When it comes down to financing your French property several solutions are offered to you.
Either you are purchasing cash or with money raised in your home country or you are purchasing with a French mortgage.
FRENCH MORTGAGE
- Crédit Agricole
- BNP Paribas
- La BRED
- La Caisse d’Epargne
Each bank will have its own process and requirements but they are open to finance mortgage from non-resident. Loan to value will be between 70 to 80% depending on the banks and your personal profile.
Because the risk to finance non-resident is higher, the interest rates offered to non-resident are usually higher than for a French resident.
In average you will obtain:
- 1,7% fixe for 15 years
- 1,95% fixe for 20 years
- 2,25% fixe for 25 years
You will also need to add to cost of life insurance, as it will be required to obtain your mortgage in France. Please note that the insurance can be contracted out from an insurance company directly, you do not have to take the one of the bank.
You have signed a reservation contract or a pre-sale agreement to buy a French Property, now is the time to apply for your mortgage.
The bank will ask you for:
Proof of income
Current bank account statement (3 to 6 months)
Saving bank account statements (annual)
Employment history
Existing loan statements
If you own a property – title of deeds
If you rent a property – proof on income
Once your mortgage application is completed, it will take at least one month to get an answer from the bank. Once your mortgage is approved, the bank will send you a mortgage offer to sign, you will have a delay of 11 working days to respect before you sign and return the mortgage offer to the bank. When the bank has received the mortgage offer signed, the amount borrowed can be transferred to the notary who is calling for the sale. To be cautious, we usually allow at least 3 months to get a mortgage in place in France.
Because the French banking system can be a bit complicated and time consuming, it can be a good idea to use a mortgage broker to secure your financing in France. We have several brokers we can recommend depending on the purchaser profile and the type of property you are looking at.
Currency Brokers
Property prices in France will be paid in Euros to the notary account so you are transferring directly from your home account and do not have an Euro account, you will require currency exchange. If you are looking at saving some money on currency exchange, it is worth looking at currency brokers. We can recommend some reputable firms who have assisted our clients in the past.