Completing your purchase - 19 May 2009

Your funding must cover the purchase price of your future home, as well as the associated expenses (legal fees, duties, taxes, etc.). It must therefore include your personal deposit and one or more loans

• Your personal deposit is your contribution to the purchase. It may be money saved, a family loan or special loans (the 1% home loan, pension fund loan, etc.). Ideally, your deposit should cover at least 20% of the purchase. 
• The remainder of the purchase price is funded by loans. A bank loan is usually supplemented by subsidised loans (such as the Prêt à Taux Zéro interest-free loan, if you qualify for this scheme). Calculate your level of indebtedness (the proportion of the total monthly household income accounted for by loan repayments) to ensure that it does not exceed 30%.
  

Don't hesitate to ask your Bouygues Immobilier adviser at any stage of your home purchase plans. He or she can begin by working through the figures with you to make sure your plans are feasible, guide you through all the things you need to do and explain the various forms of borrowing open to you.
Your adviser will also help you work out the amount of tax relief you will receive: 40% of the interest in year 1, followed by 20% per year for the following four years. If your home meets Bâtiment Basse Consommation (low energy consumption building) standards, you will be able to claim tax relief on 40% of the total amount of interest you pay over 7 years!

Although your Bouygues Immobilier adviser can guide you in preparing your funding package, it's up to you to secure the finance you need. You can, of course, begin the process the moment you reserve your home, but you must begin that process within 30 days of signing the reservation contract. In order to complete your purchase, you must have received a loan offer from a bank or other lending institution with 2 months of reservation.

So how do you go about it? The first thing is to select the best funding partner for you.

• Brokers. Brokers act on your behalf to search the market for the best funding package for your needs and circumstances. As a result, they can often negotiate very advantageous conditions for you. If you use an online broker, you can run illustrations based on a series of different scenarios (different repayment periods, for example).
• Banks, of course. Undoubtedly, you will try your own bank first. But you should also shop around and check out what other banks have to offer. The benefit is direct dialogue with an adviser who can guide you and offer you a personally-tailored package.
• The LCL package, which has been negotiated on your behalf by Bouygues Immobilier under its partnership agreement with the bank. This arrangement allows you to apply for a personally-tailored loan under particularly advantageous conditions (including one of the subsidised loans if you qualify for these schemes).
  

The documents required for your loan application may differ from lender to lender. In most instances you will be asked for the following:

• your reservation contract
• evidence of your monthly income
• your tax returns for the two previous years
• evidence of your deposit
• a fiche familiale d’état civil or fiche individuelle d’état civil (both are French official documents accepted as evidence of identity)

Please don’t hesitate to ask your Bouygues Immobilier adviser for help in putting together a comprehensive application to your bank or broker.

When your loan application has been accepted, your lender will issue you with a loan offer.

When making your choice, you should look further than simply the interest rate, and consider the following aspects as well.

• The period of the loan. The longer the period of the loan, the lower the monthly repayments, but the higher the cost of credit. It's important to strike the right balance! 
• Insurance. Term Life and Invalidity insurance is compulsory, and is added to the monthly repayments. 
• Arrangement fees. These can vary significantly from offer to offer.
• The amount of flexibility offered by the loan (i.e. the option to reduce or postpone repayments).
• The TEG (Taux Effectif Global – the equivalent to APR). All lending institutions must inform you of this figure, which reflects the all-inclusive annual percentage rate (in addition to the loan interest rate, it also includes administration fees, security charge fees and insurance). This is the only reliable indicator when comparing loan offers.

Don't hesitate to negotiate the interest rate, arrangement fees and repayment conditions.
Can't make your mind up which offer is the best? Come and discuss it with your adviser, who will be able to draw on his or her own experience to give you the best advice.
You must then wait for at least 10 days (the legal cooling-off period) before accepting the offer you finally decide on. Once you have accepted the offer, you should forward it to your Bouygues Immobilier adviser who will contact the notaire to prepare the the acte authentique de vente (deed of sale).

If you are buying off-plan
Under a Vente en l’État de Futur Achèvement (VEFA), the deed of sale specifies the stage payment schedule, which is based key milestones in the construction work. When you reserve your property, you will have paid a deposit equivalent to a maximum of 5% of the purchase price*. If you are buying an apartment, you will be asked to pay 30% more on completion of the foundations. Other payments will then follow as construction work progresses, but these may never exceed the following maxima:70 % à la mise « hors d’eau » (pose de la toiture et étanchéité)

• 70% at the “watertight shell” stage (roof in place and the building sealed to the elements) 
• 95% on completion of the building 
• The remaining balance is payable at the point of handover (art. R-261-14 CCH)

At your request, the bank will release the necessary funds at each stage of completion and transfer them to the Bouygues Immobilier account.

^* the amount of deposit will vary depending on the date on which the sale is completed. See art. R-261-28 CCH


If you are buying a completed property
You must pay the full amount of your purchase at the time the deed of sale is signed (less the 5% paid with the promesse de vente or preliminary sale agreement). You will then receive the keys to your home that very day! In this case, there is only one release of funds by the bank or lending institution.