Frequently asked questions: the Home Select expertise

A property hunter (chasseur immobilier) is a regulated professional who sources property on behalf of a buyer. Where an estate agent represents the seller, a property hunter works exclusively for the buyer.

Estate agents work for sellers and aim to sell their listed properties. Property hunters work for buyers and look for the right property at the right price. Our interests are aligned with yours: securing the best terms and helping you sidestep the pitfalls.

Yes. We hold the professional 'Transaction' card issued by the Paris Chamber of Commerce, which is required by law. We are also members of the FCI (Fédération des Chasseurs Immobiliers), the French property hunters' federation.

Two offers, both paid only on success: Exclusive, an all-inclusive exclusive search mandate at 2.5% incl. VAT of the purchase price (minimum €10,000 incl. VAT); and Confidential, a simple search mandate reserved for projects of €2M and above, at 1.5% incl. VAT. You pay only on completion at the notary's office. If we do not find your property, you pay nothing.

Our fees are fixed and transparent. They reflect the quality of our service and the time we devote to each client (around 80 hours per assignment on average). The reduction we negotiate on your behalf (6% on average) more than offsets our fees.

You pay only on signing the final deed (acte authentique) at the notary's office, once the keys are in your hand. No setup fee, no deposit, no upfront payment.

No, our fees are separate from the notary fees. They are settled directly with us on signing and do not form part of the transfer tax base.

On average, we find the right property in 45 days. The exact timing depends on your brief, your budget and the state of the market. Some searches conclude in two weeks; others take three months.

You see only the shortlist: 3 properties on average. We analyse up to a hundred listings and pre-view around ten to present only those that genuinely match your brief.

Yes, absolutely. If you find something yourself, we can support you with the analysis, the negotiation and the follow-through, through our reduced-fee purchase support service.

Our fees are paid only on success. If we cannot find a property that suits you, or if you decide to call off your search, you pay nothing. There is no financial risk.

Yes. Our support is end-to-end: from defining the brief to handing over the keys. We handle the preliminary contract, the conditions precedent and the coordination with the notary.

The search mandate is the contract between us. It sets out your brief, our remit, our fees and the terms of the engagement. It is required by law and governed by the Loi Hoguet.

It depends on the offer. Our Exclusive offer relies on an exclusive search mandate: it lets us fully commit to your search and mobilise our entire network. Our Confidential offer, reserved for projects of €2M and above, relies on a simple search mandate: you remain free to search in parallel.

The mandate is typically signed for three months and is renewable. You can end it at any time with 15 days' notice, at no cost.

The 20 arrondissements of Paris and 68 towns across the Paris region, in the Hauts-de-Seine, Val-de-Marne, Seine-Saint-Denis and Yvelines. The most requested outside Paris are Neuilly-sur-Seine, Levallois-Perret and Boulogne-Billancourt to the west, Vincennes and Saint-Mandé to the east. Every town has its own page with price per sqm and commuting time.

Off-market refers to properties sold privately, never publicly advertised. Our network of 15,000 professionals sends us over 100 off-market listings every day, accounting for 15% of the properties we secure for our clients.

On average, we negotiate 6% below the asking price, around €45,000 on a property at €750,000. The saving often offsets our fees outright. Some negotiations reach 10 to 15%.

We negotiate with solid arguments: market comparables, defects identified during the viewing, the seller's circumstances and time on market. Our knowledge of the market and our professionalism deliver results.

A property hunter whose searches sit in the prime segment, which in Paris means above 2 million euros: Haussmann etages nobles, private mansions, top floors with a view, rare homes. The difference with a prime estate agency comes down to the mandate. Barnes, Daniel Feau, Christie's and Sotheby's hold sales mandates and are paid by the seller. A property hunter holds a search mandate signed by the buyer and is never paid by the seller of the property bought. That is what allows the hunter to negotiate against the asking price rather than defend it.

The segment starts at around 2 million euros and trades between 15,000 and 30,000 euros per square metre in the 6th, 7th, 8th and 16th arrondissements. Price per square metre alone does not define prime, however: ceiling height above 3 metres, original mouldings and parquet, the etage noble, an open view, quiet and the quality of the building are together worth a 10 to 20% premium at the same address.

Four arrondissements account for most transactions: the 6th, the most expensive in Paris, around Saint-Germain-des-Pres and Odeon; the 7th, for large family floorplans and monument views; the 8th, from the Golden Triangle to plaine Monceau, for international pieds-a-terre and private mansions; and the 16th, from Passy to Auteuil, for the best space-to-price ratio in the segment. Four micro-markets trade at the same levels: the ile Saint-Louis, the Montagne Sainte-Genevieve, the upper Batignolles and Montmartre around avenue Junot.

Because their owners refuse public exposure. A listing reveals an address, an interior and sometimes a personal or financial situation. In Paris, 15 to 25% of transactions in the prime arrondissements complete with no listing, and the share rises further above 2 million euros. These properties circulate within a closed network: agencies holding a discreet mandate, notaries, building managers and wealth managers. Without access to that network, a significant part of the market stays invisible.

It is our offering for projects of 2 million euros and above. The support is exactly the same as in the Exclusive offering: brief, selection, pre-viewings, accompanied viewings, technical and legal analysis, negotiation, and follow-through to the handover of keys. Two things change. It rests on a simple search mandate, leaving you free to search in parallel. And we present off-market properties only, never publicly advertised. The fee is 1.5% of the purchase price, payable entirely on success.

Yes. Around 30% of our clients are expatriates or international buyers. We run everything remotely: virtual viewings, electronic signing of the mandate, coordination with the notary. Many of our clients make a single trip to Paris.

We view the property live with you on WhatsApp, FaceTime or Zoom. You can guide us, ask questions and ask to see specific details. It is as close to being there as it gets.

The mandate can be signed electronically. For the preliminary contract and the final deed, a power of attorney allows remote signing. We coordinate everything with your notary.

Your contact details and your project are available to the hunter handling your search and to the people who assign enquiries, not to the whole firm. Nothing is sold, rented or exchanged with third parties. A prospect is kept for three years after the last contact, a client under mandate for the term of the contract plus five years. The full detail is on our Data security and protection page.

Yes. Your brief is shared only with the professionals approached for your search, and your maximum financing capacity is never disclosed to the other side during a negotiation. Completed searches published on the site are anonymised and testimonials show only a first name and an initial. The Confidential offer, reserved for projects of 2M EUR and above, exists for buyers who do not want their search circulating.

Never. No funds related to the acquisition pass through Home Select: all sums go through the notary's account, and our fees are payable on success on the day the deed is signed. An email announcing new bank details should be treated as fraudulent until you have verified it by phone on +33 1 78 76 78 10.

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