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The French PropertyPLAYBOOK

Learn the process. Plan your purchase.

Plan your French property purchase with clarity.

Practical guides and free tools to help you understand the process and test your assumptions. Structured courses and Navigator help you develop your knowledge and organise your project.

Explore a free exampleBrowse the guides

What sits beyond a €250,000 asking price?

A fictional purchase, with every cash assumption visible.

Illustration of a two-storey stone village house with pale green shutters and a cobbled forecourt.
Fictional teaching case · Not a listing
Property price
€250,000
Assumed borrowing toward the price
€175,000

Every amount is a hypothetical teaching assumption, not a recommendation, a property quotation or a loan decision.

Cash toward the price
€75,000
Acquisition costs
€20,000
Works allowance
€15,000
Financing costs not already included above
€3,000
Cash used for these included items — subtotal
€113,000
Reserve to retain — held aside, not a cost
€10,000
Cash to allocateIncluding the retained reserve
€123,000

Simplified cash allocation using these hypothetical amounts. It excludes running costs, ongoing repayments, currency conversion and anything not entered. The reserve is cash held aside, not a purchase expense. Not a complete transaction cost, an affordability verdict or a required deposit.

Borrowing covers part of the price. Your cash also needs to cover the costs you include and the reserve you choose to retain.

Explore the full case Use your own figures

Free to explore. No account required.Preview a real lesson How we use sources

Investing to let?

Does the rent cover the flat?

A fictional €150,000 flat let at €700 a month has a 5.6% gross yield. Once empty months, running costs and the loan are paid, the owner still adds about €276 a month before tax. See why, and test what changes the answer.

Fictional teaching case · Not a listing · Per year

  1. Rent for a full year€8,400
  2. Operating income before the loan€5,396
  3. Cash flow after the loan, before tax−€3,316

Try the rental example Free, no account. Change the rent, costs or loan yourself.

One platform, four ways to move forward.

Start with your question.

Browse all guides

  • What will buying really cost?

    Separate the price from acquisition costs, financing, works and the cash you keep back.

    Read the guide

  • How do I prepare for a mortgage?

    Understand what to gather and what to ask before speaking to a lender.

    Read the guide

  • Buying from abroad

    Find the guidance written for your situation. Country-specific guides say who they are for.

    Explore the guides

Put your own numbers to work.

Two free tools, with their scope and assumptions explained.

Compare the two tools

  • Estimate acquisition costs

    Selected taxes and notarial costs for an ordinary residential purchase, from the rate and treatment you confirm.

    Open the estimator

  • Build a cash plan

    Work out the cash to have available: your price less the amount you plan to borrow toward it, plus costs, works and the reserve you keep. It estimates no rate and makes no lending assessment.

    Build a cash plan

Learn

Learn the method behind the numbers.

Learn how the buying process, financing and evidence fit together, then apply that method to your own project.

Actual financing lesson slide showing a worked monthly debt-service screen
Actual excerpt from the financing lesson. The numbers are fictional teaching inputs, not a lending offer. Open the preview to read it at full size.

Questions the wider method helps you work through

  • What figures will a lender assess?
  • How do borrowing and cash fit together?
  • What still needs supporting evidence?
Preview the financing lesson

Purchased teaching remains available when Navigator access ends. After the included 12 months, you can choose another 12 months of Navigator for €149. Initial course purchases include a 15-day money-back guarantee; a Navigator extension does not, but it is refunded in full if you withdraw within 14 days. See the refund and cancellation terms and how Navigator access works.

Market & regulation

Selected changes, explained for your project.

Our method

Understand the evidence behind the guidance.

See how understanding becomes useful work.

Learn the idea. Work through the example. Record what matters to you.

See a real financing lesson and its printable companion. Follow the reasoning, then identify the inputs and evidence your own situation needs.

Explore the lesson preview

How we use sources

Each tool shows its assumptions and what it leaves out. Where a calculation rests on a rule, the method page links the primary source it was built from.

A source-check date records when we last checked the method. It does not confirm the rate or treatment for an individual property, so check transaction-specific matters with the relevant professional.

How calculations are explained

Meet your instructor

James J.M.CFA®, FRM

Principal Advisor
Rivière Advisory

MBA, HEC Paris

View James’s professional background on LinkedIn

A decade of experience and specialist training in investment and real estate management.

James holds an MBA from HEC Paris, is a CFA® charterholder and a member of CFA Society France, and has completed a real estate programme at the London School of Economics.

His approach combines investment analysis, risk management and practical property evaluation to help buyers understand the numbers, test assumptions and make informed decisions.

HEC Paris’s Grande École programme: No. 1 in France, Le Figaro Étudiant 2026.

Qualifications and memberships relate to James personally; they do not imply institutional endorsement of the Playbook.