top of page

“Overpriced – (and in all likelihood) will stay as a listing for years”

Writer's picture: Pierre GuilleryPierre Guillery

Updated: Oct 31, 2023

Some agents have no problem taking on properties at ridiculous prices – because they don’t care if they sell. That’s highly unprofessional.


The mas (a "mas" is the denomination for a farmhouse in the south of France) in the photograph above is located 10 minutes southwest of Uzès, in the farming plain of a village called Bourdic, near Blauzac, click here if you are curious. The listing says it offers 700 m² usable square meters – that’s a lot of square foot, almost 8,000. But not one picture of the inside is available; I have only seen the property from the outside, but I can vouch that less than 120 m² is "livable" today – and only barely. The rest are high-ceilinged barns in need of full conversions. The mas sits on 4 hectares (10 acres) of farming land with trees.


The potential is real for somebody looking to create a hospitality business – somebody who has 2m€ to invest in the renovation, on top of a listing price of… 950,000€! That’s utterly ridiculous. I know of a comparable property near Gordes (in the Lubéron) offered at that price – and it hasn’t sold in 11 months. But Uzès is not Gordes (yet). IMHO, based on 13 years’ real estate experience in Uzège and Languedoc, this property in Bourdic, with no running water, no pool, in need of a full renovation, is worth no more than 500,000€.


I know of a large mas located 1.5 km (1 mile) away, fully renovated mas, in move-in conditions with 5 acres of landscaped garden and a fantastic pool; which sold 5 years for 1.65m€. If the listing agent don’t know about it, they don’t know their market. If they do know, they’re lacking ethics. (And please don’t tell me that “market conditions have changed” - that's both true but not applicable here).


The agent who has taken that listing is one of many around Uzès known for accepting "any price the seller wants," and holding on to the listing for as long as it takes. Because a listing like that is going to catch a lot of people’s attention. This mas is very photogenic. Which means it will generate interest, and a lot of phone calls. But quickly those conversations will move away from the mas in question. The callers’ attention will be diverted by the agent to other, less ridiculous priced properties.


That’s a sordid tactic, very useful for the listing agent. Not so much for his customer, the seller. But nobody will ever tell him, will they?


If you ask me, some agents deserve their poor reputation.

44 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page