Anyone buying in France???

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Hello,

I am an american living in Paris and I have recently started investing in real estate. I have purchased three apartments in the last two years (in Paris and Marseille) and am looking for more! I have learned a lot from the bigger pockets website and books but most of the discussions are geared towards investments in the US. 

Just wondering if there is anyone in the forums that has real estate in France. I would love to meet people who are also investing here. 

Looking forward to meet anyone who is in my area :)

Best,

Maura

[Denis F.]

@James Wise  I saw the thread but I am a bit skeptical on whether it is real. My reading is an american living in Italy without paying rent (to the government providing him lodging). Although I agree that the US RE market is overall better (that's why it also attracts lots of foreign investments), I also think the US local markets I've been watching are overpriced at this time which makes a new investment risky.

I'd like to react to your comment of international investment being "wild": Since this thread is about France, I'll use the french RE market. There are millions of RE investors in France and although the government has a twisted version of socialism, it kind of functions. There is a free market of buying/selling properties and values go up and down based on offer/demand principles and what you can rent them for. Clueless governments over time have added rules to "help" tenants for political reasons such as rent control, then more rules to avoid tenants abusing previous rules leaving a relatively complex system that no new government has the guts to really cleanup (BTW the city of Seattle is trying to go down the same path, clueless politics know no borders).

Now, if there are still millions of RE investors, they must make some money somehow otherwise they would all park their money abroad or in commercial RE, leading to residential prices dropping. If you study the local rules or connect to a team of people who know them, you can figure out what works and what doesn't. For France, consider a few examples to offset the pro-tenant environment:

- Government gives a bunch of tax breaks for investors in new constructions if you rent them out for a given number of years.

- Many tenants including most students are eligible for the equivalent of section 8 in the US (without the site inspections), that's part of the rent guaranteed for the landlord.

- There are rent insurances: for ~3% of rent cost, they are supposed to pick up the tab when the tenant doesn't (I haven't had to use it yet but I factor it in my ROI calculations when I run my numbers before I make an offer).

- You can get subsidies for rehab, government will pay up to 30% of the bill (labor+material).

- You can rent your property to a subset of the government. Government will pay your rent for an agreed number of years, take care of everything including finding tenants and kicking them out if needed and return the place to you in good condition at the end of the agreed term. Hands off approach.

- Appliances typically not included => Harder for tenant to move out and less maintenance calls/cost for the landlord. That's also why Europe has smaller ovens, fridges and washing machines :-)

- Mortgages at 1.x% fixed rate. Sometimes no down payment. Rehab cost often included in the mortgage.

My point is that once you learn how to navigate the system, it is not that wild, just different. Whether you want to tackle a foreign market is the same thought process as deciding which area you want to invest in within the US: you consider population migration, local economy, risk factors, tax implications, local laws and don't just judge on a few horror stories.

A significant difference France vs US is that there is no MLS system so it is harder to assess the market and you really have to rely on local experts or work harder through listings and site visits. If the market is harder to assess for the buyer, it is also harder to assess for the seller... A few scary stories can actually help making good deals by keeping away investors who don't fairly assess the market.