What are the luxury real estate agencies? Choosing a luxury real estate agency to sell or buy a luxury property, what is the right choice?
Luxury real estate agencies: make the right choice!
You are considering purchasing a luxury property in France, you are making the right choice because France offers a range of exceptional luxury properties and goods for sale.
A leading country for global tourism, France naturally attracts a large number of foreign prestigious real estate buyers who dream of owning a property in France, whether as a primary or secondary residence.
The luxury real estate market in France is therefore very dynamic and all regions are showing this craze for France for the purchase of charming, luxury, prestigious properties and other beautiful residences.
So how can you put all the chances on your side to unearth the rare pearl, the exceptional property that you dream of acquiring in France and that you have perhaps been looking for for a while: luxury penthouse in Paris with an exceptional view of the Effeil Tower, Private mansion in the popular 8th arrondissement of Paris, charming loft in Montmartre, luxury Haussmann-style apartment on the Parisian Grands Boulevards?
Paris is in high demand, so the rarest and most spectacular properties sometimes escape Internet users because they are most often sold on the off market, where the greatest confidentiality is required.
Paris is not the luxury real estate spot only concerned by this desire of luxury real estate buyers.
The Côte d'Azur, the famous French Riviera, also arouses the interest of buyers who dream of a place in the sun in France and there are among the most luxurious residences and luxury properties for sale on the French property market. prestige real estate.
In Cannes, Nice, Saint-Tropez or Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, the most exceptional properties reach tens of millions of euros and, as in Paris, certain properties are negotiated secretly, using a global off-market approach.
The high price of a property alone is not enough for the owner to wish to carry out the transaction without advertising on the so-called off market.
The luxury real estate agency offers high-end services while the classic real estate agency remains generalist.
So, if you are looking for a luxury or prestigious property to buy in France, it is essential to contact luxury real estate agencies because depending on your purchase project and financial surface, the agencies which will consider you as a privileged VIP prospect, will be able to open the doors to you of the most beautiful houses, apartments and properties for sale which are not advertised but also more traditional luxury properties whose owners wish to manage their sale with complete discretion, Sheltered from prying eyes on the internet and therefore without any online advertising.
All real estate agencies do the same job: real estate intermediation, in other words the real estate transaction, and charge a service, a commission, for any completed business that is definitively signed by the notary.
The difference is that classic real estate agencies deal with the sale of traditional or general real estate which target the broadest clientele of buyers while professionals who have specialized in the luxury or prestige niche intervene in a market niche real estate, very specific, which therefore requires a very different customer approach from a traditional agency.
In the prestigious real estate market, owners of beautiful homes and buyers are most often a population made up of business leaders, captains of industry, engineers, senior executives, CSP+, artists and other rich or ultra-rich personalities. who are demanding, in a hurry, and most often already have a sense of business.
Thus, in a luxury real estate agency, the sense of contact, communication, customer service, availability and naturally a strong ability to know how to lead a real estate negotiation between a seller and a buyer which concerns financial issues at the height and whose interests most often diverge, are the essential high-end or premium services offered by those involved in the sector.
Luxury real estate agencies, who are they?
Before listing the main luxury real estate agencies, it is worth opening a parenthesis to specify that classic real estate agencies can also have beautiful properties and beautiful residences in their portfolios of properties for sale.
Indeed, for example, the owner of a castle located next to a small provincial town of 10,000 inhabitants will probably wish to entrust his property to one or more known luxury real estate agencies but, aware that nowadays the Most of the business is done on the Internet, you can also entrust your beautiful property to a classic real estate agency well established locally.
Real estate buyers search everywhere on the Internet and so some owners also entrust their luxury goods to local agencies located where the property is for sale.
It is therefore a very good strategy when you own a luxury property to entrust a sales mandate to the traditional local real estate agency.
Foreign buyers who aim to buy a luxury property in France target a city, a department or a region most often because they have already come there on vacation or with family and the choice of a geographical target is not the result of chance.
Thus, entrusting your property to the local real estate agency which has clients who inevitably wish to buy where the agency is located is a good strategy, a real complement to luxury real estate agencies.
The main luxury real estate agencies
They can be of different nature:
- 100% independent luxury real estate agencies: the creator is 100% independent, his brand belongs to him, he specializes in the world of luxury real estate and is not attached to any national or international chain or brand. He is an autonomous business manager who leads the commercial strategy of his real estate agency according to his own business plan.
- Luxury real estate agencies in an integrated network: they all have the same name and are all attached to a parent company. These are often real estate agency businesses that were originally family-owned and have developed over time, with growth and the opening of agencies in several cities.
- Luxury real estate agencies in brand licensing: the licensee pays a royalty to the owner of the brand for the right to use it. The licensee is often an independent agency “under brand license” which enjoys the reputation of the brand and has the freedom to organize itself as it wishes to organize its agency.
- Franchise luxury real estate agencies: these are independent real estate agencies which apply the methods and have the same brand name and the same tools as the agencies in the network to which they belong. Franchise agencies most often pay a % of their fees to the franchisor who takes care of advertising the brand.
Whether you choose to use the services of a traditional local real estate agency or a well-known luxury real estate brand, it is worth remembering that behind the names of brands, and much more than the names and brands, it is above all people who make companies.
So, before entrusting your property to this or that agency, it is preferable to take your time, think carefully and test the agency with a few calls and requests for simple information before signing a sales mandate or a voucher. visit.
In the Charming Properties Magazine, you will find an interesting article and relevant advice for choosing the right real estate agency.
Luxury real estate agencies in alphabetical order
The information comes from the sites of real estate agencies, Wikipedia and the counting of properties was carried out on 11/19/2021 by the luxury real estate portal Properties de Charme.
Barnes International
- Luxury properties for sale in France: 3,458 ads as of 11/19/2022
- Luxury properties for sale in Paris 75: 669 ads as of 11/19/2022
Barnes is a high-end real estate player in Europe and the United States.
Founded by Heidi Barnes in 1995, the network brings together more than 1,100 employees, spread across 102 offices located in around twenty countries. Heidi Barnes founded Barnes International.
She opened a real estate company in London and Paris intended to accommodate a clientele of expatriate executives in these two capitals. At the beginning of the 2000s, Thibault de Saint Vincent joined Barnes as President, after having created and developed residential real estate companies in Paris for more than fifteen years, notably the Connexion Immobilier network.
The high-end real estate sales activity was launched under the direction of Thibault de Saint Vincent in 2003 and 2004, initially in Miami, London and Paris. Barnes transacts in multiple areas.
The company publishes assessments of the international luxury real estate market, which publishes the “Barnes City Index” each year. The company is present in 18 countries.
Coldwell Banker
- Luxury properties for sale around the world: impossible to count on their site
- Luxury properties for sale in France: counting impossible on their site
- Luxury properties for sale in Paris 75: 51 ads as of 11/19/2022
Coldwell Banker in France
Coldwell Banker is the most dynamic network in the luxury and prestige real estate market with 12 openings in 2019. Today Coldwell Banker France & Monaco has nearly 40 offices and 300 consultants.
Coldwell Banker is a real estate franchise network owned by Realogy.
Created in 1906 by Colbert Coldwell in San Francisco, the network today has around 92,000 real estate consultants, for 3,100 offices in 49 countries. After the San Francisco earthquake in 1906, which destroyed more than 80% of the city, Albert Nion Tucker, Colbert Coldwell and John Conant Lynch founded Tucker, Lynch and Coldwell on August 27, 1906, a real estate agency which wanted to restore the customer interest at the heart of its activity.
Benjamin Arthur Banker joined the company in 1913 as a consultant, and became a partner in 1914. The company was then renamed Coldwell Banker. In 1933, Coldwell Banker created the Previews brand, specializing in luxury real estate, and organized video screenings of villas in private rooms for privileged clients.
In 1952, the company opened its first branch outside of California in Phoenix, Arizona.
In the 1970s, the network expanded through the acquisition of companies in Atlanta, Chicago and Washington DC. Coldwell Banker's first international office opened in 1998 in Toronto, Canada. The network was established in France in 2011. In 1981, Coldwell Banker was purchased by Sears, Roebuck and became a component of Sears Financial Network. In 1989, Sears sold Coldwell Banker's commercial division to The Carlyle Group for approximately $300 million, becoming CBRE. The Residential Real Estate division then kept the name Coldwell Banker. Sears sold Coldwell Banker to Fremont Group in 1993 for $230 million. The network was then sold to HFS Inc. then to Cendant in 1996. In 2006, the Realogy group bought the brand. Realogy is the global leader in real estate franchises and also owns Century 21, Era Real Estate and Corcoran. Realogy is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
Daniel Féau
- Luxury properties for sale in France: 763 ads as of 11/19/2022
- Luxury properties for sale in Paris 75, Île de France: 651 ads as of 11/19/2022
Daniel Féau presents himself as the specialist in luxury real estate in Paris and western Paris.
Agency created in 1986 which has offices in Paris. Daniel Féau is involved in the transaction of beautiful apartments, houses and mansions, in Paris and the western suburbs.
According to the brand, it makes one in three sales between 2 and 4 million euros, and more than half of sales above 4 million. Daniel Féau also sells between 600 and 700 apartments per year, worth between 500,000 and 2 million euros.
Emile Garcin
- Luxury properties for sale in France: 598 ads as of 11/19/2022
- Luxury properties for sale in Paris 75: 96 ads as of 11/19/2022
Emile Garcin is above all a family company, founded in 1963 in Saint-Rémy-de Provence by Emile Garcin. The group today has fourteen agencies in France (non-franchise), two branches in Marrakech and Tangier and correspondents in Dublin, London and Stockholm.
Engel & Volkers
- Luxury properties for sale worldwide: 54,644 listings as of 11/19/2022
- Luxury properties for sale in France: 842 ads as of 11/19/2022
- Luxury properties for sale in Paris 75: 338 ads as of 11/19/2022
Engel & Völkers is a German company, world leader in real estate brokerage companies, specializing in prestigious real estate.
Founded in 1977 in Hamburg (Germany) by Dirk C. Engel and joined in 1981 by Christian Völkers, it is present in more than 30 countries and employs more than 11,000 employees. David Scheffler is President France and Managing Director of Market Center Paris. In December 1977, Dirk C. Engel founded “Engel & Cie”, a company specializing in the sale of real estate to Germans in downtown Hamburg.
Christian Völkers then joined Dirk C. Engel and they founded a brokerage office in Hamburg. After Engel's death in 1986, Christian Völkers took over his partner's shares and continued Engel & Cie. under the name Engel & Völkers.
John Taylor
- Luxury properties for sale worldwide: 1,620 listings as of 11/19/2022
- Luxury properties for sale in France: 580 ads as of 11/19/2022
- Luxury properties for sale in Paris 75: 65 ads as of 11/19/2022
An international dimension
During the 1990s, Michel Pastor acquired John Taylor. In 2006, thus perpetuating the exceptional legacy and family spirit of John Taylor, Michel Pastor appointed his daughter Delphine Pastor President of the Group. Since then, the company has expanded internationally, recently opening agencies in Courchevel, Megève, Paris, Geneva, Gstaad, London, and Doha.
In 2002, and at a time when the auction market was becoming very competitive, the entrepreneur Nicolas Orlowski bought Artcurial, and, through his initiatives, quickly made it the first French auction house specializing in more than twenty- five areas of art and antiquities. Artcurial then became one of the main international players in the Art market and created a partnership with John Taylor in 2013.
Succeeding Delphine Pastor who successfully managed the group for more than 10 years, Artcurial bought the John Taylor group in November 2017, allowing it to offer its international clientele a global service, and to amplify and accelerate the synergies of the two Houses.
Junot
- Luxury properties for sale in France: counting impossible on their site
- Luxury properties for sale in Paris 75: counting impossible on their site
Junot is a family group founded in 1984, member of the Leading Real Estate Companies of the World and Unio, the leading Parisian luxury real estate network. It provides high-end services for the sale, management and rental of quality real estate in Paris. With 16 agencies in the heart of neighborhoods, 60,000 French and international clients, Junot sells 500 properties per year and manages 500 million euros of real estate assets, from studios to private hotels.
The Nail Cabinet
Luxury real estate agency specializing in the sale of castles in France
- Luxury properties for sale – France: 162 ads as of 11/19/2022
Since the 1970s, Cabinet LE NAIL has occupied a leading and recognized place in the field of expertise and the sale of castles, manors, agricultural and forestry estates.
This leading position was acquired thanks to the breadth of its skills in the fields of ancient architecture, agriculture and forestry, but also in legal and technical matters.
Cabinet Le Nail offers you a selection of exceptional real estate for sale including Châteaux, Manoirs, Estates, Private mansions, Beautiful residences in Brittany, Normandy, Pays de la Loire, Center Val-de-Loire, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Grand- East, Burgundy Franche-Comté, Auvergne Rhone-Alpes, Hauts-de-France and Île-de-France.
Mercury Group 1936
- Luxury properties for sale in France: 600 ads as of 11/19/2022
- Luxury properties for sale in Paris 75: 18 ads as of 11/19/2022
For more than 80 years, the Mercure Group has made luxury real estate and real estate assets its spearhead.
The experts of the Mercure Group offer demanding clients a complete selection of character properties and prestigious residences throughout France. The experts of the Mercure Group offer a demanding clientele a complete selection of character properties and prestigious residences throughout France. Bought in 1980 by Pierre Chassaigne, Chairman of the Group, the Mercure Group has been able to adapt to changes in the business and take advantage of opportunities to become a unique real estate group, thanks to its notoriety and roots.
Today, the Group has 20 regional divisions throughout France.
The development of the Mercure network has always been done in a “family spirit”: a family and friendly environment guided by values of trust, respect for traditions, honesty and professionalism, within a clearly defined legal framework.
Sotheby's International Realty
- Luxury properties for sale worldwide: 497,431 listings as of 11/19/2022
- Luxury properties for sale in France: 1,386 ads as of 11/19/2022
- Luxury properties for sale in Paris 75: 198 ads as of 11/19/2022
Sotheby's International Realty is a luxury real estate brand founded in 1976 by art dealers Sotheby's.
Sotheby's International Realty operates as a franchise focused on the brokerage and marketing of residential real estate. Specializing in luxury real estate, in 2018, the Sotheby's International Realty network had more than 19,000 sales associates in 990 offices in 72 countries and territories around the world.
In February 2004, Realogy, a provider of real estate franchising and brokerage, relocation and settlement services, entered into a long-term strategic alliance with Sotheby's. The agreement provides for the licensing of the Sotheby's International Realty name and the development of a comprehensive franchise system. System franchises are granted to brokerages and individuals who meet Realogy's criteria. The franchisor supports its agents with operational, marketing, recruiting, education and business development resources. In 2012, the company launched a website for farm and ranch listings, the first in a series of specialty market Internet listings. Subsequent targeted marketing websites include beachfront, golf, ski and historic properties.
Vaneau Agency
- Luxury properties for sale in France: counting impossible on their site
- Luxury properties for sale in Paris 75: counting impossible on their site
Vaneau, prestigious real estate since 1972. VANEAU has specialized for more than 45 years in the sale and rental of prestigious real estate in France in Paris, Neuilly, Boulogne and on the Côte d'Azur, but also in Brussels, Marrakech or even Miami, through its 27 agencies.
Marc Foujols International Properties
- Luxury properties for sale in France: counting impossible on their site
- Luxury properties for sale in Paris 75: 51 ads as of 11/19/2022
Marc Foujols is a real estate agency specializing for 40 years in the sale and rental of prestige goods and luxury properties in Paris, France and internationally. The Marc Foujols Group has more than 800 advertisements processed per year, around fifty employees and partners.
Michaël Zingraf Real Estate
Luxury real estate agency located on the Côte d'Azur
- Luxury properties for sale on the Côte d'Azur: 489 ads as of 11/19/2022
- Luxury properties for sale in Paris 75: 21 ads as of 11/19/2022
Since its creation in 1977, Michaël Zingraf Christie's International Real Estate has met the expectations of a predominantly international clientele by offering exceptional properties for sale and rental, while providing a range of tailor-made services.
The Riviera group bases its expertise on four essential values: trust, integrity, discretion and excellence. IN FRANCE: The 18 Michaël Zingraf Real Estate agencies located in the most emblematic places of the Côte d'Azur, Provence but also in Deauville, Paris and Uzès, offer properties for sale and seasonal rental, as well as 'a range of personalized services.
The brand now has more than 70 employees from all four corners of the globe (English, German, Scandinavian, Russian, Bulgarian, etc.). Michaël Zingraf Real Estate offers nearly 2,000 properties for sale and rental, ranging from 1 to 350 million euros. INTERNATIONALLY: In addition to the opening of the first Michaël Zingraf Real Estate agency in Switzerland, in the legendary resort of Gstaad, the International department offers a selection of prestigious properties for sale, located in the most remarkable destinations of the planet including London, Capri, Portofino, Ibiza, Mykonos, Marrakech, New York and even Saint-Barthélemy. Through its carefully selected partnerships and through the Christie's International Real Estate network (143 affiliates around the world), the Group is represented through 940 offices spread across 49 countries.
