View from the Immobilier: Freddy Rueda

This week we hear from a longstanding partner of FrenchEntrée, Freddy Rueda of Real Estate Languedoc.

We’ve been working with Freddy for a number of years now, marketing his fantastic properties in the Languedoc region to our international readers. Freddy’s agency has been helping clients find their dream property in the South of France since 1995!

We asked Freddy how the recent lockdown in France adjusted the way they do business, and what his thoughts are on the rest of 2020.

“The lockdown was very complicated for estate agents. When you can’t make any viewings, you simply don’t sell. We only sold two houses during this period, one “unseen” after arranging a video for a client on a cheap property, and another sale to a client who had visited prior to the lockdown but who decided during.

We adjusted the way we do business by being more flexible on making videos. We weren’t able to do this for every client and every property (we have around 400 properties for sale at any one time) but we prioritised the clients ready to buy ‘unseen’ or who were just interested in “one” property, and who were ready to travel out to France as soon as lockdown was over. We obviously kept in contact with all of our clients during this period, and we were impressed with the number of enquiries which was higher than before the pandemic.

When it was the case that journeys of up to 100km could be made, we restarted the first viewings with the domestic market or international buyers already on the ground in France. Many clients have told us they would travel when they can but most have not taken action yet. I suppose they wanted firstly to meet family/friends … and will come back to us in a month or so. For the overseas buyers they are all hoping that the borders will open soon and travel will be easier with no quarantine (in France the 14-day quarantine for British citizens is only a recommendation, not the case then they return to the UK).

I think the business will start again from July but will only really pick up from September. I only had one cancellation during the lockdown from American clients who were scared about being able to travel again this year. I would estimate that around 20% of the clients interested before the lockdown may stop searching now. On the flipside I anticipate around 10% to 20% of buyers will be new clients who want to purchase because they think they would rather have spent lockdown in the beautiful & sunny Languedoc region (now renamed Occitanie)!”

Here are some of our favourite properties listed by Freddy at the moment:

Hérault
€351,000
REF: PP351000E

Hérault
€561,600
REF: CSC561600E

Aude
€845,300
REF: VN845300E

If you’re looking for either a holiday home in or to emigrate to the ever-sunny Languedoc region, please don’t hesitate to get in touch for an initial discussion and we’ll see how our team can help.