead of the others. Home Select Home Select writes the offer at the price actual sales justify.
- Negotiation and agreement on the price 6% negotiated on average off the asking price. Home Select Home Select negotiates, then secures the agreement with the seller and their agent.
- Preliminary contract signed Compromis or promesse, often signed remotely by electronic signature; 5 to 10% deposit on the notaire’s account. Home Select Home Select coordinates a notaire used to non-resident buyers and reviews the conditions precedent.
- 10-day cooling-off period You may withdraw without reason or penalty for ten days after the contract is notified. Home Select Home Select remains available for any question about the property or the contract.
- Loan condition precedent At least one month by law, two in practice, to obtain the loan offer. Home Select The broker introduced by Home Select puts several banks in competition.
- Notarised power of attorney Signed before a notary in your country or at the consulate, apostilled or legalised, translated if not in French. Home Select Home Select follows the power of attorney with the notaire so that nothing delays completion.
- Deed of sale and handover of keys The price and the costs are transferred to the notaire’s account before signing. Home Select Home Select checks the property before completion and organises the handover.
- After completion Insurance, energy, internet, occupancy declaration, local taxes. Home Select Home Select introduces the partners of your move-in, and stays reachable.
On your own, the search takes 6 months on average and more than 40 viewings; with Home Select, 45 days and three decisive viewings, grouped into a single trip.
Reference durations, calculated in your browser: nothing is sent or stored. The law sets the cooling-off period (ten days) and the minimum loan condition (one month); the rest depends on the property, the seller, the bank and the notaire.
Frequently asked questions
How long does buying in France take?
With Home Select, 45 days of search on average, then two to three months between the preliminary contract and completion: the keys usually come four to six months after the mandate. On your own, the search takes about six months.
Do I have to travel to France to buy?
Once, for the grouped decisive viewings, and not always: some buyers purchase after video pre-viewings. The preliminary contract is often signed remotely by electronic signature, the deed by notarised power of attorney.
How long between the preliminary contract and completion?
Two months for a cash purchase, three with a loan: the loan condition lasts at least one month by law, two in practice, while the bank issues its offer and you observe the reflection period.
When is the money paid?
The deposit, 5 to 10% of the price, at the preliminary contract, into the notaire’s escrow account. The balance and the costs by transfer to the notaire’s account a few days before completion. An international transfer is prepared ahead with your bank.
Can I withdraw after the preliminary contract?
Yes, without reason, during the ten-day cooling-off period that follows its notification, and the deposit is returned. After that, only an unmet condition precedent, a refused loan for instance, releases the buyer.
How long for an apostilled power of attorney?
Allow two to four weeks between the notaire’s draft, the signature before a notary in your country or at the consulate, the apostille or legalisation, and the sworn translation. Home Select starts it three weeks before completion.
To prepare each step
Set this timeline with a buyer’s agent
A 20-minute call is enough to set your start date, your budget and your availability for the viewing trip.
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