Apartment hunter: drawing up specifications for your real estate project
During the first meeting with a real estate hunter, buyers will establish their specifications. It is a document that will be the basis of his research. The apartment hunter enters into it the important criteria for the future apartment or the future house. It is not a document that will necessarily remain frozen in time. It can change, especially for buyers who are still hesitant about certain criteria such as the neighborhood or the type of building. These specifications will also be used by the apartment hunter to assess, during the first meeting with buyers, the average time he will devote to finding the property. This is important information that it will deliver to future buyers. This will allow them to assess whether the timing suits their expectations and obligations. On the other hand, the specifications will give the apartment hunter an opportunity to assess the feasibility of the search. Are there criteria that could make this impossible or far too random? Thanks to the real estate search specifications, the apartment hunter will assess the search time and the feasibility of the search.
How to draw up the specifications with the apartment hunter?
Here are the criteria that will be included in the specifications. They will indicate the direction to follow for the apartment hunter.
In which cities and neighborhoods looking for real estate?
The real estate hunter will first ask you about the city of your choice for Finding the right neighborhood. This is obviously an important criterion, as it will have consequences on your budget. When buyers indicate the, or, the cities of their choice, the Apartment hunter will be more precise: it is listed in the specifications the neighborhoods or even specific streets that the purchasers are targeting. It can even list neighborhoods or streets that should be avoided at all costs.
The creation of specifications is often an opportunity to advise buyers: if they want a residential or rather commercial district, the hunter can tell them or confirm with them that they will find this type of neighborhood in the places they have chosen. Sometimes the apartment hunter will be able to suggest a neighborhood that seems to correspond to the buyers request.
Patrick explains to us how the specifications will be drawn up with the apartment hunter
In what type of building Does the future buyer want to live?
Once the location is defined, the apartment hunter will move on to the building. Does the buyer have preferences for a particular era: is he particularly looking for Haussmann buildings, cut stone, 18th century buildings, recent buildings from the 2000s. Does he like the large projects of the 70s, do they only target small condominiums?
About condominium
About the building, buyers may have specific requests that relate to the condominium. Some want a luxury condominium, others do not want major work in the immediate future. The apartment hunter will inform future owners that condominium work is important and that it must be done regularly. It is a sign of good health of a building. The hunter will provide information on legal points such as the obligation in Paris to renovate buildings every 10 years (in reality, buildings are rather renovated every 15 to 20 years).
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The specifics of the apartment or house
For homes, The presence of a garden, its minimum size, its exposure, will be mentioned and recorded if these are important criteria.
For an apartment, this will be the first floor
Which are wanted and which are to be avoided. The apartment hunter will also note whether an elevator is mandatory and, if so, from which floor.
What is the target area ?
Very often, buyers express a minimum area. In this case, it will be the latter that will be entered in the specifications.
The number of rooms
Of How many rooms Do buyers need, what sizes should they make? Sometimes the number of rooms is difficult to reconcile with the desired surface area. The apartment hunter will also provide information on this important subject, which relates to the typology of apartments or houses in the Paris region.
The size of the living room
La minimum living room size is a criterion that may be important. Buyers are increasingly in demand for large living spaces.
The kitchen
The kitchen may be an important point for some future owners. Should it be separate, open, semi-open?
The number of bathrooms
The number of bathrooms is sometimes also an important criterion. The presence of a shower or specifically a bathtub may be requested.
Presence of a basement
For homes, the presence of a basement (total or partial), of a garage, seats of Parking closed are sometimes essential.
The car park
For requests for parking space in Parisian buildings, the apartment hunter will inform his buyers that it is possible to find parking space in buildings built after the 1950s. For older buildings, this is almost impossible.
The ceiling height
The ceiling height is a criterion that is mentioned very regularly. Buyers express their desire to have an apartment with “beautiful volumes” or high ceilings. Here too, the apartment hunter, through his knowledge of residential real estate, will bring his expertise. Buildings after the 1950s generally offer ceiling heights between 2.5 and 2.6m. For old buildings, the beautiful ceiling heights start at 2.7 m. Some apartments with particularly generous volumes have ceiling heights of more than 3 m.
The outdoor spaces
The outdoor spaces are more and more in demand; especially since the Covid crisis. Again, the real estate hunter will advise, because terraces can literally cause sales prices to explode. Long balconies have little impact on prices, while terraces, especially in inner Paris, can increase prices by +50%!
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The two most frequent criteria requested for Parisian homes
I won't surprise you when I tell you that these are clarity and calm. Few buyers don't mention them.
If we want to be effective in Looking for an apartment, to assess how important they are.
For clarity, do buyers want a bright apartment or a sunny apartment? If the sun must enter the house, we will ban northern exposures. If it is primarily a question of clarity, the apartment hunter will check that you can see the sky in the main rooms; northern exposure will be possible.
About peace and quiet: should all rooms be quiet? only the rooms? Some buyers fear the noises that come from the condominium. In this case, the real estate hunter will refer to top floors or buildings built after the 90s where soundproofing standards are strict.
The budget will be written in golden letters in the specifications
The apartment hunter will check that the budget is consistent with the search criteria listed in the specifications.
The method of financing can also be addressed. Have buyers already contacted their banker or mortgage broker. What will be the personal contribution and the amount of the credit. The quality of financing may also have an impact on the time needed to find the future home.
Warning: don't make research impossible
The apartment hunter will help buyers not to make the search too complex or even impossible.
He will ensure the following elements: a good match between the budget and the search criteria, not to combine too many mandatory criteria, realistic criteria in the location sought.
After several months of research (in a very targeted neighborhood), I decided to call on Talk to me about Paris to get out of this spiral of visits that were not successful. An investment that proved to be very effective since I made an offer at the end of the 5th visit.
Great experience with Talk to me about Paris. Patrick is a professional who accompanies his clients very well in the search for their future place to live. Very attentive, he creates a favourable environment that encourages exchanges with the various stakeholders.
The agency was able to perfectly identify our needs and found us the apartment that ticked all the boxes in a few days and at first glance when we had been looking for several months. Beyond efficiency: professionalism, expertise, availability and a lot of people.
Let's discuss together