 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi all
Looking at getting a flat in Les Arcs 1800.
Does anyone have any recommendations for mortgage companies that are good and specialise in French purchases?
I have a deposit and have found an appartment but need a good mortgage company. Also not being experienced at this, is there one that will add the notaires fees to the mortgage?
Many thanks
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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speak to BNP Paribas or Credit Agricole Britline - both are good companies that offer mortgages and can talk you through the process - it’s a long time since we needed mortgage finance but I’m not aware that they allow notaries fees to be added - you are likely limited to around 70-80% loan value and payments typically cannot exceed 33% of your monthly net income including any other debts you may have. There also is likely to be a minimum mortgage you can have which is around €150k.
https://mabanque.bnpparibas/rsc/contrib/document/particuliers/english/French_Real_Estate_Guide.pdf
https://www.britline.com/finance/mortgage
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Fri 21-07-23 13:20; edited 2 times in total
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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When friends did a French mortgage they were surprised how much tougher it was than a British one. He was youngish and apparently fit mountain biker but had to take a thorough medical. which found he had prostate cancer, then successfully treated, so the mortgage might have saved his life! They got it, and still have the apartment, and lived happily ever after.
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@Macker13, I used a broker when I bought mine, I think it was Spectrum Finance but I can't find any documentation. I don't think we added the fees to the mortgage but can't be certain. Ours was a new build so the fees were much less than a resale would be.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Can't help with the Mortgage as we borrowed from the UK, we told them the plan for a French property and they were fine.
I can recommend a Notaire though, Simon Attey in Moutiers sorted out our sale and was really good.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Macker13, be aware that you must have certain insurances and these can add considerably to costs. Not as bad as when we bought the first time when you had to take out the bank's own policies.
I think you can't add fees.
You will as @pam w says almost certainly need a medical.
Go out for a few days and shop around your local banks.
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I don’t think BNP do mortgages for U.K. people anymore
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@Jonny996, good point.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@pam w, we didn't have to do that. We literally walked into CIC and got offered a 100% mortgage at 1.7% fixed. But we did bank with them so they knew our regular income.
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@Nadenoodlee,  that's extraordinary. Good for you however. Our last Swiss mortgage even required a bicycle ECG test.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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This has stirred a few memories. We had the usual purchaser for our chalet six or seven years ago - cash buyer, no mortgage etc, - so offer accepted and then the mortgage came into play, and he had a nasty shock with a medical. Can’t remember all the details now but the purchaser withdrew and had to have medical attention. I suppose he would have said every cloud has a silver lining.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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My friends ran their own business - he was a QS and building projects manager. She did the books. Very switched on couple. She said she spent days answering all the questions they were asked. They still have their apartment in Les Saisies and they love it to bits. We used to swap weeks with them - they borrowed ours at half term, when we made ourselves scarce, and we borrowed theirs in a low season week.
When we bought our apartment we took out a second mortgage on our UK house. Very cheap at the time, a highly flexible offset mortgage of the kind you can't get any more, and the euro was 1.62 to the £ so it would have been disastrous if we'd taken out a mortgage denominated in euros as all our income was in sterling.
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@under a new name, she was a very nice bank manager and we did everything via her. I was on a swiss salary which probably helped
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You know it makes sense.
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Fewer Britons with second homes in France after Brexit
"..Trevor Leggett, of the Leggett estate agency, said British buyers accounted for 22 per cent of second home purchases compared with 23 per cent for Belgians, according to unpublished figures compiled by French notaries made available to banks.
“Brexit is one of the factors, but the biggest is the difficulty in obtaining mortgages. It’s now impossible to borrow money here for non-EU citizens,” Leggett said. His agency covers Dordogne and other parts of France...."
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0a3dc076-27f1-11ee-9067-b2c7b682c028?shareToken=73a090f5b4fb7818f66c95302968ddb6
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| Quote: |
Trevor Leggett, of the Leggett estate agency, said British buyers accounted for 22 per cent of second home purchases compared with 23 per cent for Belgians, according to unpublished figures compiled by French notaries made available to banks.
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There looks something very wrong here with British and Belgians accounting for 45% of second home owners (assumed in France). In my experience the vast majority of second home owners in France were, in fact, French.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| johnE wrote: |
| There looks something very wrong here with British and Belgians accounting for 45% of second home owners (assumed in France). In my experience the vast majority of second home owners in France were, in fact, French. |
The statement was about people buying second homes, it didn't say anything about who own them over time.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Britons are 27% of FOREIGN second home owners but it doesn't say what the percentage of foreign second home owners is. The reasonable assumption is that the majority of second homes are owned by French people, as one would expect! Many will have been in families for generations.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| pam w wrote: |
| Britons are 27% of FOREIGN second home owners but it doesn't say what the percentage of foreign second home owners is. |
10%
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I think it is harder now. We bought in 2019. Mortgage with BNP Paribas and bank account with CA Britline. Even back then we were surprised that BNP P didn’t want us us to open a bank account with them. It was a right old faff to open the bank account…harder than getting the mortgage. Be prepared to send both the mortgage provider (if you can get one) and the bank every imaginable document to prove you live where you say, earn what you claim, aren’t laundering money and that you are a financially stable. We didn’t have to undergo medicals (aged 53 and 59 at the time). Bon chance!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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If you have a house in the UK then I'd consider extending the mortgage on that and paying cash for the flat rather than taking a French mortgage. There is a potential issue that you would be borrowing in £ to buy a Euro asset but on the hand you probably would be paying off the mortgage with £ salary so you can make the argument that it is better to be currency aligned there.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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pam w - highly flexible offset mortgage of the kind you can't get any more,
you can still get these, Barclays, Accord & Scottish Widows still offer them
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I vaguely remember getting our French mortgage pre Brexit days and TBH I can’t remember going through the hassle being discussed here, it was prove we are who we say we are, prove we earn what we say we earn, then BNP says ok , you’re allowed 10 times joint income minus what U.K. mortgage you have. Way way more than we needed (in hindsight should have bought bigger).
I think Brexit has stopped all of that & as said up thread, if you can release money from U.K. home, most likely easier
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| Quote: |
prove we earn what we say we earn
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I think the reason my friends had hassles was that they ran their own building project management business. They had to provide a LOT of figures.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@Jonny996,
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you’re allowed 10 times joint income
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Totally not our experience in 2005. Mortgage repayments capped at 30% of household income. Checked and monitored by Banque de France.
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| under a new name wrote: |
@Jonny996,
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you’re allowed 10 times joint income
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Totally not our experience in 2005. Mortgage repayments capped at 30% of household income. Checked and monitored by Banque de France. |
My maths may be wrong but at a fixed rate off 1.49 that sounds about correct
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Jonny996, dammit
As far as I recall, at the time, we could borrow a lot more in the UK than in France. But in your favour, HSBC's mortgage calculator suggests to me that on our then mortgage, that's a lot more than our income multiple was.
Although we did provide a business plan as it was going to be (and was till 2021) rental properties.
Could you show your workings please? 
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@under a new name, we were allowed an extra 6k of projected rental income to add to ours.
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The OP seems to have melted in the heatwave. Did anyone find out if he wanted a French mortgage? It seems like the replies have largely gone off piste as the question implies he wants a UK mortgate on a French property.
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