Who can find a Paris apartment on your behalf?
Delegating a property search is not a comfort purchase: it is a question of time, market access and negotiating position. Here is who can legally do it, what each of them can and cannot do, and what it costs.
6%
avg. nego.
1 200+
clients
4,8/5
The direct answer
Who can find a Paris apartment on your behalf?
A property hunter can: a licensed professional mandated by the buyer, not by the seller. They search the entire market, including off-market property, pre-visit, negotiate and support you through to completion. At Home Select they are paid only on success, on the day the deed is signed.
45 days
Average search time
3 viewings
Per client on average
6%
Average discount negotiated
15 hrs
Of your time, instead of 150
Five possible options, only one works for you
The question "who can search on my behalf" has several valid answers, but they are not equivalent. The deciding factor: who holds the mandate, and therefore whose interests are being defended.
| Who | What they can do for you | What they do not do | Cost to you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property hunter (search mandate) | Search the whole market, activate a professional network, access off-market property, pre-visit, shortlist, negotiate the price and follow the file through to completion | Sign on your behalf without a notarised power of attorney, secure your mortgage, guarantee one specific property | 2.5% of the purchase price on the Exclusive offer (€10,000 minimum incl. VAT), 1.5% on the Confidential offer from €2M. Paid on success, nothing upfront |
| Estate agent | Show you the properties in their own portfolio and arrange those viewings | Search the whole market for you, or negotiate against their own client: they are mandated by the seller | Fees paid by the seller, built into the asking price |
| A relative with power of attorney | View, film, ask questions, and even sign with a notarised power of attorney | Access the professional and off-market circuit, assess market value, run a negotiation | Nothing in money, a great deal in shared responsibility |
| Relocation or concierge firm | Organise the move, the paperwork, schooling, and rental searches | Run an acquisition, negotiate a purchase price, secure an offer | Flat fee or a percentage of the rent |
| Mortgage broker | Build and defend your financing with the banks | Find a property: that is not their job | Brokerage fee, often on success |
The notary does not search on your behalf either: they secure the deed and occasionally publish notarial sales. A property hunter and a notary are not competitors, they act at two different stages.
The five situations where delegating actually happens
These are not marketing personas: they are the five reasons our clients sign a search mandate.
Buying from abroad
You live in New York, Geneva, London, Dubai or Singapore. Viewings are streamed live, the shortlist is filtered before you board a plane, and signing can be done by power of attorney.
30% of our clients live abroad
Investing without spending your weekends on it
A rental investment is judged on real yield, the building’s finances, upcoming works and local rental demand, not on a listing photo. The hunter discards the files that do not hold up.
Building accounts reviewed before any offer
Short on time, not on intent
Searching alone means around 40 viewings and roughly 150 hours spread over six months. Delegating brings your involvement down to 3 viewings and about fifteen hours, on filtered properties only.
45 days average search time
Buying discreetly
Prime property searches, a separation, an unannounced relocation: some acquisitions must not circulate. The Confidential offer, reserved for projects of €2M and above, presents off-market property only.
15 to 25% of premium sales are off-market
First purchase, tight market
A first-time buyer faces seasoned sellers and agents. The hunter restores the balance: documented market value, defects identified before the offer, negotiation run by a professional.
6% average reduction obtained
What a property hunter actually does on your behalf
The search mandate is a written contract governed by the Hoguet law. It sets out precisely what the professional carries out for you.
01
The brief
A precise specification: areas, budget, size, floor, light, acceptable works, timing constraints. That document filters everything that follows.
02
Activating the network
Public listings, but above all a network of 15,000 partners (agents, notaries, building managers, caretakers) that surfaces property before publication.
03
Pre-visits
The hunter views without you, discards what does not fit, and documents what remains: photos, video, noise, facing views, the state of the building.
04
Accompanied viewings
You only view what passed the filter. Three on average, in person or by video, with a professional eye beside you.
05
Negotiation
A case built on real comparables in the street, the defects observed and the context of the sale. Average reduction obtained: 6% off the asking price.
06
Follow-through to completion
Offer, preliminary contract, building documents, coordination with the notary and the broker, through to the handover of keys.
What a property hunter cannot do on your behalf
An honest page about delegation has to say where it stops. These limits are ours, and they apply to the profession as a whole.
- Sign without you: signing the preliminary contract and the deed is yours, unless you expressly grant a notarised power of attorney.
- Secure your mortgage: financing is arranged with your bank or a broker. The hunter coordinates, they do not substitute.
- Replace the notary, the surveyor or the architect: each has their own role and their own liability.
- Guarantee a specific property or price: a search mandate is a best-efforts undertaking, not a guaranteed result. If nothing completes, nothing is owed.
- Represent both sides of the same transaction: Home Select works buyer-side, never on both sides of one sale.
- Charge before success: no application fee, no deposit, no subscription. Fees fall due on the day the deed is signed.
The figures to check before delegating
Four questions are enough to compare two firms seriously: coverage, how they are paid, actual timelines and legal standing.
- Coverage
- Paris (20 arrondissements) and 68 municipalities across Île-de-France
- Fees
- Exclusive: 2.5% of the purchase price, €10,000 minimum incl. VAT. Confidential: 1.5%, reserved for projects of €2M and above
- Payment model
- 100% on success, paid at the notary. No application fee, nothing upfront
- Average time observed
- 45 days between the mandate and the accepted offer
- Legal framework
- Hoguet law, Carte T professional licence, written search mandate required, member of the FCI
- Team
- 16 hunters, firm founded in 2011, 1,200+ buyers supported
- Languages
- French, English, German, Spanish, Italian, Persian
- Public reviews
- 4.8/5 on Google (130+ reviews), 96% satisfied clients
Going further on delegating a search
The search mandate
What you sign, what binds you, what binds the hunter.
Buying from abroad
Video viewings, power of attorney, non-resident taxation, financing.
The off-market circuit
The property that never gets published, and how it is reached.
Fees in detail
Both offers, the amounts, what is included and what is not.
Hunter or estate agent
Two opposite mandates, two sets of interests.
The six-step process
From brief to handover of keys, step by step.
Delegating your search, the questions asked
Who can find a Paris apartment on my behalf?
How do you buy an apartment in Paris without losing time?
Is a property hunter paid on success?
Who helps you avoid mistakes when buying in Paris?
Can you buy an apartment in Paris from the United States or Switzerland?
Can a property hunter sign on my behalf?
How much does it cost to have someone search for you?
Does a hunter have access to property you cannot see on the portals?
Do you need a written mandate to delegate a search?
How is this different from an estate agent showing me properties?
Your project starts here
Let's talk through your search over 30 minutes. First call free, no commitment. Our 16 property hunters are ready to find your home in Paris.
Home Select, property hunter in Paris since 2011.
Who writes this page
Home Select is a property hunting firm founded in 2011 by Jean Mascla. 16 hunters cover Paris and the Paris region, working for buyers only. The figures quoted on this page come from our 1,200+ completed searches since 2011 and from public French land registry (DVF) data.
Verifiable credentials
- Professional licence CPI 7501 2018 000 028 939 (CCI Paris Île-de-France)
- Company registration SIREN 531223931 (RCS Paris 531 223 931)
- Professional indemnity Suffren Assurances Associés
- Membership Member of the FCI (French federation of property hunters)
- Press coverage 20 Minutes (first in its top 5 Paris apartment hunters), Le Petit Journal, L'Essentiel de l'Éco
Content reviewed by Jean Mascla, Founder of Home Select, property hunter in Paris since 2011, and updated on .
