We are searching very hard for a new property, given we have agreed a sale for our current one.
Besides providing minimal information, I am finding that it can take two or three requests via their website forms…IF they answer at all.
Why do they provide the forms if they don’t monitor their emails!!!
Do a search on here and you will find despairing threads about French immos! Many foreigners find it hard to be taken seriously, and emails are generally not the best way of making contact. A lot have had their time taken up by foreigners who are not serious buyers, so are cautious. Prepare a full dossier and send it.
Which area are you looking?
I give them all my requirements/questions (in French…)…telling them I am a cash buyer etc…they are hopeless. Ideally we are looking within a radius of 20km of Brive…modern house around €300/330k…
Did you provide any evidence of your ID and financial standing. Saying you are a cash buyer is easy, but many immos will actually want some evidence of this. Many sales fall through on finances.
Far better to call them and discuss.
I am not going to give them that on an initial contact!!!
Unfortunately my French is not good enough on the telephone to call them…THAT is why I enquire on their own website …in French.
If I was an immobilier and someone says they were a cash buyer I would be on my laptop toute de suite…whether it was a weekend or bank holiday!
If you were a British estate agent this would be true, but an immo not so much. I found this true of British people working as immos too, sometimes, even in areas where houses were hard to sell.
If you were looking in our area I would certainly be able to help you - we do respond to emails and telephone enquiries quickly but I am aware of many companies who do not - bizarre but true.
Recent Google reviews may be useful, ours are good https://maps.app.goo.gl/QrQpWRehfvZjzsDW7?g_st=ic
Hello @Gprit
We found having personal contact with the immo is the best way. We bought our house in L+G 2 years ago so our experience is quite recent.
I would have thought that as your search area is relatively limited, a 20km circle, it was almost possible for you to visit most of them to make contact?
Good luck
Graeme
Not really…we are 1.5 ours drive from there, and have two children in school, and again, with the language issue it is more sensible to get facts first by email, where translators can be used if necessary…
I’m afraid that, as others have said, you’re wasting your time with emails, websites etc. We never had any response from such an approach. It’s frustrating, but I imagine that the fact that the French do things differently is something you’ve already experienced if you’re living in France.
You live relatively close to your area of predilection. Gird your loins, grab some means of translation and beard them in their den! Take a French friend with you if you like, but you may find that at least one of them speaks some English, and will be prepared to act as chasseur d’appart’ for you. We’ve had a couple of immos offering that, probably because of our nationality.
Bon courage!
……my experience could possibly tell me that there was a 90% chance of this going nowhere, so would not rush to respond. Presumably you moved to France because you liked the French culture/quality of life and this is part of it.
I have sympathy but also have another side to the story. We have only our own experience to go by.
After many trips to this area on holiday we walked into a local immo and the bloke we contacted spoke English.
Back at home we had regular emails with suitable houses and the only difference I found between them and an English estate agent was the pictures which were very poor.
Once back here though we had immediate help with the one of our choice and even years later when settled permanently in it he was still a friend who would drop in for a beer now and again.
Not only that but he contacted the owner of the land next door, who hadn’t thought of selling until then, and arranged a meeting before assisting with the price and doing the deal. He demanded no fee for that other than the occasional drink when in the neighbourhood. He is now the boss/owner of the business, so obviously a policy that pays dividends.
I hope you find your Francis before long. 
@Gprit kids in school can make things awkward… but often parents support one another. Do the kids have friends at school… whose parents would collect them from school and guard them until you got back later that night… ??
Frankly, as others have said… face to face is often best.
if not face to face… telephone calls can start things rolling…
best of luck.
I think one of the issues is properties being placed with multiple agencies, I think they all share the commission, so aren’t that pushed about chasing sales. We felt sole, as in exclusive, agents (albeit twenty years ago) were more focussed .
Our experience was similar. Once we’d made contact, most were very active.
But email - not really a French thing, is it?
The problem is France has such a fast moving property market that if ypu are not actually in France to take advantage of new instructions you could be wasting the agents valuable time.
There is also the costs of emailing details to consider.
Yes I am being sarcastic 
Something I’ve seen happen… on many occasions in a particularly busy office…
the phone rings and I hear this end of the conversation
“aha… hello Madame XYZ, how can I help you? you’ve emailed?.. just let me look… ah yes…”
and a conversation gets going and the “customer” gets answers to whatever…
emails arrive by the dozen throughout the day… and will only get a quick scan as the clerk checks for ones which are from important sources (seem to be important/urgent) and deals with them first… lesser ones fall by the wayside and might get completely brushed aside.
that’s just how it is, sadly, in my experience…
Tie a copy of your email to a brick and lob it through the immobilier’s window.
If you’re that close… you can surely go inside and speak with someone… 
