How to understand French property listings - Expert advice for American buyers! With real life examples and video!
If you’re an American buyer dreaming of finding your perfect French property, then you’re in the right place! Get our expert advice on how to understand French property listings! Don’t worry! You don’t need to speak French! We can help guide you through the information contained in the typical French property listings online - including French websites and English websites!
One of your top questions just may be the following:
*** TOP AMERICAN BUYER QUESTION ***: “How do I actually understand French property listings? Especially if my French language skills are not perfect…? There are so many French terms, confusion abbreviations and French jargon that don’t make sense for American buyers!”
“Don’t worry, we get it!! We’ve been there! Many of our buyers have been there! French property listings can be uniquely confusing! Not only because of the French language, but because often, translation apps just don’t help! Translation apps and Google translate can’t translate cultural context which is so critical when it comes to finding and purchasing your dream French property! Rest easy! WE CAN HELP! ”
If you want to dive straight in, then have a look at our quick video below! MAKE SURE YOUR SOUND IS ON! As we provide loads more insight than just want you see on screen. And then… have a look at our full expert blog below where we really flesh out and provide more insight into some of the key points that we highlight - always focusing on French real estate terminology, French common abbreviations for real estate, and common French phrases you should know for your French property search! This is not a lesson in the French language! It’s also not a translation app!! It’s our expert real-live real estate advice to help YOU not only understand the words but actually fully grasp the context of the critical French terms, abbreviations, terminology, words and more that you will certainly encounter in your French property search! Let’s go!
Now that you’ve had a look AND listen at our video (make sure the sound was on!), let's dive even further and really explain three key French terms you will most certainly see when you are searching for French properties online as an American buyer!
Below, we further explain these three French terms and French jargon that might be confusing in the property listings.
While there are plenty of French real estate terms, abbreviations and phrases that are important to know for your French property search (we have a guide that covers more that 300 of these terms), we focus here on 3 case studies!
“Why did we choose these 3 French words / phrases for our case study? Well, because the three case studies we share below not only illustrate that translation apps just don’t cut it when it comes to translating a French word into English without any cultural or market specific context, BUT ALSO... to make the point that sometimes, there is no language translation required! And instead, it’s a cultural context explanation that is missing!! And that’s where we can help! ”
Let’s start with a very common French term you will see everywhere… VIS A VIS… sometimes written VIS-A-VIS or vis-à-vis.
FRENCH PROPERTY / REAL ESTATE TERM #1 - vis-à-vis - an introduction
This is quite a common term that you’ll probably have come across in English as well. However, it’s most certainly a “false friend” so you’ll just need to ignore its meaning in English!
Of course, there are plug-ins for internet browsers to translate pages automatically, and lots of different options for online translation, not least of all Google translate and others.
So you might be thinking that translating this phrase in a French property listing shouldn’t be a problem. But we’re going to show you why sometimes, putting terms into the context of a French property listing and French property search can be more complicated….
THE TRANSLATION APPS - NOT VERY HELPFUL!
Here is how Google Translate is able to translates this term - YES… Google translate translates this term as vis-a-vis. Because, we know that in English, we can use this term to mean something but in a completely different context.
Pretty helpful right?! Maybe not!!
Literally, this term means “face to face”. Okay, but what does it actually mean in the context of a French property listing? In the context of describing a French property for sale, the term “vis-a-vis” means that the property that is for sale is not “overlooked”… Quite different from the English translation!
The property listing we’ve used for this example also says “sans” which means “without” in front of the vis-a-vis phrase. So that means that the property that is being presented for sale in this French property listing is not overlooked. You will certainly see this phrase quite a lot for French property listings!
To be clear, this phrase is less about proximity of neighbours… and it’s more about the position of the property and its main outside living space and main space in relation to neighbours! So… it’s entirely possible to have a property that is somewhat close to neighbours, but has no “vis-a-vis” because the neighbours have no windows on the side of their property that faces the property that is being sold and described in this French property listing!
The other point that’s worth pointing out with this French property listing example is that this is an FSBO listing in France. Yes! FSBO property listings in France exist! And they’re actually relatively common! This is where the owner is selling the property direct - in France, these are known as PAP listings (Particulier à Particulier) listings.
If you click the contact button on this property listing, you will be contacting the seller direct.
“FSBO / PAP property listings are actually quite common in France - about 40% of all French property transactions are private sales not involving a real estate agent. Pursing an FSBO purchase in France can lead to some serious savings for you as a buyer but you need to get yourself knowledgeable about all the risks, costs, and details of the French property purchase process to avoid nasty surprises!”
FRENCH PROPERTY / REAL ESTATE TERM #2 - 3 Faces - an introduction
Let’s focus on another typical and somewhat confusing French term for French property listings - 3 Faces! Sometimes, you’ll also see 2 Faces or 4 Faces in French property listings!
This is another quite common term that might not be obvious! It also proves the point that sometimes with French words and the French property listings and French real estate market, it’s not the French language that needs translating into English langauge! It’s the cultural context and the market context of French real estate!
This is a perfect example! For this French phrase, there is nothing to translate apart from the context. And context makes all the difference!
The context is this - it means that “3 faces” of the French property for sale or “3 sides” of the property are not attached to another property! So, that the property that is being described is actually attached just on one side to another property! To further illustrate this point, you will sometimes see French property listings that say “ 4 faces” and yes that means that the property is fully detached and fully independent! And of course, “2 faces” means that it’s attached on the 2 out of the total of 4 sides!
When you start searching on the various listings websites, there often isn’t an option to search for fully detached properties. If you’re lookign for properties deep in the countryside with lots of land, this is not an issue. But if you’re looking for properties in a village or hamlet or town, it’s useful to know more about the geographic layout of the property in relation to the other properties nearby!
“When looking at French property listings online, specifying that you only want fully detached properties is often not an option! Sometimes there is a freeform search box. If you’re looking for a fully detached property, you could try to add the search term “4 faces”. This approach is not perfect, as not every detached property listing will use this term, but it should give you some options and will hopefully save you some time!”
FRENCH PROPERTY / REAL ESTATE TERM #3 - RDC - an introduction & clarification
The final French jargon property listing term we’d like to focus on today is a French abbreviation you’ll see quite a lot!
No… it’s not “appartement” - as that does mean what you think it means just in French! It’s of course an apartment!
The French abbreviation you’ll see quite a lot is RDC -
It stands for this: rez-de-chaussée.
RDC means ground floor in France and Europe in general! Importantly, ground floor (or floor zero as it’s sometimes referred to) is actually the 1st floor in the US.
So this is a listing for an apartment on the ground floor of a house. It’s worth pointing out as it’s quite a common thing that some American buyers don’t quite realize when they first start searching for French properties!
“RDC - You do sometimes see search filters for this in various French property websites and portals - so if you are looking for an apartment, you can search for the floor. Also for a house, if you filtered just for this term it would mean a house with only one floor and no stairs.”
More help is available! If you would like some more help with French terms in listings and putting them into context rather than just literal translations, then we can help. We have a downloadable guide of over 300 French terms, phrases, and listing jargon that will help you decode French language listings. Each term is explained and put into context rather than JUST giving you a translation that you can get yourself for free with any translation app! As we’ve showed here, often, when it comes to France as a whole, and certainly when it comes finding and purchasing French property, cultural context matters! learn more below!
Want to get more knowledgeable about purchasing property in France? Then connect with us for expert advice and tips! Have specific questions? Let us know!
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