Selling French Ski Chalet. Ever done it? Advice please!

[WalterandWinifred]

DH is helping out a family member who wants to sell their fab ski chalet in the French Alps. It's on the outskirts of La Clusaz, so quite French but some international interest too.

They put it on the market with a French agent in approx. Feb time but there doesn't seem to have been much interest. Hardly any viewings across both ski and early summer season, yet it seems reasonably priced and has a lot to offer. The agent is a big one in the area who has come recommended, but judging by British standards it all seems a bit lax. Their website seems pretty basic, certainly no floorplans etc. and not particularly great photos. Is that standard with this kind of property and French agents? We've been led to believe that it is, but something needs to change or it will never sell!

My instinct says that it needs more exposure to British skiers/walkers and maybe a listing on Rightmove etc. Has anyone used a British agent to sell a property in the Alps? Any advice gratefully received!

[bunnyfrance]

Hi there,
Don't have any experience selling chalets as such, only of French agents in general. Yes, don't expect wonders with regards to photos, floor plans, poetic descriptions of the property...Rightmove style just doesn't exist here. However, the property should be on all the main websites: leboncoin, seloger etc etc, not just the website of the agent.
If they want to appeal to the British market, they may have to market it themselves without an agent in the manner to which the British buyer is accustomed - decent photos etc.
Good luck with the sale!

[WalterandWinifred]

Thanks so much, that's really helpful. From a quick browse it doesn't show up on any of those sites so I'll do a bit of investigating.

[usuallydormant]

It should definitely be on seloger.fr etc. I live in the region and there are also lots of free property magazines with some aimed at the high end of the market- there are also lots of internationals in Geneva who buy chalets that are an easy drive away.

[stikmatix]

The agents should have it on seloger.fr which is a sort of Rightmove equivalent. Your relative should put it up themselves as a private seller on paruvendu.fr and leboncoin.fr as well as any other similar sites. I know there are some more but I can't remember off the top of my head.

If they want to tap into the Geneva expat market they can put free ads on the World Radio Switzerland classifieds, on the glocals classifieds and on englishforum.ch and the relevant AngloInfo sites for starters.

If I think of any other places I'll let you know. When we sold our apartment in France 18 months ago, I did the photos myself as I found all the agents did rubbish photos. Our agent thought they were really good (they were ok). I would recommend redoing them if your relative isn't happy. Also create your own free website on weebly which you can link to from free ads (if allowed) as then you can put up load of photos and also do your own floor plan. Do website in English and French to cover all bases.