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Readers’ tips: Which website is the best for property hunting in France?

Each week The Local asks its readers to share their tips about various aspects of living in France. This week we asked their opinion on which website is the best for property hunting in France. Here's what they had to say.

Published: 26 October 2018 15:46 CEST
Readers' tips: Which website is the best for property hunting in France?
Photo: AFP

Which website is the best for property hunting in France?

Our readers chose Le Bon Coin as the best website for property hunting in France.

What is Le Bon Coin?    

Le Bon Coin is France's most popular classified ads website so it came as something of a surprise to us that it was also our readers favourite property hunting website. 

It is a free website where people can place and read adverts for free and people use it to find anything from pets to lawnmowers to buttered toast and ski stations. 
 
Le Bon Coin was created in 2006.
 
Photo: AFP
 
Why is it so popular?
 
Readers said that the big benefit of using Le Bon Coin is that it “cuts out the middle man” meaning there are no agency fees and often no need to jump through the hoops necessary with the big property sites.
 
“We went through the agency route and it was massively complicated – they also charge a huge sum and need an exhaustive 'dossier',” said Christos Tiger from the Bordeaux Expats blog.
 
“Le Bon Coin was quick and simple – the owners posted photos on the site and we went to visit. We waited a few weeks and they lowered the price! We've been there now for three years.”
 
Another reader said that it was an “interesting site” for property hunting that was “a lot less hassle to deal with than others out there”. 
 
Were any other sites recommended?
 
Other readers mentioned that for Anglophones Leggett Immobilier was a good option with its English listings and English-speaking agents.  
 
Some also recommended Immonot a notaires (solicitors) listings site which, like Le Bon Coin, means there's no need to pay agency fees as there is with the more traditional property sites. 
 
One of our readers, Lina Agabani Puch advised that instead of sticking on site people should shop around. 
 
“I found my studio on seloger.com but I wouldn’t say it’s the best website,” she said. “The trick is to try a bunch of sites, go on as many apartment visits as possible to increase your chances, prepare a good dossier, and then be annoyingly persistent once you’ve found “The One”.
 
If you would like to ask The Local's readers a question to hear their tips on life in France, email us at [email protected].
 
READ ALSO:
Readers' tips: Which bank offers the best account for foreigners in France?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Member comments

  1. Many people around here are using iVendre to produce webpages of their properties for sale. They then use the links to their webpages in various places, e.g. Leboncoin as well as on posters. IVendre also show the properties on their website ivendre.com. Been very successful in getting houses sold

  2. Surprised at no mention of the excellent pap.fr web site (pap = particulier à particulier, so absolutely no middleman there, just individuals dealing with other individuals). pap will also do evaluations of your property,and carry out the now-obligatory environment audit on your property (for a reasonable fee). They are extremely trustworthy both for buying and selling property.

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HOLIDAYS

Readers’ tips: How to get the most out of a holiday in Denmark

We asked our readers for tips on how to save money when holidaying in Denmark and for some of the best things to do. This is what they said.

Published: 2 July 2020 12:16 CEST
Readers' tips: How to get the most out of a holiday in Denmark
The ferry to Anholt, the far-flung island in the middle of the Kattegat Sea is free for foot passengers and cyclists. Photo: Visit Anholt
HOW TO SAVE MONEY
 
Take advantage of the cheap train tickets
 
Fabrizio, from Italy, recommends the Rejsepas (travel pass) from the Danish train company DSB, which gives holders a week's totally free public transport across the whole of Denmark from June 27th until August 9th, and only costs 299 kroner. It's an incredible deal, so incredible in fact that all 50,000 tickets were quickly snapped up this year. If you missed it, you'll have to wait until next year. 
 
But you can still get so-called 'orange tickets', which are on sale for a maximum of 99 Danish kroner, which is also a pretty good deal. 
 
Nadine Morgan says it's important to book train tickets in advance, as they are then much cheaper than on the day. 
 
Take advantage of the free ferries 
 
As part of the government's “summer package”, pedestrians and cyclists travelling to Denmark's smaller islands, as well as to Fanø, Læsø, Ærø and Samsø in August and September can travel for free, points out Martin, a Danish reader.
 
There are also reduced prices on all ferries for cars, and reduced prices on the ferry to Bornholm. 
 
 
Go camping 
 
Vanessa Lima, from Brazil, recommends camping wild on some of Denmark's less frequented beaches. “Just find a place to camp there and spend few days with nature,” she says. 
 
Don't eat in restaurants too much 
 
Denmark's restaurants are some of the most expensive in the world, so a great way to save costs is to buy food in supermarkets and cook it yourself. “You don't necessarily need to eat out at every restaurant for every meal, so consider packing or making your own meals. Food costs go a long way,” Morgan says. 
 
Marta, from Poland, agrees, adding that you can save a lot of money by having barbecues while camping. 
 
Take advantage of the summer freebies in cities. 
 
“There are plenty of free things to do in Copenhagen. And until the middle of August a lot of museums are half price,” says the British travel blogger Karen Smedley. “The harbour bus is great for sightseeing, as is walking around the capital and admiring the architecture. There are plenty of lovely parks, especially the deer park, which are all free.”
 
Use student discounts
 
One Hungarian international student recommends take advantage of the thousands of student discounts on offer in Denmark, many of which relate to things you'd like to do on holiday. The train company DSB offers 25 percent discounts for students, and the student website Studenterguiden, has a whole section devoted to them, with discounts to most museums, and many theatres. 
 
 
WHERE TO GO
 
The smaller islands
 
Morgan thinks Rømø Strand is Denmark's best beach. It's such a unique beach where you can drive for a few kilometres on the beach itself and enjoy the low tide of the water, and then when high tide comes, you have to hurry out. It's great because you can stay there for hours, it's family friendly, and its really beautiful with soft sand and seashells and few crabs walking around.” 
 
Allegra De María, from Italy, also recommends Denmark's “smaller islands”, as the best places to get away from it all. You can check out a list here at the Visit Denmark website.  
 
Beaches between Aarhus and Skagen 
 
Lima recommends travelling a little south down the coast towards Aarhus from the most popular areas around Skagen. “Not too close to Skagen or Aarhus, [the beaches are] usually good places to enjoy nature.
 
Enjoy the parks around Copenhagen 
 
Morgan is a big fan of the Dyrehaven, or Deer Park in Klampenborg north of Copenhagen.
 
“Dyrehaven is really beautiful and its my favourite park in Denmark that I have visited so far. I arrived there the first time on a fall [autumn] morning and they sky was clear blue and the air was brisk, and the colour of the leaves were a perfect beautiful orange and brown and there were deers roaming all over the park. It's a beautiful walk in the park and you can bring a picnic and sit there and enjoy nature.” 
 
Megan Miller, from Scotland, recommends bicycling around Copenhagen's Amager island to Dragør, the prosperous 19th century sea-faring town south of Copenhagen. 
 
Day trips to sea near Copenhagen 
 
Maria Andrianova, a tour guide from Russia, recommends the chalk cliffs at Stevns Klint, a UNESCO site with a great sea view. “I was quite impressed to learn that a part of the church fell down onto the seashore in 1928. The island of Møn has a very similar breathtaking landscape, but Stevns Klint is closer to Copenhagen”.
 
“I am also a big fan of Bellevue Beach near Klampenborg station – especially because of all the history and architecture behind it,” she says. “The small lifeguard towers on the beach were designed in the 1930s by famous Arne Jacobsen, and there are a whole bunch of great buildings also designed by him just next to the beach (like the Bellevue Theatre, Bellavista Housing Estate, and Skovshoved Petrol Station).
 
 
Visit Denmark's excellent open air museums
 
Morgan is also a fan of Den Gamle By [the old city] in Aarhus and the Frilandsmuseet in Lyngby, both of which showcase Danish architecture of different periods and try to recreate how life has changed across the centuries. 
 
“In Den Gamle By, you get to go inside a pretty big area where it feels more like a city or small town, and you get to go into all of the houses that were imported from different parts of denmark and placed there and rebuilt to their original state, and also travel through time the further you progress into the open-air museum.” 
 
 
 
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