Owner at all costs
Keywords: Consumption Company Survey
A report by Olivier Pinte.
This is one of the main concerns of the French: housing. Six in ten French people have difficulty finding accommodation.
For now, prices remain high in France, and, as the business press mentions, real estate is the safe haven in times of crisis. For 39% of French people, becoming a homeowner remains a priority. To make this dream accessible, more and more buyers are betting on new trends. The good deals of real estate 2012 version have one thing in common: agencies, buildings, type of property, the trend is not to move upmarket, but to reduce costs, at all levels. In the provinces and in the suburbs, low cost has invaded the brochures of builders of individual houses. New more economical materials, new ways of building: containers, modules like building games… The goal is a house whose cost does not exceed 100 euros. But at this price, can you build a quality house? Some owners have had nasty surprises. In Paris, prices per m000 remain very high, much more than the average amount that first-time buyers are able to invest. Future owners no longer hesitate to stay in basements, renamed "souplex", or old concierge lodges. The last good plan that is looming is linked to the crisis: the real estate market is in turmoil, most specialists now even agree to predict a significant drop in 2. Some buyers intend to take advantage of difficulties for sellers, encouraged by new kind of real estate agents, real estate agents or low cost agents, whose commissions are lower than traditional networks, who do not hesitate to cut prices in order to sell faster. Olivier Pinte led the survey on new real estate deals.
Video: http://envoye-special.france2.fr/les-re ... -4351.html
Other summary: http://teleobs.nouvelobs.com/articles/3 ... -tout-prix
Facing the port of Marseille, a young couple achieved their dream: to build a “real house” at an unbeatable price. The set is not yet completely finished, but nothing is missing, not even the garden or the terrace with barbecue. Total cost: 200 euros for 000 square meters on three levels, ie half of the investment expected in this place for a conventional house. The rooms have a slightly low ceiling, but all have large windows, and the picturesque home turns out to be much nicer than an apartment in a public housing tower anyway.
The method used: to supply oneself directly opposite, by buying for a low price old reformed shipping containers. It took 15 to assemble, like a giant Lego, this original construction. The young couple therefore seem to have succeeded in their bet, which was to find adequate housing, despite an increasingly exorbitant housing price. Given this housing crisis, it goes without saying that there are more and more candidates for alternative solutions, and “Special Envoy” devotes a long section to this new sector of “low cost housing”, which offers various attractive solutions, at least in appearance.
A report takes us, for example, to a company in Aube, which offers houses at 100 euros in a catalog. All that remains is to buy the land. The company used to specialize in building construction huts, as well as containers, but its boss smelled a whole new and fabulous market. Assembled on site in less than four months, each house is “bolted to the millimeter”. It is then cut into “ready-to-install” elements. And to re-bolster. But beware of unpleasant surprises, because the candidates for these inexpensive houses are the object of all the envy, on the part of sellers on catalogs, or supposedly franchised installers - who disappear in nature once their profit pocketed.
Unfixed frame, central pillar that does not rest on any foundation, gaping holes in the thermal insulation…? All imaginable defects are often present, and it is then the disaster. The insurers recuse themselves for non-compliance with standards, the franchisee seller is absent subscribers, and here is the house become uninhabitable and perfectly unsaleable. In addition to the cost of shoring up the brand new ruin, and the drafts of the loan that continues to run, there will be spare rent and attorney fees to be paid.
Hello the low cost economy! So the ultimate solution proposed by “Special Envoy” is perhaps the best: that of the “souplex”. Agencies specialize in this type of property, consisting of a modest ground floor area (garage or abandoned shop) with a large basement. When you finally become an owner, despite the lack of ventilation and daylight, you will have the right to sleep in your cellar. Even if the law will still forbid you to rent such a “room”.
Fabien Gruhier
