The first step once you have decided to commission a property-search is to draw up a list of the most important criteria for the search. This will usually take the following order of priority:

Location - In/Near a particular town or city; Distance from an Airport; Distance from the Beach etc
Size of Property - Number of Bedrooms (en-suite or not); Outdoor area - garden/patio/balcony etc
Budget - How much would you like to spend and what is the absolute maximum you would go to for the perfect property?
Facilities - Swimming pool or possibility of building one; Local Facilities - do you want shops/bakery accessible on foot?; Is a sea-view important?
Use - Is the property primarily to use for private use or as an investment? If it is primarily an investment, are you more concerned by capital gains or rental income?
Style of Property - Are you more interested in a new-build or an old style property? Are you prepared to take on renovation work or would you like it already finished?

You will then contact us to discuss the exact search criteria you would like us to apply, and upon payment of the initial retainer, we will begin the search process. We will find and visit potentially suitable properties on your behalf and within 2-4 weeks we would hope to have an initial portfolio of suitable properties for you to consider. This process will be ongoing until such time as you believe there are enough suitable properties for you to come to the area to visit in person - this could be just 1 property you think fulfils all the criteria sufficiently, or perhaps 4 or 5 properties that you would like to view. The upside in waiting means you'll have more properties to see but you then run the risk of properties being taken off the market before you have a chance to see them. There is no limit to the amount of trips you wish to take to see properties and on each occasion we will arrange visits and accompany you on them. The initial retainer lasts 6 months.

Once you have found a property you wish to purchase, we will liase on your behalf with the selling agents and endeavour to secure your property at a price you are happy to pay. Our commission will become due once the cooling-off period of the signing of the initial, but legally-binding document, Le Compris de Vente has lapsed. We will then, if you wish accompany you to the final signing on the property, roughly 2-3 months after the signing of the Compromis de Vente.