Acquiring a property before it is marketed

The most desirable properties — a waterfront villa on the Riviera, a chalet in the right village, an apartment with the right view in Paris or London — are often sold without ever being advertised. The owner mentions to a few people that they would consider an offer; the right buyer is found among the contacts of those people; the transaction is handled by the usual professionals. Here is how that process works, and where we fit in it.

Why owners prefer discretion

A listing brings visits, photographs on public platforms, curiosity from neighbours and, often, a price that becomes known. Owners of exceptional properties frequently prefer to avoid all of it. They will sell, but to a buyer who has been introduced, at a price agreed privately, with the transaction conducted by their own notary and lawyers. For the buyer, this means that a significant part of what is actually for sale will never appear in a search.

What an introducer does

Our role is to know what might be available and to introduce a qualified buyer to the person who can sell it — the owner, their family office, or the professional they have mandated. We are not an estate agency: we do not hold mandates, we do not conduct visits in the agency sense, we do not negotiate on behalf of the seller. We act for the buyer, on the basis of a precise brief, and we step back once the parties are in contact. The professionals who then intervene — notaries, lawyers, surveyors, licensed agents where one is involved — are the ones who conduct and secure the transaction.

What a brief should contain

A property brief is more than a location and a budget. It is a position (waterfront, first line or set back; village centre or ski-in; a specific arrondissement or a specific street), a type and size, the use intended (primary residence, seasonal, investment), the constraints that matter (privacy, access, orientation, a view that must not be obstructed), and a horizon. With this, a network can answer; without it, nobody will approach an owner.

What to verify before committing

The absence of a public listing does not change what must be checked, and we make sure the client's advisers have what they need: title and ownership structure, planning status and any pending projects nearby, servitudes and rights of way, building permits for any work done, the technical condition of the property, and the local rules that apply to a foreign buyer where relevant. On the Riviera and in the Alps, coastal and mountain regulations deserve particular attention; in Paris and London, the condition of the building and the co-ownership documents do. We summarise what is known and what is still to be confirmed before any introduction.

The summary note

Before an introduction, the client receives a short note: the property, its position, what has been verified and by whom, how it stands relative to comparable private transactions in the area, the open points, and the next step. It is intended to be enough to decide whether to meet the owner — and to arrive at that meeting prepared.

If you are looking for a specific kind of property, in a specific place, describe it to us. The introductions we can make depend entirely on the precision of what we are asked to find.