The Old Hack

Welcome to my day job - as a property hunter in rural South-West France.  What does that mean?  Am I an estate agent?  No.  In France an estate agent has to take legal qualifications and is strictly registered by the state.  By contrast I am what is known as an 'agent commercial' working for an estate agency.

My job is to locate houses for sale, negotiate a selling price with the owners and then publicise their properties via the internet, word of mouth, networking - you name it.  During this process I wear the following (non exclusive) range of hats:  cold-calling salesman; photographer; interpreter; marriage guidance counsellor (sadly some people sell houses due to a divorce or separation);confidant....

Publicising houses for sale takes another set of skills.  The description has to be eye-catching without taking poetic license to an extreme where a property is misrepresented.  I once described a burnt out ruin as a 'Phoenix to rise from the ashes' - you can't disguise a ruin as anything other than a ruin - the camera does not allow such deception - but you can try to be creative (if somewhat corny) with language.

Photographic ability is an absolute must.  I enjoy photography and always have done.  But in order to present a property in a good light I generally fire off between 50 and 75 frames in order to choose a maximum of about ten to show on a website.  Then you have to keep pace with all the various property sites and ensure you have cross-referenced, double-checked and re-read instructions, publication policies etc. before hitting the 'send' button.  Click here to view detail of this property

I think my ulcer gets that little bit larger each time I publish a property on the web, hoping that I have got it right first time.Then there is the art of responding correctly to an enquiry about a property.  Easy?  Well sometimes, yes. If like me you like talking to people it's usually not a problem.  You're hoping for what the business-speak books call a "win, win situation".  You want to sell someone their dream home and (of course) you want to earn commission on the sale (the job is fun, but the rent still has to be paid!)  The art of sales is not so much in the talking as in the listening.  What is it that your potential customer wants?  No good inviting them to view property which is nowhere near their expectations.   Better to be thorough in the first place - and honest.  Telling a customer that a total wreck "needs a little modernisation" is not only designed to lose that customer but to ensure that your name is mud throughout his or her circle of friends and acquaintances.  

So you have persuaded your customer to visit some properties.  How far are they travelling - and from where?  If they have just got off a delayed two hour flight and you want to show them a property before they have had time to catch their breath or take a cup of coffee you are unlikely to impress.

This is where you become taxi driver and travel agent rolled into one.  An offer of collection from the airport and help with finding suitable accommodation in the right area will not only put your client at ease....

Click here for details of this renovated village house at under 80,000€

.... It will ensure that your client is fully aware of the property you are showing him and not half asleep and anxious for dinner to arrive!

Questions about available properties in the Poitou-Charente and Limousin areas? - contact me

So you still want to be a real estate agent?