You live in London, Singapore or New York, and you want to buy an apartment in Paris. You cannot spend three months viewing properties every Saturday. You may have a week of availability at best. How do you concretely go about buying a property in Paris from the other side of the world?
The short answer: it is entirely feasible, and we do it regularly at Home Select. About 30% of our clients are expats or foreigners who buy partially or entirely from abroad. Some only set foot in their future apartment once before signing. Others never visited before receiving the keys.
The long answer: it requires rigorous organization, a trusted contact on the ground, and a clear understanding of what can be done remotely and what requires your presence. That is the purpose of this guide.
Phase 1: The brief and scoping (100% remote)
Everything begins with an in-depth conversation, by video call, phone, or structured email exchange. This is when your apartment hunter understands your project in all its dimensions.
What we define together: the total budget (price + notaire fees + potential renovation + property hunter fees), the type of property (surface area, number of rooms, floor, elevator, balcony), the target arrondissements or neighborhoods, the intended use (future primary residence, pied-a-terre, rental investment), the timeline (desired move-in or rental start date), and any specific constraints (school, office, transport).
What we also verify: your financing capacity. If you need a mortgage, pre-approval must be obtained before launching the search. This is all the more important for a non-resident, as processing times are longer. Our article on non-resident financing covers this step in detail.
This initial scoping generally takes one to two weeks. It results in a precise brief: the reference document that guides the entire search.
No travel required.
Phase 2: The search and pre-selection (100% remote)
This is the longest phase, and the one where the apartment hunter makes all the difference for a remote purchase.
What the property hunter does on the ground
Your property hunter scans the market daily: property portals, partner agency network, off-market properties (approximately 15 to 20% of transactions in Paris are never published online), automated alerts, direct outreach to building caretakers and property managers.
For every property that matches your brief, the property hunter conducts a physical on-site viewing. This is a ruthless filter: out of 100 listings identified, 20 merit a viewing by the property hunter, and 3 to 5 are presented to the client. The other 95 are eliminated for reasons invisible in the listing: noise, overlooking neighbors, condition of common areas, fragile co-ownership, upcoming works, neighborhood nuisances.
How you see the properties remotely
For pre-selected properties, the property hunter produces a complete viewing dossier including:
The video viewing. Not an amateur 30-second clip. A structured film of 5 to 10 minutes: each room filmed slowly, the view from each window (the light, the vis-a-vis, street noise), common areas (lobby, stairwell, elevator, cellar), building facade, immediate surroundings (street, shops, atmosphere). Some property hunters film in real time during a video call with you so you can ask to review a detail, zoom in, or open a cupboard.
The written dossier. Analysis of the property (strengths, weaknesses, expected works), co-ownership analysis (amount of charges, approved or upcoming works, facade renovation status, financial health of the property manager), price analysis (is it consistent with the micro-neighborhood market? is there negotiation margin?), EPC and diagnostics.
Supplementary photos. Beyond the listing photos, often enhanced by the agent’s wide-angle lens, the property hunter takes their own photos from realistic angles, in natural daylight.
The location map. Distances to transport, schools, shops, parks. Travel times to your strategic points (office, airport, children’s school).
With this dossier, you have 90% of the information needed to decide whether a property merits a physical visit from you, or whether you validate it directly.
No travel required, but this is where trust in your property hunter is fundamental. You are making decisions based on their professional judgment and ground-level observations.
Phase 3: The physical viewing and decision (1 trip recommended)
This is the key moment. Two scenarios are possible.
Scenario A: you travel (recommended)
The property hunter has pre-selected 2 to 4 finalist properties. You come to Paris for 3 to 5 days. The schedule is precisely planned:
Day 1: viewing the pre-selected properties. Each viewing lasts 30 to 45 minutes (not the rushed 10 minutes of an estate agent). The property hunter shows you the neighborhood before entering the apartment so you see the environment with your own eyes.
Day 2: second viewing of the preferred property (at a different time to check the light and noise). Potentially, viewings of one or two additional properties if the first ones do not suit.
Day 3: decision, drafting the purchase offer. If the offer is accepted, meeting at the notaire’s office to launch the preliminary contract (or signing if everything is ready).
Days 4-5: buffer for unforeseen events, bank meeting if necessary, signing of the preliminary contract.
This concentrated format is the norm for our international clients. It works because all the pre-selection work has been done upstream. You only view properties that genuinely match: no wasted time.
Scenario B: you do not travel at all
This is possible. Legally, nothing requires you to physically visit a property in order to buy it. We have concluded acquisitions where the client never saw the apartment before receiving the keys: busy expats, investors buying a rental property, clients who fully trust us after a successful first experience.
In this case, the video viewing process is even more rigorous. We offer live video-conference viewings: you are connected in real time while the property hunter visits, you ask your questions, you request specific details to be checked. It is the closest format to a physical viewing without being on site.
Our recommendation: travel if you can, even just once. An apartment is a sensory experience: the sound, the light, the neighborhood atmosphere, the feeling of space. No video fully replaces that. But if travel is impossible, a fully remote purchase works, provided you are working with a professional you trust.
Jean Mascla’s advice: When a client cannot travel, I offer to visit live via FaceTime or WhatsApp video, behaving as if the client were physically with me. I walk down the street, show the shops, film the building entrance, the mailboxes (they say a lot about the co-ownership), the stairwell, each room. I stay on the line 30 to 45 minutes per property. It is demanding, but it is the price of trust at a distance.
Phase 4: The offer and negotiation (100% remote)
The purchase offer is made in writing: a letter or email sent to the seller (via their agent) specifying the proposed price, financing conditions and desired timeline. Your property hunter drafts this offer and submits it on your behalf.
Negotiation typically plays out within 24 to 48 hours. The property hunter handles the exchanges, counter-proposals, and technical arguments (expected works, EPC status, comparable prices). This is one of the moments where the property hunter’s ground-level expertise has the most value.
At Home Select, we achieve an average 6% negotiation on the listed price. On a 500,000 euro property, that is 30,000 euros, often more than the property hunter’s fees.
No travel required.
Phase 5: The preliminary contract (remote or in person)
The preliminary contract (compromis de vente) is the contract that commits both parties. It is typically signed 2 to 4 weeks after the offer is accepted.
In-person signing
If you are in Paris (or planning a trip), you sign the preliminary contract at the notaire’s office. This is the simplest option. The notaire explains each clause, answers your questions, and you sign with full knowledge.
Remote signing
The preliminary contract can be signed electronically via the notaire’s secure platform. Since the health crisis, French notaires have widely adopted electronic signatures: a considerable advancement for remote buyers.
Concretely: the notaire prepares the deed, sends it to you for review (with translation if needed), you discuss it by video conference, then you sign electronically via a secure link. It is legally equivalent to a physical signature.
Key point: after signing the preliminary contract, you have a 10-day withdrawal period (SRU law). During these 10 days, you can cancel without reason or penalty. This safety net is particularly valuable for a remote buyer.
The deposit (typically 5 to 10% of the price) must be paid in the days following the signing. An international wire transfer from your foreign account is possible: allow for banking delays (2 to 5 business days depending on banks and countries).
Phase 6: Financing (100% remote)
If you are buying with a mortgage, the period between the preliminary contract and the final deed (2 to 3 months, sometimes 4 for non-residents) is dedicated to obtaining the loan.
The entire file is assembled remotely: sending supporting documents by secure email or file-sharing platform, exchanges with the broker and bank by video conference, signing the loan offer by mail or electronically.
Our article on non-resident financing details the conditions, banks and pitfalls to avoid.
No travel required, but timelines are often longer than for a resident. Make sure the financing contingency clause in the preliminary contract allows sufficient time (60 to 75 days instead of the standard 45 days).
Phase 7: The final deed and key handover (can be done remotely)
The final deed (acte authentique) is signed at the notaire’s office, generally 2 to 4 months after the preliminary contract.
Signing by power of attorney
If you cannot be present, you sign a notarized power of attorney. This document, drafted by your French notaire, authorizes a trusted person to sign on your behalf. The procedure:
- The French notaire drafts the power of attorney and sends it to you.
- You sign it before a local notaire in your country of residence (or at the nearest French consulate).
- The document is apostilled (if your country is a signatory to the Hague Convention) or legalized.
- The original is sent to the French notaire by express courier.
Allow: 2 to 4 weeks depending on the country. Plan ahead: this is the number one cause of signature delays for remote buyers.
Who can hold the power of attorney? Your property hunter (this is common and we do it regularly), your lawyer, a notaire’s clerk, or any trusted person present in Paris.
In-person signing
If your schedule allows, this is an opportunity to combine the signing with discovering (or rediscovering) your apartment. The notaire hands over the keys immediately after signing: a moment that many of our clients describe as emotional, especially after months of remote process.
Jean Mascla’s advice: If you can make only one trip to Paris during the entire process, make it for the viewings, not the signing. The signing at the notaire’s office is an administrative formality: the power of attorney replaces it perfectly. Viewings, on the other hand, are not as easily delegated.
The typical timeline for a remote purchase
| Step | Duration | Presence required |
|---|---|---|
| Brief and scoping | 1-2 weeks | No |
| Search and pre-selection | 3-8 weeks | No |
| Final viewings | 3-5 days | Recommended |
| Offer and negotiation | 1-2 weeks | No |
| Preliminary contract | 2-4 weeks | No (electronic signature) |
| Financing | 6-10 weeks | No |
| Final deed | 1 day | No (power of attorney) |
| Total | 3-5 months | 3-5 days on site |
Three to five days of presence over five months of process. That is the realistic ratio of a Paris purchase from abroad when you work with an apartment hunter.
Ready to buy in Paris from where you are? Describe your project to us: our 16 apartment hunters have been managing remote purchases since 2011. We adapt to your time zone, your language and your schedule. Start your Paris search
Key takeaways
Buying in Paris from abroad is a question of organization and trust. The scoping, search, negotiation, financing and final signature can all be done entirely remotely. Only the physical viewing of finalist properties ideally merits a trip, concentrated over 3 to 5 days. The apartment hunter is the central piece of this setup: they are your eyes, ears and judgment on the ground.
The tools exist: video conferencing, electronic signatures, notarized power of attorney. The French legal framework fully permits it. And 30% of our clients at Home Select buy in exactly this way.
For the complete guide to buying from abroad: our reference article. For financing questions: our non-resident mortgage guide.
Frequently asked questions
Can you buy an apartment in Paris without ever visiting?
Yes, it is legally possible and we have done it for several clients. The preliminary contract can be signed electronically, and the final deed at the notaire's office can be signed by power of attorney. However, we strongly recommend a single trip, ideally for the final viewings (2-3 pre-selected properties) and the signing of the preliminary contract. This represents 3 to 5 days on site. It is a modest time investment for a decision worth several hundred thousand euros.
How does the power of attorney work for signing at the notaire's office from abroad?
The notarized power of attorney is a document drafted by your French notaire, which you sign before a local notaire (or at the French consulate) in your country of residence. It authorizes a trusted person, often your property hunter, your lawyer or a notaire's clerk, to sign the final deed on your behalf. The document must be apostilled (Hague Convention) or legalized depending on the country. Allow 2 to 4 weeks for formalities.
Are video viewings reliable enough for buying?
Video viewings conducted by a professional are an effective pre-selection tool, but not a substitute for a physical viewing of the final property. A good property hunter films methodically: room by room, the view from each window, common areas, facade, street, surrounding shops. This makes it possible to eliminate unsuitable properties and only travel for the 2-3 finalists. A physical viewing is still recommended for the property you will buy, as it reveals the sounds, smells, neighborhood atmosphere and actual natural light.
