Choosing and reserving your new home - 02 March 2009

To find the right home for you, it's important to ask yourself the right questions: 

• What size of floor area are you looking for? 
• What are your specific requirements (number of rooms, distance from schools and services, garage or car park space, etc.)? 
• What kind of amenities will be necessary for your daily life (public transport, local shops, etc.)?
• What is your budget?

Once you've made a list of all the things that are most important to you, you can choose the home that suits you best in the area you want to live in.

Naturally, it is vital to choose the right developer, based on the company's experience, track record and financial dependability. When you put your trust in Bouygues Immobilier, you can be sure of receiving the best-possible service, high-quality construction, the best locations… and 50 years of experience in designing homes that people love to live in.

You should also bear in mind that Bouygues Immobilier has applied for Habitat & Environnement (H&E) certification for all developments granted planning permission since 1 July 2007. We are one of the first developers in France to make this commitment to our customers.

Bouygues Immobilier offers you 3 different ways of viewing and finding out more about its new home developments:

• The web site:
  At www.bouygues-immobilier.com, you can take all the time you need to search, read the descriptions of our developments and compare those that interest you. When you find a home you like, one mouse click is all it takes to request a brochure, which will be sent to you by e-mail so that you can read it at your leisure, print it out and pass it on to other members of your family. The great thing is that all this information is available 24/7.
• The call center:
  If you’d prefer to talk directly with one of our sales advisors, or you'd like to obtain more information about one of our developments, just contact our call centre on (00) 33 (0)1 55 18 7000. Our call center advisors are available to answer your questions between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday to Saturday. Your advisor will help you with the selection process, send you all the documentation you require and can arrange a meeting for you with one of our sales team. 
• The sales office :
  What can you expect when you walk into a Bouygues Immobilier sales office? The first thing is that you will be welcomed by one of our sales advisors. Our property professionals are there to listen to your needs and suggest whichever developments might suit you best. They will help you make your choice and give you all the information you need to make the right purchase.
  Our sales offices are open during the marketing phase of a development or development phase, and you can visit them to view the plans, visuals of the development and, in most cases, a model of the future building.
  You can also visit the sales office for personal advice on how to finance your new home.
  The sales office is also the place where you will come to finalise your choice of property and sign your reservation contract (or sales agreement for a property that has already been completed).
  

Our advice is to create your own “personal space” on the www.bouygues immobilier.com web site. You can then select your favourite developments and save them to view again whenever you wish, pass on to other members of your family or compare with other developments in a comparison table. You will also receive previews of new developments.

Once you have found a suitable property, you can confirm your choice and have the property allocated to you at the agreed price by signing a reservation contract (or sales agreement). There are two options at this stage.

• Buying off-plan (this is referred to in French as a “vente en l’état futur d’achèvement” or VEFA): in this case, your reservation pack will include the reservation contract, the plans of the property and a written description of all the fixtures and facilities included. In return for the reservation, you pay a deposit equivalent to 5% of the price of the property (where the sale completion period is less than one year) or 2% (where the sale completion period is between one year and two years)
• Some of the properties we offer for sale may already be completed (in this case, you would sign an “acte authentique de vente” or deed of sale): your reservation pack then contains the sales agreement setting out the specifications of your property and the conditions of sale.

Having signed the agreement, you must make a payment on account within 8 days of the expiry of the cooling-off period, which is described below.

When you reserve your apartment off-plan, your sales advisor will ask you if you would like to make any changes to your future home using one of our “personalised layout solutions”. This allows you to change the layout of your property by, for example, moving a partition or opening up your kitchen to be continuous with the living area.

Here's what happens once you have signed a reservation contract or sales agreement in one of our sales offices:

• Within 10 days, you will receive a complete reservation pack by post. The documentation it contains will have been initialled and signed by Bouygues Immobilier
• From the day after you receive the reservation pack by registered post, you will have 7 days in which to consider your purchase. This is the official French cooling-off period during which you may cancel your reservation, and after which your reservation becomes binding.

Reservation is just the beginning of the process for the future homeowner. You can find out more about the remaining steps in these information packs:

• Making your purchase a reality : : the process of property ownership, from securing finance to the signature of the deed of sale in the notary's office.
• Personalising your home : visiting the Bouygues Immobilier Showroom to choose the floor coverings, taps, paint colours and other finishing touches will make your home such a special place. 
• Understanding the construction phases: find out more about the individual building trades at work in the development as you wait for Bouygues Immobilier to build your new home. 
• Enjoying life in your new home: collecting the keys, moving in and setting up home… so much to look forward to! The Bouygues Immobilier after-sales team looks after everything to make sure that you can concentrate on enjoying life in your new home!