Buyer’s agent: the definition, and the rest
A buyer’s agent, also called a buyer’s agent in the United States or a buying agent in the United Kingdom, is a professional mandated by the BUYER to find, verify and negotiate their property. Paid by the buyer, never by the seller: that is the whole difference with an estate agent, and the heart of the trade.
What is a buyer’s agent?
A buyer’s agent (a buyer’s agent in the United States, a buying agent in the United Kingdom) is a professional mandated by the BUYER to search, verify and negotiate their property: paid by the buyer, never by the seller. Home Select, a buyer’s agent in France since 2011, practises it on the buyer’s side only, under a search mandate, with fees due on success.
What the finder does
- Searches the WHOLE market: published listings, networks, off-market, direct owner approach.
- Pre-checks every lead: condition, figures, co-ownership, easements, points of vigilance.
- Negotiates and drafts the offer for the buyer, complete file in hand.
- Steers the securing through to the deed, and helps after the purchase.
What it is not
- It holds no sales mandate: it never defends the seller.
- It takes no commission from the seller or from an agency.
- It replaces neither the notaire, nor the surveyor, nor the broker: it coordinates them.
The fees, said plainly
The fees, said plainly
Home Select charges 2.5% of the net purchase price (minimum €10,000 incl. VAT) on the Exclusive offer, or 1.5% on the Confidential offer for projects of €2m and above, plus 10% of the negotiated reduction, paid on success only. Across France, other finders usually range from 2 to 5%: what should guide your choice is what is INCLUDED, not only the percentage.
The trade is represented in France by the Fédération des Chasseurs Immobiliers.
Home Select’s hunting grounds:
The trade, page by page
Every question about the trade has its reference page, written and signed by Home Select, buyer’s agent since 2011.
- How to choose a buyer’s agent
The documents to check, the warning signs and the ten questions to ask before you sign.
- Buyer’s agent, estate agent or searching alone
Who defends whom, who pays what, and when an agency or a search on your own is enough.
- The search mandate
What you sign, clause by clause, and the risks to rule out before signing.
- A buyer’s agent’s fees
Home Select’s published fee schedule, offer by offer, and when it becomes due.
- Buying off-market
How a finder reaches properties sold before any listing.
- Buying remotely
Video viewings, power of attorney and e-signature: buying without endless trips.
- The comparison of luxury buyer’s agents
The fees and terms published by the firms, gathered and sourced.
- What buyers say
What the buyers Home Select has worked for say about it on Google.
Frequently asked questions
What Home Select is asked first
Is the buyer’s agent a regulated profession?
Yes: it operates under the professional card T (transaction) held by Home Select, with the same insurance and accounting obligations as an estate agent. The trade is also represented by the Fédération des Chasseurs Immobiliers.
Why pay a finder when listings are free?
Because listings are not the market: the properties matching you often sell before publication, and a self-run search counts in dozens of viewings and months. The finder is paid on success, on a result.
Where does Home Select hunt?
Across its French areas, from the Côte d’Azur to Normandy, and on any other destination tailor-made. Paris and the inner ring have their pages on this website; the rest of Île-de-France is served by homeselect.paris, Home Select’s original website.
What happens next
- A buyer’s agent reads your request and answers within one working day.
- A first confidential conversation: how you will use the property, the real budget, the non-negotiable criteria, the timing.
- A written brief, and a search started within the week. Nothing is due until you have bought.
Your questions about the trade
A first confidential conversation, with no commitment. A buyer’s agent answers within one working day.
- 4.8/5
- On Google (139 reviews)
- 1,200+
- Buyers guided
- 100%
- On success, nothing upfront
It takes 1 minute.
